词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Peace terms

AA: This is Avi Arditti and this week on Wordmaster -- the language of peace. Robert Johansen is a professor at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame¹. He says "peace" has a guarded place in the American vocabulary.

TAPE: CUT ONE: JOHANSEN

"In the U-S context, when you are campaigning in an election you don't usually get more votes by emphasizing peace, at least very much. Now, people don't want to be seen as war mongers or as glorifying² war. But usually you get points or you get votes by emphasizing strength."

AA: Professor Johansen says it's easier for Americans to talk about peace when it's associated with personal peace.

TAPE: CUT TWO -- JOHANSEN

"You talk about 'being at peace with yourself' or you talk about 'blessed are the peacemakers.' So it's very positive in those contexts that deal with spiritual or personal inner peace or inter-personal relations. But when you deal with adversarial relations, there we're afraid of the use of the term unless it's sort of coupled with great military strength."

AA: So "peace" does have its uses. Some people sign off letters with it. If a product is supposed to make you feel secure, advertisements promise "peace of mind." "Peace" can even serve as a gentle word of warning.

TAPE: CUT THREE -- JOHANSEN

"Often in US culture, in weddings, there's a time in which the clergy³ person will say 'speak now or forever hold your peace,' or in other words, 'keep quiet, don't make a stressful situation later on.' Also, we're familiar with the term 'keep the peace.' I looked in the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms, and it says there that this term, or set of terms, goes back to the fourteen-hundreds in the English language and it meant to maintain public order."

AA: Another term, to "leave someone in peace," means to leave a person alone.

TAPE: CUT FOUR -- JOHANSEN

"Also we talk about making one's peace with a certain situation. It may not be what we had preferred, but we need to 'make our peace' with it.' Or it may be a tragedy. This also goes back centuries and centuries. I think it's interesting that the only ones I can come up with are ones that precede modern military confrontations⁴, and in those contexts there may have been a more level playing field between borrowing terms from the idea of peace to other forms of human activity."

AA: Now speaking of playing fields, it's hard to think of a human activity with fewer peace-inspired metaphors⁵ than sports. Yet Professor Johansen says that in American schools, the typical way to build pride is to rally students around the pursuit of victory.

TAPE: CUT FIVE -- JOHANSEN/ARDITTI

JOHANSEN: "It's far less common to associate school spirit let's say with a spirit of service, of doing maybe service in the community. A lot of schools do that, but it doesn't quite excite people as much as winning a ballgame or being first in one's athletic⁶ conference. So these are things that we need to think about and reflect upon."

AA: "Your school, Notre Dame, is home to the 'Fighting Irish,' the sports teams, so I suppose to call them, what, the 'Peace-Loving Irish' or the 'Peaceful' -- would that ... "

JOHANSEN: "We have a lot of jokes about that, and I think most of these are helpful because certainly people in the Peace Studies Institute are happy to see Notre Dame athletic victories, and it's good for us to reflect on how that desire is one that can be constructive⁷ in human interactions and when it seems maybe to get out of line and become destructive."

AA: Professor Robert Johansen at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana. If you have a question or comment, write to VOA Wordmaster, Washington DC two-zero-two-three-seven USA or [email protected]. Back next week with Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

MUSIC: "Give Peace a Chance"/John Lennon

1 dame   

n.女士

参考例句：

• The dame tell of her experience as a wife and mother.这位年长妇女讲了她作妻子和母亲的经验。
• If you stick around,you'll have to marry that dame.如果再逗留多一会，你就要跟那个夫人结婚。

2 glorifying   

赞美( glorify的现在分词 )； 颂扬； 美化； 使光荣

参考例句：

• I had no intention of either glorifying or belittling Christianity, merely the desire to understand it. 我并没有赞扬基督教或蔑视它的立意，我所想的只是了解它。
• You are glorifying a rather mediocre building. 你正在美化一栋普普通通的建筑。

3 clergy   

n.[总称]牧师，神职人员

参考例句：

• I could heartily wish that more of our country clergy would follow this example.我衷心希望，我国有更多的牧师效法这个榜样。
• All the local clergy attended the ceremony.当地所有的牧师出席了仪式。

4 confrontations   

n.对抗，对抗的事物( confrontation的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At times, this potential has escalated into actual confrontations. 有时，这一矛盾升级为实际的对抗。 来自英汉非文学 - 行政法
• These confrontations and uncertainties were bing played out for the first time on a global scale. 所有这一切对抗和不稳定，第一次在全球范围内得到充分的表演。 来自辞典例句

5 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

6 athletic   

adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的

参考例句：

• This area has been marked off for athletic practice.这块地方被划出来供体育训练之用。
• He is an athletic star.他是一个运动明星。

7 constructive   

adj.建设的，建设性的

参考例句：

• We welcome constructive criticism.我们乐意接受有建设性的批评。
• He is beginning to deal with his anger in a constructive way.他开始用建设性的方法处理自己的怒气。