英语听力—环球英语 732 Words, Words, Words

　　Voice 1
Hello and welcome to Spotlight¹. I'm Mike Procter.
Voice 2
And I'm Ruby² Jones. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
Voice 1
Mr Ammon Shea is 37 years old. He lives in New York. And, he has just finished reading a book. "What is so special about that?", you may ask, "I have read many books". But imagine reading a book that that weighs 62 kilograms³ - a book that is so big that it is divided into 20 separate⁴ books. And imagine reading all of it! This is what Ammon Shea did.
Voice 2
Ammon Shea loves words! When he was 10 years old, he started reading word books - dictionaries. He wanted to discover English words that he did not know. The dictionaries explained the meaning of the words - so he would know when and how to use them. Now, Ammon owns a thousand dictionaries. And, he made a promise to himself. At some time in his life he would read the entire Oxford⁵ English Dictionary, or OED. Experts consider the OED to be the best English dictionary in the world.  So, in 2006, Ammon finally started to read the OED - all 20 thousand pages of it!
Voice 1
Ammon Shea started to read the Oxford English Dictionary at home. However, there were too many things there that prevented him from concentrating⁶ well. He needed to go somewhere quiet. Where could he go? He chose his local university library. This was the perfect place. A library is purely⁷ for books and studying. And there, Ammon found a quiet place to read in peace.
Voice 2
Some days, Ammon spent up to ten hours in the library. He read page after page of words - starting at the letter ‘a'. Often, it was hard for him to keep awake. He drank a huge amount of coffee. And over time, his health got worse. He developed terrible pains in his head. It became more difficult for him to see. He injured⁸ his neck and back. And he started to forget how to use normal vocabulary - the common words that people use! Ammon explains:
Voice 3
"Reading the OED gave me a useless large vocabulary. I began to lose my normal vocabulary. For example, I would go to the store and forget the word for milk. I was looking for the cold, white liquid."
Voice 2
And it became increasingly⁹ difficult for Ammon Shea to relate to the world around him:
Voice 3
"It had a horrible¹⁰ effect on how I behaved with people... There were so many words in my head. I almost became unable to speak. I ended up not being able to get words out of my mouth. Or I would search for words to say - like somebody who had speech problems."
Voice 1
There were some days when Ammon did not think that he would ever be able to finish reading the book. This was especially true when he reached the words beginning with ‘un' - all 400 pages of them! Ammon remembers:
Voice 3
"My body felt like it could not move. My mind was closing down. I had no energy. And I could not remember why I ever wanted to read any of this."
Voice 1
However, Ammon managed to keep reading - and reading! And during the whole process, he wrote down the words he found most interesting. Here are some of his favourite ones:
Voice 4
Happify - to make someone happy.
Voice 5
Cachinnator - someone who laughs too much or too loudly.
Voice 4
Pejorist - someone who thinks that the world is getting worse.
Voice 5
Somnificator - a person who makes other people feel sleepy.
Voice 2
After one year of reading, Ammon finally finished the OED. And now, he has published a book about his experiences. He wanted to explain why it had been necessary for him to read the OED. And, he wanted to share his love of words with other people. He says:
Voice 3
"The OED is so much more than any other dictionary. It includes the whole history of the strong points and weaknesses of English! It includes the big ideas and the strange ideas that make our language what it is today."
Voice 1
People consider the Oxford English Dictionary to be extremely¹¹ important. They consider it the highest authority¹² on the meaning and pronunciation of the English language. The idea for the dictionary started about a 150 years ago. The Philological¹³ Society of London was a group of people interested in the scientific study of language. They considered the dictionaries of the time to be incomplete¹⁴ and lacking in enough detail. So, they started a huge project - a dictionary that would include all the words in the English language from the 12th century to the modern day.
Voice 2
The project started in 1879. And the man responsible¹⁵ for gathering¹⁶ all the necessary information for it was James Murray. He was a school teacher from Scotland¹⁷ - a very intelligent man, and a hard worker. He needed to be! Because soon, the project workers understood just how big their job was. They had planned to spend ten years on it, but it would take much longer than that. One of the reasons for this was the changing nature of language. Murray and the other workers had to watch for new English words that kept appearing. This was as well as noting all the developments during the past 700 years!
Voice 1
In 1884, Murray and his team published the first part of the dictionary in Oxford, England. And over the next 40 years, work on the dictionary continued. Murray's team of workers increased. And, thanks to their intense¹⁸ and careful efforts, they managed to publish more and more parts. Finally, in April nineteen twenty eight, the last part of the dictionary was published! The whole ten parts contained over 400,000 words and expressions. Sadly, James Murray died before his life's work was completed. However, his hard labour left behind a great tool for speakers and learners of English. Today, the OED is constantly¹⁹ updated and you can find it on the internet. We will tell more about the OED today in another Spotlight programme.
Voice 2
So, next time you use a dictionary, just think about all the work that was involved in writing it! But please do not feel that you have to follow Ammon Shea's example - and read it from cover to cover!
 

1 spotlight   

n.公众注意的中心，聚光灯，探照灯，视听，注意，醒目

参考例句：

• This week the spotlight is on the world of fashion.本周引人瞩目的是时装界。
• The spotlight followed her round the stage.聚光灯的光圈随着她在舞台上转。

2 ruby   

n.红宝石，红宝石色

参考例句：

• She is wearing a small ruby earring.她戴着一枚红宝石小耳环。
• On the handle of his sword sat the biggest ruby in the world.他的剑柄上镶有一颗世上最大的红宝石。

3 kilograms   

n.千克( kilogram的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 2 kilograms of rice 2公斤大米
• Every tonne of coal contains,on average,30 kilograms of nitrogen. 每吨煤平均含30公斤氮。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 separate   

n.分开，抽印本；adj.分开的，各自的，单独的；v.分开，隔开，分居

参考例句：

• Are they joined together or separate?它们是合在一起还是分开的？
• Separate the white clothes from the dark clothes before laundering.洗衣前应当把浅色衣服和深色衣服分开。

5 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

6 concentrating   

v.专心于( concentrate的现在分词 )；注意；集中；聚集

参考例句：

• Many firms are concentrating on increasing their markets overseas. 许多公司正在集中精力开拓它们的海外市场。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The audience is all concentrating with rapt attention on taking notes. 人们都在全神贯注地记笔记。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 purely   

adv.纯粹地，完全地

参考例句：

• I helped him purely and simply out of friendship.我帮他纯粹是出于友情。
• This disproves the theory that children are purely imitative.这证明认为儿童只会单纯地模仿的理论是站不住脚的。

8 injured   

adj.受伤的

参考例句：

• Our best defender is injured and won't be able to play today.我们最佳的防守员受伤了，今天不能参加比赛。
• The injured men have been dug out of the snow.受伤人员从雪中被挖了出来。

9 increasingly   

adv.逐渐地，日益地，逐渐增加地

参考例句：

• Rivers are being increasingly made use of by man. 河流正在日益为人类所利用。
• I find it increasingly difficult to live within my income.我发现靠收入过日子越来越难了。

10 horrible   

adj.可怕的，极可憎的，极可厌的

参考例句：

• This is a horrible monster.这是一个可怕的怪物。
• That is a horrible accident.那是一次可怕的事故。

11 extremely   

adv.极其，非常，极度

参考例句：

• The film is extremely good,I just cannot miss it.这部电影太精彩了，我非看不可。
• The old man was extremely difficult to get along with.这个老人极难相与。

12 authority   

n.当局，官方；权力，权威，威信；当权者

参考例句：

• He is recognized internationally as an authority in this field.国际上承认他是这方面的一个权威。
• Professor White is looked upon as an authority on mathematics.怀特教授被看成数学权威。

13 philological   

adj.语言学的，文献学的

参考例句：

• Kanwa dictionary is a main kind of Japanese philological dictionary. 汉和辞典是日本语文词典的一个主要门类。 来自互联网
• Emotional education is the ultimate goal of philological teaching, while humanism the core of the former. 情感教育是语文教育的终极目标，而人文精神是情感教育的核心内容。 来自互联网

14 incomplete   

adj.不完全的，不完善的

参考例句：

• The building was left incomplete.那座楼没有完工就停下来了。
• His novel was incomplete when he died.他死的时候他的小说没有写完。

15 responsible   

adj.有责任的，应负责的；可靠的，可信赖的；责任重大的；vi.休息，睡；静止，停止

参考例句：

• He must be responsible to me for this matter.这件事他必须对我负责。
• The police are responsible for the preservation of law and order.警察负责维持法律与秩序。

16 gathering   

n.集会，聚会，聚集

参考例句：

• He called on Mr. White to speak at the gathering.他请怀特先生在集会上讲话。
• He is on the wing gathering material for his novels.他正忙于为他的小说收集资料。

17 Scotland   

n.苏格兰

参考例句：

• He has been hiking round Scotland for a month.他围着苏格兰徒步旅行了一个月。
• Scotland is to the north of England.苏格兰在英格兰之北。

18 intense   

adj.认真的，专注的；强烈的；紧张的；热情的

参考例句：

• Susan was an intense young lady.苏珊是一个热情的年轻姑娘。
• The quarrel caused her intense unhappiness.争吵令她极其不快。

19 constantly   

adv.不变地，不断地，时常地

参考例句：

• The two countries have been warring constantly for years.这两国多年来一直交战。
• We should constantly urge ourselves on to study hard.我们要经常鞭策自己努力学习。