2019年经济学人 约翰逊语言专栏--政治对语言的影响(2)

 

The vocabulary that causes offence today would puzzle those who roared at “bloody”. Consider an insult that occupied the British press for several days in December 2018. Jeremy Corbyn, the leader of the Labour opposition¹, seemed to mouth “stupid woman” as Theresa May, then the prime minister, spoke² from the dispatch box. Mr Corbyn was forced to deny he had said those words. He is “opposed to the use of sexist and misogynist³ language in any form”; what he had actually said was “stupid people”.

如今，那些令人感到冒犯的词汇可能会使那些因为“血腥的bloody”而生气的人感到困惑。想想2018年12月英国媒体连续几天受到的侮辱吧。工党反对党领袖杰里米?科尔宾在时任英国首相特里萨?梅在议院发表讲话时，好像在说“愚蠢的女人”。科尔宾先生被迫否认他说过那些话。他“反对以任何形式使用性别歧视和厌恶女性的语言”；他实际上说的是“蠢人”。

Mrs May’s successor now stands accused of misogyny on the front bench. As Mr Corbyn was speaking in early September, Boris Johnson, now prime minister, yelled, “You great big girl’s blouse!” On the same day Mr Johnson also used the word “shit” (he was quoting a Labour politician’s reference to that party’s economic policy as “shit or bust”, meaning “all or nothing”). Once, the earthy Anglo-Saxon word would never have fallen from the mouth of a prime minister in Parliament. Yet “big girl’s blouse” dominated the coverage⁴.

特蕾莎·梅的继任者现在被指控在议会前座反对党领袖座位上歧视女性。科尔宾9月初发表演讲时，英国现任首相鲍里斯?约翰逊喊：“没种的懦弱娘炮！” 同一天，约翰逊还使用了“shit”一词(他引用了一位工党政客的话，指工党的经济政策“shit or bust”，意思是“要么一坨屎，要么一团糟”)。一旦出现一次，朴实的盎格鲁-撒克逊词汇就永远不会从议会的首相口中消失。而“没种的懦弱娘炮！”占领了整个封面报道。

A watershed⁵ moment has arrived: traditional taboo⁶ words, pertaining⁷ to the body and excrement⁸, no longer have the punch of group-based insults related to sex, disabilities and other such qualities, about which Western societies are increasingly sensitive. (Race-based gibes⁹ ha ve been anathema¹⁰ for a while.)

一个具有分水岭意义的时刻已经到来：与身体和粪便相关的传统禁忌语，不再具有与性、残疾和其他此类特质相关的群体侮辱的冲击力，而西方社会对这些特质正变得越来越敏感。（以种族为基础的嘲笑已经被人们唾弃了一段时间。）

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 misogynist   

n.厌恶女人的人

参考例句：

• He quickly gained the reputation of being a misogynist.他很快地赢得了“厌恶女性者”的这一名声。
• Nice try,but you're a misanthrope,not a misogynist.不错了，你讨厌的是世界，不是女人。

4 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

5 watershed   

n.转折点，分水岭，分界线

参考例句：

• Our marriage was at a watershed.我们的婚姻到了一个转折关头。
• It forms the watershed between the two rivers.它成了两条河流的分水岭。

6 taboo   

n.禁忌，禁止接近，禁止使用；adj.禁忌的；v.禁忌，禁制，禁止

参考例句：

• The rude words are taboo in ordinary conversation.这些粗野的字眼在日常谈话中是禁忌的。
• Is there a taboo against sex before marriage in your society?在你们的社会里，婚前的性行为犯禁吗？

7 pertaining   

与…有关系的，附属…的，为…固有的(to)

参考例句：

• Living conditions are vastly different from those pertaining in their country of origin. 生活条件与他们祖国大不相同。
• The inspector was interested in everything pertaining to the school. 视察员对有关学校的一切都感兴趣。

8 excrement   

n.排泄物，粪便

参考例句：

• The cage smelled of excrement.笼子里粪臭熏人。
• Clothing can also become contaminated with dust,feathers,and excrement.衣着则会受到微尘、羽毛和粪便的污染。

9 gibes   

vi.嘲笑，嘲弄（gibe的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• He smarted under the gibes of his fellows. 他因受同伴的嘲笑而苦恼。 来自辞典例句
• Don' t make gibes about her behavior. 别嘲笑她的行为。 来自辞典例句

10 anathema   

n.诅咒；被诅咒的人(物)，十分讨厌的人(物)

参考例句：

• Independence for the Kurds is anathema to Turkey and Iran.库尔德人的独立对土耳其和伊朗来说将是一场梦魇。
• Her views are ( an ) anathema to me.她的观点真叫我讨厌。