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释义 〔arrowroot〕The arrowroot is just one of many plants that the European settlers and explorers discovered in the New World.The Arawak, a people who formerly lived on the Caribbean Islands and continue to inhabit certain regions of Guiana, named this plantaru-aru, meaning "meal of meals,” so called because they thought very highly of the starchy, nutritious meal made from the arrowroot.The plant also had medicinal value because its tubers could be used to draw poison from wounds inflicted by poison arrows.The medicinal application of the roots provided the impetus for English speakers to remakearu-aru into arrowroot, first recorded in English in 1696. Folk etymology—the process by which an unfamiliar element in a word is changed to resemble a more familiar word,often one that is semantically associated with the word being refashioned—has triumphed once again,thus denying us the direct borrowing ofaru-aru and giving us arrowroot instead. 竹芋仅是欧洲探险家和拓荒者在新大陆发现的多种植物中的一种。曾居住在加勒比海各岛,现仍在圭亚那部分地区居住的阿拉瓦克人把这种植物称为aru-aru 意思是“餐中餐”, 这样称呼是因为他们非常看重这种用竹芋粉做成的淀粉状的,非常有营养的食物。这种植物同时还有医疗价值,因为其块茎可用来从毒箭箭伤处把毒吸出来。这种植物的医疗作用促使讲英语的人重新将aru-aru 命名为 arrowroot ,1696年首次在英语中予以记载。 词的通俗变化就是比较陌生的词被比较熟悉的词所替代的过程,常常是被一个语义上与被翻新的词有联系的词。这里,通俗词汇学又一次取得胜利,不允许我们直接借用aru-aru ,而是另给了我们一个 arrowroot 。 〔fix〕Fixing to ranks with y'all as one of the best known markers of Southern dialects, although it seems to be making its way into the informal speech and writing of non-Southerners. Fixing to means "to be on the verge of or in preparation for (doing a given thing),” but like the modal auxiliaries, it has only a single invariant form and is not fully inflected like other verbs. Its form is always the present participle followed by the infinitive marker to : They were fixing to leave without me. Semantically, fixing to can refer only to events that immediately follow the speaker's point of reference. One cannot say, "We're fixing to have a baby in a couple of years.” Fixing to 与 y'all 齐名,都是南方方言的典型代表,但它开始也在非南方人不正式的讲话和写作中运用。 Fixing to 意指“向…报仇或准备好(做交给的事情)”,但它与情态动词一样,只有一种变形形式,不象其它动词那样有完整的一套词尾变形。它常用带动词不定式的符号 to 加现在分词的形式: 他们正准备不等我就离开。 从语义上来看, fixing to 仅用于紧跟在说话者观点后的事情。不能说,“我们准备在近几年内要个孩子” 〔transformation〕The process of converting a syntactic construction into a semantically equivalent construction according to the rules shown to generate the syntax of the language.语句结构转换:根据产生语法规则把一个语法结构转换成语义上的结构〔kind〕The use of the plural demonstrativesthese and those with kind and sort, as inthese kind (or sort ) of films, has been a traditional bugbear of American grammarians. By and large,British grammarians have been more tolerant,and the construction can be found in the works of British writers from Pope to Dickens to Churchill.Grammatically, the question boils down towhetherkind and sort should be treated as head nouns (analogous to species or variety, for example) or whether they have become semantically weakened to the status of a sort of phrasal quantifierthat functions like an adjective,analogous in some ways tobunch and number in expressions such asa bunch of friends, a number of reasons. Ifkind and sort are unambiguously nouns, one would expect to see only singular demonstratives and singular verbs accompanying them: 复数形式的指示代词these 和 those 与 kind 和 sort 的用法, 如these kind (或 sort ) of films, 成为美国语法专家长期感到头痛的问题。 总的说来,英国语法专家对此更能容忍,这一句法结构可以在从蒲柏到狄更斯以至丘吉尔这些英国作家的著作中找到。在语法上,问题归结起来是,是否kind 和 sort 应当作中心词名词(例如,与 species 或 variety 类似), 或者是否他们语义上减弱到一种数量词短语的地位,其功能像一个形容词,某些方面类似于bunch 和 number , 其表述例如一群朋友,一大堆理由。 如果kind 和 sort 是明确的名词, 人们应该希望只看到单数指示代词和与之相伴的单数动词: 〔hardly〕The use ofhardly with a negative is avoided in Standard English. Some critics have been puzzled that adverbs such ashardly, rarely, and scarcely should be treated as negatives in the traditional strictures against double negation, which tars sentences likeI couldn't hardly see him with the same brush as I didn't get none. After all, they argue, the sentenceMary hardly laughed entails that Mary did laugh, not that she didn't,and therefore does not express a negative proposition.Buthardly and scarcely occur with other negative expressions in a number of ways. For one thing, they combine with items such asany and at all, which are characteristically associated with negative contexts: we sayI hardly saw him at all or I never saw him at all but notI occasionally saw him at all; we sayI hardly had any time or I didn't have any time but notI had any time, and so on. Like other negative adverbs,hardly triggers inversion of the subject and auxiliary when it begins a sentence. Thus we sayHardly had I arrived when she left, on the pattern of Never have I read such a book or At no time has he condemned the movement. Such inversion is not used with other adverbs:we would not sayOccasionally has he addressed this question or To a slight degree have they changed their position. The fact is that adverbs such ashardly are semantically negative in that they qualify a state or an event relative to the limiting case of nonoccurrence.Thus the meaning ofhardly is, roughly, "almost not at all"; the meaning ofrarely is "practically never"; and so forth. These adverbs are felt to have a negative component in their meaning,and it should not be surprising that grammarians have reacted to combinations ofhardly with negatives in the same way that they have reacted to combinations of pairs of negatives such as not and none. See Usage Note at double negative ,rarely ,scarcely Hardly 和一个否定词在一起的用法在标准英语中应尽量避免, 一些批评学家一直怀疑象hardly,rarely 和 scarcely 这样的副词在传统的双重否定的句中应被视为否定词, 这样的词使句子象I couldn't hardly see him 和 I didn't get none 一样被弄糟了, 他们争论说,毕竟句子Mary hardly laughed 的意思是玛丽的确笑了, 而不是她没笑,所以不表示否定的建议。但是hardly 和 scarcely 和其他的否定表示一起在许多方面出现, 举例说,他们和象any 和 at all 这样独特的和否定上下文联系的条目组合在一起, 我们说I hardly saw him at all 或 I never saw him at all , 但并不是I occasionally saw him at all; 我们说I hardly had any time 或 I didn't have any time 但不是I had any time 等。 象其它否定副词,hardly 在句子开头时引起主语和助动词的倒装, 于是我们说Hardly had I arrived when she left, 和 Never have I read such a book 或 At no time has he condemned the movement. 等同样的句型。 别的副词并不用这样的倒装:我们不能说Occasionally has he addressed this question 或 To a slight degree have they changed their position 。 事实是象hardly 这样的副词语义上是否定的, 他们限定修饰了与不发生有关的状态或事件。于是hardly 的意思大概是“几乎根本不”; rarely 的意思大概是“实际上没有”;等等。 这些副词在他们的意思里留有否定的成分,语法学家们对hardly 和否定词组合的反应和对一对否定词如 not 和 none组合的反应一样是不足为奇的 参见 double negative,rarely,scarcely〔what〕Whenwhat is the subject of a clause, it may be construed as singular or plural, depending on the sense.It is singular when taken as the equivalent ofthat which or the thing which, as inI see what seems to be a dead tree; and it is plural when it is taken as the equivalent ofthose which or the things which, as inHe sometimes makes what seem to be gestures of aloofness. ? When awhat clause is itself the subject of a sentence, it may be construed as singular or plural,but the conditions governing this choice are somewhat more complicated.In general, awhat clause will be taken as a plural when the clause contains an explicit indication of its own plurality. There are two principal cases.First, the clause is plural ifwhat is the subject of the clause and the verb of the clause is itself plural: What seem to be two dead trees are blocking the road. What most surprise me are the inflammatory remarks at the end of his article. If the verb in thewhat clause does not anticipate the plural sense of the predicate in this way, a singular verb is generally used in the main clause as well,though the plural is sometimes found:What truly commands respect is (sometimes are ) a large navy and a resolute foreign policy. Second, thewhat clause is treated as plural when its predicate contains a plural noun phrase that unambiguously establishes the plurality of the clause as a whole, as inWhat traditional grammarians called "predicates" are called "verb phrases" by modern linguists. What the Romans established as military outposts were later to become important trading centers. In the absence of explicit plural marking of either of these types in a subjectwhat clause, the clause is usually treated as singular for the purposes of agreement, regardless of the sense:What she held in her lap was four kittens. What the apparent diamonds turned out to be was paste. In some cases, however, a clause withwhat as the subject may be treated as singular or plural, depending on a subtle distinction of sense. InWhat excite him most are money and power, the implication is that money and power are distinct elements; inWhat excites him most is money and power, the implication is that money and power are taken as constituting a single entity.See Usage Note at which 当what 作为从句中的主语时, 它既可被当作单数也可以为复数,这取决于词义。当被看作是that which 或 the thing which 时它就是单数, 如在I see what seems to be a dead tree(我看到个象棵死树的物体)” 这句话中; 当它被用作those which 或 the things which 的对应词时它是复数, 如在He sometimes makes what seem to be gestures of aloofness(他有时做一些似乎很超然的手势) 中。 当what 从句本身是句子的主语时, 它可被当作单数或复数,但决定这种选择的条件略为复杂些。总体上说,what 从句的含有对其数性明确指示时,它就可以将当作复数。 这有两种最主要的情况:首先,如果what 是从句的主语而该从句的谓语动词本身是复数,从句就是复数: What seem to be two dead trees are blocking the road.(象两棵死树的物体挡着路); What mostsurprise me are the inflammatory remarks at the end of his article.(最令我吃惊的是他文章结尾处的煽动性言词) 。 如果what 从句的谓语动词并不预示谓语是复数, 主句中通常也用单数动词,尽管有时也可以发现有复数:What truly commands respect is(有时 are ) a large navy and a resolute foreign policy(真正博得尊敬的是强大的海军和坚定的外交政策) ; 其次what 从句在其谓语含有复数名词短语,并且其明显可建立整个从句的复数性时是被当作复数的, 如在What traditional grammarians called "predicates" are called "verb phrases" by modern linguists.(那些传统语法家所称为“谓语”的则被现代语言学家称作“动词短语”) What the Romans established as military outpostswere later to become important trading centers.(那些罗马人设为军事前哨基地的地方后来成为了重要的贸易中心)。 当what 从句主语缺乏这两类明确表示复数性的标记时, 从句通常为了一致性而不顾及词义地被当作单数:What she held in her lap was four kittens.(她抱在膝盖上的是四只小猫)。 What the apparent diamonds turned out to bewas paste.(那些看上去象真的钻石结果却是人造宝石) 。 然而,在一些情况下,以what 作主语的从句可被当单数或复数,取决于语义上微妙的差异。 在What excite him most are money and power(最让他兴奋的是金钱和权力), 这句话中暗含着金钱和权力是不同的成分; 在What excites him most is money and power(最让他兴奋的是金钱和权力), 这句话中暗含着金钱和权力是作为构成一个单一整体的成分 参见 which〔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 〔complected〕Complected has a long history in American folk speech, showing up, for example, in 1806 in the journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition: “[The Indians] are . . . reather lighter complected . . . than the Indians of the Missouri" (Meriwether Lewis).Complected has long been treated as a dialectal term in dictionaries, but it actually should be regarded as informal Standard English,since its wide distribution (including New England, the Midwest, the South, and elsewhere)disqualifies it as a true regionalism.Its use by one western Texas informant quoted inDARE extends its semantic domain beyond skin color to general appearance: "a fat-complected man.” Complected 在美国民间传说中有一段很长的历史, 例如,1806年,在路易斯和克拉克的探险旅行中: “ …相对密苏里印第安人的脸色白皙一些” (玛丽维瑟尔·路易斯)。Complected 这个词长期以来在字典中一直被当作方言看待, 但是它实际上应该算作非正式标准英语,它的使用是如此广泛(包括新英格兰、中西部、南方和其它地区),所以它不是地区性的。据一位得克萨斯州西部的提供消息者在DARE 中所引用的用法已延伸了其语义上的范围,即从专指肤色到指整体形象: “一个肥胖男人” 〔examine〕A student who is being examined might prefer at times to deal with a swarm of bees rather than be weighed in the balance once again.The history of the wordexamine involves both phenomena. Examine, first recorded in English in a work composed before 1338,goes back to the Latin wordexāmināre, which in turn is derived fromexāmen, meaning both "a swarm of bees" and "the apparatus or process of weighing, balance.” Exāmen has these senses because it is formed from the prefixex-, "out of,” and the root .ag-, "to drive, force.” The semantic possibilities of this combination are shown by the senses of the related verbexigere, which meant "to drive out,” "to exact payment,” "to demand,” and "to inquire after or into.”The verbexāmināre derived from exāmen has the sense "to swarm" as well as the senses "to weigh, balance,” and "to consider critically.”一个正在考试的学生有时宁愿去对付一群蜜蜂也不愿再一次参加考试。examine 这个词的历史涉及到以上两种现象。 Examine 在英文最早的记录是出现于1338年以前的一本书中,回溯到拉丁文中的examinare, 其源自examen, 意思不但包括“蜂群”,还包括“衡量和平衡的程序或装置”。 Examen 具有这些含义是因为它由前缀ex-, 意为“超出”,和词根 ag-, 意为“驱使,强迫”组成的。 这个组合在语义上包含的几种可能被相关动词exigere 的意义表达出来, 它的含义有“赶出”、“要求支付”、“需要”和“问候或调查”。examinare 这个动词源自 examen, 含有“云集”的意思, 同时也有“衡量、平衡”和“吹毛求疵地考虑”等含义〔redundancy〕The usages that critics have condemned as redundancies fall into several classes.In some cases,such asconsensus of opinion, close proximity, hollow tube, and refer back, the use of what is regarded as an unnecessary modifier or qualifier can sometimes be justified on the grounds that it in fact makes a semantic contribution.Thus ahollow tube can be distinguished from one that has been blocked up with deposits, and aconsensus of opinion can be distinguished from a consensus of judgments or practice. In other cases the use of the qualifier is harder to defend.Thus there is no way torevert without reverting back and noconsensus that is not general. · Sometimes recognition of redundancy may require familiarity with a foreign language.The expressionsSierra Mountains and Rio Grande River are indeed redundant for those who know Spanish, but the use of the wordsmountains and river may still serve some purpose when one is addressing an English-speaking audience. Occasionally, what originates as a redundant element may, through long use,become part of the established name of a thing.Thus a reference to the site of a famous World War II battle as "the El Alamein"incorporates three versions of the definite article, in English, Spanish, and Arabic.See Usage Note at close ,consensus ,cross section ,mental telepathy ,rarely ,refer 被评论家指责为冗长和重复的使用方法可分为几类。在某些情况下,如consensus of opinion,、close proximity、 hollow tube 和 refer back , 这种不必要修饰或限定语的使用有时也不能完全否定,因为它们从语义上说还是有意义的。因此,一个空管子 可以与被装填物堵满的管子相区别, 观点的一致 可以与判断力或惯例的一致相区别。 在其它情况下类似修饰语的使用就不那么容易自圆其说了。因此,没有 reverting back 就没有办法 revert , 没有 consensus 不是 general。 · 有时辨认出冗余需要对外语很熟悉。对于懂西班牙语的人来说 Sierra Mountains 和 Rio Grande River 这类说法是重复的, 但当对说英语的人讲话时,使用 mountains 和 river 还是有用的。 有时,一个刚产生时是多余的成份经过长时间使用后,可成为一个物体固定的一部分。因此当提到二战时叫做“阿拉曼战役”的著名战役时,在英语、西班牙语和阿拉伯语中的定冠词的三种形式取得了一致 参见 close,consensus,cross section,mental telepathy,rarely,refer
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