单词 | 百分之八十 |
释义 | 〔implement〕The verbimplement, meaning "to put into practice, carry out,” has in fact been in use since the 19th century.Critics have sometimes objected to the verb as jargon,but its obvious usefulness appears to have outweighed their reservations.Eighty-nine percent of the Usage Panel accepts the usage in the sentenceThe mayor's office announced the creation of a special task force that will be responsible for implementing the new policy. 意思为“使生效,执行”的动词implement , 实际上在19世纪已经在被使用。批评家们有时侯因为晦涩难懂而反对,但是它明显用途远远压倒了他们的保留意见。用法专题小组百分之八十九的成员接受了在句子市长办公室宣布了为执行新政策的专案小组的成立 中的用法 〔Xmas〕Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where theX is understood to represent a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστος, "Christ";in this use it is parallel to other forms likeXtian, "Christian.” But the letterX, or especially x, is nowadays more frequently interpreted as a mathematical variable than as a Greek letter, as indicated by the common pronunciation of the formXmas as (ĕksʹməs). Thus, while the word is etymologically innocent of the charge that it omits Christ from Christmas,it is now generally understood only as an informal shortening.In an earlier survey 88 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the use ofXmas in writing. Xmas 在宗教作品中已用了几百年, X 用来表示希腊字母chi, 是Χριστος的第一个字母,意为“耶稣”;在这种用法中,它与其他形式相似,如Xtian, “教会的”。 但是字母X, 尤其是 x, 现在更常见的是当作数学变量,而不是希腊字母, 因为该符号Xmas 发音已普遍为(ĕksʹməs)。 因此,当这个单词从词源学上把Christ从Christmas中省掉是合乎规则的,现在该词已被广泛看作一个非正式的缩写形式。在早期的调查问卷中,有百分之八十八的用法使用小组成员拒绝在作品中用Xmas 〔access〕The verbaccess is well established in its computational sense "to obtain access to (data or processes),” as inThis program makes it considerably easier to access files on another disk. In recent years it has come to be used in nontechnical contexts with the more general sense of "to obtain access to (goods or information), usually by technological means,”as inYou can access your cash at any of 300 automatic tellers throughout the area. This example was judged unacceptable by 82 percent of the Usage Panel.动词access 的计算机意义上“存取(数据或程序)”已被人们广为接受, 如这个程序使从另一磁盘上获得文件大为简便了。 近几年它已被运用于非技术领域,从而有更广泛的意义“通常是通过科技手段来取得(货物或信息),”如你可以通过使用整个地区的300个自动取款机中任何一个取得现金。 但这种用法被百分之八十二的用法使用小组成员认为是不可取的〔disinterested〕Despite critical disapproval, disinterested has come to be widely used by many educated writers to mean "uninterested" or "having lost interest,”as inSince she discovered skiing, she is disinterested in her schoolwork (a sense it had at an earlier stage of English, but which had in the interim become outmoded).Many maintain that the word can legitimately be used only in its sense of "having no stake in (an outcome or issue),”as inSince the judge stands to profit from the sale of the company, she cannot be considered a disinterested party in the dispute. In our most recent survey,89 percent of the Usage Panel rejected the sentence 尽管批评界的不赞成, disinterested 已逐渐成为许多有学识的作家们广泛用来指“不感兴趣的”或“失去兴趣的”,如在因为发现了滑雪这一运动,她就对功课失去了兴趣 (该词在英语的早期阶段就有这个词义,但在过渡时间,该词义已不再用)许多人认为在法律上该词只可用来表示“与(结果或事件)无利害关系,”如因为法官站在这一方是为了从公司所售物品中获利,她不能被看作是在这场争论中无任何关系的一方。 在最近的统计中,用法专题使用小组中百分之八十九的成员不接受下面的句子 〔epithet〕Strictly speaking,an epithet need not be derogatory,but the term is commonly used as a simple synonym for "term of abuse" or "slur,”as in the sentenceThere is no place for racial epithets in a police officer's vocabulary. This usage is accepted by 80 percent of the Usage Panel.严格来讲,绰号不应是贬义的,但此词一般用作“骂人的称呼”或“污辱”的同义词,如在下句中在一名警官的词汇中不应有粗俗的话。 这种用法被用法使用小组百分之八十的人接受〔graduate〕This pattern, which no longer bears any taint of incorrectness,is acceptable to 89 percent of the Panel.It has the advantage of ascribing the accomplishment to the student, rather than to the institution,as is usually appropriate in discussions of individual cases.When the institution's responsibility is emphasized,however, the older pattern may still be recommended.A sentence such asThe university graduated more computer science majors in 1987 than in the entire previous decade stresses the university's accomplishment, say, of its computer science program. On the other hand, the sentenceMore computer science majors graduated in 1987 than in the entire previous decade implies that the class of 1987 was in some way a remarkable group. · The transitive use ofgraduate, as inShe graduated Yale in 1980, was unacceptable to 77 percent of the Usage Panel. 这种方式不再有不正确的问题,并为小组百分之八十九的成员所接受,其优点是将成就归功于学生而不是学院,通常在讨论单个事例时是合适的。当学院的责任被强调时,旧方式则可能得到推崇。句子:The university graduated more computer science majors in 1987 than in the entire previous decade。 强调了该大学计算机科学项目上的成就。 另一方面,句子:More computer science majors graduated in 1987 than in the entire previous decade。 指1987级从某种意义上来说是个出色的群体。 至于graduate 的及物用法, 如在她于1980年毕业于耶鲁大学 用法使用专题小组百分之七十七的成员表示不接受 〔rattle〕A large proportion (86 percent) of the Usage Panel approved the use of the verbrattle in the sense "to unnerve" in the first edition ofThe American Heritage Dictionary, published in 1969. But we may ask how the verbrattle came to have such a sense. The earliest use of the word is found in a name,Johannes Ratellebagg, recorded in a document of around 1273; the earliest use of the word as a common noun (in the sense "to flap, used of a banner") is found in a work written about 1300and copied in manuscript around 1330.It is thought that the word probably comes from Middle Dutchratelen, which may be imitative in origin. In any case,the wordratelen was used mainly in intransitive senses such as "to make a rattling sound.”Already in Middle English, however, the transitive sense "to babble something" existed,and other transitive senses,as in "to make something rattle,” "to stir up, rouse,” "to drive in a rapid, rattling manner,” came into existence from the 16th century on.The transitive sense "to unnerve,”that is, "to make somebody rattle,” is first found in an American work of 1869.词语用法专题小组中有相当一部分人(百分之八十六)都同意rattle 这个词有“使人不安”的意思, 1969年出版的美国经典辞书 第一版收录了这一意思。 但人们不禁要问动词rattle 为何有了这个意思。 该词最早的使用发现于1273年前后记载的一个文件中的Johannes Ratellebagg 这个名字中; 1300年这个词第一次被用作普通名词(意为“飘扬,用于旗帜”),1330年又见于手抄的印本中。人们认为这个词可能来自原来可能是拟声词的中古德语ratelen 。 不过无论怎样,ratelen 这个词本来只是作为不及物动词来使用, 如发出嘎嘎声等意思。在中古英语中,“含糊不清地说出”这一及物动词的意思就已存在,该词其它的及物意思,如“使发出嘎嘎声”、“激起,唤醒”“嘎嘎响地急速向前拖”从16世纪开始就形成了。及物意思“使不安,”即“使某人惊慌”首先出现于1869年的美国作品中〔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〔impact〕Each generation of critics seems to select one particular usage to stand as the emblem of what they view as linguistic crassness.Thirty years ago it was the use ofcontact as a verb, but opposition to that form has more or less disappeared,and attention now focuses on the verbal use ofimpact meaning "have an effect, affect.” Eighty-four percent of the Usage Panel disapproves of the constructionto impact on, as in the phrasesocial pathologies, common to the inner city, that impact heavily on such a community; and fully 95 percent disapproves of the use ofimpact as a transitive verb in the sentence Companies have used disposable techniques that have a potential for impacting our health. But even these figures do not reflect the degree of distaste with which critics view the usage:in their comments some Panelists labeled the usage as "bureaucratic,” "pretentious,” "vile,” and "a vulgarism.” ·It may be that the particular pretentiousness associated with the verbal use ofimpact is caused by its derivation from an already questionable metaphoric use of the noun impact, as in phrases such asthe political impact of the decision or the impact of the program on the community, in which no more is usually meant than might have been expressed by effects or consequences. But thoughimpact may have begun life a generation ago as an inflated substitute for "affect significantly,” it has by now become so common in corporate and institutional contexts that younger speakers appear to regard it as wholly standard and straightforward usage.Within a few years, accordingly,the usage is likely to be no more objectionable thancontact is now, since it will no longer betray any particular pretentiousness on the part of those who use it.See Usage Note at contact 每一代的批评家好象都挑了一个特别的用法作为他们认为的语言上的愚蠢行为的象征。三十年以前是contact 作为动词的用法, 但是对这种形式的反对或多或少已经消失了,注意力现在集中到了impact 意思为“有不好的影响、影响”的动词用法上。 用法专题小组成员中百分之八十四不同意to impact on 的结构, 如在短语对内城区来说很普通的社会病理学,对这样一个社区产生了很大影响的 当中; 百分之九十五的成员完全不同意impact 在句子 公司已经使用了可能会对我们的健康产生不良影响的易处理技术 中当作及物动词来使用。 但是即使是这些数字也没有反映出批评家们对这种用法厌恶的程度:在他们的评论当中有些成员把这种用法说成是“官僚主义的”、“装腔作势的”,“可耻的”,还说这是“粗鄙的语言。”也许和impact 的动词用法有关联的虚饰成份是由于它是从名词 impact 的一个早有争议的比喻用法衍变而来造成的。 如在短语这个决定在政治上的影响 或者 这个计划对公众的影响 中它的意思并没有比用 effects 或者 consequences 表达出来的意思要多。 尽管impact 作为“明显地影响”的夸大了的替代可能在一代人之前开始产生, 但是现在的年轻一代使用者看上去把它当成了完全标准的、直接的用法,这在共同的和惯例的文章中已经很普遍了。相应地在几年内,这种用法很有可能不比今天的contact 更引起反对, 因为对于那些使用它的人来说这不会再显得有点矫揉造作了 参见 contact |
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