英语单词大师：A Few Words About Politics

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: The election of 2008, in the words of 1828, the year Noah Webster published his epic¹ American Dictionary of the English Language.

We wanted to know how the man known as the founding father of American English defined a few common political terms. So we looked up Arthur Schulman, compiler of a book called "Websterisms." It came out last month to coincide with Webster's 250th birthday.

Our first word, from Middle English and Anglo-French, is party.

ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "He defines party as 'A number of persons united in opinion or design, in opposition² to others in the community. It differs from faction³, in implying a less dishonorable association, or more justifiable⁴ designs. Parties exist in all governments; and free governments are the hot-beds of party. Formerly⁵, the political parties in England were called whigs and tories.' He was obviously opposed to what he called factions⁶, which were very common in the early republic."RS: "Well, bringing [that] up, what is a republic and how did he define it in his dictionary in eighteen twenty-eight?"ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "He defined republic as 'A commonwealth⁷' -- you'd have to then look up commonwealth to see exactly what that meant, but he goes on to say that a republic is 'a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged⁸ in representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person. Yet the democracies of Greece are often called republics.' So he recognized that the two words were sometimes used interchangeably even though they didn't mean quite the same thing."AA: "Well, isn't that the notion of the Electoral College, that people aren't directly -- "ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "That's right. I mean, we are a republic. We're not a democracy even in the sense that Athenian democracy was a democracy."RS: "Well, in our republic we would have political liberty, which in the dictionary is synonymous with civil liberty. Do I have that right?"ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "Civil liberty is an especially interesting definition, because he says it 'is the liberty of man in a state of society' -- uh, I can't read my writing right here ... "RS: "It was 'Civil liberty is the liberty of men in a state of society, or natural liberty ... '"ARTHUR SCHULMAN: " ... 'or natural liberty so far only abridged⁹ and restrained, as is necessary and expedient¹⁰ for the safety and interest of the society, state or nation. A restraint of natural liberty, not necessary or expedient for the public, is tyranny or oppression. Civil liberty is an exemption¹¹ from the arbitrary will of others, which exemption is secured by established laws, which restrain every man from injuring or controlling another. Hence the restraints of law are essential to civil liberty.'

"When he defines political liberty, he says it's 'sometimes used as synonymous with civil liberty,' but he's really talking about the liberty of a nation, 'the freedom of a nation or a state from all unjust abridgment¹² of its rights and independence by another nation.' I don't know that that term, political term, is one that is in common parlance¹³ these days, but certainly civil liberty is."AA: "Now, I see that a term I've always wondered about its origin was in Webster's eighteen twenty-eight dictionary. The word is suffrage¹⁴, but I see from his definition it has nothing to do with women."ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "He had increasingly conservative views as he grew older, and he came to believe very strongly that you needed to be a property owner in order to be able to vote. And you needed to be a man in order to be able to vote, so that the vote was not for everybody. You had to earn the right to vote. And how you would earn it is not always spelled out. But he defined suffrage as ' A vote; a voice given in deciding a controverted¹⁵ question, or in the choice of a man for an office or trust. Nothing can be more grateful to a good man than to be elevated to office by the unbiased suffrage of free enlightened citizens.'"RS: "Why did you include the term preposterous¹⁶?"ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "Well, in preposterous he shows his views of what females could do. It's not his own, he's not the only misogynist¹⁷ in dictionary writing, but he defines preposterous as ' Perverted¹⁸; wrong; absurd; contrary to nature or reason; not adapted to the end,' and then he gives as an example 'as, a republican government in the hands of females is preposterous.'"RS: "So not a believer of women's suffrage."ARTHUR SCHULMAN: "No, no."AA: Arthur Schulman's book is called "Websterisms: A Collection of Words and Definitions Set Forth¹⁹ by the Founding Father of American English." We'll talk more about Noah Webster next time. And that's WORDMASTER for this week. With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

1 epic   

n.史诗，叙事诗；adj.史诗般的，壮丽的

参考例句：

• I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
• They held a banquet of epic proportions.他们举行了盛大的宴会。

2 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

3 faction   

n.宗派，小集团；派别；派系斗争

参考例句：

• Faction and self-interest appear to be the norm.派系之争和自私自利看来非常普遍。
• I now understood clearly that I was caught between the king and the Bunam's faction.我现在完全明白自己已陷入困境，在国王与布纳姆集团之间左右为难。

4 justifiable   

adj.有理由的，无可非议的

参考例句：

• What he has done is hardly justifiable.他的所作所为说不过去。
• Justifiable defense is the act being exempted from crimes.正当防卫不属于犯罪行为。

5 formerly   

adv.从前，以前

参考例句：

• We now enjoy these comforts of which formerly we had only heard.我们现在享受到了过去只是听说过的那些舒适条件。
• This boat was formerly used on the rivers of China.这船从前航行在中国内河里。

6 factions   

组织中的小派别，派系( faction的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The gens also lives on in the "factions." 氏族此外还继续存在于“factions〔“帮”〕中。 来自英汉非文学 - 家庭、私有制和国家的起源
• rival factions within the administration 政府中的对立派别

7 commonwealth   

n.共和国，联邦，共同体

参考例句：

• He is the chairman of the commonwealth of artists.他是艺术家协会的主席。
• Most of the members of the Commonwealth are nonwhite.英联邦的许多成员国不是白人国家。

8 lodged   

v.存放( lodge的过去式和过去分词 )；暂住；埋入；（权利、权威等）归属

参考例句：

• The certificate will have to be lodged at the registry. 证书必须存放在登记处。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Our neighbours lodged a complaint against us with the police. 我们的邻居向警方控告我们。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 abridged   

削减的，删节的

参考例句：

• The rights of citizens must not be abridged without proper cause. 没有正当理由，不能擅自剥夺公民的权利。
• The play was abridged for TV. 剧本经过节略，以拍摄电视片。

10 expedient   

adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计

参考例句：

• The government found it expedient to relax censorship a little.政府发现略微放宽审查是可取的。
• Every kind of expedient was devised by our friends.我们的朋友想出了各种各样的应急办法。

11 exemption   

n.豁免，免税额，免除

参考例句：

• You may be able to apply for exemption from local taxes.你可能符合资格申请免除地方税。
• These goods are subject to exemption from tax.这些货物可以免税。

12 abridgment   

n.删节，节本

参考例句：

• An abridgment of the book has been published for young readers.他们为年轻读者出版了这本书的节本。
• This abridgment provides a concise presentation of this masterpiece of Buddhist literature.这个删节本提供了简明介绍佛教文学的杰作。

13 parlance   

n.说法；语调

参考例句：

• The term "meta directory" came into industry parlance two years ago.两年前，商业界开始用“元目录”这个术语。
• The phrase is common diplomatic parlance for spying.这种说法是指代间谍行为的常用外交辞令。

14 suffrage   

n.投票，选举权，参政权

参考例句：

• The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance.妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。
• The voters gave their suffrage to him.投票人都投票选他。

15 controverted   

v.争论，反驳，否定( controvert的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

16 preposterous   

adj.荒谬的，可笑的

参考例句：

• The whole idea was preposterous.整个想法都荒唐透顶。
• It would be preposterous to shovel coal with a teaspoon.用茶匙铲煤是荒谬的。

17 misogynist   

n.厌恶女人的人

参考例句：

• He quickly gained the reputation of being a misogynist.他很快地赢得了“厌恶女性者”的这一名声。
• Nice try,but you're a misanthrope,not a misogynist.不错了，你讨厌的是世界，不是女人。

18 perverted   

adj.不正当的v.滥用( pervert的过去式和过去分词 )；腐蚀；败坏；使堕落

参考例句：

• Some scientific discoveries have been perverted to create weapons of destruction. 某些科学发明被滥用来生产毁灭性武器。
• sexual acts, normal and perverted 正常的和变态的性行为

19 forth   

adv.向前；向外，往外

参考例句：

• The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。
• He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。