单词 | 缩写成 |
释义 | 〔taxi〕"Taxi" is much easier to yell into the traffic thantaximeter cabriolet, the form from which taxi has ultimately been shortened. Taximeter comes from the French word taximètre, ultimately derived from Medieval Latintaxāre, "to tax,” and the French combining form -metre. Taximètre originally meant, as did its English companion, "a device for measuring distance traveled,” but this device was soon adapted to measure waiting time and compute and indicate the fare as well.Taximeter, first recorded in English in 1898 (an earlier form, taxameter, borrowed through French from German, was recorded in 1894), joined forces withcab, a shortening (1827) of cabriolet, "a two-wheeled, one-horse carriage.” This word, first found in English in 1766,came from Frenchcabriolet, of the same meaning, which in turn was derived fromcabriole, "caper,” because the vehicle moves along with a springing motion.Cab, the shortened form, was applied to other vehicles as well, including eventually public conveyances.Fitted with a taximeter, such a vehicle,first horse-drawn and then motorized,was known as ataxameter cab (1899), a taximeter cab (1907), and a taxicab (1907), among other names, includingtaxi (1907), a shortening of eithertaximeter or taxicab. Interestingly enough,the fullest form possible,taximeter cabriolet, is not recorded until 1959."Taxi"比taximeter cabriolet (最终缩写成 taxi 的形式)更容易在交通中叫出。 Taximeter 来源于法语 taximètre , 它最早来自中世纪拉丁文taxare (“征税”)和法语复合形式 -metre。 Taximètre(与它的英语同伴一样,最初意为“测量行驶距离的设备”), 这一设备很快适合于测量等待时间并计算和显示车费。Taximeter 在英语中首次记载于1898年(更早的形式 taxameter 是从德语通过法语借来的,记载于1894年), 同cabriolet (“一种双轮双马马车”)的缩写形式(1827年) cab 结合。 这一单词最早于1766年在英语中发现,来源于具有同一种意思的法语cabriolet , 它依次来源于cabride (“跳跃”), 因为这种车辆移动时有跳跃的运动;缩写形式cab 还可以适用于其它的车辆, 包括最终的公共运输工具;被安装了自动计费器的车辆,开始是马拉的,后来装上马达,被称作taxameter cab (1899年)、 taximeter cab (1907年)和 taxicab (1901年)。 在其它的名称中包括taxi (1907年), 它是taximeter 或 taxicab 的缩写形式。 非常有趣的是,可能是最全的形式的taximeter cabriolet , 直到1959年才有记载〔canter〕Most of those who have majored in English literature,and many more besides,know that Chaucer'sCanterbury Tales were told by a group of pilgrims on their way to Canterbury to visit the shrine of England's famous martyr Thomas à Becket.Many pilgrims other than Chaucer's visited Canterbury on horse,and phrases such asCanterbury gallop, Canterbury pace, and Canterbury trot described the easy gait at which they rode to their destination. The first recorded instance of one of these phrases,Canterbury pace, is found in a work published before 1636. However, in a work written in 1631 we find a shortened form,the nounCanterbury, meaning "a canter,” and later, in 1673,the verbCanterbury, meaning "to canter.” This verb, or perhaps the noun,was further shortened, giving us the verbcanter, first recorded in 1706,and the nouncanter, first recorded in 1755. 专业是英语文学史的绝大多数人,还有许多其他的人,都知道乔叟的 坎特伯雷故事集 是由一群朝圣者在坎特伯雷的路上讲述的, 他们去那里是为了瞻仰英格兰著名的殉道士托马斯· 贝科特的神殿。除了乔叟笔下的这些朝圣者外的许多其他朝圣者也骑着马前去。一些短语,例如Canterbury gallop,Canterbury pace 和 Canterbury trot 描述了这些朝圣者在骑往他们的目的地时的缓和步态。 这些短语最早见于记录的例子Canterbury pace 发现于1636年之前出版的一部著作中。 然而,在写于1631年的一部著作中我们找到了一个缩略的形式,名词Canterbuty, 意即“慢跑”; 后来在1673年,又有了动词Canterbury, 意为“慢跑。” 这一动词,或者也许是这个名词,后来又被进一步缩写成canter, 该动词最早被记录于1706年,而名词canter 则被最早记录于1755年 〔debunk〕One can readily see thatdebunk is constructed from the prefix de-, meaning "to remove,” and the wordbunk. But what is the origin of the wordbunk, denoting the nonsense that is to be removed? Bunk came from a place where much bunk has originated, the United States Congress.During the 16th Congress (1819-1821) Felix Walker, a representative from western North Carolina whose district included Buncombe County, continued on with a dull speech in the face of protests by his colleagues.Walker replied he had felt obligated "to make a speech for Buncombe.”Such a masterful symbol for empty talk could not be ignored by the speakers of the language,andBuncombe, actually spelled Bunkum in its first recorded appearance in 1828 and later shortened tobunk, became synonymous with claptrap. The response to all this bunk seems to have been delayed,fordebunk is not recorded until 1923. 可以很容易地看出debunk 是由前缀 de-, 表“去掉”和单词bunk 构成的。 可是单词bunk 表示“要除去的无稽之谈”的含意的起源是什么呢? Bunk 来自美国国会,一个产生大量空话、假话的地方。在第16届国会期间(1819-1821年),一个来自北卡罗来纳州西部(其区域包括邦克姆县)的代表费列克斯·沃尔克面对其同僚们的抗议,而进行持续冗长枯燥的演讲,沃尔克说他有责任“为邦克姆发表演说”。这种说空话的杰作是不会被说英语的人忽视的。Buncombe 实际上在1828年第一次被记载时拼作 Bunkum , 后来缩写成Bunk 并成为 claptrap 的同义词。 对这空话的反应似乎被耽搁了,因为debunk 直到1923年才被记录下来 |
随便看 |
|
英汉汉英双解词典收录301015条英汉双解翻译词条,可根据汉字查询相应的英文词汇,基本涵盖了全部常用汉字的英文读音、翻译及用法,是英语学习及翻译工作的有利工具。