密歇根新闻广播 韦恩州的"文字战士"旨在振兴词汇

 

In this era of texting and tweeting, we're at risk of losing some of the marvelous words that add texture¹ and meaning to conversation and writing.

A good place to begin to up our collective language game is by checking out the newest list from the Wayne State University Word Warriors². The group dug around in the linguistic³ cellar to recover neglected words that deserve a place in 2018.

Jerry Herron, Dean of the Irving D. Reid Honors College at Wayne State University and an editorial board member of the Word Warriors website, joined Stateside to strengthen our vocabulary.

Listen to the full conversation above, or read highlights below.

On the importance of "great words"

Word Warriors claims as its mission "bringing back great words." To Herron, a "great word" is one that helps to define our world ever more precisely⁴.

"I think the world is only as interesting, as delightful⁵, as colorful, as our ability to experience the world," he said.

Herron believes that bringing back great words "will make the world more vivid, present, and also accurate."

On how words slip away from us

"Well, I think what happens is that we have the richness of the English language with perhaps a quarter of a million unique words. We’ve got so many of them, we oftentimes forget to use a word or a particular set of words, or we forget that we’ve got this range of experiences we could describe with one of these great words, so it’s worth thumbing through that lexicon⁶ occasionally to see if there are good words that we need to bring back."

On how you can help

The Word Warriors rely on the public to find new words worthy⁷ of featuring. Anyone can suggest a word to the group by visiting wordwarriors.wayne.edu.

1 texture   

n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理

参考例句：

• We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。
• Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

2 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

3 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

4 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

5 delightful   

adj.令人高兴的，使人快乐的

参考例句：

• We had a delightful time by the seashore last Sunday.上星期天我们在海滨玩得真痛快。
• Peter played a delightful melody on his flute.彼得用笛子吹奏了一支欢快的曲子。

6 lexicon   

n.字典，专门词汇

参考例句：

• Chocolate equals sin in most people's lexicon.巧克力在大多数人的字典里等同于罪恶。
• Silent earthquakes are only just beginning to enter the public lexicon.无声地震才刚开始要成为众所周知的语汇。

7 worthy   

adj.(of)值得的，配得上的；有价值的

参考例句：

• I did not esteem him to be worthy of trust.我认为他不值得信赖。
• There occurred nothing that was worthy to be mentioned.没有值得一提的事发生。