any man of mine

重新开始

穆丽尔·L·韦特斯通

我曾经惧怕星期天。那时我从星期一上午八点半开始就盼着周末。我痛恨我的老板。

有勇气改变我的生活。

2Whenmostofmyfriendswereplanningcollegeschedulesandpartyingintothenight,Iwas

19yearsoldIwasthemother

oftwo,hingIdidforyears,everydecisionImade,wasdone

withmyfamilyinmind.

一

个哭闹的孩子在屋里走来走去。才19

3AndthenIturned29,and30wasonlyabreathaway.(2)HowlongcouldIlivelikethis?

tofeelthatifIdidn'tdosomethingsoon,somethingquickly,I

edtofollowmychildhooddream:Iwasgoingtogetmy

undergraduatedegreeandbecomeafull-timejournalist.

一晃我就2930

4Iquitmyjobononeofmygooddays,atonceIwasfilledwithanxiety.

WhatwouldItellmyhusbandandwhatwouldbehisreaction?Howwouldwepayourbills?I

mustbecrazy,d,Lord,whathaveIdone?I

sifIcrawledbacktomy

bossonmyhandsandkneesandpleadedtemporarymadness,he'

thatentireweekendintheeyeofanemotionalstorm.

虑。

或许他会让我复职。整个周末我都在忐忑不安中度过。

5ButwhileIwasfeelinguneasyaboutthebridgeI'djustcrosd,Ialsobegantofeela

dalongloveaffair

sharedwas

personal:Itbelongedtomeandwouldalwaysbeminedespiteanythinggoingonoutsideofme.I

wasn'tquitesurewhatmyjourneywouldinvolve,butIwaspositivewhowouldbeattheother

end.(3)IsteeledmylftotraveltheroadthatwouldleadmetoabetterunderstandingofwhoI

s

worriedasIwas,steppedoffthebridgeandontothe

path,iscoveredthatIlovedtolearnandthatmymindsoakedup

etimes,after

realizingwhatwaxpectedofme,Iwouldbeweigheddownbylf-doubtanduncertainty.

觉

向丈

来捉摸不定而感到心情沉重。

ikean

yImetagroupofolderfemalestudentswho

were,likeme,ntoshareourexperiencesofreturningtoschool,

dealingwithhusbands,lovers,mewehavebecome

sisters,supportingourlvesbyencouragingandsupportingoneanother.

得

勇气和信心。

,I'vehadmorejobsin

mesI'vehadtostirapotwithonehandwhile

anafewtimesI'venearlybrokenunderthepressure.I've

shedtearsonthebaddays,butsmilesareplentifulonthegoodones.

8However,Iwouldnottakebackonetearorchangeonethingaboutthelastcoupleofyears.

Ithasn'tbeenasnap:FromthebeginningIknewitwouldnotbe.(4)Andit'snotsomuchthe

resultsoftheactionthathavereshapedme(althoughthat'simportant,too)asitistherealization

oreincontrolthedays

andlesslikeaflagonabreezyday,blowingthiswayorthatdependingonthewind.

(虽

然这也很重要)

9InolongerdreadSundays,tcredit

formyideas,

canclearlyeanewwomanwaitingpatientlyjustalittlewaydowntheroad,waitingformeto

reachher.

清楚地看到

Unit7

,likeEnglish,emtowelcome

them.

RobertMacNeillooksatthehistoryofEnglishandcomestotheconclusionthatitstolerancefor

changereprentsdeeplyrootedideasoffreedom.

TheGloriousMessinessofEnglish

RobertMacNeil

1ThestoryofourEnglishlanguageistypicallyoneofmassivestealingfromother

whyEnglishtodayhasanestimatedvocabularyofoveronemillionwords,

whileothermajorlanguageshavefarfewer.

英语中绚丽多彩的杂乱无章现象

罗伯特·麦克尼尔

2French,forexample,hasonlyabout75,000words,andthatincludesEnglishexpressions

nch,however,donotlikeborrowingforeignwordsbecau

ernmenttriestobanwordsfromEnglishanddeclares

thatWalkmanisnotdesirable;sotheyinventaword,balladeur,whichFrenchkidsaresuppodto

sayinstead--buttheydon't.

75,000snackbarhitparade

认为这样会损害法语

Walkman

们造了个新词balladeur让法国儿童用——可他们就是不用。

3Walkmanisfascinatingbecauitisn'lyspeaking,itwasinventedby

theJapanemanufacturerswhoputtwosimpleEnglishwordstogethertonametheirproduct.

Thatdoesn'tbotherus,thegloriousmessinessofEnglish.

Thathappytolerance,thatwillingnesstoacceptwordsfromanywhere,explainstherichnessof

Englishandwhyithasbecome,toaveryrealextent,thefirsttrulygloballanguage.

Walkman

大

程度上第一个成了真正的国际语言。

4HowdidthelanguageofasmallislandoffthecoastofEuropebecomethelanguageofthe

planet--morewidelyspokenandwrittenthananyotherhaverbeen?ThehistoryofEnglishis

prentinthefirstwordsachildlearnsaboutidentity(I,me,you);posssion(mine,yours);the

body(eye,no,mouth);size(tall,short);andnecessities(food,water).Thewordsallcome

fromOldEnglishorAnglo-SaxonEnglish,yshortanddirect,

thearewordswestillutodayforthethingsthatreallymattertous.

他

I,

me,youmine,yourye,no,mouthtall,short

food,water

鲁

事物。

mple,duringWorld

WarII,WinstonChurchillmadethisspeech,stirringthecourageofhispeopleagainstHitler's

armiespositionedtocrosstheEnglishChannel:"Weshallfightonthebeaches,weshallfighton

thelandinggrounds,weshallfightinthefieldsandinthestreets,

shallneversurrender."

抗屯兵英吉利海峡准备渡海作

6VirtuallyeveryoneofthowordscamefromOldEnglish,exceptthelast--surrender,

illcouldhavesaid,"Weshallnevergivein,"butitis

oneofthelovely--andpowerful--opportunitiesofEnglishthatawritercanmix,foreffect,

reissomethingdirecttotheheartthatspeaks

tousfromtheearliestwordsinourlanguage.

——surrender

Weshallnevergivein,”但这正是英语迷人之处和活力

所

接拨动心弦的效果。

7WhenJuliusCaesarinvadedBritainin55B.C.,ts,who

inhabitedtheland,holanguages

camefromisstillamystery,butthereisatheory.

尤利乌斯·凯撒在公元前55

但有一种理论试图解开这个谜。

8TwocenturiesagoanEnglishjudgeinIndianoticedthatveralwordsinSanskritcloly

maticstudyrevealedthatmanymodern

languagesdescendedfromacommonparentlanguage,losttousbecaunothingwaswritten

down.

9Identifyingsimilarwords,linguistshavecomeupwithwhattheycallanIndo-European

parentlanguage,eoplehadcommonwordsforsnow,bee

scholarsassumetheylivedsomewhereinnorth-central

Europe,ingeast,someestablishedthelanguagesofIndiaandPakistan,

omadetheearliestmove

westwardbecameknownastheCelts,whomCaesar'sarmiesfoundinBritain.

种

语言使用于公元前3500年至公元前2000年。这些人使用同样的词表达“雪”、“蜜蜂”和“狼”

地

10NewwordscamewiththeGermanictribes--theAngles,theSaxons,etc.--thatslipped

ertheyformedwhatwecall

Anglo-Saxonsociety.

新的词汇随日尔曼部落——盎格鲁、萨克逊等部落——5世纪的时候越

11TheAnglo-Saxonspasdontoustheirfarmingvocabulary,includingsheep,ox,earth,

wood,sthavealsoenjoyedthemlvesbecautheygaveustheword

laughter.

sheep,ox,earth,wood,field

和

worklaughter一词。

chedtheAnglo-Saxon

vocabularywithsome400to500wordsfromGreekandLatin,includingangel,discipleand

martyr.

下一个对英语产生重大影响的是基督教。基督教以400至500个希腊语、拉丁语词汇

angel,disciple和martyr

13so

broughttoEnglishmanywordsthatbeginwithsk,NorandEnglish

bothsurvived,andsoyoucanrearachild(English)orraiachild(Nor).Othersuchpairs

survive:wishandwant,craftandskill,chadditiongaveEnglishmore

richness,morevariety.

接着北欧海盗从斯堪的纳维亚来到了这块相对和平的土地。他们也给英语带来了许多

以sksky和skirt

说rearachildraiachild

同义

wish和wantcraft和skillhide和skin。每一个类似的词的增添都使英语更

加

14Anotherfloodofnewvocabularyoccurredin1066,whentheNormansconquered

England.

Thecountrynowhadthreelanguages:Frenchforthenobles,LatinforthechurchesandEnglish

reelanguagescompeting,thereweresometimesdifferenttermsfor

mple,Anglo-Saxonshadthewordkingly,butaftertheNormans,royaland

raordinarythingwasthatFrenchdidnot

reecenturiesEnglishgraduallyswallowedFrench,andbytheendofthe

15thcenturywhathaddevelopedwasamodified,greatlyenrichedlanguage--MiddleEnglish--

withabout10,000"borrowed"Frenchwords.

另一次新词的大量涌入发生在1066

kinglyroyal

和sovereign

15世

“借来”的法语词汇的语言——中古英语。

15Around1476WilliamCaxtontupaprintingpressinEnglandandstarteda

ngbroughtintoEnglishthewealthofnewthinkingthatsprang

ationsofGreekandRomanclassicswerepouredontothe

printedpage,andwiththemthousandsofLatinwordslikecapsuleandhabitual,andGreekwords

estillborrowfromLatinandGreektonamenew

inventions,likevideo,televisionandcyberspace.

大约在1476

播技术的革命。印刷术把欧洲文艺复兴运动中涌现的大量新思想传入英国。希腊罗马经典著

capsule和

habitual

catastrophe和thermometer

入。

今天我们仍借用video,television和cyberspace

16AsttlerslandedinNorthAmericaandestablishedtheUnitedStates,Englishfounditlf

rsinBritainworriedthatthelanguagewasoutof

control,andsomewantedtotupanacademytodecidewhichwordswereproperandwhich

atelytheirideahasneverbeenputintopractice.

——美式英语和英式英语。英

不

合适。幸运

1scholar

OttoJespernwrotein1905,"TheEnglishlanguagewouldnothavebeenwhatitisiftheEnglish

hadnotbeenforcenturiesgreatrespectersofthelibertiesofeachindividualandifeverybodyhad

notbeenfreetostrikeoutnewpathsforhimlf."

这种对变化的包容态度也体现了根深蒂固的自由精神。丹麦学者奥托·叶斯柏森在

1905

地

erthatthesameculturalsoilproducingtheEnglishlanguagealso

noustshoots

sprangupinEngland,lish-speakingpeopleshave

defeatedalleffortstobuildfencesaroundtheirlanguage.

种种意欲建立语言保护的企图。

19Indeed,theEnglishlanguageisnotthespecialprerveofgrammarians,languagepolice,

teachers,his,andalwayshasbeen,thetongueofthe

commonman.