VOA慢速英语2014 今年年度词是什么?

 

What’s the Word of the Year? 今年年度词是什么?

The American English dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announces their word of the year for 2014. The word is culture.

The publisher bases its choice on how many people look up the word in its online dictionary. Many search for these words after major news events or stories on entertainment and sports.

The editors at Merriam-Webster say “culture is a big word at back-to-school time each year.” But this year the search for culture has extended beyond the school year. A wider use of the word culture might be taking place in daily lives.

The word culture appears more these days in combination with other words to identify behavior, issue, idea or even a group. For example,

He says American pop culture is one reason for English’s popularity as a foreign language.

Sula Vineyards in India opened a tasting room to create a wine culture among its people.

The new Ukraine leaders will have to reform the corrupt¹ political culture that led to the Euromaidan revolution.                       

The second most-frequently searched word, according to Merriam-Webster, is nostalgia². The word comes from a Greek word meaning "to return home"; it once meant "homesickness" in English. It explains the popularity of Mad Men, Boardwalk Empire and Downton Abbey.

Number three is insidious³, which was on the title of a horror movie. It described malware, computer virus attacks, and Ebola this year.

Coming in at number four is legacy⁴. Changes in the past year made us aware of "lasting⁵ impact"; it can mean something we receive from the past or something we leave for the future.

Word number five is something of a legacy itself: feminism. Time magazine used the term “pop feminism” to describe the popularity of female entertainers Beyoncé and Miley Cyrus.

Merriam-Webster’s sixth word is not even in English. It is Je ne sais quoi. It is a French expression that means "a pleasant quality that is hard to describe." In French, the phrase literally⁶ means "I know not what."

You may not know what is going to happen next. The seventh word is innovation. The rapid pace of change in our lives was a topic of more than one best-selling book and public discussion about the topic of innovation.

We cannot hide the eighth word, surreptitious. In 2014, we have the 40th anniversary of Watergate with the Nixon resignation. There were many news stories about government data collection, stolen passwords and credit card security.

You are on your own with word number nine, autonomy. The referendum in Scotland, political changes in the Ukraine and Occupy Central movement in Hong Kong reminded us of this idea of independence and the power to govern oneself.

The list comes to a sad end with morbidity⁷. The word morbidity comes from the Latin word for "disease" (morbus) and means "the relative incidence of disease." The word appeared in reports about Ebola.

Merriam-Webster’s 2014 Word of the Year

1. culture - n. the beliefs, customs, arts, etc., of a particular society, group, place, or time

2. nostalgia - n. pleasure and sadness that is caused by memory of something from the past and the desire to experience it again

3. insidious - adj. causing harm in a way that is gradual or not easily noticed; especially of a disease: developing so gradually as to be well established before becoming apparent

4. legacy - n. something (such as property or money) that is received from someone who has died; something that happened in the past or that comes from someone in the past

5. feminism - n. the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities

6. je ne sais quoi - n. English, a pleasant quality that is hard to describe. In French, the phrase literally means "I know not what."

7. innovation - n. a new idea, device, or method; the act or process of introducing new ideas, devices, or methods

8. surreptitious - adj. done in a secret way

9. autonomy - n. the state of existing or acting⁸ separately from others; the power or right of a country, group, etc., to govern itself

10. morbidity - n. the proportion of sickness or of a specific disease in a geographical locality

1 corrupt   

v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的

参考例句：

• The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
• This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。

2 nostalgia   

n.怀乡病，留恋过去，怀旧

参考例句：

• He might be influenced by nostalgia for his happy youth.也许是对年轻时幸福时光的怀恋影响了他。
• I was filled with nostalgia by hearing my favourite old song.我听到这首喜爱的旧歌，心中充满了怀旧之情。

3 insidious   

adj.阴险的，隐匿的，暗中为害的，（疾病）不知不觉之间加剧

参考例句：

• That insidious man bad-mouthed me to almost everyone else.那个阴险的家伙几乎见人便说我的坏话。
• Organized crime has an insidious influence on all who come into contact with it.所有和集团犯罪有关的人都会不知不觉地受坏影响。

4 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

5 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

6 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

7 morbidity   

n.病态；不健全；发病；发病率

参考例句：

• MC's also significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality induced by honeybee venom. 肥大细胞同样也能显著降低蜜蜂毒液诱发疾病的发病率和死亡率。 来自互联网
• The result shows that incidence of myopia morbidity is 44.84%. 结果表明：近视眼的发病率为44.84%。 来自互联网

8 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。