美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Dictionary Stories' Fictionalizes Dictionary Example Sentences

 

LAKSHMI SINGH, HOST:

Unless you're a kid in a spelling bee or a high school or cramming¹ for the SATs, it might have been a while since you've paid much attention to those example sentences in the dictionary, you know, those simple, can-I-hear-it-in-a-sentence sentences like this one included as part of the definition of the word study. A study of a man devoured² by awareness³ of his own mediocrity. Wait? What? Who is the man? What caused him to feel his own mediocrity so deeply to feel devoured by it? Well, now we get to find out. In his new book "Dictionary Stories: Short Fictions And Other Findings," author Jez Burrows⁴ expands those example sentences into 100 little works of literature. Jez Burrows joins me from KQED in San Francisco to share a few dictionary stories. Thanks for joining us.

JEZ BURROWS: Thanks so much for having me.

SINGH: We mentioned the word study which launched you onto this project. Is there another word that had a surprisingly imagination-provoking example that you can share with us?

BURROWS: Oh, there were lots, as you might imagine. I think one of my favorites came from the Macquarie Dictionary, which is actually a Australian. And the sentence was for the word admonish⁵. And the sentence read, do not admonish little Stanislaus if he tears the heart out of a backyard sparrow - which is kind of a wild sentence to be in any book but particularly to be in the dictionary.

SINGH: And it feels a little intimidating⁶.

BURROWS: It does.

SINGH: So give me another example.

BURROWS: I looked up the word gallon as a unit of measurement, and the example was gallons of fake blood, which is not my first liquid that I would go to if I was talking about a quantity of liquids. I don't know, that just seems more worrying.

SINGH: Gallon of water, gallon of milk.

BURROWS: Even - somehow even real blood is less creepy than fake blood. I don't know what it is about the fakeness that really set it off for me but...

SINGH: I'm just thinking about the person who actually comes up with the sentence, you know?

BURROWS: Yes.

SINGH: So let's turn to page 93. It's titled "A Very Good Boy." Why don't you go ahead and read it for me?

BURROWS: OK. Absolutely. (Reading) Does your dog do any tricks? He published his autobiography⁷ last autumn. Laura's (ph) brow wrinkled. I beg your pardon? He wrote a book on the history of Russian ballet, and he has a novel in the works too, a spy novel set in Berlin. He needed something to both challenge his skills and to regain⁸ his crown as king of the thriller⁹. She looked down at the chocolate-colored labrador and gave David (ph) a look of complete incomprehension. He's the strong silent type. The dog licked its paw. Down, boy, down.

SINGH: All right. So I'm looking at this and reading this and I'm thinking, what the? (Laughter).

BURROWS: That is a fair comment.

(LAUGHTER)

SINGH: I mean, when you read the story, when you see what you have actually created, what's the first thing that goes through your mind?

BURROWS: I couldn't point you to the specific point where I thought, oh, yeah, this is a story about a dog who was a novelist. I think that is just - it's just something that happened quite organically because I found sentences that happened to be in the right order, and the total absurdity¹⁰ appealed to my particular sense of humor.

SINGH: But why did you decide to create these stories using, you know, this mix, this mishmash of only pre-existing example sentences? Why not use one example sentence as a prompt, for example, and then just make up the rest?

BURROWS: Yeah. I mean, that would have saved me a lot of time. I think I'm drawn¹¹ by ideas that seem distinctly unlikely or foolhardy is probably the better word to use in this instance.

SINGH: So, Jez, what did you actually end up doing with that gallon of fake blood?

BURROWS: That one actually ended up in a story that's just called "Recipe."

SINGH: Wait. Wait. Wait. Gallons of blood and recipe having to do with food?

BURROWS: Yes. It begins as a fairly normal recipe. And as with a lot of stories in the book, it becomes increasingly unhinged.

SINGH: OK, Jez. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time. Jez Burrows. His book, "Dictionary Stories: Short Fictions And Other Findings," is out now. Thanks again for joining us, Jez.

BURROWS: Thanks so much for having me.

1 cramming   

n.塞满，填鸭式的用功v.塞入( cram的现在分词 )；填塞；塞满；（为考试而）死记硬背功课

参考例句：

• Being hungry for the whole morning, I couldn't help cramming myself. 我饿了一上午，禁不住狼吞虎咽了起来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She's cramming for her history exam. 她考历史之前临时抱佛脚。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 devoured   

吞没( devour的过去式和过去分词 )； 耗尽； 津津有味地看； 狼吞虎咽地吃光

参考例句：

• She devoured everything she could lay her hands on: books, magazines and newspapers. 无论是书、杂志，还是报纸，只要能弄得到，她都看得津津有味。
• The lions devoured a zebra in a short time. 狮子一会儿就吃掉了一匹斑马。

3 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

4 burrows   

n.地洞( burrow的名词复数 )v.挖掘（洞穴），挖洞( burrow的第三人称单数 )；翻寻

参考例句：

• The intertidal beach unit contains some organism burrows. 潮间海滩单元含有一些生物潜穴。 来自辞典例句
• A mole burrows its way through the ground. 鼹鼠会在地下钻洞前进。 来自辞典例句

5 admonish   

v.训戒；警告；劝告

参考例句：

• I will tactfully admonish him not to behave like this again.我会婉转的规诫他不要再这样做。
• Admonish your friends privately,but praise them openly.要私下告戒朋友，但是要公开夸奖朋友。

6 intimidating   

vt.恐吓，威胁( intimidate的现在分词)

参考例句：

• They were accused of intimidating people into voting for them. 他们被控胁迫选民投他们的票。
• This kind of questioning can be very intimidating to children. 这种问话的方式可能让孩子们非常害怕。

7 autobiography   

n.自传

参考例句：

• He published his autobiography last autumn.他去年秋天出版了自己的自传。
• His life story is recounted in two fascinating volumes of autobiography.这两卷引人入胜的自传小说详述了他的生平。

8 regain   

vt.重新获得，收复，恢复

参考例句：

• He is making a bid to regain his World No.1 ranking.他正为重登世界排名第一位而努力。
• The government is desperate to regain credibility with the public.政府急于重新获取公众的信任。

9 thriller   

n.惊险片，恐怖片

参考例句：

• He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
• I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时，总带一本惊险小说看。

10 absurdity   

n.荒谬，愚蠢；谬论

参考例句：

• The proposal borders upon the absurdity.这提议近乎荒谬。
• The absurdity of the situation made everyone laugh.情况的荒谬可笑使每个人都笑了。

11 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。