目 录 上一节 下一节 
各类词书都是怎样编成的 It is widely believed that every word has a correct meaning, that we learn these meanings mainly from teachers and grammarians, and that dictionaries and grammars are the supreme authority in matters of meaning and usage. Few people ask by what authority the writers of dictionaries and grammars say what the say. I once got into a dispute with an English woman over the pronunciation of a word and offered to look it up in the dictionary. The English woman said firmly, "What for? I am English. I was born and brought up in England. The way I speak is English." Such self-assurance about one's own language is fairly common among the English. In the United States, however, anyone who is willing to quarrel with the dictionary is regarded as either eccentric or mad. 人们普遍认为每个单词都有准确的词义，人们还认为我们主要是向教师和语法学家们学习这些词义，人们还谥为一切词典和语法书都是解释词义和词的用法的最高权威。几乎没有人会提出这样的问题：词典和语法的编著者们根据什么权威资料来说出他们所说的那些话。我有一次曾和一位英国妇女争论过一个英语单词的发音。我让她查一查英语词典。这位英国妇女坚定地说："还查词典干什么？我是英国人。我生在英国，长在英国。我讲的话是英语"。在全体英格兰人当中这种对自己语言的十分自信的态度是相当普遍的。可是，在美国，若是有人想同词典争论，那或者会被认为是颠狂或者是疯子。 Let us see how dictionaries are made and how the editors arrive at definitions. What follows applies only to those dictionary offices where first-hand, original research goes on - not those in which editors simply copy existing dictionaries. The task of writing a dictionary begins with the reading of vast amounts of the literature of the period or subject that the dictionary is to cover. As the editors read, they copy on cards every interesting or rare word, every unusual or peculiar occurrence of a common word, a large number of common words in their ordinary uses, and also the sentences in which each of these words appears. 让我们来看看各类词书都是怎样编成的，看看编者们是怎样给每个词条下定义的。下面所述的方法是那些汇集第一手的原始研究资料的词典编纂机构所采用的，而不是那些只是简单地抄一抄现有的一些词典的内容的那些编词典的机构所采用的方法。编词典的工作始于博览所编的词书内容所包括的该段时期里该门学科内有关的浩瀚的文献资料。在词书编者们博览群书的过程中，他们把每一个有趣的词汇，罕见的词汇，每一个普通词汇的不普通的特别的用法，大量常见词的种种常见的用法，以及这些词汇所出现的例句都一一作成卡片。 That is to say, the context of each word is collected, along with the word itself. For a really big job of dictionary writing, such as the Oxford English Dictionary, millions of such cards are collected, and the task of editing occupies decades. As the cards are collected, they are alphabetized and sorted. When the sorting is completed, where will be for each word anywhere from two or three to several hundred quotations, each on its card. 这也就是说，不但要汇集该词汇，而且还要把每个词所出现的上下文语言环境也汇集起来。对于编写词典这样十分庞大的工程来说，例如编像《牛津英语大词典》之类，要汇集数百万张卡片。因此要完成这样一部巨著需要费时数十年。在汇集卡片的过程中，要把卡片按字母顺序排列加以分类整理。分类整理工作完成之后，整本词典不论在任何位置上的单词都应当有从二三句到数百个例句的引文出现在该单词的卡片上。 To define a word, then, the dictionary editor places before him the stack of cards illustrating that word; each of the cards represents an actual use of the word by a writer of some literary or historical importance. He reads the cards carefully, discards some, re-reads the rest, and divides up the stack according to what he thinks are the several senses of the word. Finally, he writes his definitions, following the hard-and-fast rule that each definition must be based on what the quotations in front of him reveal about the meaning of the word. The editor cannot be influenced by what the thinks a given word ought to mean. He must work according to the cards, or not at all. 为了确定单词的义项，然后，词典的编者就把能说明该单词用法的那一堆卡片摆在自己的面前；每一张卡片都阐明了某一文学作品或某一重要历史文献的作者对该单词的实际用法。词典编者要仔细认真地研读，再根据词典编者认为单词所含有的几个义项将这一推卡片加以分类。最后词典编者写出每个义项的定义，在下定义时，编者必须遵守这样一条不容改变的铁的规则：那就是每个义项的定义编者必须根据摆在面前那些卡片上的例句所含有的该词的词义来写。词典编者不能接受到自己认为某词应该有某个义项的这一想法的影响。词典的编者必须根据所汇集的卡片来编词典，不然的话，就根本不必去汇集那些卡片了。 
因此，编写一部词典并不是这样一种工作：编者以权威的身份给所有的单词都规定出一些所谓的"真正的词义"；编写词典是一种记录工作，编者要尽自己的最大努力记录下在很久以前或在最近刚出版的著作中，各种不同的的单词所具有的意义。例如，如果我们是在1890年或者迟至1919年或者迟至在1919年编写一本词典，我们本来可以说broadcast这个词的意思是"撒播"（例如：撒播种子），但是从1921年起我们就不能再这样说了。从1921年起这个词最普遍的意义应该是"通过收音机或电视机播出节目"。当我们说话或写作时在精选推敲用词方面，我们要依词典提供给我们历史上的记录为准绳，但也不能受词典上的记录所束缚，因为一些新的情况，新的经历，新的发明，新的感情总是迫使我们给旧的词汇赋予新的用法。我们查一下"hood"这个词，就会发现，在500年前，意思是"修道士"（a monk），今天这一词条下的解释却是汽车引擎或汽车发动机。 Reading Provides Necessary Survival Skills 博览群书能给你提供种种必要的生存技能 With the coming of the television age and the increasing emphasis on pictures and sound in all quarters of our society, many people would have us believe that we are moving rapidly away from reading as a necessary life skill. But this is not the case at all. 因为进入了电视时代，社会生活的各方面都把图像和声响放在越来越重要的位置。所以有许多人认为我们应该迅速地改掉阅读这一生存所必须具备的技能，但实际情况根本就不是这样。 Good reading is a more important life skill than ever before and the printed word continues to be the cornerstone of both higher education and better positions in the job market. 现在良好的阅读能力是比过去任何时候都更加重要的一种生存技能。书面的文字资料依然是高等教育和就业市场上能找到较好职位的垫脚石。 For students, almost all studying involves reading. For adults, reading is day to day, either a stumbling block or a smooth path to pleasure and opportunity. This is why good reading hobits are not only an important study skill for the student, but also an important life skill for anyone. 对学生来说，几乎任何课程都必须经过阅读；对成年人来说，坚持天天读，就是一条通往幸福快乐能够抓住大好机遇的一条平坦大道，否则就会成为你前进路上的绊脚石。因此，良好的阅读习惯不但是学生学习的重要技能，对任何人都是一种重要的生存技能。 
快速游览--拿到阅读材料先用极短的时间马上看看标题、篇章题目、小节的题目及文中的大号字体，以便能抓住这份材料的主要思想内容。快速游览的目的就是要迅速地理解你从这份阅读材料中所期望获得的信息，以便你能知道在你接着继续读下去的时候你将会读到些什么内容。 Maps, charts, graphs and pictures are clues that will help the reader to cue in on the content and organization of the material. This simple technique of scanning can help you read for ideas because you will know where you are going when you begin to read. 各类地图、图表、曲线图和图片都是很有用的线索，为帮助读者去理解所读的材料的内容和组织结构提供一些启示。这种简易可行的快速浏览的技巧有助于你在阅读中抓住中心思想、段落大意，因为在你开始阅读以后你就会知道你将要读到的内容。 READING SPEED - Another good reading habit is reading fast. The expression "haste makes waste" does not apply to reading. In fact, most people read much too slowly. Right now you are probably reading this slower than you need for good comprehension. Studies show that fast readers are the best readers, and that slow readers often lose their concentration and comprehension abilities because their minds will wander out of boredom. 阅读速度--还有一种良好的阅读习惯就是快速阅读。不能把"欲速则不达"这句话套用到阅读上。事实上绝大多数人的阅读实在是太慢了。也许此时此刻你在新闻记者本文时的速度要比为了更好地理解本文所需要的阅读速度更慢。多次调查研究都表明了，读得快阅读效果最好，读得慢就不能集中精神，因而也就丧失了理解力，由于感到枯燥，思想上就会开小差，心不在焉。 Remember, nothing hurts concentration more than reading too slowly. Your mind will keep up with your reading speed if you ask it to. By always reading at your top speed, you challenge your understanding and make it easier for your mind to concentrate on the material. 切记，阅读速度太慢只能妨碍你集中注意力。如果你要求你的思路能与你的阅读速度保持同步，那你是能做到的。一贯用你所能达到的最快的速度来阅读，向你的理解力挑战，那么把你的思想全神贯注到所阅读的材料上就是很容易做到的了。 VOCABULARY BUILDING - For a person with good reading habits, a printed page contains not only words but ideas, actions, thoughts and feelings. But all these things are built on words. The more words you are familiar with, the less you are ware of reading words and the more you are aware of content and meaning. Expanding your vocabulary will help you to read more effectively and rapidly. 积累词汇--对于一个养成了良好阅读习惯的人来说，每一页文字资料里不只是包含一些词句，还饮食有一些观点、行动、思想和感情。但是，这一切都是通过词汇表达出来的。你所认识的词汇越多，你越会觉得你不是在阅读一个一个的孤立的单词，你越会更加去体会文章的内容和作者的意思。扩大了词汇量将会帮助你读得效率更高更快。 
很多人干脆把他们所不认识的词跳过去不管它。当然，这样会妨碍你对文章的整体理解。还有些人一遇到生词就停下来查词典，这种做法也会减慢你的阅读速度，会影响你不能全神贯注不能全面理解。 But you can build your vocabulary without using a dictionary each time. Here are two rules: 每遇到生词，你可以不用去查词典，就能扩大你的词汇量。这里教给你两手绝活： Pause for a moment on each new word and let it register in your mind. 一是每遇到一个生词，你稍稍停留片刻，把这个生词先存贮到脑海里； Try to guess what the word means from context clues, from the words around it. 二是从上下文所提供的线索，从这句话的语言环境来试着猜一猜这个词的意思。 What happens with this method is that you will see the word again and again. Each time you will have a stronger impression of the meaning. Soon, the new word will be familiar and its meaning clear. 使用这种方法就会出现这样的情况：在下文中你会一遍又一遍地见到这个词。每再见到一次你就会对该词的意义有更强烈的印象。不久，这个生词就会变成熟词，那么它的意义也就清楚明白了。 
使用这种方法的关键是要处处留心那些生词。不要对这些生词置之不理。这样，你就会发现你的词汇量每天都在扩大。有了很丰富的词汇量才能极大地提高你快速阅读的速度，才能使佻理解得更深刻。 Good reading habits like these can help students and working adults alike to be more successful. The special world of school and the real world of school and of everyday life can be more comfortable, productive and rewarding with the addition of simple yet important life skills such as good reading habits. 像上述这些良好的阅读习惯能帮助学生们和在职的成年人取得更大的成熟。由于养成了这些良好的阅读习惯，增强了这些简单易行的重要的生存技巧，在校读书的特殊环境，学生和日常生活的真实环境，就会变得更舒适，你就会取得更大的成就并从中获得更大的益处。
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