| 单词 | 本世纪 |
| 释义 | 〔mind〕the great minds of the century.本世纪的大思想家们〔Riyadh〕The capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia, in the east-central part of the country east-northeast of Mecca. Situated in a desert oasis, it was formerly a walled city until the oil boom of the 1950's led to the demolition of older structures to make way for commercial expansion. Population, 1,250,000.利雅得：沙特阿拉伯的首都和最大的城市，位于该国的中东部、麦加的东北偏东。该城座落于一个沙漠的绿洲上，从前曾是一个四周有围墙的城市，直到本世纪50年代由于石油工业的繁荣而导致了旧结构的拆毁，并为商业扩大开辟了道路。人口1,250,000〔unique〕Over the course of the centuryunique has become the paradigmatic example of the class of terms that do not allow comparison or modification by an adverb of degree such as very, somewhat, or quite. Thus, most grammarians believe that it is incorrect to say that something isvery unique or more unique than something else, though phrases such asnearly unique and almost unique are acceptable. In the most recent survey the sentenceHer designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene was unacceptable to 80 percent of the Usage Panel. · Critical objections to the comparison and degree modification of absolute terms date to the 18th centuryand have been applied to a wide group of adjectives includingequal, fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect, and unanimous. According to the standard argument, such words denote properties that a thing either does or does not have but cannot have to a qualifiable degree.Thus ifunique is properly used to mean "without equal or equivalent,” something either is unique or it isn't, and phrases such asvery unique and more unique can only betray a weakening of the sense to mean something like "unusual" or "distinctive.” It is true that comparison and modification ofunique are often associated with the style favored by copywriters, as in the advertisement announcing thatOmaha's most unique restaurant is now even more unique or in the claim that a new automobile is So unique, it's patented. But modification ofunique is also found in the work of reputable writers, where it may lack any connotations of hyperbole.A painting is described asthe most unique of Beckman's self-portraits, and a travel writer states thatChicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco. The relative acceptability of these usages reflects the semantic subtlety ofunique itself. If we were to useunique only according to the strictest criteria of logic, after all, we might freely apply the term to anything in the worldsince nothing is wholly equivalent to anything else.Clearly, then, when we say that a restaurant or painting is unique,we mean that it is worthy of inclusion in a class by itself according to certain implicit but generally accepted criteria.Thus a legitimately unique painting might be one that realizes an unparalleled aesthetic vision,but not one that is rendered only in pigments whose names begin with the lettero; and a legitimately unique restaurant might be one that serves 18th-century French cuisine according to the original recipes,not one that has been installed in a converted sardine cannery.Given this understanding, it is not inherently impossible to think of uniqueness as a matter of degree,in the sense that one painting or restaurant may be more or less worthy of inclusion in a class by itself than some other. ·What is troubling about the copywriters' use ofunique is not that the word has become a synonym for unusual. Rather, it is the copywriters who are using the word in conformity with strict logic.Uniqueness is claimed for a restaurant in virtue of some trivial properties of its decor or menu,or for a resort hotel that simply happens to have a singularly picturesque view of the bay.Though it may be true that such properties render these thingslogically unique, they do not constitute legitimate grounds for putting the things into a class by themselves according to the criteria ordinarily invoked when things are sorted into classes.In fact, the abuse ofunique can be cloying even when no modification or comparison is involved; when we read an advertisement for a line of sportswear that featuresa unique selection of colors, we may suspect that the distinctive properties of the color selection are not so remarkable as the advertiser would have us believe. But it is not surprising that these uses ofunique should lend themselves to promiscuous modification and comparison; for once it is granted that uniqueness can be claimed for any product or service that is somehow distinctive from all its competitors,it is inevitable that an increase in uniqueness will be seen in every minor innovation.See Usage Note at equal ,infinite ,parallel ,perfect 在本世纪整个过程中unique 已成为不能由程度副词，例 very、somewhat 或 quite， 比较或修饰的一类术语的例证。 因此，多数语法学家认为说某事是very unique 或 more unique than 是不正确的， 虽然短语例如nearly unique 和 almost unique 是可接受的。 在最近的调查中，句子Her designs are quite unique in today's fashion scene （她的设计在现今流行样式的场面中是很独特的） 对用法专题使用小组的百分之八十成员是不可接受的。 对纯粹术语的比较和程度修饰的主要异议可追述到18世纪，并已广泛用到许多形容词中，包括equal, fatal, omnipotent, parallel, perfect 和 unanimous。 根据标准论据，这些单词表示一事有或没有但不能有可修饰的程度的性质。于是如果unique 适当地用于表示“没有相等或相当的”，则某事是唯一的或不是唯一的， 而短语像very unique 和 more unique 仅能表露出说明某事像“不寻常的”或“独特的”的意义的减弱。 的确，unique 的比较和修饰常与撰稿人喜欢的文体相联系， 如在广告中称Omaha's most unique restaurant is now even more unique（奥马哈城的最独特的餐馆现在甚至是更加独特） 或声称新汽车是 So unique, it's patented（如此独特，它取得了专利权）。 但是unique 的修饰也在著名作家的作品中发现， 那里可能缺乏夸张法的任何涵义。描述一张油画为the most unique of Beckman's self-portraits（最独特的贝克曼的自画像）， 一位旅游作家叙述Chicago is no less unique an American city than New York or San Francisco（芝加哥比纽约或旧金山是不逊独特的美国城市）。 这些用法的相对可接受性反映unique 自身语义的巧妙。 如果我们仅按照逻辑的严格标准使用unique ， 则我们终于会自由地把此术语使用于世界上的任何事，因为没有完全等同于另一事的事。于是，显然当我们说餐馆或油画是独特的时，我们意味着根据某种隐含的但可普遍接受的判据它是值得包含在一个等级内的。于是合理独特的油画可能是实现空前未有的审美型的，而不是仅给予名字以字母O开始的颜料； 合理独特的餐馆可能根据原来的食谱提供18世纪法国菜肴的餐馆，而不是配备转换的沙丁鱼罐头食品的餐馆。按这样了解，将独特性视为程度问题不是本来就不可能的，在这个意义上一张油画或一个餐馆或多或少可能是极好的有价值的内涵物而不是其他。关于撰稿人使用unique 的困惑不是此单词已成为 unusual 的同义词。 相反地，正是撰稿人使用此单词与严密的逻辑相一致。对餐馆声称独特性是由于它的布置或菜单的某些不重要的性质，或者对于人们常去的旅馆仅因为有海湾的独一无二地别致的景象。虽然这样的性质使得这些事logically 独特的可能是真实的， 但是当事情进行了分类，根据平常实行的判据把这些事情自身放到一类，他们不组成正常的基础。事实上unique 的滥用会使人发腻，即使在没有涉及修饰或比较的时候； 当我们读运动服装的unique selection of colors（颜色的独特选择） 的一行广告时， 我们会怀疑颜色选择的独特性质并非广告商希望我们所认为的那么明显。但不必惊讶于unique 的这些用法应当适用于杂乱的修饰和比较； 就这一次可以承认，独特性能用来指任何产品或服务，它们与所有的竞争者相比较有某种程度的特色，在每一小的创新中可以看到独特性的增加是必然会发生的 参见 equal,infinite,parallel,perfect〔Hemingway〕American writer. A World War I ambulance driver, journalist, adventurer, and expatriate in Paris during the 1920's, he wrote short stories and novels, such asThe Sun Also Rises (1926), For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940), and The Old Man and the Sea (1952), that concern courageous, lonely characters and are marked by his terse literary style. He won the 1954 Nobel Prize for literature. 海明威，欧内斯特·米勒：(1899-1961) 美国作家。第一次世界大战期间先后做过救护车司机、新闻记者、探险家和被驱逐者，本世纪20年代移居巴黎从事短篇小说和小说的写作，作品有《太阳照样升起》 （1926年）， 《表钟为谁鸣》 （1940年），及 《老人与海》 （1952年）等，作品大都描写英勇无畏而孤独的人物，带有精炼的文学风格。他1954年获诺贝尔文学奖 〔showcase〕Like other show business jargon,such as the verb use ofpremiere, this usage is properly exempt from criticism; we expect from P.T. Barnum a measure of exaggeration and grammatical license that we might not accept in other kinds of linguistic commerce.But since its inception in the 1940's, the verb has acquired a wider pattern of use.It is applied to the exposure of athletes and to the display of products: 象其它一些商业演出用语一样，如premiere 的这种动词用法一般不会招致批评； 我们希望能从P·T·巴纳姆那里得到一种夸张的尺寸以及一张我们无法在其它形式的语言交流中接受的语法许可证。但是从本世纪四十年代这个动词首次出现以来，它已经获得了更广泛的运用领域。它用来指运动员的亮相以及产品的展示： 〔balding〕The wordbalding was popularized by the newsmagazines of the 1930's and was for a long time associated with breezy, journalistic style.It has since passed into general usage, however, and has lost its earlier association with journalism.balding 这个词在本世纪30年代的新闻杂志中颇为流行， 并在很长时间内与活泼的新闻风格相联系。但随着它的广泛使用，已失去了早期与新闻的关系〔fortuitous〕In its best-established sense,fortuitous means "happening by accident or chance,” with no implication as to the desirability of the outcome:a fortuitous meeting may have either fortunate or unfortunate consequences. In this century, however, the word is often used with particular reference to happy accidents,as inThe company's third-quarter profits were enhanced as the result of a fortuitous drop in the cost of RAM chips. This use may have arisenbecausefortuitous resembles both fortunate and felicitous; it is well established in the writing of reputable authors.More controversial is the use offortuitous to mean simply "lucky or fortunate,” as inHe came to the Giants in June as the result of a fortuitous trade that sent two minor-league players to the Reds' organization. This use dates back at least to the 1920's,when H.W. Fowler labeled it a malaproprism.It is still widely regarded as incorrect,and writers who are unwilling to risk censure are advised to avoid it.从最公认的意义上说，fortuitous 的意思是“偶然发生的”， 不暗示结果是否称心：临时会议 可以有好或坏的结果。 然而在本世纪这个词常用于专指好的事件，如内存条价格的意外下降导致了公司第三季度利润的增加。 这种用法可能出现，因为fortuitous 类似于 fortunate 和 felicitous； 它用于有名望的作家的写作中。更有争论的用法是fortuitous 的含义为“幸运的或好运的”时， 如一次幸运的送两名小社团的运动员去红色组织的交易使他在六月去了巨人国。 这种用法至少可追溯到20世纪20年代，当时H.W.弗劳尔把它标作一个可笑的用法错误。现在这种用法仍被广泛地认为是错误的，建议不愿冒险受指责的作者避免使用 |
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