密歇根新闻广播 重要的事情说两遍?

 

The Rio Grande is certainly a grand river. But not everyone thinks it's grand enough to be called "river" twice, as in the Rio Grande River.

In case you're not up on your Spanish, saying Rio Grande River is redundant¹, since "rio" means "river." This phrase falls into one big category of place names that contain a word or phrase borrowed into English from another language.

Other examples are the Los Altos Hills and the River Avon. These translate to "the the heights hills" and "the river river," respectively.

The other category of redundancies within a phrase is acronym² phrases. ATM stands for Automatic Teller³ Machine, so ATM machine is redundant. Two other common examples are LCD display (Liquid Crystal Display) and PIN number (Personal Identification Number).

There's a very clever term for this, which is the RAP phrase, or the Repeated Acronym Phrase phrase. These types of phrases may be redundant, but if you don't know what the acronym stands for, that redundancy on the end can be helpful.

If you heard someone refer to "HRT" would you know what they were talking about? What if they added "therapy" at the end? That might be enough context for you to figure out that they're talking about Hormone⁴ Replacement⁵ Therapy, or HRT therapy.

"If you're writing formally, I would say it's probably best to avoid redundancy," says English Professor Anne Curzan. However, Curzan does goes on to say that some redundancies can be helpful when you're processing someone else's speech in real time. "[That's] because if you miss it the first time, you can catch it the second time.

Have you noticed any other redundancies that fall into either of these categories?

1 redundant   

adj.多余的，过剩的；(食物)丰富的；被解雇的

参考例句：

• There are too many redundant words in this book.这本书里多余的词太多。
• Nearly all the redundant worker have been absorbed into other departments.几乎所有冗员，都已调往其他部门任职。

2 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

3 teller   

n.银行出纳员；(选举)计票员

参考例句：

• The bank started her as a teller.银行起用她当出纳员。
• The teller tried to remain aloof and calm.出纳员力图保持冷漠和镇静。

4 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

5 replacement   

n.取代，替换，交换；替代品，代用品

参考例句：

• We are hard put to find a replacement for our assistant.我们很难找到一个人来代替我们的助手。
• They put all the students through the replacement examination.他们让所有的学生参加分班考试。