英语听力精选进阶版 11231

 

Saddo 

Professor David Crystal 

There are quite a few familiarity markers in English – words which 

take on an ending to make the word sound much more familiar, 

or everyday, or down to earth. Ammunition¹ becomes 'ammo'; a 

weird² person becomes 'weirdo'; aggravation³ becomes 'aggro'. 

They like it in Australia a lot – "good afternoon", they don't say 

that so often, but 'arvo', 'arvo' is the abbreviation for afternoon in 

Australia.  

And in the 1990s you had this rather interesting word 'saddo' – 

that's the adjective sad with this 'o' ending, spelt with two ds: s-a-d-d-o. It came in as a kind of a rude word really, a mocking word 

for somebody seen as socially inadequate⁴, or somehow rather 

unfashionable, or contemptible⁵ in some way. You might hear 

somebody say, "oh, he's a real saddo" or "she's a real saddo" – it 

can be for male or for females.  

It's from the word 'sad' of course, from oh, way back in the 1930s, where 'sad' 

here doesn't mean miserable⁶, it means pathetic, and that was a use of sad that 

came in at that time. It's a sense in other words that's been developing for quite a 

long time. In actual fact, you can take that sense of sad and trace it all the way back 

to Shakespeare, although he never said 'saddo'. 

1 ammunition   

n.军火，弹药

参考例句：

• A few of the jeeps had run out of ammunition.几辆吉普车上的弹药已经用光了。
• They have expended all their ammunition.他们把弹药用光。

2 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

3 aggravation   

n.烦恼，恼火

参考例句：

• She stirred in aggravation as she said this. 她说这句话，激动得过分。
• Can't stand the aggravation, all day I get aggravation. You know how it is." 我整天都碰到令人发火的事，你可想而知这是什么滋味。” 来自教父部分

4 inadequate   

adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的

参考例句：

• The supply is inadequate to meet the demand.供不应求。
• She was inadequate to the demands that were made on her.她还无力满足对她提出的各项要求。

5 contemptible   

adj.可鄙的，可轻视的，卑劣的

参考例句：

• His personal presence is unimpressive and his speech contemptible.他气貌不扬，言语粗俗。
• That was a contemptible trick to play on a friend.那是对朋友玩弄的一出可鄙的把戏。

6 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。