VOA慢速英语:Words and Their Stories: Belittle

Today’s word is belittle.  It was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.
今天要讲的词是belittle(贬低)。美国第三任总统托马斯•杰斐逊首次使用了这个词。

Many years ago, a French naturalist, the Count de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, “Count Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist.”
许多年前，一位法国博物学家蒲丰写了几本关于自然史的书。尽管一些评论家不喜欢，那些书仍然很成功。有些评论家说道：“与其说蒲丰是科学家，不如说他是位诗人。”

Thomas Jefferson did not like what the Count had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that the Count had gone out of his way to speak of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant.
托马斯•杰斐逊不喜欢蒲丰关于新大陆自然奇观的说法。在杰斐逊看来，蒲丰不厌其烦地美洲的自然奇观说得无足轻重。

This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He too was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.
托马斯•杰斐逊对此很很烦恼。他自己也是个博物学家，同时也是农民、发明家、历史学家、作家和政治家。他游览过欧洲自然奇观。对他来说，那些远不及新大陆的景观。

In seventeen eighty-eight, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Count de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word – belittle.  He said, “The Count de Buffon believes that nature belittles her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”
1788年，托马斯•杰斐逊记述了他的故乡——弗吉尼亚州。写作过程当中，他想到了故乡的自然美景和，随即想到蒲丰的话。就在那个时候，杰斐逊创造了一个新词——belittle(贬低)。他说道：“蒲丰坚信大自然轻视她在大西洋此岸所创造的奇观。”

Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in eighteen-oh-six.  ‘Belittle – to make small, unimportant.’
美国词典编纂家诺亚•韦伯斯特喜欢这个单词。他于1806年将这个单词收入他的英语词典。“贬低——使之变小，不重要”。

Americans had already accepted Jefferson’s word and started to use it.  In seventeen ninety-seven, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported.  “He is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition try to belittle him as much as they please.”
美国人已经接受并开始使用杰弗逊的单词。在1797年，独立纪事报在一片文章中用到这个单词形容该报所支持的一位政客。“他是个可敬的人”文章写道“就让那些反对派无所不用其极的试着贬低他吧。”

In eighteen forty-four, the Republican Sentinel of Virginia wrote this about the opposition party:  “The Whigs may attempt to belittle our candidates … that is a favorite game of theirs.”
1844年，弗吉尼亚州共和党哨兵报谈及反对党派时写道“辉格党企图贬低我们的候选人...他们最喜欢来这一手”

In eighteen seventy-two, a famous American word expert decided that the time had come to kill this word.  He said, “Belittle has no chance of becoming English.  And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better.”
1872年，一位著名的美国词典编纂家决定是时候将这个词淘汰了。他说：“贬低这个单词绝不可能成为英语。就像那些英国评论家一样，越来越多的美国评论家觉得不需要这个单词，越快忘掉它越好。”

This expert failed to kill the word.  Today, belittle is used, not only in the United States and England, but in other countries where the English language is spoken.  It seems that efforts to belittle the word did not stop people from using it.
这位词典编纂家没有能淘汰这个单词。今天，不光是美国和英国人在使用“贬低（belittle）”这个单词，其他说英语的国家都在使用它。看来贬低“贬低”这个词的努力并未时人们停止使用它。

(MUSIC)