大学英语自学教程 上册 un12

[00:00.00]Unit 12 Text A
[00:04.60]How Dictionaries Are Made
[00:06.57]词典是怎样编写的
[00:08.54]It is widely believed that everyword has a correct meaning,
[00:12.16]人们普遍相信,每个词都有个正确的词义,
[00:15.78]that we learn these meanings mainly from teachers and grammarians and
[00:19.30]我们主要是跟老师和语法家学习这些词义,
[00:22.83] that dictionaries and grammarsare the supreme authority
[00:25.86]词典和语法是
[00:28.89]in matters of meaning and usage.
[00:31.18]词义和用法的最高权威.
[00:33.46]Few people ask by what authority the writers of dictionariesand grammars say what they say,
[00:38.30]很少有问,编词典和写语法的人凭什么说出他们之所说的.
[00:43.13]I once got into a dispute with an English womanover the pronunciation of a word andn
[00:47.60]我有一次曾和一位英国妇女争论一个词的发音,
[00:52.06] offered to look it up in the dictionary.
[00:54.24]并且提出查查词典.
[00:56.42]The English woman said firmly,"What for? I am English.
[01:00.40]这位英国妇女语气十分坚决地说:"查词典干什么?我是个英国人,
[01:04.37]I was born and brought up in England.
[01:06.74]在英国出生,在英国长大的.
[01:09.12]The way I speak is English,"
[01:11.44]我说的就是英文."
[01:13.77]Such self-assurance about one's own language
[01:16.66]这种对自己语言的自信
[01:19.54]is fairlycommon among the English.
[01:21.97]在英国人当中是相当普遍的.
[01:24.40]In the United States,however,
[01:26.88]而在美国,
[01:29.36]anyone who is willing to quarrel with the dictionary
[01:32.19]谁要是想和词典辨论,
[01:35.01]is regarded as either eccentric or mad.
[01:38.10]会被认为不是异常就是发疯.
[01:41.20]Let us see how dictionaries are made  and how the editors arrive at definitions.
[01:45.61]让我们看看词典是怎样编写的和编辑们怎样得出词的定义的.
[01:50.03]What follows applies only to those dictionary offices where first-hand
[01:54.16]下面所说的只适用于那些进行第一手
[01:58.28]original research goes on--
[02:00.46]创造性研究的词典编辑室,
[02:02.64]not those in which editors simply copy existing dictionaries.
[02:06.37]而不是那些编辑们单纯抄现有词典的编辑室.
[02:10.09]The task of writing a dictionary
[02:12.61]词典的编写是
[02:15.13]begins with the reading of vast amounts of the literature of the period
[02:19.06]从阅读拟编词典要涵盖的时期
[02:22.99]or subject that the dictionary is to cover.
[02:25.67]和主题的大量文献开始的.
[02:28.35]As the editors read,they copy on cards every interesting or rare word,
[02:33.03]编辑们在阅读文献的时候,
[02:37.70]every unusual or peculiar occurrence of a common word,
[02:41.28]要把这样一些资料记在卡片上:每个引起兴趣的词或不常见的词,
[02:44.86]a large numher of common words in their ordinary uses,
[02:48.63]每个常用词的不寻常的或特殊的出现情况,
[02:52.41]and also the sentences in which each of these words appears.
[02:56.38]大量的通常使用的常用词以及每个出现这样词的句子.
[03:00.35]That is to say,the context of each wordis connected along with the word itself.
[03:05.52]也就是说,把每个单词本身连同它出现的上下文一起收集起来.
[03:10.69]For a really big job of dictionary writing,
[03:13.97]对于一项真正巨大的词典编写任务,
[03:17.25]such as the Oxford English Dictionary,millions of such cards are collected,
[03:21.52]比如像编写牛津英语词不典,要收集几百万张这样的卡片,
[03:25.79]and the task of editing occupies decades.
[03:28.97]而编写任务要占去几十年的时间.
[03:32.14]As the cards are collected, they are alphabetized and sorted.
[03:35.56]卡片收集好之后, 要把它们按字母排序和整理.
[03:38.98]When the sorting is completed, there will be for each word
[03:42.32]整理工作结束之后,
[03:45.65]anywhere from two or three to several hundred quotations,each on its card.
[03:50.62]每个词可有从两 三条到几百条引文作为例句,每条都写在一张卡片上.
[03:55.60]To define a word, then,
[03:57.58]为要给一个词下定义,
[03:59.57]the dictionary editor placesbefore him the stack of cardsillustrating that word;
[04:03.84]词典编辑面前摆放着一摞说明这个词的卡片,
[04:08.11]each of the cards represents an actual use of the word
[04:11.94]每张卡片代表一们文学上或历史上
[04:15.76]by a writer of some literary ox historical importance.