密歇根新闻广播 whistleblower的字面和形容词含义

 

Unless you've managed to avoid all sources of media, you've probably heard or read the word "whistleblower" once or twice in the past couple of months.

Whistleblowers have been making headlines a lot lately, both in sports and in politics.

Football fans are likely well aware of the controversy¹ over whistleblowers' calls at the Detroit Lions' game against the Green Bay Packers last week. And, of course, there's the whistleblower's complaint at the center of the impeachment² inquiry³ into President Donald Trump⁴.

Clearly, we're talking about two different types of whistleblowers here, but it makes sense to put these two situations next to each other.

Ben Zimmer wrote about "whistleblower" in his Wall Street Journal language column in 2013. Zimmer points out that "whistleblower" as a political term comes from sports. It started with the idea that someone would blow a whistle to put a stop to the game or match.

By the 1930s, "whistleblower" came to mean "to snitch" or "to rat on." You'll notice that's a much more negative definition than the one we have today. It wasn't until the 1970s when Ralph Nader managed to give "whistleblower" a more positive connotation.

Nader was concerned about fraud and corruption⁵ and was calling on civic-minded people to "blow the whistle" on corporations and the government. He pointed⁶ out at the time that it was much easier to turn around "whistleblower" than it was to turn around a word like "rat" or "snitch."

Zimmer wrote his column in 2013, at a time when news outlets⁷ were having conversations about "whistleblower" vs. "leaker," particularly in reference to Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning.

The Associated Press issued guidance on the matter:

"A whistleblower is a person who exposes wrongdoing. It's not a person who simply asserts that what he has uncovered is illegal or immoral⁸. Whether the actions exposed by Snowden and Manning constitute wrongdoing is hotly contested, so we should not call them whistleblowers on our own at this point."

1 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

2 impeachment   

n.弹劾；控告；怀疑

参考例句：

• Impeachment is considered a drastic measure in the United States.在美国，弹劾被视为一种非常激烈的措施。
• The verdict resulting from his impeachment destroyed his political career.他遭弹劾后得到的判决毁了他的政治生涯。

3 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 corruption   

n.腐败，堕落，贪污

参考例句：

• The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
• The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。

6 pointed   

adj.尖的，直截了当的

参考例句：

• He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
• She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。

7 outlets   

n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店

参考例句：

• The dumping of foreign cotton blocked outlets for locally grown cotton. 外国棉花的倾销阻滞了当地生产的棉花的销路。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They must find outlets for their products. 他们必须为自己的产品寻找出路。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 immoral   

adj.不道德的，淫荡的，荒淫的，有伤风化的

参考例句：

• She was questioned about his immoral conduct toward her.她被询问过有关他对她的不道德行为的情况。
• It is my belief that nuclear weapons are immoral.我相信使核武器是不邪恶的。