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09-A. Learned words and popular words
In
every
cultivated
language
there
are
two
great
classes
of
words
which,
taken
together, make up the whole vocabulary.
First, there are those words with which we
become familiar in ordinary
conversation, which we learn, that is to say, from
the
members of our own family and from
our friends, and which we should know and
use even if we could not read or write.
They concern the common things of life, and
are the stock
in trade
of all
who speak
the
language. Such
words
may
be
called
“popular,” since they
belong to the people at large and are not the
possession of
limited class only.
On
the
other
hand,
our
language
includes
a
large
number
of
words
which
are
relatively seldom used in
ordinary conversation. Their meanings are known to
every
educated
person,
but
there
is
little
occasion
to
use
them
at
home.
Our
first
acquaintance with them comes not from
our mother's lips or from the talk of our
classmates, but from books that we
read, lectures that we hear, or the more formal
conversation of highly educated
speakers who are discussing some particular topic
in an elevated style. Such words are
called
them
and
words
is
of
great
importance
to
a
right
understanding
of
language.
The
difference
between
popular
and
learned
words
may
be
easily
seen
in
a
few
examples. We may
describe a girl as “lively” or as
are
using a native English word formed from the
familiar noun life. In the latter, we
are
using
a
Latin
derivative
which
has
exactly
the
same
meaning.
Yet
the
atmosphere of the two words is quite
different. No one ever got the adjective lively
out of a book. It is a part of
everybody's vocabulary. We cannot remember a time
when we did not know it, and we feel
sure that we learned it long before we were
able to read. On the other hand, we
must have passed several years of our lives
before learning the word vivacious. We
may even remember the first time that we
saw it in print or heard it from some
grown-up friend. Both lively and vivacious are
good English words, but Lively is
popular and vivacious is learned.
The
terms
and
as
applied
to
words,
are
not
absolute
definitions. No two
persons have the same stock of words, and the same
word may
be
in
one
man's
vocabulary
and
in
another's.
There
are
also
different grades
of
is convenient and sound. Different
opinions may come up as to the classification of
any particular word, but there can be
no difference of opinion about the general
principle.
We
must
be
careful,
however,
to
avoid
misconception.
When
we
call
a
word
to
the
people as
a
whole
that
is,
it
is
everybody's
word,
not the
possession
of a
limited number. When we
call a word
learned persons alone, but
simply that its presence in the English vocabulary
is due
to books and the cultivation of
literature rather than to the actual needs of
ordinary
conversation.
【课文译文】
学术词汇与普通词汇
每一种发展起来的语言中都有两大类词汇，
这两大类词汇合起来就构成整个词汇。
首先是我
们在平时谈话中所熟悉的词，
也就是说，
这些 词是我们从家人和朋友那儿学来的，
即使我们
不会读书写字我们也应该知
道这些词。
它们与生活中常见的事情有关，
是说这种语言的人都
< br>具备的。这样的词叫
“普通词汇”
，
因为它们属于普通大众 ，而不属于某个有限阶层的人们。
另一方面
，
我们的语言中还包括大量日常谈话中较少用到的词。
每个受过教育的人都知道它
们的意思，
但是在家里却很少用它们。
我们第一次认识这 些词不是来自于母亲的话，
也不是
来自于同学们的谈话，
而是来自于我们所读的书，
所听的讲座或者受过高等教育的人以严肃
的风
格讨论某个特定话题时的更为正式的谈话。这样的词叫做“学术词汇”
。学术词汇与普
< p>通词汇之间的区别对于正确理解语言极其重要。
从下面几个例子中就可以容易看出普通词汇与学术词汇的不同。我们可以描述一个女孩是
“lively”或“vivacious”。在第一种情况中，我们用的是一个由大家所熟知
的名词
life
形
成的本土英语词；
在后 一种情况中，
我们用的是一个有着完全相同含义的拉丁派生词。
然而，
< p>这两个词的使用环境很不相同。
人们不是从书本上学到
lively
这个形容词的。
它是每个人词
汇的一部分。
我们不曾记得什么时候不知道这个词，
而且我们确信早在我们能读书之前就学
< br>到了这个词。
另一方面，
我们肯定是在经过几年的学习生活之后才学到
vivacious
这个词的。
我们甚至记得什么时候第一次
从书上看到它或从某个朋友那儿听到它。
lively
和
viva cious
两个词都是很好的英语单词，但
lively
是个普通词而
vivacious
是个学术词。
“普通的”和“学术的”这两个术语，当用于给词分类时，并
不具有绝对明确的定义。任何
两个人所掌握的词汇都不一样。同一个词在一个人的词汇里
可能是“普通的”
，而在另一个
人的词汇里可能是“学术的”
“普通性”的程度也不一样。然而，把词汇分成“普通的”和
“学
术的”
是方便的、合理的。
关于某个特定的词的分类可能会出现分歧，
< p>但是关于一般原
则不会有不同的意见。然而我们必须仔细，以免造成错误想法。当我
们把一个词叫做“普通
词”时，我们并不是说它就是个人们喜欢的词，而只是意味着它属
于大家——也就是说，
它是每个人的词，而不是某一有限数量的人们的词。当我们把一个
词叫做“学术词”时，我
们的意思并不是它只为有学问的人所使用，
而只 是意味着它在英语词汇中的出现是由于书籍
和文学的培养，而不是日常谈话的实际需要。
10-A. Scientific
Attitudes
Science
had
its
beginning
when
man
started
asking
questions
about
his
environment. He wondered where the sun
went at night and why the sky was blue.
He questioned why the wind blew and the
leaves fell. He sought answers to these
and other questions. Not all his
answers were correct, but at least he did want to
know.
Curiosity
and Imagination
Science
began to develop rapidly when man laid aside his
wrong beliefs and begs
to seek true
explanations. Young children are curious about how
things work. The
child wants to take
apart a watch to see what makes it work.
Benjamin
Franklin
wondered
about
lightning.
He
combined
his
curiosity
with
imagination and carried out his well-
known experiment to show that lightning and
an
electric
spark
are
the
same
thing.
Curiosity
and
imagination
are
important
qualities
which help stimulate the discovery of new facts
and advance science.
Belief
in Cause and Effect
Scientifically minded people believe in
a
there is a perfectly natural
explanation for everything. For example, there is
a good
reason
why
some
leaves
turn red and
others yellow
in
the
fall.
Changes
such as
these,
which
are
easily
observed,
are
called
phenomena.
Some
common
phenomena,
however,
are
not
completely
understood.
Still
others
cannot
be
explained
at
all
at
this
time.
In
cases
where
the
explanation
is
unknown
the
scientific point of view is
that there is a reason if it can only be
discovered.