网络热点话题研究生英语课文翻译Unit 13

2021年1月22日发(作者：好时机)
Nine years for A and B
Dr. Johnson was the greatest man who made a dictionary. James was the man who
made the greatest dictionary: From 1879 to 1915, when he died, he devoted his life to the creation
of the Oxford English Dictionary. Dr. Johnson had earned the right , as we have not, to call the
lexicographer
“
a harmless drudge
”
for Jonson knew not only that a great deal more than drudgery
is
involved,
but
also
that
the
amount
of
drudgery
in
the
making
of
a
dictionary
is
simply
unimaginable. Even the dictionary maker fortunately can
’
t make real to himself in advance.
Johnson
博士是编著字典中最伟大的人，
但是默里却编著了 最伟大的字典。
从
1879
年起之道
1915
年他趋势，他把他的一 生都倾注到牛津英语字典的编著中。我们无权评价词典编纂者，
但
Johnson
博士 有这个权利，他称他们为“无害的苦力”
，因为他知道编撰字典需要的远远
不止苦力，
并且其所需的乏味的工作的工作量简直无法想象。
即使是字典编撰者本人也无法
提前知道？。< br>
So the lexicographer-even a profoundly thoughtful and experienced one like James Murray- will
grasp at the notion that the letter A is typical, so that he can really calculate, now that he has done
A, how long are the vistas ahead. And then, all too soon, he is having to admit, not only that A
isn
’
t typical(apparently it has lots of classically derived words, and these don
’
t have a great many
senses), but that the whole idea of a typical letter is a will-o
’
-the-wisp. Or again, the lexicographer
estimates the amount of time and effort involved in chasing up rare words or scientific terms and
then finds that the hardest words are the ones that might seem easiest. The longest entry in the
Oxford English Dictionary is for that simple slippery little word set, and Murray was plunged into
black despair by
“
the terrible word
Black
and its derivatives.
”

所以 即使是一个像默里这样思想深刻并且经验丰富的字典编撰者，也会谨记“字母
A
是典
型 ”这个观念，既然他已经完成了
A
，今后还需要花费多长时间，他就可以实际的计算出来
了。但接着，很快，他就不得不承认，非但
A
不是一个典型（显然它又很多古典衍生词，而这些词都没有太多意义）
，这整个找典型字母的想法都是不切实际的。此外，编撰者在估
计查清稀有词语和科技术语所需的时间和努力时，
发现最难的词往往是看起来最简单的。
牛津英语字典中最长的条目是那些简单灵活的小的词集，而默里曾经因为“
Black
这个恐 怖的
词和它的衍生词”而陷入绝望。

The dictionary maker runs against time. He has to, because unless he gets a move on he will fall
further and further behind, while the dictionary is taking longer to record linguistic events than
they take to happen. For another thing, a gigantic enterprise like the O.E.D. needs to be published
in
parts,
to
keep
up
the
spirits
of
all
concerned.
But
people
won
’
t
buy
it
unless
there
is
some
chance of their still being alive when it finally reaches its destined Z. What goes for subscribers
goes, too, for the publishers who do hope for some return on, or at least of , their money. So there
have
to
be
schedules
and
anxiety
and
resentment
and
nagging,
in
this
race
against
time,
time
whose pace never falters. < br>字典编著者争分夺秒，
他们不得不这样，
因为除非他们不断行动否则他们会越来越落后，
而
语言发生变化比字典记录它们要快。
此外，
像牛津英语字典这样的巨大工程 需要分册出版来
保持其所有的精神。但是

“
The
Triple
Nightmare:
Space,
Time,
and
Money
”
-that
is
the
title
of
a
central
chapter
in
this
touching, honest, courteous and anecdotally vivid life of James Murray by his granddaughter K.
Murray believed that providence had provided him with this great opportunity. His religious faith,
his
patriotism,
his
will
power,
his
exceptionally
wide
range
of
scholarly
gifts,
his
coordinating
powers all converged upon this responsibility entrusted to him.