新编大学英语教程第四册Unit 02

 Englishes

 

Of course a scale of of styles exists in all our use of English.Each of us works not just with one English but with many Englishes,and the wider the range of our life and the more various the contacts we have,the wider and suppler¹ must be our command over a range of English styles, each of witch we know how to use consistently. A haphazard² knowledge of several styles may be worse than useless if we do not know the type of occasion on which each is appropriate,or if we do not know when we are sliding from one to another.We do not say, “It was extremely gracious of you to invite me,Lady Jones,and I’ve had bags of fun ”,because “bags of fun” does not mix with “extremely gracious”,and because to use an expression like “bags of fun,” we should need to knoe Lady Jones well enough to be addressing he by first name.

 

It is not—we must never tire of insisting—that bags of fun can be labelled “bad” or “slovenly³” English, “a lazy substitute for thought”. “Bags of fun” is no more a lazy substitute for thought in its approprite setting than is “extremely gracious”in the seting that is appropriate for this expression.As we have seen repeatedly, it is the height of naivety⁴ to go round with a single yardstick,measuring English as “good” or “bad”. Take the opening suggested earlier for an informal letter: “My dear Frank, it was awfully⁵ nice to get your note the other day.’ Here are the words that would greatly pleased the receiver with their warmth and friendliness⁶, yet they include awfully ,get and nice, three words which have been condemned⁷ so often that many people cannot write them without having a slightfreeling of guilty.They have been called “slovenly” and even “meaningless”. Such an attitude is plainly ridiculous and can do nothing but harm to the good use of English.

 

But it would be equally ridiculous to reverse the judgement just as flatly.It is the type of judgement that is wrong : it is not merely that the judgement is faulty in this particular instance. If we were studing a review and found the comment “This is an awfully nice book,” our reaction to the words in this situation might well be to call them slovenly and meaningless. We do not want merely po;ite noises in a review: we want some precise observations about the book’s content and quality.Equally, however,we should disapprove⁸ of the English used if we were greeted by a party with the words, “I apprehend⁹ an atmosphere of spontaneous delight with your arrivlal,” wheras “Awfully nice to see you here” would strike us as just right.

 

Stop Being Coy

 

I am an old cripple,drawing an old-age pension,working hard to raise vast quantitise of vegetables on an allotment and well aware that, one of these days,I shall die. All this is fact.

 

If, however,I listen to the voice of officialdom, it turns out that I am a disadvantaged senior citizen,registerd as disabled, drawing a retirement¹⁰ pension, renting a leisure garden and, presumably, immortal¹¹ because Ishall never die—I shall merely pass away.

 

According to encyclopaedia¹² Britannica , “Euphemisms¹⁴ are considered overly sqeamish and affected¹⁵ by contemporary writers, unless used for humorous effect,” This may be so among the cognoscenti but there is little evidence to show that the massses, especially the administrators¹⁶, have read their encyclopaedia.

 

To support the argument by using the cliches which pour from the lips of trade union leaders would be too much like shooting sitting birds. “Withdrawing our services” or “ taking industrial action” equals “going on strike” and “working to rule” aquals “being bloodyminded”.

 

Some euphemisms,too are sufficiently¹⁷ offbeat¹⁸ to be funny. Dilettante¹⁹ ornithologists, for example, may have wondered hoe one of our summer residents, Oenanthe oenanthe, acquired its popular name of “wheatear”. The bird is common on the moors²⁰ and fells of the north and the locals knew it by a name that described the white rumo which it shows as it flies away.In their uncouth²¹ northern fashion , they called it “white arse”but “Wheet Earse” was how they pronounced it . And “Wheatears” they have remained.

 

Examples of gross understatement may also appeal to most of us . A native of the Lake District who describes himselfe as being “nobbut middlin’” is approaching a state of collapse²² and coma²³; if he says he’s “proper poorly”, there will be a funeral in the near future.

 

These more robust²⁴ euphemisms may,for all I care,stay. But let is , please, do away with the following:“lowerincome bracketd”(poor),”under the weather”(ill), “low IQ”(stupid),”unemployment benefit”(dole), “Ministry of Defence”(Ministry of War), “have a dialogue”(talk) and “companion animal”(pet).

 

All this effort to avoid unpleasantness is certain to fail, because the euphemism¹³ quickly aquires the stigma²⁵ of the words it replaved.I, and probably others, do not feel younger because I am called a “senior citizen”.

 

By Bryyan Heath

1 suppler   

（身体）柔软的( supple的比较级 )； 灵活的； 易弯曲的； 柔韧的

参考例句：

• It also increases flexibility of distribution of profits between suppler and retailer. 同时对扰动的及时处理也增加了供应商和零售商之间利润分配的柔性。
• To take part in supplier assessment and appraisal and to assist in suppler over-all development. 参与对供应商的审核和考评，并监督和帮助供应商全面提高。

2 haphazard   

adj.无计划的，随意的，杂乱无章的

参考例句：

• The town grew in a haphazard way.这城镇无计划地随意发展。
• He regrerted his haphazard remarks.他悔不该随口说出那些评论话。

3 slovenly   

adj.懒散的，不整齐的，邋遢的

参考例句：

• People were scandalized at the slovenly management of the company.人们对该公司草率的经营感到愤慨。
• Such slovenly work habits will never produce good products.这样马马虎虎的工作习惯决不能生产出优质产品来。

4 naivety   

n.天真，纯朴，幼稚

参考例句：

• Mozart's music is characterized by its naivety and clarity.莫扎特的音乐特色是纯朴兴清澈。
• She has lost none of her naivety.她丝毫没有失去那份天真烂漫。

5 awfully   

adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地

参考例句：

• Agriculture was awfully neglected in the past.过去农业遭到严重忽视。
• I've been feeling awfully bad about it.对这我一直感到很难受。

6 friendliness   

n.友谊，亲切，亲密

参考例句：

• Behind the mask of friendliness,I know he really dislikes me.在友善的面具后面，我知道他其实并不喜欢我。
• His manner was a blend of friendliness and respect.他的态度友善且毕恭毕敬。

7 condemned   

adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• He condemned the hypocrisy of those politicians who do one thing and say another. 他谴责了那些说一套做一套的政客的虚伪。
• The policy has been condemned as a regressive step. 这项政策被认为是一种倒退而受到谴责。

8 disapprove   

v.不赞成，不同意，不批准

参考例句：

• I quite disapprove of his behaviour.我很不赞同他的行为。
• She wants to train for the theatre but her parents disapprove.她想训练自己做戏剧演员，但她的父母不赞成。

9 apprehend   

vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑

参考例句：

• I apprehend no worsening of the situation.我不担心局势会恶化。
• Police have not apprehended her killer.警察还未抓获谋杀她的凶手。

10 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

11 immortal   

adj.不朽的；永生的，不死的；神的

参考例句：

• The wild cocoa tree is effectively immortal.野生可可树实际上是不会死的。
• The heroes of the people are immortal!人民英雄永垂不朽！

12 encyclopaedia   

n.百科全书

参考例句：

• An encyclopaedia contains a lot of knowledge.百科全书包含很多知识。
• This is an encyclopaedia of philosophy.这是本哲学百科全书。

13 euphemism   

n.婉言，委婉的说法

参考例句：

• Language reflects culture and euphemism is a mirror of culture.语言反映文化,而婉语则是各种文化的一面镜子。
• Euphemism is a very common and complicated linguistic phenomenon.委婉语是一种十分常见而又非常复杂的语言现象。

14 euphemisms   

n.委婉语，委婉说法( euphemism的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• No point is in mincing words or hiding behind euphemisms. 没有必要闪烁其词或者羞羞答答。 来自辞典例句
• No point in mincing words or hiding behind euphemisms. 没必要闪烁其词或者羞羞答答。 来自辞典例句

15 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

16 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

17 sufficiently   

adv.足够地，充分地

参考例句：

• It turned out he had not insured the house sufficiently.原来他没有给房屋投足保险。
• The new policy was sufficiently elastic to accommodate both views.新政策充分灵活地适用两种观点。

18 offbeat   

adj.不平常的，离奇的

参考例句：

• She adores old,offbeat antiques.她非常喜欢那些稀奇古怪的老古董。
• His style is offbeat but highly creative.他的风格很不寻常但非常有创造力。

19 dilettante   

n.半瓶醋，业余爱好者

参考例句：

• He is a master of that area even if he is a dilettante.虽然他只是个业余爱好者，但却是一流的高手。
• I'm too serious to be a dilettante and too much a dabbler to be a professional.作为一个业余艺术爱好者我过于严肃认真了，而为一个专业人员我又太业余了。

20 moors   

v.停泊，系泊（船只）( moor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• the North York moors 北约克郡的漠泽
• They're shooting grouse up on the moors. 他们在荒野射猎松鸡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 uncouth   

adj.无教养的，粗鲁的

参考例句：

• She may embarrass you with her uncouth behavior.她的粗野行为可能会让你尴尬。
• His nephew is an uncouth young man.他的侄子是一个粗野的年轻人。

22 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

23 coma   

n.昏迷，昏迷状态

参考例句：

• The patient rallied from the coma.病人从昏迷中苏醒过来。
• She went into a coma after swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills.她吃了一整瓶安眠药后就昏迷过去了。

24 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。

25 stigma   

n.耻辱，污名；(花的)柱头

参考例句：

• Being an unmarried mother used to carry a social stigma.做未婚母亲在社会上曾是不光彩的事。
• The stigma of losing weighed heavily on the team.失败的耻辱让整个队伍压力沉重。