单词 | 流逝 |
释义 | 〔fair〕The history of the wordfair illustrates how words can weaken in meaning over time. In Old English the ancestor offair, fæger, had senses such as "lovely, beautiful, pleasant, agreeable,” a far cry from our modern sense "mildly good or satisfying.”The Old English senses passed into Middle English,where the wordfair started to take a slight turn in the direction already alluded to. Fair could mean "highly to be approved of, splendid, good,”but it could also be used ironically,as in Chaucer's observation after a horse threw the Cook on the pilgrimage to Canterbury:"that was a fair feat of horsemanship by the Cook.”This ironic use was probably not responsible for the semantic weakening offair, but it shows how a positive word can have its meaning reversed.The weakening offair was most likely caused by "the determined optimism which led to the use of fair . . . rather than direct expression of discontent,”in the words of George H. McKnight.One might add as another cause the desire to avoid hurting other people's feelings.单词fair 的历史表明随岁月的流逝单词的语意变弱。 在古英语中fair,f?ger 本意是“可爱的,漂亮的,愉快的”, 与我们现在的“比较好或满意的”大相径庭。古英语传到中世纪英语时,fair 已开始在引申的方向上有微小的转变。 Fair 可以表达“被高度赞许的,辉煌的,好的,”但也可用作反语,如在往坎特伯雷朝圣的途中马将科克摔下时后,乔尔斯评论道:“那是科克精湛骑术的体现”。这种反语用法也许对fair 语义学上的弱化没有联系, 但它表明了一个褒义的单词可以变得意思完全相反。fair 的弱化很大程度上缘于“坚决的乐观主义导致 fair 的用法改变, 而不是直接表达不满意的意思,”乔治赫·马克奈特如此评论。人们可以再添上其它原因以免伤害别人的感情〔enthuse〕The verbenthuse is not well accepted; its use in the sentenceThe majority leader enthused over his party's gains was rejected by 76 percent of the Usage Panel in an earlier survey.This lack of acceptance ofenthuse is often attributed to its status as a back-formation: such words often meet with disapproval on their first appearanceand only gradually become accepted over time.But other back-formationssuch asdiagnose (a back-formation from diagnosis that was first recorded in 1861) and donate (first cited in 1785 as a back-formation from donation ) are considered unimpeachable English words. This situation suggests thatin truth the continued lack of acceptance ofenthuse, first recorded in 1827, may have less to do with doubts about its lineagethan with shortcomings in its character.Unlikeenthusiasm, which denotes an internal emotional state, enthuse denotes either the external expression of emotion,as inShe enthused over attending the Oscar ceremonies, or the inducement of enthusiasm by an external source,as inHe was so enthused about the miracle diet pills that he agreed to do a testimonial for their television ad. It is possible that a distaste for this emphasis on external emotional display and manipulation is for some people the source of an uneasethat manifests itself in a distaste for the word itself.See Usage Note at intuit 动词enthuse 并未被广泛接受; 其在优势党领导人对本党的利益极为热衷 一句中的用法, 在早期调查中遭到用法使用小组百分之七十六成员的反对。Enthuse 所以不被接受常归因于它是由逆序造词法产生的词: 这种词通常在他们刚刚出现时遭到反对,只有随着时间的流逝才逐渐被人们接受。但是其它逆序生成的词,如diagnose (由 diagnosis 而逆序生成,最早见于1861年)和 donate (最先于1875年作为由 donation 一词的逆序生成词被引用)被看作无可挑剔的英语词汇。 这一情况说明,不接受enthuse 这个1827年便出现的词汇, 实际上并非出自对其来历的怀疑,而是由于其本身的缺陷。与enthusiasm 这一可表现出内在情感状况的词不同, enthuse 要么显示出情感的外在表达,如在她为参加奥斯卡颁奖仪式感到兴奋 一句中, 要么显示出外界对热情的诱惑,如他对神奇的减肥药十分热心,意欲为其电视广告写一份鉴定书 一句。 有可能由于对其强调外在情感的表现与处理的不满,导致了一些人不愿意使用这个词 参见 intuit〔wear〕To last through the passage of time:保持不变:经过时间的流逝而延续:〔pass〕To move past in time; elapse:流逝:时间经过;消逝:〔slip〕"It is necessary to write, if the days are not to slip emptily by"(Vita Sackville-West)“如果日子不是这样空虚地流逝,很有必要写一写”(维塔·萨克威尔—韦斯特)〔preterition〕Late Latin praeteritiō praeteritiōn- [a passing over] 后期拉丁语 praeteritiō praeteritiōn- [消逝,流逝] 〔outwear〕To get over (something) by the passage of time; outgrow:度过,丢弃:随时光的流逝而克服(某事);放弃:〔pass〕The days passed quickly.日子飞快地流逝〔sigh〕sighing for their lost youth.怀念流逝的青春〔demonology〕"As the years passed[the magazine's] demonology expanded to include Bolsheviks, radicals, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the New Deal, Government work programs or aid programs of any kind" (Maggie Nichols)“随着年代的流逝,布尔什维克、激进分子、富兰克林·D·罗斯福、新政、任何种类的政府工作项目或援助项目都被列入了[杂志] 黑名单” (玛吉·尼科尔斯) |
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