| 单词 | 百分之三十 |
| 释义 | 〔deceptively〕There appears to be a great deal of confusion about the sense ofdeceptively when it is used to modify an adjective. Does the sentenceThe proof is deceptively simple mean that the proof is simpler or more difficult than it appears?The Usage Panel was asked to choose among paraphrases for the sentenceThe pool is deceptively shallow: 50 percent said that it means "The pool is shallower than it appears";32 percent said that it means "The pool is deeper than it appears";and 18 percent found it ambiguous.Thus the writer who used such a sentence in a warning notice could expect that at least half the public would either misinterpret the messageor would be uncertain as to which sense was intended.Where the context does not make the meaning clear,a substitute should be used,asThe pool is shallower than it looks or The proof is simple, despite appearances. 当用deceptively 修饰一形容词时，该词的意思似乎大有令人困惑之处。 The proof is deceptively simple 一句中，是比它看起来更容易的意思呢， 还是比它看起来更难的意思呢?有人曾要求用法专题使用小组的成员对The pool is deceptively shallow 一句的释义进行选择， 百分之五十的成员认为该句意为：“池塘看起来很浅”；百分之三十二的成员认为该句意为：“池塘看起很深”；而百分之十八的成员则认为该句意义含混模糊。因此，把这句话写在警告牌上的作者可能会发现至少有一半的公众不是误解这则信息，就是不能确定这句话的意图究竟是什么。在上下文不能使意义明了的地方，应该换一种表达方式，如这个池塘比它看起来要浅 或 证明很简单，尽管看起来有些难 〔intuit〕The verbintuit is well established in reputable writing, but some critics have objected to it.Only 34 percent of the Usage Panel accepts it in the sentence 动词intuit 在规范化写作中已被完全确定， 但是一些评论家却一直反对它。只有百分之三十四的用法专题使用小组成员接受它用于句中 〔minimal〕Under the strict interpretation ofminimal, this sentence should mean only "Alcohol has an unpleasant effect when I have eaten nothing.”If the looser interpretation is allowed, however,the sentence can also mean “ . . . when I have eaten a bit.”Presented with the sentence, 29 percent of the Usage Panel said that it could have only the "eaten nothing" (that is, the strict) interpretation;34 percent said that it could have only the "eaten a bit" (that is, the looser) interpretation;and 37 percent said that it could have either meaning.Thus the looser sense ofminimal is accepted by 71 percent of the Panel and must be considered acceptable in nontechnical use. · In an analogous shift,the verbminimize is often used to mean "to reduce,” an extension of its strict etymological sense of "to reduce to the smallest possible level.”This looser usage is the result of the imprecision that usually attaches to the use of the verb in most nontechnical contexts.When a manager announces thatThe company wants to minimize the risk of accidents to line workers, we naturally interpret the manager as meaning that the risk is to be reduced to the smallest level consistent with considerations of efficiency and cost,not that risks are to be reduced to the lowest level logically possible.Even when used with allowable imprecision, however, the verbminimize should carry some implication that the relevant quantity is reduced as much as could reasonably be expected in the circumstances.Thusminimize retains at least an approximately superlative sense and so is inconsistent with modification by adverbs such asgreatly or considerably, which imply that the verb is being used as a simple synonym forlessen or reduce. 若句中的minimal 的意思比较严格， 那么这一句就只能理解为“当我什么没吃时喝酒会搞得我很难受。”但是如果比较宽泛的词义得到承认，那么这一句同时也有“…当我吃过一点东西时”这层意思。百分之二十九的用法专题使用小组成员认为这一词只能当“什么都不吃”（即严格意义上的词义）来讲；百分之三十四的成员说它只有“吃过一点”（即宽泛一些的）词义；百分之三十七的成员说两种含义都可适用。所以minimal 宽泛的含义被用法专题使用小组的百分之七十一的成员接受。 与其相类似的是，动词minimize 经常被用来指“减少”， 是其“减少到最可能小的水平”的严格意义上的延伸。这一较宽泛的含义是非技术性文章使用这一动词的不精确性而带来的结果。当一个经理宣称公司试图将生产线上工人面临出事故的风险降至最低， 我们自然会认为经理的意思是工厂的事故风险将被降至一个同时又考虑效率和成本的最小程度，而不是逻辑上可以达到的最低程度。即使在可以允许不精确的程度内使用时，动词mininize 也应有一层隐含的意思， 即其相对数量已被减少到了情况所期望的合理的程度。这样，minimize 至少仍然保留着一种大致为最高级的意思， 因而它与这些副词如greatly 或 considerably 不能搭配使用， 因为这些副词暗示着这一动词被当成了lessen 或 reduce 简单同义词而使用 〔holocaust〕When referring to the massive destruction of human beings by other human beings,holocaust has a secure place in the language. Fully 99 percent of the Usage Panel accepts the use ofholocaust in the phrase nuclear holocaust. Sixty percent accepts the sentenceAs many as two million people may have died in the holocaust that followed the Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia. But because of its associations with genocide,extended applications ofholocaust may not always be received with equanimity. When the word is used to refer to death brought about by natural causes,the percentage of the Panel's acceptance drops sharply.Only 31 percent of the Panel accepts the sentence holocaust 在指人类之间大规模的杀害时用法稳定。 百分之九十九的用法专题使用小组成员接受holocaust 在 nuclear holocaust 中的用法。 百分之六十的成员接受在红色高棉组织接管柬埔寨之后，高达两百万的民众死于那场大屠杀 。 但由于它和种族灭绝有一定联系，人们并不总能很平静地接受holocaust 的引申用法。 当用这个词表示由于自然灾害引起的死亡时，用法小组接受的百分比明显下降。只有百分之三十一的成员同意这样的用法： |
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