英语单词大师：Aphorisms: How a Few Words

 AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on WORDMASTER: our guest is James Geary, author of a new book called "Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists."RS: It's his second book on aphorisms³. He calls these sayings "the shortest literary form on the planet" -- and we did find some even shorter than the seventeen syllables⁴ in Japanese haiku. Yet even as a lifelong collector of aphorisms, he says he has found it impossible to come up with a short definition.

AA: So James Geary has drafted what he calls Geary's Five Laws of the Aphorism².

JAMES GEARY: "The first law is it must be brief. The second law is it must be definitive⁵. That is, there's no ifs, ands or buts about aphorisms. They just tell it like it is. The third law is it must be personal. That is, it must have an author. And that's the difference between an aphorism and a proverb. Proverbs are just aphorisms that have had the identity of the author worn away by so much use.

"The fourth law is it must be philosophical⁶. It has to make you think. That's the difference between an aphorism and a platitude⁷ or a bromide. And the fifth law is it must have a twist. That can be a psychological twist or a linguistic⁸ twist or even a sort of humorous twist that gives it that something special, that sting in the tail that really makes an aphorism stick in your head."AA: "And you just perfectly⁹ described an aphorism from Steven Wright, the American comic --JAMES GEARY: "Yeah!"AA: "He said, 'The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.'" I had to think about that one."JAMES GEARY: "Exactly! But it's a good example of how aphorisms are also like jokes because, just as with a really good joke, you have to think about it. And then there comes that moment of enlightenment when you get it, there's a punch line, just like you get a joke."AA: "When you realize that the first mouse tripped the mouse trap --JAMES GEARY: "Exactly!"AA: "And the second mouse came along and got the cheese."JAMES GEARY: "Precisely¹⁰. Steven Wright is a wonderful aphorist¹. Another great one of his is, 'When everything'scoming your way, you're in the wrong lane.'"RS: "How did you get obsessed¹¹, you said you were obsessed with aphorisms -- "JAMES GEARY: "I am."RS: "Why?"JAMES GEARY: "Well, when I was a kid, my parents were faithful subscribers to Reader's Digest and at the tender young age of eight I turned the Quotable Quotes section and something about the magical wordplay of aphorisms, the way that so much is compressed into so few words, the sense of humor that you often find in aphorisms, it just really entranced me. And that's how I became a collector.

"Plus, I think because one of the five laws is that aphorisms are personal, they have an author, when you read a collection of aphorisms by a single person, then you really get a flavor of that person as an aphorist, much more than you would if you just read one isolated¹² aphorism."AA: "Well certainly, it's the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."JAMES GEARY: "Exactly. Now, oooh, I can't think of who that was!"AA: "Aristotle."JAMES GEARY: "Oh, very good!"AA: "Under Philosophers and Theorists, page three hundred nineteen here."JAMES GEARY: "Well, Aristotle, Plato. The aphorism is not only the shortest literary art form, it is also the oldest literary art form -- written literary art form, I should say. And it started back [in] five thousand B.C. with the ancient Egyptians and the ancient Chinese. The very first written texts are a collection of aphorisms."AA: "Do you think these started out with the intention to be these sort of philosophical statements? Or did they just sort of happen to strike the listener that way?"JAMES GEARY: "No, I think they did start out that way. The very first Egyptian texts, for example, are collections of little sayings that a father has written to his son. You know, words of wisdom, words to live by, much as people are still doing today -- the way that every family has a classic saying or two that gets passed down from generation to generation. My father, for example, he was fond of saying 'Little said, easily mended.'"RS: "Are aphorisms universal? Do they evolve over time, or can anyone from any culture understand them?"JAMES GEARY: "Yes, I think they are universal, in the sense that I think every culture and every language has its own collection of aphorisms. Aphorisms, they speak to sort of archetypes of human experience, so the basics of living and dying, the essential things that happen to us along the way. This is what aphorisms speak to, and I think this is why they're so potent¹³ and powerful."RS: Next week, listen for more examples from "Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists." James Geary is an American journalist who lives in London.

AA: And that's all for WORDMASTER this week. To learn more about American English, check out the WORDMASTER website at voanews.com/wordmaster.

RS: With Avi Arditti, I'm Rosanne Skirble.

1 aphorist   

警句家

参考例句：

2 aphorism   

n.格言，警语

参考例句：

• It is the aphorism of the Asian Games. 这是亚运会的格言。
• Probably the aphorism that there is no easy answer to what is very complex is true. 常言道,复杂的问题无简易的答案,这话大概是真的。

3 aphorisms   

格言，警句( aphorism的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He formulated trenchant aphorisms that caught their attention. 他阐述的鲜明格言引起了人们的注意。
• The aphorisms started following like water as all the old cliches got dusted off. 一些陈词滥调象尘土一样扬起，一些格言警句象洪水一样到处泛滥。

4 syllables   

n.音节( syllable的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a word with two syllables 双音节单词
• 'No. But I'll swear it was a name of two syllables.' “想不起。不过我可以发誓，它有两个音节。” 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

5 definitive   

adj.确切的，权威性的；最后的，决定性的

参考例句：

• This book is the definitive guide to world cuisine.这本书是世界美食的权威指南。
• No one has come up with a definitive answer as to why this should be so.至于为什么该这样，还没有人给出明确的答复。

6 philosophical   

adj.哲学家的，哲学上的，达观的

参考例句：

• The teacher couldn't answer the philosophical problem.老师不能解答这个哲学问题。
• She is very philosophical about her bad luck.她对自己的不幸看得很开。

7 platitude   

n.老生常谈，陈词滥调

参考例句：

• The talk is no more than a platitude. 这番话无非是老生常谈。
• His speech is full of platitude. 他的讲话充满了陈词滥调。

8 linguistic   

adj.语言的，语言学的

参考例句：

• She is pursuing her linguistic researches.她在从事语言学的研究。
• The ability to write is a supreme test of linguistic competence.写作能力是对语言能力的最高形式的测试。

9 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

10 precisely   

adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地

参考例句：

• It's precisely that sort of slick sales-talk that I mistrust.我不相信的正是那种油腔滑调的推销宣传。
• The man adjusted very precisely.那个人调得很准。

11 obsessed   

adj.心神不宁的,鬼迷心窍的,沉迷的

参考例句：

• He's obsessed by computers. 他迷上了电脑。
• The fear of death obsessed him throughout his old life. 他晚年一直受着死亡恐惧的困扰。

12 isolated   

adj.与世隔绝的

参考例句：

• His bad behaviour was just an isolated incident. 他的不良行为只是个别事件。
• Patients with the disease should be isolated. 这种病的患者应予以隔离。

13 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。