2012/06/28

TOEFL---IBT閱讀材料: “vuvuzela”入選牛津詞典新詞


由牛津大學出版社出版的英國牛津詞典一直是英國語言詞典的代表。

牛津詞典詳細追溯了每個英語詞的歷史沿變(對其最早的出現年代有明確的標註),釋義和引證繁富,因而是英語詞彙的最高權威。今年,有很多別具特殊的詞被牛津詞典收錄。


The vuvuzela, the horn instrument which provided the soundtrack to this summer's football extravaganzain South Afr​​ica, is one new entry in the Oxford Dictionary of English, which is based on how language is really used.

在今年夏天的南非世界杯上一鳴驚人的喇叭“嗚嗚祖拉”近日被《牛津英語詞典》收錄,該詞典主要根據語言在現實生活中的使用情況而編撰。

The battle to deal with climate change has given us carbon capture and storage - the process of trapping and storing carbon dioxide produced by burning fossil fuels - and geo-engineering - manipulation of environmental processes in an attempt to counteract the effects of global warming.

應對氣候變化行動催生出了“碳捕獲和存儲”(捕獲和存儲礦物燃料燃燒所產生的二氧化碳的過程)和“地球工程”(操控環境過程以抵消全球變暖的影響)等新詞。

The credit crunch has introduced toxic debt to the language - debt with a high risk of default - and quantitative easing- the pumping of new money into the national supply by a central bank.

信貸危機中出現的新詞有“有毒債務”,指的是信貸違約風險較高的債務;以及“定量寬鬆”,指的是央行擴大全國貨幣的供應量。

Cyber​​space produces a constant supply of words and phrases. The dictionary now offers social media - websites and applications used for social networking - and microblogging, or posting short entries on a blog.

互聯網領域也不斷湧現出新的詞彙和短語。新版《牛津英語詞典》收錄了“社交媒體”(用於社交的網站和應用程序)和“微博”(撰寫篇幅短小的博客)等該領域的詞彙。

In all there are more than 2,000 new items in the third edition of the dictionary, which was originally published in 1998.

《牛津英語大詞典》第三版共收錄了兩千多個新詞。該詞典於1998年首版。

Other new entries are :

其它入選的新詞包括:

* wardrobe malfunction: when someone exposes an intimate part of their body after clothing slips;

走光:衣服滑落導致身體私密部位外露。

* chill pill: a notional pill to make someone calm;


冷藥丸:引申為“讓人鎮靜下來”。

* bromance: a close but non-sexual relationship between two men;

兄弟情:兩個男性之間非性愛的親密關係。

* LBD (little black dress): This refers to the simple evening or cocktail dress that, it is claimed, should be part of every womans wardrobe;

小黑裙:簡單的晚禮服或正式場合穿的短裙,是女士人手一件的時尚單品。

* frenemy: a person that one is friendly with despite a fundamental dislike.

“友敵”:儘管不喜歡,但表面上仍表現得很友好的一種關係。