VOA慢速英语2013 Words and Their Stories: Belittle

 

Words and Their Stories: Belittle¹

词汇典故：贬低

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

现在是美国之音慢速英语词汇典故节目。

Today’s word is belittle. It was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

今天要谈到的单词是belittle（贬低、轻视）。美国第三任总统托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson）首次使用这个词。

Many years ago, a French naturalist², the Count de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, “Count Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist.”

许多年前，法国博物学家布丰伯爵写了一些有关自然史的书。这些书大获成功，尽管有些评论家不喜欢它们。有些人批评说，“布丰伯爵与其说是一个科学家，不如说是一个诗人。”

Thomas Jefferson did not like what the Count had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that the Count had gone out of his way to speak of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant³.

杰斐逊不喜欢伯爵对新大陆自然奇观的说法。在杰弗逊看来，伯爵对美洲自然奇观的描述脱离了他一贯的方式，似乎它们无足轻重。

This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He too was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian⁴, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

这让杰弗逊非常气恼。他也是一个博物学家，同时还是农民，投资家，历史学家，作家和政治家。他曾纵览欧洲自然奇观。对他来说，那些并不比新大陆的自然奇观强多少。

In seventeen eighty-eight, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Count de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word – belittle. He said, “The Count de Buffon believes that nature belittles⁵ her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”

1788年，杰弗逊写到他的家乡弗吉尼亚州。在写作时，他想到了那些自然美景，随后又想到了布丰伯爵的话。在那一刻，杰斐逊创造了一个新词 - belittle。他说：“布丰伯爵认为，大自然轻视她在大西洋彼岸创造的奇景。”

Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in eighteen-oh-six. ‘Belittle – to make small, unimportant.’

美国词典专家诺亚·韦伯斯特（Noah Webster）很喜欢这个词。1806年，他将这个单词收入他的英语词典（注：这个就是著名的韦氏词典哦）。 "Belittle - 解释为to make small-unimportant（小看，轻视）"。

Americans had already accepted Jefferson’s word and started to use it. In seventeen ninety-seven, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “He is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition⁶ try to belittle him as much as they please.”

美国人已接受杰斐逊的这个单词并开始使用。1797年，独立纪事报用这个词来描写一个他们支持的政治家。 “他是一个高尚的人，”报纸写道，“因此反对派爱怎么贬低他，都随他们去吧。”

In eighteen forty-four, the Republican⁷ Sentinel of Virginia wrote this about the opposition party: “The Whigs may attempt to belittle our candidates … that is a favorite game of theirs.”

1844年，弗吉尼亚的共和党哨兵报这样描写反对派：“辉格党可能试图贬低我们的候选人……那是他们惯用的伎俩。”

In eighteen seventy-two, a famous American word expert decided⁸ that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle has no chance of becoming English. And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better.”

1872年，美国一位著名的词汇专家认为，是时候封杀这个词了。他说：“Belittle不可能成为英语。随着越来越多的美国作家开始和英国作家一样，觉得它一无所是，它越早被遗忘越好。”

This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used, not only in the United States and England, but in other countries where the English language is spoken. It seems that efforts to belittle the word did not stop people from using it.

但这位专家未能封杀这个词。今天，belittle不仅在美国和英国，还在其他使用英语的国家得到了广泛应用。 看来，贬低这个词所作的努力并未阻止人们使用它。

1 belittle   

v.轻视，小看，贬低

参考例句：

• Do not belittle what he has achieved.不能小看他取得的成绩。
• When you belittle others,you are actually the one who appears small.当你轻视他人时， 真正渺小的其实是你自己。

2 naturalist   

n.博物学家(尤指直接观察动植物者)

参考例句：

• He was a printer by trade and naturalist by avocation.他从事印刷业，同时是个博物学爱好者。
• The naturalist told us many stories about birds.博物学家给我们讲述了许多有关鸟儿的故事。

3 unimportant   

adj.不重要的，无意义的

参考例句：

• Let's not quarrel about such unimportant matters.我们不要为这些小事争吵了。
• Money seems unimportant when sets beside the joys of family life.与天伦之乐相比，金钱显得微不足道。

4 historian   

n.历史学家，编史家

参考例句：

• As a historian,he was most typical of the times in which he lived.作为历史学家，他是他所处时代最有代表性的人物。
• He calls himself a historian,but his books are a mere journalism.他自称为历史学家，但是他的书都是些肤浅的通俗作品。

5 belittles   

使显得微小，轻视，贬低( belittle的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The size of the office tower belittles the surrounding buildings. 这座办公楼的规模使周围的建筑物相形见小。
• The bulk of the warehouse belittles the houses around it. 货栈的庞大使周围的房屋显得矮小了。

6 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

7 republican   

n.拥护共和政体的人； adj.共和政体的，（Republican）共和党人，（Republican）共和党的

参考例句：

• Some families have been republican for generations.有些家庭世代都支持共和党。
• A third candidate has entered the contest for the Republican nomination.第三个候选人已经加入角逐共和党提名的行列。

8 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。