評論
打印
The average purchaser of a dictionary uses it most often, probably, to find out what a word means.
一般購買詞典的人使用詞典時恐怕多半是為了查找一個詞所表達(dá)的是什么意思。
As a reader, he wants to know what an author intended to convey. As a speaker or writer, he wants to know what a word will convey to his auditor s.
作為讀者，他想了解作者要表達(dá)的是什么意思;作為講話者或作者，他想知道一個詞會將什么樣的意思傳達(dá)給他的聽者或讀者。
And this, too, is complex, subtle, and for ever changing.
這方面的情況也是復(fù)雜的、微妙的，而且總是在變。
An illustration is furnished by an editorial in the Washington Post (January 17, 1962).
《華盛頓郵報》的一篇社論(1962年元月17日)為我們提供了一個說明問題的例證。
After a ringing appeal to those who love truth and accuracy and the usual bombinations about abdication of authority and barbarism , the editorial charges the Third International with pretentious and obscure verbosity and specifically instances its definition of so simple an object as a door.”
這篇社論在對那些熱愛真實性與準(zhǔn)確性的人們發(fā)出強(qiáng)烈的呼吁并照例發(fā)出一通喪失權(quán)威性和用詞不規(guī)范的抱怨聲之后，接著便指責(zé)第三版矯揉造作、晦澀難懂、繁冗累贅，還特地援引該詞典給門這么一個簡單的物體所下的定義來作為說明的例子。
The definition reads:
該詞的定義如下：
a movable piece of firm material or a structure supported usu. along one side and swinging on pivots or hinges , sliding along a groove , roiling up and down, revolving as one of four leaves, or folding like an accordion by means of which an opening may be closed or kept open for passage into or out of a building, room, or other covered enclosure or a car, airplane, elevator, or other vehicle.
用堅實材料制成的可移動的板或一種構(gòu)造物，通常 有一側(cè)是固定著的，可以繞著軸和鉸鏈轉(zhuǎn)動，或沿一道凹槽滑動，或上下卷動，或作為一四葉物體旋轉(zhuǎn)，或像手風(fēng)琴一樣可以折疊。
Then follows a series of special meanings, each particularity defined and, where necessary, illustrated by a quotation Since, aside from roaring and admonishing the gentle men from Springfield that accuracy and brevity are virtues,” the Post's editorial tails to explain what is wrong with the definition,
通過這些方法，開口處得以關(guān)閉或打開，從而進(jìn)出一建筑物、房間、或其他有頂?shù)膰鷫?、或汽車、飛機(jī)、電梯或其他運載工具。
we can only infer from so simple a thing that the writer takes the plain, downright, man-in-the street attitude that a door is a door and any damn fool knows that.
接下來是一系列特殊的含義，每種含義都作了具體的界定，必要的地方還引用了有來源的例證加以說明。
