TED演讲 重新定义字典(2)

 　　For one thing, I just do not do uniforms. 首先，我不喜欢制服。

　　And for another, deciding what words are good and what words are bad is actually not very easy. 而且，决定谁是好词谁是坏词其实一点也不容易，

　　And it's not very fun. And when parts of your job are not easy or fun, 还不好玩。如果你的工作中有这么一部分既不容易又不好玩，

　　you kind of look for an excuse not to do them. 你就会千方百计去回避它。

　　So if I had to think of some kind of occupation as a metaphor¹ for my work, I would much rather be a fisherman. 由此，如果要找一种工作来比喻我在干的活，我宁可当一个渔夫。

　　I want to throw my big net into the deep, blue ocean of English 我要在英语这个深蓝的海洋里撒上我的大网，

　　and see what marvelous creatures I can drag up from the bottom. 看可以从海里捕到什么珍异的海产。

　　But why do people want me to direct traffic, when I would much rather go fishing? 可是现实中，为什么人们期望我去当交警而不是渔夫呢？

　　Well, I blame the Queen. Why do I blame the Queen? 这，是英女王的错。为什么我要责怪她？

　　Well, first of all, I blame the Queen because it's funny. 首先，责怪女王比较有趣，

　　But secondly², I blame the Queen because dictionaries have really not changed. 另外的原因是，自维多利亚女王以来，字典并没有什么变化。

　　Our idea of what a dictionary is has not changed since her reign³. 我们对字典的理解自维多利亚女王统治时期以来没有改变过。

　　The only thing that Queen Victoria would not be amused by in modern dictionaries 在现代字典里，唯一不会让女王欢喜的是

　　is our inclusion of the F-word, which has happened in American dictionaries since 1965. 对脏话的引入，自1965年起出现在美国字典里。

　　So, there's this guy, right? Victorian era. 看看这位先生，维多利亚时期的，

　　James Murray, first editor of the Oxford⁴ English Dictionary. 詹姆斯·穆雷，牛津英语字典的第一位编辑。

　　I do not have that hat. I wish I had that hat. 我没有像他那样的帽子，我多希望有这样的一顶帽子。

　　So he's really responsible for a lot of what we consider modern in dictionaries today. 就是他把我们至今还认为是现代的元素放在字典里。

　　When a guy who looks like that, in that hat, is the face of modernity, you have a problem. 如果把一个如此打扮的人，看那帽子，作为现代的代表，那你们就有麻烦了。

　　And so, James Murray could get a job on any dictionary today. 詹姆斯·穆雷即使活在今天也还是能为任何一本字典担任编纂工作，

　　There'd be virtually no learning curve. 而无需学习曲线。

1 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

2 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

3 reign   

n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势

参考例句：

• The reign of Queen Elizabeth lapped over into the seventeenth century.伊丽莎白王朝延至17世纪。
• The reign of Zhu Yuanzhang lasted about 31 years.朱元璋统治了大约三十一年。

4 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。