Invented words(英語新詞)

Invented Words New words appear in English every day. Do you know how these words are born? Read the following passage to find various ways English words are invented.英語中每天都有新詞出現(xiàn)。你知道這些詞是怎么產(chǎn)生的嗎？閱讀下文你就能找到造英語單詞的各種方法。Scholars guess that English has about 600 000 words, but there are probably more. New words continue to come into the language at such a rate that no dictionary could possibly keep up with them. The old words which were born centuries ago in the Anglo-Saxon, Germanic and French languages make up four fifths of the English language. The other one fifth is made up partly of borrowed words and partly of three other kinds of words: words from the names of peoples and places; imitative words; and invented words.學(xué)者們估計(jì)英語大約有600 000個(gè)單詞，不過也許更多。新的詞語不斷進(jìn)入英語，其速度之快，大概沒有一本字典能跟得上。幾個(gè)世紀(jì)以前， 源于盎格魯撒克遜語、日爾曼語以及法語的原有詞匯 ，占英語的五分之四。余下的五分之一，一部分由外來詞組成，另外的部分由其它三種詞組成，它們是：表示人名、地名的專有名詞；象聲詞以及新造的詞。Ampere, volt and watt are all units of electricity, and they are named for the men who discovered them; Andre M. Ampere, a French physicist; Alessandro Volta, an Italian physicist; and James Watt, a Scottish engineer and inventor. Nowadays we all drink pasteurized milk, that is, milk which is clean and purified. Pasteurized gets its name from Louis Pasteur, a French doctor who invented the process for purifying milk. There are many words like this in the English language.安培、伏特和瓦特都是電學(xué)的計(jì)量單位，它們都是用發(fā)現(xiàn)者的名字命名的，他們分別是是法國物理學(xué)家安德烈 M 安培、意大利物理學(xué)家阿勒森德羅伏特、蘇格蘭工程師兼發(fā)明家詹姆士瓦特。今天我們都喝用巴氏滅菌法消毒的牛奶，這種奶即清又純。巴氏滅菌法便得名于法國醫(yī)生路易斯巴斯德，是他發(fā)明了消毒牛奶 的制作方法。在英語中像這樣的詞有許多。Imitative words are words that sound like the thing or action they stand for. Here are some examples: buzz click bang mumble chirp bawl crash clap mutter giggle hum gulp There is no need to say anything else about these words, for they speak for themselves. You can probably think of many more.象聲詞代表它們模仿的事物或行為的聲音?，F(xiàn)舉例如下： 嗡嗡 滴答 砰砰 咕噥 喳喳 嚎啕 撲通 啪啪 嘀咕 咯咯 嚶嚶 呼哧 對于上述單詞無需再作任何解釋，因?yàn)樗鼈儾谎宰悦??；蛟S你還可以想出更多類似的單詞來。Then there are the invented words. English-speaking people have always made up words as it suited them, and they continue to do so every day. One kind of invented word is one which is made up of two other words. Dictionaries call this kind of word a compound. If you put play and thing together, you get the compound, plaything. How many can you add to this list? raincoat milkshake upstairs standstill headlight shutout sailboat downstairs income headline接下來是新造的詞。講英語的人總是根據(jù)需要?jiǎng)?chuàng)造詞匯，而且每天仍在這樣做。一種新 造的詞是由另外兩個(gè)詞構(gòu)成的。字典里將這種詞稱為復(fù)合詞。如果把“玩?！焙汀拔锲贰狈旁谝黄?，我們就可以得到復(fù)合詞“玩具”。你還能為下表添加多少類似的詞呢？ 雨衣 奶昔 樓上 停頓 前燈 關(guān)閉 帆船 樓下 收入 標(biāo)題 As well as putting two whole words together, we also add parts of words called prefixes and suffixes to the whole words. Most prefixes and suffixes come from Latin or Greek, and each has a special meaning of its own. When we add a prefix before a word or a suffix at the end of it, we change its meaning. For example, the prefix re- means again. If we add re- to do or paint, we get two new words meaning do again and paint again. Un- means the opposite of or not. By adding un- to happy or kind, we get unhappy or unkind, meaning not happy and not kind. The suffix -ness means the condition of. Happiness and kindness are the conditions of being happy and kind. It is easy to see the meanings of unhappiness and unkindness. The word to which we attach the prefixes and suffixes is called the root word. In a word like unkindness the root word is kind.除了把兩個(gè)詞放在一起之外，我們還可以給單詞添加一些成分，即前綴和后綴。大多數(shù)前綴和后綴來自拉丁語和希臘語，而且它們 都有自己特 別的意義。當(dāng)我們在詞的前面加前綴或在其后面加后綴時(shí)，我們就改變了它的意思。例如，前綴re-意思為“再”。如果把re-加到“作”或者“畫”的前面， 我們就得到了兩個(gè)新詞，意思為“再作一次”和“再畫一次”。Un-意思為“相反的”或者“不”。把un-加到“快樂的”或者“和藹的”前邊，我們就得到了 “不快樂”和“不和藹”。后綴-ness意思為“狀態(tài)”?！癶appiness”和“kindness”指快樂和 仁慈的狀態(tài)。這樣就很容易理解“unhappiness”和“unkindness”兩個(gè)詞的意思了。被加上前綴和后綴的詞稱為詞根。像 “unkindness”一詞的詞根是“kind”。Some words, like astronaut, are made up entirely of Greek or Latin prefixes and suffixes. Astro- is a Greek prefix meaning having to do with the stars; naut- means having to do with sailing. So, an astronaut is a star-sailor. Other words can be root words, prefixes or suffixes, depending on where they come in the word. Remember, the prefix comes first, the root word second, and the suffix last. As an example, lets take the word graph and build several different invented words with it by adding prefixes and suffixes to it or using it as a prefix or suffix. Graph by itself means anything which is shown to us in pictures or writing. For instance, your teacher might want to keep track of your reading progress by drawing a graph of your reading test scores, or a businessman might draw graphs which show the ups and downs of his companys sales records. Now, by adding the prefixes and suffixes listed below to graph, we can make several new words. Notice that graph is part of a longer suffix as well as a suffix by itself.Prefixes auto- self bio- life phono- sound photo- light tele- distantSuffixes-graphy study of ; art of -graph something written -ic similar to; like -ology study of -phone sound 有些詞，如宇航員，完全是由希臘語或者拉丁語的前綴和后綴構(gòu)成的。Astro-是希臘語前綴，意思為“與星星有 關(guān)”；naut-意思為“與航行有關(guān)”。所以，宇航員就是“星球航行者”。其它的詞也可以成為詞根、前綴或者后綴，這取決于它們在單詞里所處的位置。切 記，前綴在最前面，詞根其次，最后是后綴?，F(xiàn)以“圖表”一詞為例，通過添加前綴和后綴，或者將它本身作為一個(gè)前綴或者后綴，可以用它造出許多不同的新詞 來。圖表本身是指通過圖畫或者文字呈現(xiàn)出來的事物。例如，你的老師可能想通過繪制一份閱讀測試分?jǐn)?shù)圖表來了解你的讀書過程，或者一個(gè)商人想通過繪制圖表來 顯示他的公司銷售紀(jì)錄的變化?，F(xiàn)在，給圖表這個(gè)詞增加下表中列出的前綴和后綴，我們可以造出許多新詞。注意，圖表一詞除了本身是個(gè)后綴以外，還是另一個(gè)更 長的后綴中的一部分。前綴auto- 自己 bio- 生物，生平phono- 聲 photo- 光 tele- 遠(yuǎn) 后綴-graphy 學(xué)，術(shù)-graph 書，寫-ic 似的-ology 學(xué)-phone 聲以下是由“graph”構(gòu)成的詞：autograph-簽名；人們用手寫的自己的名字 biography-某人生平故事 autobiography-個(gè)人撰寫的自己生平的故事 graphology-書法研究 telegraph-遠(yuǎn)距離寫作（電報(bào)）phonograph-用聲音記錄的文字和圖片 photograph-用光記錄的文字和圖片 photography-拍攝照片的藝術(shù)graphic-清晰的書寫或畫的You may have noticed that you can make even other words using some of these prefixes and suffixes without graph. Biology is the study of life. What do you think is the meaning of biologic? If the prefix anti- means against, what does antibiotic really mean? There are hundreds of Latin and Greek prefixes in the English language, and the possibilities for inventing new words are endless. Every day, as we make new discoveries in science and technology, we invent new words to describe them. Many of these new words are combinations of root words and prefixes and suffixes which have already existed in English for centuries.你可能已經(jīng)注意到，沒有g(shù)raph一詞，你也可以利用上面的某些前綴和后綴構(gòu)成其它單詞?！癰iology”意思為對生命 的研究。那你認(rèn)為“biologic”是什么意思呢？如果前綴anti-意思為“反”，那么“antibiotic”究竟是什么意思呢？在英語中有大量的 拉丁語和希臘語前綴，造新詞的可能性是無止境的。每天，我們都有科學(xué)和技術(shù)的新發(fā)現(xiàn)，所以人們創(chuàng)造新的詞匯去描述它們。許多新詞都是由已經(jīng)在英語中存在了 幾個(gè)世紀(jì)的詞根、前綴和后綴組合而成的。Another kind of invented word is the nonsense word. Some nonsense words are used for a while by only a few people and then disappear completely from the language, never to be used again. Others, when they become popular enough and are used over a period of time, become a permanent part of the language. If enough people decide and agree on the meaning of an invented word, it is here to stay. Some examples of everyday modern words which probably began as nonsense words centuries ago are: bad, big, lad, lass, chat, job and fun. Linguists guess that these are nonsense words because they have not been able to trace them back to any of the ancestor languages. Just who invented them, and when or where remains a puzzle. Puzzle itself is one of these mystery words. No one knows where it came from.另一種新造的詞沒有實(shí)際意義。有些無實(shí)際意義的詞只是被一些人使用一段時(shí)間，然后就從英語中徹底消失，再也不用了。另外一 些詞被人們普遍接受，并且經(jīng)過一段時(shí)間的使用之后，永遠(yuǎn)成為英語的一部分。如果有相當(dāng)多的人選擇并贊同新造出的詞的意思，這個(gè)詞就被保留下來。一些日常用 的現(xiàn)代詞，如：壞、大、少年、少女、聊天、工作和有趣，可能就是幾個(gè)世紀(jì)前從無實(shí)際意義的詞開始的。語言學(xué)家猜測上述單詞為無實(shí)際意義的詞，因?yàn)樗麄儫o法 從任何古代語言中對它們追根溯源。誰發(fā)明的這些詞？何時(shí)何地發(fā)明的？這些至今仍是個(gè)謎?！懊曰蟆边@詞本身就是這些神秘詞語中的一個(gè)。沒人知道這個(gè)詞的出處 是什么。Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, was a great inventor of nonsense words. As a matter of fact, he created a whole language of nonsense. Most of Carrolls nonsense words are not used in English, except for chortle. Chortle, Carroll tells us, is a cross between a chuckle and a snort. The word is formed by packing two different meanings together in it. The dictionary calls such words blends. A fairly recent blend, which, unfortunately, we hear almost every day, is smog, a combination of smoke and fog.愛麗絲漫游奇境和愛麗絲漫游鏡中世界的作者劉易斯卡 羅爾，是無實(shí)際意義詞的偉大的發(fā)明家。實(shí)際上，他造了一整套無實(shí)際意義的語言。除了“咯 咯地笑”這個(gè)詞之外，卡羅爾發(fā)明的大多數(shù)無意義詞并沒有在英語中使用?？_爾告訴我們：Chortle是吃吃地笑聲和噴鼻息兩個(gè)行為交叉在一起時(shí)發(fā)出的聲 音。這個(gè)詞把兩個(gè)不同意義的詞并在了一起。字典中把這樣的詞稱為混合詞。不幸的是，最近我們幾乎天天聽到的一個(gè)新的復(fù)合詞 是“煙霧”，這是煙和霧兩種意思的組合。People invent nonsense words by combining certain sounds that just seem to fit the things or actions they describe. Often we make up words for anything which is basically rather silly. Spoof was invented by an English comedian some fifty years ago. It means to poke fun at. Hornswoggle was used a great deal in the United States during the nineteenth century, and it means to cheat. If a dishonest politician wants to hornswoggle the taxpayers, he invents a boondoggle, which is a useless, expensive project which does nobody any good. Fairly recently someone invented the word gobbledygook. When people talk or write using long, fancy words that really mean nothing, we call it gobbledygook. Unfortunately, many people use gobbledygook because they want to seem more important than they are, or because they dont really want people to understand what they mean or what they are doing. So, when the dishonest politician wants to hornswoggle the public with a boondoggle, he usually explains things in gobbledygook.某些聲音似乎與所描述的事物或行為相吻合，人們將它們組合起來創(chuàng)造出無意義的詞。我們常常造詞來代表很愚蠢的事情。 Spoof(傻話、哄騙)一詞是五十多年前由一個(gè)英國喜劇演員造出來的。它的意思是“用惡作劇的方式來取笑”。Hornswoggle(隱瞞)一詞十九世 紀(jì)在美國被廣泛使用，表示“欺騙”的意思。如果一個(gè)不誠實(shí)的政客想對納稅人進(jìn)行隱瞞，他就制造boondoggle(無價(jià)值的瑣事)，這是一個(gè)對任何人都 沒有好處的、無用的、昂貴的工程。不久前，有人造出了gobbledygook(“官樣文章”)一詞。當(dāng)人們用冗長而無意義的詞進(jìn)行交談或書寫時(shí)，我們稱 之為官樣文章。不幸的是，許多人使用官樣文章，是因?yàn)樗麄兿胱屪约猴@得比實(shí)際更重要，或者是因?yàn)樗麄儾幌胱屓藗兞私馑麄兊恼嬲鈭D和他們的所作所為。所 以，當(dāng)不誠實(shí)的政客想用“無價(jià)值的瑣事”去“哄騙”群眾時(shí)，他通常會(huì)用“官樣文章”來敷衍。When Lewis Carroll was writing his books the word gobbledygook had not been invented yet, but Carroll would have known exactly what it meant. Carroll loved to spoof or poke fun at people who used fancy, important-sounding words when simple language would have done better. In one part of Through the Looking Glass, Alice has a conversation with Humpty Dumpty in which Humpty Dumpty insists words can mean whatever he wants them to mean. Alice insists that this is impossible. If everyone did that no one would understand anyone else. The conversation goes like this:在劉易斯卡羅爾寫書的年代，“官樣文章”一詞還沒有造出來，但是如果當(dāng)時(shí)已經(jīng)有這個(gè)詞的話，卡羅爾會(huì)知道它的確切含義的。卡羅爾喜歡戲弄或嘲笑那些不喜歡用效果更好的簡單 詞匯，而偏愛使用花哨的、大而不當(dāng)?shù)脑~的人。愛麗絲漫游鏡中世界的一個(gè)章節(jié)中，愛麗絲有一段與矮座椅沙發(fā)的對話，其中矮座椅沙發(fā)堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為：它想讓詞匯是什么意思 詞匯就是什么意思。愛麗絲則堅(jiān)持說這不可能。如果每個(gè)人都這樣做的話，那么沒有人可以理解其他人了。他們的對話如下：But glory doesnt mean a nice knockdown argument, Alice objected.