| 单词 | 这一点 |
| 释义 | 〔immaterial〕The wordimmaterial, meaning "of no importance or relevance,” has made its way in the world in spite of the opposition of no less a figure than Samuel Johnson. Johnson stated that "this sense has crept into the conversation and writings of barbarians; but ought to be utterly rejected.”More than two centuries laterit is difficult for us to recover Johnson's strength of feeling,and this tale might in fact serve as a warning to those who believe that the usages they abominate will not survive and become standard.Although Johnson was a man of immense learning,he did not have the lexicographical resources available today.If Johnson had had access to theOxford Latin Dictionary and the Middle English Dictionary, among other works, he would have seen that frommāter, meaning "a mother,” "a plant as the source of things such as cuttings or fruit,” and "a source,”was derived the wordmāteria, meaning "wood as a building material,” "any substance of which a physical object is made,” "the subject matter of a speech or book,” and "the condition whereby an action is effected.”The adjectivemāteriālis derived from māteria only meant "of or concerned with subject matter" in Classical Latin, but its descendant in Late and Medieval Latin and its descendants in Old French (materiel ) and Middle English ( material ) developed other meanings, such as "consisting of matter.”One Middle English sense, "important, relevant,”that probably harks back to senses of Classical Latinmāteria such as "subject matter" continued in existence after Middle English times. So it was natural for the English wordimmaterial, first recorded in the 15th century, to come to mean "not important,” in spite of Johnson's wrath.尽管不只塞缪尔·约翰逊一个人反对意思为“不重要的，无关紧要的”，immaterial 这个词还是产生了。 约翰逊声明：“这个意思偷偷出现在野蛮民族的对话和写作中；但应该遭到完全抵制。”两个多世纪之后，我们很难重新找到约翰逊强烈的感受。这个故事实际上可以算是对那些认为他们厌恶的用法不可能生存和标准化的人的一种警告。尽管约翰逊是一个博学的人，但是他没有今天可以得到的词汇学的资料。如果约翰逊除了其他著作外能得到牛津拉丁语词典 和 中古英语词典 的话， 他就能从中认识到这一点：mater ， 意思为“母亲”，“作为诸如剪下的东西或水果来源的一株植物”和“来源”，是由materia ， 意思为“建筑用的木材”，“用于制造物体的任何材料”，“讲话或著作的主题”和“影响一个行动的条件”而衍变而来的。形容词materalis 是由在古典拉丁语中仅仅意味着“和主题有关的” materia 衍变而来的， 但它在中古拉丁语和后期拉丁语中的衍生词和古法语中的衍生词(materiel )以及中古英语中的衍生词( material )继续发展有了其他的意思， 如“由物质组成的”。中古英语的一个意思“重要的、有关的”，很可能追溯到古典拉丁语materia 的意思如“主题”在中古英语时期之后继续存在。 因此，最早在15世纪被记录下来的英语单词immaterial 至今仍有“不重要的”的意思是很自然的， 尽管约翰逊对此很愤怒〔problematic〕"if you ever get married, which seems to me extremely problematic"(Oscar Wilde)“你是否结过婚，这一点对我来说很值得怀疑”(奥斯卡·怀尔德)〔here〕Here I must disagree.这一点我必须反对〔inconvincible〕was inconvincible as to the validity of our idea.关于我们意见的可行性这一点是没有说服力的〔whiskey〕Eitherwhiskey or, less frequently, whisky can be used to refer to spirits distilled in the United States. Some writers prefer to reservewhisky for spirits distilled in Great Britain, but there is no widespread agreement on this point.无论是whiskey ，还是略为少见的 whisky 被用来指在美国提炼生产烈性酒。 有一些作家更倾向于将whisky 留作指在英国提炼生产的烈性酒， 不过就这一点并未形成普遍广泛一致意见〔silver〕Resembling silver, especially in having a lustrous shine; silvery.似银的：象银的，尤指有闪亮光泽这一点上；似银的〔frown〕Caesar's division of Gaul into three parts used to be known by every child who learned Latin,but perhaps even classically trained schoolchildren did not always realize that in spite of the conquest of Gaul by the Romans, some Gaulish elements lived on, such as our wordfrown. This word is descended from Gaulish, a Celtic language that is related to Welsh and Irish. Frown, first recorded in Middle English in a work composed around 1395,came from Old Frenchfroigner, which meant "to turn up one's nose.” The Old French word was derived fromfrogne, "grimace,” which in turn came from the hypothetical Gaulish word.frogna, "nose,” which is related to Welshffroen, "nose,” and Old Irish srōn, "nose.” 每一个学拉丁文的孩子都知道凯撒三分高卢，但如果不是罗马人征服高卢，高卢语中许多东西至今依然存在，例如frown ，恐怕即使在学校里按传统方式教育的孩子都不可能知道这一点了。 此词来自高卢语，一种与威尔士语和爱尔兰语有关的凯尔特语。 Frown， 首先见于中世纪一本约1359年的英语书，来自古法语froigner， 意为“皱起某人的鼻子”。 古法语词则源自frogne， “鬼脸，” 源自臆测的高卢词·frogna， 意为“鼻子”， 与威尔士语ffroen， “鼻子”和与古爱尔兰语 sron 意为“鼻子”有关 〔poet〕In reading their verse aloud, few bards can compare to Dylan Thomas.在大声朗读他们的诗歌这一点上，很少有哪位人能与迪兰·托马斯相较。〔jungle〕One might be surprised to learn that the wordjungle is not African in origin nor does it come from a word that only meant "land densely overgrown with tropical vegetation and trees.” Jungle goes back to the Sanskrit word jaṅgalam, meaning "desert, wasteland,”and also "any kind of uncultivated area, such as heavily forested land.”The Sanskrit wordjaṅgala- passed into various Indian languages and from one or more of these languages into English.In Englishjungle was used for land overgrown with vegetation, for the vegetation itself,and for such land outside India.The word was also extended figuratively in various ways.We have, for example, asphalt jungles, concrete jungles, blackboard jungles, academic jungles, corporate jungles,and, in a February 1972 issue of theGuardian, the government official who "lit up some lurid corners of the taxation jungle.”jungle 一词的词源不是非洲语，也不是来自仅仅意为“长满茂密的热带植物和树木的地带”的单词；知道这一点也许会让人吃惊。 Jungle 可追溯到梵语词 jangalam ， 其意为“荒漠，荒原”，也指“任何未开垦的地域，如茂密的森林”。梵语词jangala- 传入多种印度语中， 又从这其中的一种或多种语言再传入英语。在英语中jungle 用来指长满植物的地带， 指植物本身，也指印度以外的类似地带。该词也在多方面引申为比喻意义。例如，我们有柏油丛林、水泥丛林、黑板丛林、学术丛林、公司丛林，此外在1972年2月发行的一期卫报 上， 还出现了“揭露税收丛林中鲜为人知的龌龊勾当”的政府官员〔leprechaun〕Nothing seems more Irish than the leprechaun;yet, hiding within the wordleprechaun is a word from another language entirely. If we look back beyond Modern Irish Gaelicluprachán and Middle Irish luchrupán to Old Irish luchorpān, we can see the connection.Luchorpān is a compound of Old Irish lū, meaning "small,” and the Old Irish word corp, "body.” Corp is borrowed from Latin corpus (which we know from habeas corpus ). Here is a piece of evidence attesting to the deep influence of Church Latin on the Irish language.Although the word is old in Irishit is fairly new in English,being first recorded in 1604.没有什么东西看上去比矮妖精更具有爱尔兰特色；但是，leprechaum （矮妖精）这个单词里却隐藏着一个完全来源于另一种语言的单词。 如果我们通过现代爱尔兰语中的luprachan 和中世纪爱尔兰语 luchrupan 一词，追溯到古代爱尔兰语中的 luchorpan 这个单词， 我们就可以看出其中的联系了。luchorpan 是由古代爱尔兰语中表示“小、矮小”，意思的 lu 和古代爱尔兰语中表示“身体”的 corp 一词所构成的复合词。 corp 一词是从拉丁语中 corpus 借用过来的（这一点我们可以从 habeas corpus 【人身保护令】得知）。 这是一个证明教堂拉丁语对爱尔兰语有着重大影响的证据。虽然该词在爱尔兰语中已经很古老了，但在英语中却很新，首次记录于1604年〔sloppy〕"I do not see how the sloppiest reasoner can evade that" (H.G. Wells).“我不明白最散漫的推理者如何逃避这一点” (H·G·威尔斯）。〔rambunctious〕The origins oframbunctious are not clearly established, a situation that may be better understood after looking at the evidence.The development that is generally accepted is from the wordrobustious, derived fromrobust and first recorded in a work written before 1548, torumbustious, first recorded in 1778, to rambunctious, first recorded in 1830, all three words having more or less the same meaning.But how didrobustious lead to rumbustious ? It has been suggested that the wordrumble played a part in this, although the wordrumbustion, meaning "the alcoholic beverage rum,” might also have been involved. The first form in whichrambunctious is recorded is rumbunctious, showing howrumbustious was involved in the alteration of robustious to rambunctious, but how the sound indicated bys became that indicated by nc or why the first u became a is a mystery. Rambunctious 的词源并没有十分清楚地确定， 看一下证据就能更好地理解这一点。通常认为它的发展过程是源于robustious 这个词， 它来自robust 并最早记载于1548年以前的一篇作品中， 至于rumbustious 则首次见载于1778年， rumbunctious 的最早的文字记载是在1830年， 这三个词的意思大致相同。但是robustious 怎样演变到 rumbustious 的呢? 有人认为，rumble 这个词起了一定的作用， 尽管rumbustion 意为“含酒精饮料甜酒，”但可能也参与了其演变。 Rambunctious 有记载的最早形式是 rumbunctious ， 这表明了rumbustious 这个词如何参与了从 robustious 到 rambunctious 的演变， 但s 所代表的声音是如何变成 nc 所代表的声音的或为什么第一个 u 变成了 a 仍然还是谜 〔enormity〕the world really become aware of the enormity of Pol Pot's oppression. Fifty-nine percent of the Usage Panel rejects the use ofenormity in the more general sense in the sentenceAt that point the engineers sat down to design an entirely new viaduct, apparently undaunted by the enormity of their task. This distinction betweenenormity and enormousness has not always existed historically, but nowadays many observe it.Writers who ignore it in phrases such asthe enormity of the President's election victory or the enormity of her inheritance may find their words an unintended source of amusement.整个世界也才注意到波尔布特高压政策的穷凶极恶。 用法使用小组的59％成员都反对在如下句子里将enormity 该词用于更广泛的意义， 如在句子当坐下来开始设计一座全新的高架桥时，很明显地工程师们对他们所面临的艰巨工作无所畏惧 中。 这种enomity 和 enormousness 间的差异并不总是在历史上存在， 但现在很多人都观察到了这一点。那些在例如总统竞选的巨大胜利 或 她的巨额遗产 这些短语中忽略了该差异的作者们， 很可能会发现他们的词语无意中变成逗乐趣事的来源〔can〕Only 21 percent of the Usage Panel acceptscan in the latter sentence. Butcan has a long history of use by educated speakers to express permission, particularly in British English.What is more, the blurring of the line betweencan and may is socially and historically inevitable, since politeness often makes the use ofcan preferable in the "permission" sense. For example, the sentenceYou can borrow my car if you like is a more gracious offer than You may borrow my car; the first presumes the granting of permission,while the second makes a point of it.Still, it is understandable that insistence on the use ofmay should become a traditional schoolroom ritual, particularly in first-person requests such as 用法专题使用小组中只有21%的成员接纳can 用于后面一句中。 但can 被受过教育的说话者用于表示许可已有很长的历史， 尤其是在大不列颠英语中。而且，can 和 may 之间不明显的界限从社会和历史渊源上说也是不可避免的， 因为礼貌常使can 的使用比较适宜“允许”这个意义。 例如，句子如你想要的话，你可以借用我的车 是比 你可以借用我的车； 亲切得多的提议， 第一句假定表示许可，而第二句却限定于这一点。然而，主张may 的用法应成为课堂内的惯例也是可以理解的， 尤其是在第一人称中，如 〔care〕It is true that a close examination of the syntax of the phraseI could care less reveals that it ought by rights to mean something like "I care more than I might,” rather than "I don't care at all.” But while the illogicality of a phrase may be reason enough for excluding it from formal writing,this illogicality cannot be invoked as grounds for keeping it out of the colloquial language,particularly when the phrase is itself an expression of casual indifference.See Usage Note at cannot 对短语I could care less 的句法的仔细研究揭示，该短语按理应有类似“我极其在意，甚于我应该做的”的意思，而不表示“我一点儿也不介意”，这一点确凿无疑。 但是，尽管由于一个短语有不合逻辑性的含义，也许这一点足以使其不合逻辑的用法被排除在正式文体之外；这不合逻辑性却不能被援引作为把它排除在口语用法之外的根据，尤其是当该短语本身只是一个非正式的或随意的表达语时 参见 cannot〔intrapreneur〕The wordentrepreneur is more than 150 years old, having come into English from French in 1828.But it is not until very recently that we find its intracorporate counterpart,intrapreneur, meaning "a person within a large corporation who takes direct responsibility for turning an idea into a profitable finished product through assertive risk-taking and innovation.”This coinage is generally attributed to management consultant Gifford Pinchot,author of the 1985 book entitledIntrapreneuring; others insist its true originator was Norman Macrae, deputy editor of theEconomist, although Macrae himself denies it.Still, whatever its exact source,in the scant number of years since its inception the termintrapreneur has gained currency very quickly. It has also given rise to various derivatives,such as the aforementioned gerundintrapreneuring, the noun intrapreneurship (as in a September 30, 1985, interview with Stephen Jobs inNewsweek : "The Macintosh team was what is commonly known as intrapreneurship—only a few years before the term was coined—a group of people going in essence back to the garage, but in a large company"),the adjectiveintrapreneurial, and another noun, intrapreneurialism ("what has become known as intrapreneurialism, where people within the corporation acquire more adventurous small business outlooks,” by Ian Hamilton-Fazy in "An Uneasy Co-existence,”Financial Times, October 23, 1984). Broad use of a word and the development of numerous derivatives are strong signals predicting staying power within the language.Intrapreneur and its spinoffs are of particular interest to etymologists and lexicographers because they illustrate the constant changes inherent in a living language.entrepreneur 一词已有150多年的历史， 于1828年从法语传入英语。但是直到最近我们才发现其在公司内部的对应人物intrapreneur ， 意为“对通过果断地承担风险和革新使想法变为有利可图的成品这一过程承担直接责任的大公司里的高级成员”。这个新造的词普遍认为应归功于业务顾问吉福德·平肖，1985年出版的名为Intrapreneuring 一书的作者； 其他人坚持其真正的发明者是经济学家 杂志的副编辑诺曼·麦克里， 虽然麦克里本人否认这一点。然而，不管其准确的起源是什么，自它开始出现以来的短短几年中，intrapreneur 一词已很快流行开来。 它同样产生了多个衍生词，例如前面提到的动名词intrapreneuring ，名词 intrapreneurship （例如新闻周刊 于1985年9月30日斯蒂芬·乔布斯的采访中： “马金托什队通常地以出色的企业运作而闻名——仅仅是这个词条被发明的几年前——一群实质上是回到汽车房的人，而现在不过是大公司的汽车房罢了”），形容词intraprenurial 以及另一个名词 intrapreneurialim （以企业运作主义出名的地方，在那儿公司内部的职员获得更为冒险的商业前景”，伊恩·汉密尔顿一费茨的“不稳定的共存”，金融时报 1984年10月23日出版）。 一个词的广泛运用以及无数派生词的产生是预示语言内部持久力的强烈的信号。词源学家以及词典编纂者对intrpreneur 以及它的派生词产生了独特的兴趣， 因为它们说明现用语言所固有的持续不断的变化〔spill〕One is not supposed to cry over spilled milk,but at one time the wordspill was associated with many tears. Old Englishspillan, the ancestor of Modern Englishspill, had meanings such as "to destroy, mutilate, kill.”The hints of its future life in connection with substances falling out of containers, often wastefully, were contained in the senses "to waste" and "to shed blood.”But many people, castles, and fortunes were "spilled" before people started spilling milk,at least judging from the recorded evidence.Spill is first recorded in the sense "to cause a substance to fall out of a container" in a work composed in the 14th century.Since then, much water, milk, and gravy have been spilled,while most of the senses having to do with destruction and bloodshed have become obsolete or archaic.对着打翻的牛奶哭是无济于事的，但spill 这个词曾经和眼泪有联系。 古英语单词spillan ， 即现代英语单词spill 的祖先， 具有例如“毁灭，破坏，杀死”等意思。而其“浪费”及“使血流出”的含意则暗示着这个古词将来会与通常是浪费性质的从容器中溢出之物发生联系。但在人们开始洒牛奶之前就已“杀死”了许多人命，“毁坏”了许多城堡，“浪费”了许多财富，这一点至少可以从记载下来的证据判断出来。Spill 最初记录下来的意思是“使一物质溢出一容器”， 这一含意出现于14世纪的一本著作中。从那时起，这个词表达人们泼洒了大量的水、牛奶及肉汁，而这个词与毁灭及流血有联系的有关意思则都成了过时用法或古代用法〔poetic〕"Turner's vision of the rainbow . . . was poetic, and he knew it"(Lawrence Gowing)“特纳对彩虹的体察…是诗意的，他自己知道这一点”(劳伦斯·高温)〔man〕Traditionally,man and words derived from it have been used generically to designate any or all of the human race irrespective of sex.In Old Englishthis was the principal sense ofman, which meant "a human being" regardless of sex;the wordswer and wyf (or w÷pman and wifman ) were used to refer to "a male human being" and "a female human being" respectively. But in Middle Englishman displaced wer as the term for "a male human being,”whilewyfman (which evolved into present-day woman ) was retained for "a female human being.” The result of these changes was an assymetrical arrangement that many criticize as sexist.Many writers have revised some of their practices accordingly.But the precise implications of the usage vary according to the context and the particular use ofman or its derivatives. · Man sometimes appears to have the sense of "person" or "people" when it is used as a count noun, as inA man is known by the company he keeps and Men have long yearned to unlock the secrets of the atom, and in phrases likethe common man and the man in the street. Here the generic interpretation arises indirectly:if a man is known by the company he keeps,then so, by implication, is a woman.For this reasonthe generic interpretation of these uses ofman is not possible where the applicability of the predicate varies according to the sex of the individual. Thus it would be inappropriate to say thatMen are the only animals that can conceive at any time, since the sentence literally asserts that the ability to conceive applies to male human beings.This usage presumes that males can be taken as representatives of the species.In almost all cases,however, the wordsperson and people can be substituted for man and men, often with a gain in clarity. · By contrast,man functions more as a generic when it is used without an article in the singular to refer to the human race, as in sentences likeThe capacity for language is unique to man or in phrases like man's inhumanity to man. But this use ofman is also ambiguous, since it can refer exclusively to male members of the human race.In most contexts wordssuch ashumanity or humankind will convey the generic sense of this use of man. · On the whole,the Usage Panel accepts the generic use ofman, the women members significantly less than the men. The sentenceIf early man suffered from a lack of information, modern man is tyrannized by an excess of it was acceptable to 81 percent of the Panel (including 58 percent of the women and 92 percent of the men).The Panel also accepted compound words derived from genericman. The sentenceThe Great Wall is the only man-made structure visible from space was acceptable to 86 percent (including 76 percent of the women and 91 percent of the men).The sentence"The history of language is the history of mankind" (James Bradstreet Greenough and George Lyman Kittredge) was acceptable to 76 percent (including 63 percent of the women and 82 percent of the men). Such compounds were acceptable even when the context required that they be applied chiefly to women.Thus, 66 percent of the Panel (including 57 percent of the women and 71 percent of the men) accepts the wordmanpower in the sentence Countries that do not permit women to participate in the work force are at a disadvantage in competing with those that do avail themselves of that extra source of manpower. · A related set of problems is raised by the use ofman in forming the names of occupational and social rolessuch asbusinessman, chairman, spokesman, layman, and freshman, as well as in analogous formationssuch asunsportsmanlike and showmanship. Some condemn this use categorically;however, these words remained acceptable to a majority of the Usage Panel when they were used to refer to a role or class in the abstractbut were rejected when they were used to refer to a woman.Thus the general use ofchairman was acceptable to 67 percent of the Panel (including 52 percent of the women and 76 percent of the men) in the sentence The chairman will be appointed by the Faculty Senate. But only 48 percent (including 43 percent of the women and 50 percent of the men) accepted the use of the word inEmily Owen, chairman of the Mayor's Task Force, issued a statement assuring residents that their views would be solicited, where it is applied to a woman. · Several strategies have been suggested for replacing the categorical use of compounds formed withman. Parallel terms likebusinesswoman, spokeswoman and chairwoman are increasingly used to refer to women. Also in use are common-gender terms coined withperson, such asbusinessperson, spokesperson, and chairperson. For occupational titles ending inman, new standards of official usage have been established by the U.S. Department of Labor and other government agencies.In official contexts termssuch asfirefighter and police officer are now generally used in place of fireman and policeman. · A majority of the Panelists rejected the verbman when it was used to refer to an activity performed by women. The sentenceMembers of the League of Women Voters will be manning the registration desk was unacceptable to 56 percent of the Panel (including 61 percent of the women and 54 percent of the men). See Usage Note at -ess ,people 传统上，man 以及它的衍生字一般是用来指任何人或整个人类， 不考虑性别。在古英语中，这就是man 这个字主要的意思， 即“人” 而不分性别；单词wer 和 wyf （或 woepman 和 wifman )则分别用以指“男人”和“女人”。 但在中古英语时man 取代了 wer 这个词， 也具有“男人”的意义了；而wyfman （这个字发展演变成了今天的 woman 这个字）作为“女人”这个意思被保留了下来。 这些变化的结果是，作为性别歧视者所批评的匀称排列。为此，许多作家相应地修订了他们部分的创作活动。但是这用法的准确含义取决于它的上下文以及man 的具体用途或它的衍生字。 当man 这个字被当作一个可数名词来用时，它有时似乎具有“一个人”或“人们”的意思， 如在被他所在的那个公司熟悉了解的人 和 很久以来，人们都期盼着解开原子的秘密 ， 以及如下短语中普通的人 和 街上的人 。 这里，一般的理解源于间接地推理：如果一个男人是被他所在的公司了解的话，其言下之意是，一个女人也是被他所在的公司熟悉了解的。正是这个原因，使得man 当此一般理解之义用时，其谓语随着个人性别的改变而变化是不可能的。 所以，说人是唯一能在任何时候思考的动物 是不适当的， 因为这句话字面之义是指男人的思考能力。这种用法是假定男人可以作为人类的代表。几乎毫无例外的是，词person 和 people 可以用 man 和 men 来取代，且后两字意思更清楚。 相反，当man 以单数不带冠词出现用以指人类时，它更是指一类、一属， 如在象句子只有人才有语言能力 或象短语 人类对人类的不人道 中。 但man 若以这种形式出现，其意思也会模糊不清， 因为其可只指人类中的男性成员。在大多数的行文中，例如humanity 或 humankind 这样的字也传达了 man 这种用法的一般意义。 总的说来，在用法专题使用小组成员中接受man 这种一般用法的女性比男性明显少得多。 下面这句话如果说古代人受信息不足之苦的话，那么现代人则是受信息过量之虐待了 在小组中有81的成员可接受 （其中女性成员中的接受率为58，男性中则为92)。专题小组会还接受作为一般意义的man 构成的复合词。 长城是太空中的唯一可见的人造物 这句话有86的成员接受 （其中女性成员的接受率为76，而男性中为91)。“语言史就是一部人类史” （詹姆士·布拉斯瑞特·格里诺和乔治·莱曼·基特里奇）这句话的接受率为76（基中在女性成员中有63接受，而男性中为82)。 即使是上下行文所需的字主要指的是女人，这种复合词仍然被接受。因此小组中的66（其中女性委员的57，男性的71)接受了manpower 这个词在下句的用法： 那些不允许女人加入生产力大军的国家和那些允许女人加入生产力大军的国家相比，在处理剩余劳动力这一点上明显处于竞争的劣势 。 由于man 的使用所引起的一系列相关问题产生了， 在构成职业或社会角色类别的名称，如商人、主席、发言人、外行 和 渔夫 ， 以及将这个字用于类似的构词法中，如违反运动精神的 和 善于表演的才能 。 有些人谴责这种类别的用法；然而，当它们抽象地指某种角色或阶层时，这些词仍能得到用法专题使用小组大多数人的接受；但当它们用由于指女性时，这些词就被拒绝了。因此在句子主席由职工委员会指定 中 主席 的这种一般用法就得到了67小组成员的接受（其中在女性成员中为52，而男性中为76)。 但是，在句子艾米莉·欧文，市长任务小组的主席，发表了一个声明，向市长保证将考虑他们的观点 中这个字的用法，由于是指女性，只有48的成员接受（其中在女性成员中的接受率为43，而男性中为50)。 对于如何替换用man 构成的类别复合词，几种构思被提了出来。 与之相对的复合词如女商人、女发言人 和 女主席 越来越多地被用来指女性。 另外，用person 构成的中性词也创造了出来， 如商人、发言人 和 主席 。 对于用man 结尾的职业名称， 美国政府劳工部和其它政府机构已建立起了新的官方运用标准。在官方行文，现在一般用如firefighter 和 police officer 代替 fireman 和 policeman 。 大多数的小组成员反对将动词man 用于指那些女性从事的活动。 句子登记处将配备女性选民联盟的成员 在用法专题使用小组中的反对率是56（其中在女性成员中的反对率是61，而男性中为54) 参见 -ess,people〔psychology〕He used poor psychology on his employer when trying to make the point.当他想尽力达到这一点时，他对老板使的心计很不高明〔copacetic〕We know very little about the origin of the wordcopacetic, meaning "excellent, first-rate.” Is its origin to be found in Italian, in the speech of southern Black people, in the Creole French dialect of Louisiana, or in Hebrew?John O'Hara, who used the word inAppointment in Samarra, later wrote thatcopacetic was "a Harlem and gangster corruption of an Italian word.” O'Hara went on to say, "I don't know how to spell the Italian,but it's something like copacetti.” His uncertainty about how to spell the Italian is paralleled by uncertainty about how to spellcopacetic itself. Copacetic has been recorded with the spellings copasetic, copasetty, copesetic, copisettic, and kopasettee. The spelling is now more or less fixed, however, ascopacetic or copasetic, even though the origin of the word has not been determined.The Harlem connection mentioned by O'Hara would seem more likely than the Italian,sincecopacetic was used by Black jazz musicians and is said to have been Southern slang in the late 19th century. Ifcopacetic is Creole French in origin, it would also have a Southern homeland.According to this explanation,copacetic came from the Creole French word coupersètique, which meant "able to be coped with,” "able to cope with anything and everything,” "in good form,”and also "having a healthy appetite or passion for life or love.”Those who support the Hebrew or Yiddish origin ofcopacetic do not necessarily deny the Southern connections of the word. One explanation has it that Jewish storekeepers used the Hebrew phrasekol bĕṣedeq, "all with justice,”when asked if things were O.K. Black children who were in the store as customers or employees heard this phrase ascopacetic. No explanation of the origin ofcopacetic, including the ones discussed here, has won the approval of scholars, as is clearly shown by the etymology ofcopacetic in the first volume of the Dictionary of American Regional English, published in 1985: "Etym unknown.” 我们对copacetic 这个词的词源所知甚少，其意为“极好的、一流的”。 它是起源于意大利语、南方黑人口语、路易斯安那州的克里奥耳人的法语方言还是希伯来语？约翰·奥哈拉在撒马拉的约会 中用到这个词， 他后来写到copacetic 是“变成哈莱姆黑人居住区和强盗土语的意大利词”。 奥哈拉还说，“我不知道原来的意大利词是如何拼写的，但是有点象copacetti"。与他不敢肯定如何拼写这个意大利词一样，他对copacetic 一词本身的拼法也不敢肯定。 Copacetic 曾经被拼写成 copasetic, copasetty, copesetic, copisettic 以及 kopasettee。 现在它的拼法多少已经固定成copacetic 或 copasetic， 尽管这个词的词源仍未被确定。奥哈拉所提及的它与哈莱姆黑人居住区的关系看上去比它和意大利语的关系更有可能，因为黑人爵士歌手曾用过copacetic 这个词，并且据说在19世纪晚期它曾是南方的俚语。 如果copacetic 在词源上是克里奥耳人的法语， 那么它也是从南方来的。根据这一解释，copacetic 来自克里奥耳人法语中 coupersetique 一词， 表示“有能力与人竞争的”、“有能力处理任何事情及一切事情的”、“以好的方式的”，还表示“对生活或爱情有正常的欲望或激情的”。那些认为copacetic 来自希伯来语或意第绪语的人并不一定否认这个词与南方的关系。 一种解释认为，犹太店主们在被询问是否一切都好时用了希伯来语中的短语kol bĕṣedeq 即“一切太平”之意， 在店里作工或买东西的黑人儿童将这个短语听成了copacetic。 在关于copacetic 词源的解释中，包括以上讨论的这些，没有一种得到学者们的认可， 这一点我们可以在美国方言英语辞典 （1985年出版）第一册关于 copacetic 一词的词源解释中清楚地看到：“词源不知” 〔Daubigny〕French landscape painter best known for his sensitive portrayal of light, which influenced the later impressionists.杜比尼，查尔斯·法兰克斯：(1817-1878) 法国风景画家。最为著名的是对光色敏感的描绘，这一点影响了后来的印象派〔minestrone〕The thick vegetable soup known asminestrone did not come by its name because of its ingredients or their shape but rather because of service,something highly valued by many restaurant patrons.Minestrone is from the Italian word of the same form and sense, which in turn is derived fromminestra, meaning "a dish generally consisting of pasta, rice, beans, or vegetables cooked in water.”Minestra has been borrowed into English as well, being first recorded in 1750,whileminestrone is first found in 1891. The Italian wordminestra is from the verb minestrare, meaning "to serve this type of soup" or "dish up,”which goes back to the Latin verbministrāre, "to serve food,” from Latinminister, "servant.” 这种叫作minestrone 的蔬菜浓汤不是由其成分或形状而得名， 而是由其上菜方式而得名的，这一点得到很多饭店主顾的称道。Minestrone 源于同形同义的意大利语词， 这个词由minestra 而来， 意为“通常用面团、大米、豆子或蔬菜加水煮成的菜”。英语中也引入了minestra 这个词， 该词第一次出现于1750年，而minestrone 则首次于出现在1891年。 意大利语词minestra 由动词 minestrare 而来， 意为“上这种汤”或“把…装盘上菜”，这个词可追溯到拉丁语动词ministrare 意为“上菜”， 又由拉丁语词minister “仆人”而来 |
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