湖北宜昌天問國際學校 王 晶
1.contendern.競爭者;爭奪者
2.statisticaladj.統計的;統計學的
3.lamentn.挽歌;哀詩;悼詞
4.discoursen.演講
5.masculinityn.男子氣概
6.ethosn.(某團體或社會的)道德思想;道德觀
7.preoccupationn.長久思考的事情;全神貫注
8.entryn.詞條
9.emergev.出現;浮現;露出
10.evolvev.逐步發展
11.involuntarily celibate非自愿獨身主義者
1.What do you think the word “gaslighting”is likely to mean in the text?
2.Why has Oxford Dictionaries chosen “toxic” as its international word of the year?
3.What is the common structure of a coverage in your eyes?
Oxford Dictionaries has chosen “toxic” as its international word of the year,selecting it from a short list that included such politically inflectedcontendersas “gaslighting” “incel” and“techlash”.

Katherine Connor Martin,the company's head of US dictionaries,said there had been a marked increase of interest in the word on its website over the past years.“But the word was chosen less forstatisticalreasons,” she said, “than for the entire variety of contexts in which it has increased sharply,from conversations about environmental poisons tolamentsabout today's poisonous politicaldiscourseto the#MeToo movement,with its calling out of‘toxic masculinity’.”
Oxford's word of the year is chosen to reflect“theethos,mood orpreoccupations” of a particular year,but also to highlight that English is always changing.Last year's winner was “youthquake”.In 2016,it was “post-truth”.
“Toxic”derives from the Greek“toxikon pharmakon”,meaning“poison for arrows”.The currententryin the online Oxford English Dictionary dates its earliest known printed occurrence to 1664.
Other words on the short list highlight different ways wordsemergeorevolve.While “toxic” is an old and very common word that has expanded in usage, “incel” —short for “involuntarily celibate”—is an example of expressions used by a limited group that suddenly enters widespread usage.And then there's “techlash”,defined as “a strong and widespread negative reaction to the growing power and influence of large technology companies,particularly those based in Silicon Valley”.——FromThe New York Times
探究視角1:語篇分析
本文是一篇新聞報道。新聞結構是新聞作品謀篇布局的整體設計,主要組成部分是導語、主體和結尾。新聞報道通常采用“倒金字塔”結構,記者在采寫新聞時,要根據內容決定形式的原則,選擇最佳的新聞結構去靈活多樣地表述新聞內容。本文中的主體部分是toxic一詞成為牛津詞典年度熱詞的原因。
文章的篇章結構如下:

S t r u c t u r e P a r a g r a p h(s) M a i n i d e a(s)P h e n o m e n o n P a r a.1 O x f o r d D i c t i o n a r i e s h a s c h o s e n “t o x i c” a s i t s i n t e r n a t i o n a l w o r d o f t h e y e a r.B o d y/R e a s o n s P a r a.2~3 B a c k g r o u n d i n f o r m a t i o n P a r a.4~5 ●T h e o r i g i n o f t h e w o r d.●I n f o r m a t i o n o f o t h e r b u z z w o r d s o n t h e s h o r t l i s t.●T h e r e h a d b e e n a m a r k e d i n c r e a s e o f i n t e r e s t i n t h e w o r d o n i t s w e b s i t e o v e r t h e p a s t y e a r s.●T h e w o r d h a s b e e n i n c r e a s i n g l y u s e d i n v a r i o u s c o n t e x t s.●I t r e f l e c t s“t h e e t h o s,m o o d o r p r e o c c u p a t i o n s”o f a p a r t i c u l a r y e a r.●I t h i g h l i g h t s t h e c o n s t a n t c h a n g e s o f E n g l i s h.
探究視角2:語言學習
Ⅰ.文本填空
1.Oxford Dictionaries has chosen “toxic” as its international word of the year,________(select)it from a short list...
2.Katherine Connor Martin,the company's head of US dictionaries,said there________(be)a marked increase of interest in the word on its website over the past years.
3.“But the word was chosen less for statistical reasons,”she said,“than for the sheer variety of contexts________it has increased sharply...”
4.Oxford's word of the year is chosen_______(reflect) “the ethos,mood or preoccupations”of a particular year.
5.“Toxic”________(起源于)the Greek “toxikon pharmakon”,meaning “poison for arrows”.
6.Other words on the short list highlight different ways_______words emerge or evolve.
Ⅱ.寫作推薦
1.介紹新近現象的句子——There have/has been...in/during/over the last/past...
Katherine Connor Martin,the company's head of US dictionaries,said there had been a marked increase of interest in the word on its website over the past years.
該公司的美國版詞典負責人凱瑟琳·康納·馬丁說,過去一年中,人們在牛津詞典網站上對 “有毒”一詞的興趣明顯增加。
本句中由于主句使用了一般過去時said的形式,故賓語從句用了過去完成時。
【仿寫】在過去的幾年中,中國發生了巨大的變化。
2.巧用現在分詞作非謂語動詞
“Toxic” derives from the Greek “toxikon pharmakon”,meaning “poison for arrows”.
“有毒”一詞源自希臘語中的“toxikon pharmakon”,含義是“箭上的毒藥”。
本句中,現在分詞meaning引導的分詞短語在句中作定語,相當于which means“poison for arrows”現在分詞在句中可以作定語和狀語,與所修飾的成分構成主謂關系。
【仿寫】在中秋節我們吃月餅,這意味著團圓。
探究視角3:文化拓展
漫談gaslight
《賣拐》《賣車》和《功夫》是趙本山的“忽悠三部曲”,披露出社會上形形色色的行騙者的無恥伎倆以及那些受害者的愚昧無知,意在提醒人們對不法分子提高警惕。標題中的gaslighting源于二戰期間的黑白電影Gaslight(《煤氣燈下》)?!睹簹鉄粝隆肥怯蓡讨巍炜藞虒?,查爾斯·博耶、英格麗·褒曼、約瑟夫·科頓等主演的驚悚電影,于1944年5月11日在美國上映。該片改編自舞臺劇《天使街》,講述了鋼琴師安東為了得到寶拉繼承自姑媽的鉆石和大筆財產,一面把自己偽裝成瀟灑而體貼的丈夫,一面又每到夜晚,操控煤氣燈使其忽明忽暗,同時使房頂上伴有奇怪的聲音,從而企圖用心理戰術把寶拉逼瘋的故事。人性的善良和丑惡在影片中得到了淋漓盡致地表現。
今天,我們常用gaslight一詞比喻通過心理暗示操控別人,因此,也就有了“煤氣燈操縱法”之說。翻譯本文時,我們認真地將其翻譯成“忽悠”,可真的沒有gaslight各位讀者啊。


2018年有“毒”,我們絕沒忽悠你
牛津詞典從一份候選名單中選擇了“有毒”作為 2018年度全球熱詞,該名單上與其相競爭的還有諸如“煤氣燈操縱法”“非自愿獨身者”和“科技抵制”等頗具政治色彩的詞匯。
該公司的美國版詞典負責人凱瑟琳·康納·馬丁說,過去一年中,人們在牛津詞典網站上對“有毒”一詞的興趣明顯增加。但她說,之所以選擇這個詞,與其說是出于數據統計方面的原因,不如說是因為它在各種各樣的語境中大量涌現:從關于環境中有毒物質的討論、對現今惡毒的政治演講的哀嘆,到指控那些“直男癌”的“#我也是”運動,都與之息息相關。
牛津詞典的年度詞匯是被挑選出來反映該年的“精神特質、情緒或關注焦點”的,同時也是為了強調英語是一門不斷變化的語言。去年的年度詞匯是“青年震蕩”,而在 2016年,則是“后真相”。
“有毒”一詞源自希臘語中的“toxikon pharmakon”,含義是“箭上的毒藥”。目前在線牛津英語詞典上關于該詞條可追溯到1664年,它最早于此年出現在印刷品中。
候選名單上的其他單詞突出了單詞起源或演變的不同方式。雖然“有毒”是一個古老、很常見且應用語境很廣的單詞,但“incel”——“非自愿獨身者”的縮寫,卻是一個小群體內行話突然被廣泛使用的例子。然后是“科技抵制”,該詞被定義成“對科技巨頭(尤其是硅谷的公司)日益增長的權力和影響的強烈且廣泛的抵制”。
