| 单词 | 这样的话 |
| 释义 | 〔superman〕Overman and Beyondman hardly seem likely names for a superhero, but perhapsOverman might be "leaping tall buildings at a single bound" had the German word Übermensch been translated differently than it was. However, Nietzsche's term for the ideal superior man was translated into English assuperman, first recorded in a work by George Bernard Shaw published in 1903. Such a term comes to us through a process called loan translation, or calque formation,whereby the semantic components of a word or phrase in one language are literally translated into their equivalents in another language,GermanÜbermensch, made up of über, "super-,” and Mensch, "man,” thus becoming superman. Becauseüber- can also be translated "beyond" and "over,” we also findoverman and beyondman as calques for the word Übermensch, but they did not take root.Shaw, in a letter written before 1917, noted that"some of our most felicitous writers . . . had been using such desperate and unspeakable forms as Beyondman, when the glib Superman was staring them in the face all the time.”Hence, when it came to naming a new comic strip hero,Superman was the logical choice, a name first recorded in 1938. Overman 和 Beyondman 看上去几乎不象超级英雄的名称， 但是，如果将德语中 Übermensch 这个单词译作不同于原有的译法时，那么，也许 Overman 可能是“纵身一跃就能跃过高楼大厦”。 然而，尼采给予理想超人的名称译成英语为Superman ， 这个词最早见于乔治·萧伯纳的出版于1903年的一部作品中。这个词是通过借译而来的，或者说是通过仿造而来的，在以上这样的过程中，一个词或词组的语义成分被直译成另一语言中的与之相对应的成分。德语单词 Übermensch 是由 uber （即英语中"super-”之意）和 Mensch （即英语中"man"之意）组成的，这样的话，此词在英语中就成了 Superman 。 因为 über 也可译为"beyond"和"over"， 所以我们发现 躡ermensch 也被借译为 overman 和 beyondman 。 但是，这两个词并没有在英语中确立下来。萧伯纳在写于1917年之前的一封信中说道：“一些措辞最巧妙的英语作家，竟一直使用象Beyondman这种令人绝望而又无法形容的词，却对一直面对面盯着他们的‘Superman’视而不见”。这样，当要命名一个新的连环漫画中的英雄时，Superman 一词就成了理所当然的选择，这个名称首次记录于1938年 〔medium〕The etymologically plural formmedia is often used as a singular to refer to a particular means of communication,as inThis is the most exciting new media since television. This usage is widely regarded as incorrect;medium is preferred. A stronger case can be made in defense of the use ofmedia as a collective term, as inThe media has not shown much interest in covering the issue. As with the analogous wordsdata and agenda, the originally plural form has begun to acquire a sense that departs from that of the singular: used as a collective term,media denotes an industry or community. Thus the example sentence given here would not be appropriately paraphrased asNo medium has shown much interest in covering the issue, which suggests that the disinclination abides in the means of communication itselfrather than in its practitioners.Ifmedia follows the pattern of data and agenda, this singular use may become entirely acceptable someday.But despite its utility,many people still regard it as a grammatical error.语源复数形式media 常用作单数， 用来指传播手段中的某一种，例如在下面这是自电视出现以来最激动人心的新式传媒 的句子中。 许多人都认为这一用法是不正确的；他们还是喜欢用medium 这一单数形式。 我们能提出更为有力的例子来为media 作为集合名词的用法进行辩护， 如下面的句子：大众传媒对于报道这一事件没有表现出多大兴趣 。 正如类似于原为复数形式的其他两个词data 和 agenda 已经开始具有其单数形式的含义： 用作集合名词的media 现在则可以指传播工业或共同体。 这样的话，我们刚才给出的例句就不能改成如下形式：没有传媒对报道这一事件表现出很大兴趣 ， 因为这样改动后，这句话所表示的是传播工具本身的不愿意，而不是业者的不愿意。如果media 也象 data 和 agenda 那样， 那么它作为单数形式的用法总有一天会被完全接受的。但是不管它的实用性大小，许多人仍将其视为一个语法错误〔news〕If you take the first letters of the directions North, East, West, and South,it is true that you have the letters of the wordnews, but it is not true that you have the etymology ofnews, contrary to what has often been thought. The history of the word is much less clever than this and not at all unexpected.News is simply the plural of the noun new, which we use, for example, in the adage "Out with the old, in with the new.”The first recorded user of this plural to mean "tidings" may have been James I of Scotland;a work possibly written by him around 1437 contains the words "Awak . . . I bring The [thee] newis [news] glad.”It is pleasant to see that the first news was good.However, his descendant James I of England is the first person recorded (1616) to have said"No newis is better than evill newis,”or as we would put it, "No news is good news.”如果你取北、东、西、南四个单词各自的首字母，就得到单词news 的所有字母， 但是这并非news 的出处。 这个词的历史远比这巧妙且不是完全不可想象的。News 是名词 new 的复数形式， 举例来说，我们在谚语“旧的去了，新的来了”中使用了这个词。关于把这个词的复数作为“音讯”来用的最早记录是苏格兰的詹姆士一世，在他写的一本约1437年的书里有这样的话语“阿瓦克……，我给你带来好消息，”看到第一条是好消息是很让人高兴的。然而，他的后代英格兰的詹姆士一世却是记载(1616年）最先说出下面的话的人：“没有消息比坏消息好”或者如我们所说的“没有消息就是好消息”〔host〕Host was used as a verb in Shakespeare's time, but this usage was long obsoletewhen the verb was reintroduced (or perhaps reinvented) in recent yearsto mean "perform the role of a host.”The usage occurs particularly in contexts relating to institutional gatherings or television and radio shows,where the person performing the role of host has not personally invited the guests to his or her own establishment (thus it would be odd to sayThis evening we are hosting a dinner party at our house for my husband's cousins from New York ). Perhaps because the verb involves a suspect extension of the traditional conception of hospitality,it initially met with critical resistance.In a 1968 surveyonly 18 percent of the Usage Panel accepted the usage in the sentenceThe Cleveland chapter will host this year's convention. Over time, however,the usage has become increasingly well establishedand appears to serve a useful purpose in describing the activities of one who performs the ceremonial or practical role of a host (in arranging a conference or entertainment, welcoming guests, and so forth).In our most recent survey53 percent of the Panelists accepted the usage in the phrasea reception hosted by the Secretary of State. The verb is less well accepted when used to describe the role of a performer who acts as a master of ceremonies for a broadcast or film,where the relation of the word to the notion of "hospitality" is stretched still further.Only 31 percent of the Panel accepted the use of the verb in the sentenceStudents have watched Sex, Drugs and AIDS, a graphic film hosted by actress Rae Dawn Chong. · The verbcohost has likewise become well established in its use to refer to those who collaborate in assuming responsibility for an occasion. Fifty-eight percent of the Usage Panel accepted this use in the sentenceThe Department of Architecture and the Department of History will be cohosting a reception for conference participants. Host 一词在莎士比亚时代用作动词， 但自那时起这一用法很长时间不用了，直到近年来又被重新起用（或者可能重新创造），用来表示“担当主人的角色”。这一用法尤其在学术聚会或电视、电台节目的情况下使用，在这些情况下，身为主人的人并没有以私人身份邀请客人去到他或她自己的家中，（这样的话，如果我们说今天晚上我们将在家中为我丈夫来自纽约的表兄妹‘主办’一个晚餐会 就会觉得有点别扭）。 也许是因为有人认为这一动词用法会扩大传统的“好客”概念，所以一开始它就遭到了批评性抑制。在1968年的一次调查中，用法专题使用小组中18%的成员在如下句子中的用法，即克利夫兰分会将主办本年度的大会。 但是，随着时间的推移，这一用法已逐渐被接受，并在描绘一个担当司仪或具体的主人任务（例如安排会议或娱乐活动，欢迎客人等等）时起到了很好的作用。在我们最近一次的调查中，用法专题使用小组中的53%的成员接受了短语由国务卿出面举办的招待会 中"host"一词的用法。 但当这一动词用法用来描绘作为广播节目或电影节目的主持人的主持工作时，人们就不太接受其用法，因为这样用，这个词与“好客”这一概念的关系就更松了。只有31%的用法专题使用小组成员接受host在句子学生们观摩了 由 演员雷·唐·宗主持解说的纪录片 ‘性、毒品与艾滋病’”中的动词用法。 同样，用来表示分工合作共同举办某一活动的动词cohost 也已被普遍接受。 58%的用法专题使用小组成员接受这一动词在如下句子中的用法：建筑系和历史系将共同为与会者举办一次招待会 〔literally〕The practice does not stem from a change in the meaning ofliterally itself—if it did, the word would long since have come to mean "virtually" or "figuratively"—but from a natural tendency to use the word as a general intensive meaning "without exaggeration,”as inThey had literally no help from the government on the project, where no contrast with the figurative sense of the words is intended.This looser use of the wordliterally does not usually create problems, but it can lead to an inadvertently comic effect when the word is used together with an idiomatic expression that has its source in a frozen figure of speech,such as inI literally died laughing. 这一用法并不根源于literally 本身意义的演变——如果是这样的话， 这个词早就会有“几乎”或“比喻地”的意思——而是来源于把这个词用作一个一般的加强词表示“毫不夸张”这样一个自然趋势，正如在事实上他们没有获得政府对这一计划的帮助 中， 并没有与句子的喻意形成任何对比。literally 的这一不精确的用法通常并不会产生什么问题， 但当它与一个源于固定修饰的俗语连用时，会偶尔产生喜剧性效果，如我真的笑死了 |
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