| 单词 | 用法说明 |
| 释义 | 〔plantation〕It has probably seemed ironic to more than one reader that the same wordplantation appears in the name Plimoth Plantation, a settlement of people seeking freedom of religion,albeit their particular form of religion,and also as the term for the estates of the pre-Civil War Southwith their beautiful mansions for the white elite and their hovels for the oppressed Black slaves.These two uses of the wordplantation illustrate two sense developments of the word, which is first recorded in Middle English asplantacioun in a work probably written during the first quarter of the 15th century. Latinplantātiō, the source of our English word, originally meant "propagation of a plant, as from cuttings,”but in Medieval Latin developed other related senses,such as "planting,” "foundation, establishment,” and "nursery, or collection of growing plants that have been planted.”The two senses that were used in New England and in the South can thus be explained.The Plimoth sense is derived from the notion of a settlement or colony that has been established or planted in a new country.The Southern sense goes back to the notion of simply planting crops,in this casecrops such as tobacco or cottonthat are grown on estates or farms in subtropical or tropical climatesand were at one time worked by slave labor.同样的单词plantation 出现在名称 Plimoth Plantation （普利茅斯种植园）中，这对不止一名读者来说，可能看起来是具讽刺意味的， 该名称指寻求宗教自由的人的小型社区，虽然他们的宗教形式很特别，也是作为内战前南方庄园的术语，指供高贵白种人居住的漂亮公馆和受压迫的黑人奴隶居住的破旧茅屋。单词plantation 的这两种用法说明了这个单词两种意思的发展， 其以可能于15世纪最初二十五年创作的一部作品中的plantacioun 形式首次记录进中世纪英语。 拉丁文plantatio 是我们这个英语单词的词源， 最初意为“植物的繁殖，如通过供插栽小枝，”但是在中世纪拉丁文中又发展了其它的相关的意思，例如“种植、”“建立、设立”和“苗圃或已被种植的活的植物的集合。”这样，用在新英格兰和南方的这两种意思就能够解释了。普利茅斯种植园的意思是从在新的国家中建立或移民的新拓居地或殖民地的概念中引申出来的。南方庄园的意思则可追溯到简易耕种作物的概念上来，在这种情况下，例如烟草或棉花等农作物，生长在亚热带或热带气候的庄园或农场，且一段时间以来由奴隶种植〔parameter〕In recent yearsparameter has become the archetype for the borrowing of scientific terms into general usage and as such has occasioned a good deal of skeptical comment.Some of its new uses can be justified as useful extensions of the technical senses of the word.For example, the provisions of a zoning ordinance that limit the height or density of new construction can be reasonably likened to mathematical parameters that establish the limits of other variables.Therefore one can properly sayThe zoning commission announced new planning parameters for the historic Lamping district of the city. But other uses suggest that the writer has not understood the technical senseand has chosen it primarily as a way of injecting an aura of scientific precision into what would otherwise be a pedestrian communication.Thus there is no semantic justification for usingparameter as a general substitute for characteristic, as inThe Judeo-Christian ethic is one of the important parameters of Western culture, an example found unacceptable by 80 percent of the Usage Panel. ·Some of the difficulties with nontechnical use ofparameter appear to arise from its resemblance to the word perimeter, with which it shares the sense "limit,” though the two words differ in their precise meaning.This confusion doubtless explains the use ofparameter in a sentence such as U.S. forces report that the parameters of the mine area in the Gulf are fairly well established, where the wordperimeter would have expressed the intended sense more exactly. This example of a use ofparameter was unacceptable to 61 percent of the Usage Panel. 近些年来，parameter 已成为一个从科技术语借用到普通用法的原形， 同时也引起了大量的怀疑批评。它的某些新用法可被看作是该词科技含义的有益扩展。例如，某一区域性法规中关于新建筑高度或密度的条文能被合理地与制定其它变量限度的数学参量进行比较。因而，人们当然可以说地区委员会公布了历史上该城有名的灯区新计划方案 。 但其它的一些用法说明说话人还没有理解它的科技含义，并且选用了这个词主要作为给将是普通交流的东西注入一些精确的科学气息的途径。因此，用parameter 作为 characteristic 的一般等价词毫无语义上的合理性， 如在犹太教与基督教的道德规范是西方文化中重要的限制因素 ， 是80%的用法小组成员不接受的例子。Parameter 的非科技运用中的一些难点是由于它与 perimeter 都有“限制”的含义造成的， 尽管两个词的确切含义是不相同的。这种混淆无疑解释了parameter 在例如 美军报告说，海湾地雷区的环形防线设置得相当不错 的句子中的运用， 这里perimeter 可能会更确切地表达这种引申含义。 61%的用法小组成员不接受这个运用parameter 的例子 〔gauntlet〕In the first and second editions ofThe American Heritage Dictionary Usage Notes explained why the spelling gauntlet is acceptable for bothgauntlet 1 and gauntlet 2. Such has not always been the case.The story ofgauntlet 1, as into throw down the gauntlet, is unexciting: it comes from the Old French wordgantelet, a diminutive of gant, "glove.” From the time of its appearance in Middle English (in a work composed in 1449),the word has been spelled with anau as well as an a, still a possible spelling. But the othergauntlet, as into run the gauntlet, is an alteration of the earlier English formgantlope, which came from the Swedish wordgatlopp, a compound ofgata, "lane,” and lopp, "course.” The earliest recorded form of the English word,found in 1646,isgantelope, showing that alteration of the Swedish word had already occurred. The English word was then influenced by the spelling of the wordgauntlet, "glove,” and in 1676 we find the first recorded instance of the spellinggauntlet for this word, althoughgantelope is found as late as 1836. From then on spellings withau and a are both found. Theau seems to have won out, although one could say that thea is preferable because it reflects the Swedish source.In regard to a word that has been so altered in form,this seems a rather fine point.在第一和第二版的美国经典辞书 的用法说明解释了为什么拼写 gauntlet 是可接受的， 既对于gauntlet 1，又对于 gauntlet 2。 情况并不总是这样。gauntlet 1的故事， 如在拒绝挑战 中并不令人激动： 它来自于一法语老词gantelet ， gant 的小词缀“手套”。 自从它在中古英语出现之后（在1449年编的一著作中），这个词同au 的拼写已同 a 一样仍是可能的拼写形式。 但是另一个gauntlet ， 如在接受挑战 中， 是早期英语形式gantlope 的一个变体， 其来自于一瑞典词gatlopp ， gata “巷子”和 lopp “方向”的组合。 最早的这个英语单词的记录，出现于1646年，是gantelope ，表示这个瑞典单词的变体已出现。 这个英语单词然后被单词gauntlet “手套”的拼写所影响， 在1676年，我们发现了gauntlet 第一个有记录的例子， 尽管gantelope 直到1836年才发现。 此后，带有au 和 a 的拼写形式都被发现过。 au 似乎占优势， 尽管一个人可能说a 更好， 因它反映了瑞典语源。说到一个形式已发生了如此变化的单词，这似乎是个好建议〔every〕Every is representative of a large class of English words and expressions that are singular in formbut felt to be plural in sense.The class includes, for example, noun phrases introduced byevery, any, and certain uses of some. These expressions invariably take a singular verb;we say Every car has (not have ) been tested. Anyone is (not are ) liable to fall ill. But when a sentence contains a pronoun whose antecedent is introduced byevery, grammar and sense pull in different directions.The grammar of these expressions requires a singular pronoun, as in Every car must have its brakes tested, but people persist in using the plural pronoun,as in Every car must have their brakes tested. Although the latter pattern is common in the speech of all groups,it is still widely regarded as grammatically incorrect in writing. ·The effort to adhere to the grammatical rule leads to various complications, however.The first is grammatical.When a pronoun refers to a phrase containingevery or any that falls within a different independent clause, the pronoun cannot be singular.Thus it is simply not English to sayEvery man left; he took his raincoat with him. Nor can one sayNo one could be seen, could he? Writers unwilling to use plural forms in these examples must find another way of expressing their meaning,either by rephrasing the sentence so as to get the pronoun into the same clause (as inEvery man left, taking his raincoat with him ) or by substituting another word forevery or any (as in All the men left; they took their raincoats with them. ) · The second complication is political.When a phrase introduced byevery or any refers to a group containing both men and women, what shall be the gender of the singular pronoun?This matter is discussed in the Usage Note athe. See Usage Note at all ,any ,each ,either ,he 1neither ,none Every 是一大类英语单词和短语的代表， 它们在形式上是单数的，但在意义上感觉起来却是复数。例如，这一类词中所包括的由every，any 和某些用法中的 some 所引导的名词短语。 这些短语毫无例外的跟单数动词，我们说每辆车都已 （不是 have ） 被测试过。 每个人都（不是 are ） 会生病 。 但是当一个句子中包括一个由先行词every 引导的代词时， 从句法和意义上就要区分不同的情况了。象每一辆车必须测试它的制动器 这样的表达法在语法上要求使用一单数代词， 但人们总习惯于用复数代词，象Every car must have their brakes tested 这样。 虽然后面这种形式在各种团体的讲话中非常普遍，但它在写作中仍广泛地被认为是语法上的错误。无论如何，坚持语法规则的努力总会导致各种各样的复杂问题。首先是语法上的复杂性。当一个代词指代一个短语，而这个短语中包括every 或 any 属于另一个与此代词所在子句不同的独立子句中时， 这个代词不能用单数形式。因此很容易理解英国人为何不说每个人离开时，都拿着各自的雨衣 ， 也不说没有人会被看到，不是吗？ 。 不愿意在这些例子中用复数形式的书写者必须找到另外一种表达他们意思的方法，或者可以通过重新改变句子的说法以使代词与其指代的短语同属一个从句中（如Every man left， taking his raincoat with him ）， 或者通过以另一个词代替every 或 any 的方法（如 All the man left；they took their raincoats with them ）。 第二是政治上的复杂性。当一个被every 或 any 引导的短语指代的一个团体中既有男人又有女人时， 单数代词的词性怎么确定呢？这个问题在单词he的用法说明中将被讨论 参见 all,any,each,either,he1neither,none |
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