国外媒体:“呜呜祖拉”入选新版《牛津英语词典》

Vuvuzela enters the dictionary

The World Cup, global warming and the credit crunch¹ have all inspired the latest additions to the English language.

The vuvuzela, the horn instrument which provided the soundtrack to this summer's football extravaganza in South Africa, is one new entry in the Oxford² Dictionary of English, which is based on how language is really used.

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 counteract³ the effects of global warming.

The credit crunch has introduced toxic⁴ debt to the language - debt with a high risk of default - and quantitative⁵ easing - the pumping of new money into the national supply by a central bank.

Cyberspace⁶ 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.

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

Other new entries are :

* wardrobe malfunction⁷: when someone exposes an intimate part of their body after clothing slips;

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

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

* LBD (little black dress): This refers to the simple evening or cocktail⁸ dress that, it is claimed, should be part of every womans wardrobe; and

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

世界杯、全球变暖和信贷危机催生了一批新的英语词汇。

在今年夏天的南非世界杯上一鸣惊人的喇叭“呜呜祖拉”近日被《牛津英语词典》收录，该词典主要根据语言在现实生活中的使用情况而编撰。

应对气候变化行动催生出了“碳捕获和存储”（捕获和存储矿物燃料燃烧所产生的二氧化碳的过程）和“地球工程”（操控环境过程以抵消全球变暖的影响）等新词。

信贷危机中出现的新词有“有毒债务”，指的是信贷违约风险较高的债务；以及“定量宽松”，指的是央行扩大全国货币的供应量。

互联网领域也不断涌现出新的词汇和短语。新版《牛津英语词典》收录了“社交媒体”（用于社交的网站和应用程序）和“微博”（撰写篇幅短小的博客）等该领域的词汇。

《牛津英语大词典》第三版共收录了两千多个新词。该词典于1998年首版。

其它入选的新词包括：

走光：衣服滑落导致身体私密部位外露。

冷药丸：引申为“让人镇静下来”。

兄弟情：两个男性之间非性爱的亲密关系。

小黑裙：简单的晚礼服或正式场合穿的短裙，是女士人手一件的时尚单品。

“友敌”：尽管不喜欢，但表面上仍表现得很友好的一种关系。

1 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

2 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。

3 counteract   

vt.对…起反作用，对抗，抵消

参考例句：

• The doctor gave him some medicine to counteract the effect of the poison.医生给他些药解毒。
• Our work calls for mutual support.We shouldn't counteract each other's efforts.工作要互相支持，不要互相拆台。

4 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

5 quantitative   

adj.数量的，定量的

参考例句：

• He said it was only a quantitative difference.他说这仅仅是数量上的差别。
• We need to do some quantitative analysis of the drugs.我们对药物要进行定量分析。

6 cyberspace   

n.虚拟信息空间，网络空间，计算机化世界

参考例句：

• She travels in cyberspace by sending messages to friends around the world.她利用电子空间给世界各地的朋友们发送信件。
• The teens spend more time in cyberspace than in the real world of friends and family.青少年花费在电脑上的时间比他们和真正的朋友及家人在一起的时间要多。

7 malfunction   

vi.发生功能故障，发生故障，显示机能失常

参考例句：

• There must have been a computer malfunction.一定是出了电脑故障。
• Results have been delayed owing to a malfunction in the computer.由于电脑发生故障，计算结果推迟了。

8 cocktail   

n.鸡尾酒；餐前开胃小吃；混合物

参考例句：

• We invited some foreign friends for a cocktail party.我们邀请了一些外国朋友参加鸡尾酒会。
• At a cocktail party in Hollywood,I was introduced to Charlie Chaplin.在好莱坞的一次鸡尾酒会上，人家把我介绍给查理·卓别林。