世界名人简介 第86期:诺姆·乔姆斯基

 Noam Chomsky is an American author, lecturer, linguist¹, philosopher, and political commentator². He is a top professor of linguistics³ at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His ideas completely changed teachers’ understanding of how we learn languages. Chomsky is well known for his prolific⁴ research and publications. He is cited as a source more often than any other living person.

诺姆·乔姆斯基是美国作家、演说家、语言学家、哲学家以及政治评论家。他是麻省理工学院顶级语言学教授。他的理论完全改变了教师对于语言习得的理解。他还是一名多产的研究型作家。他的著作引用度超过了所有在世作家。

Chomsky was born in 1928 in Pennsylvania, USA. The young Noam got into writing and politics at a very early age. When he was 10, he wrote an essay on the threat of fascism during the Spanish Civil War. Needless to say, he was a gifted student and he followed current events very closely. He graduated with an MA in philosophy and linguistics.

1928年，乔姆斯基出生于美国宾夕法尼亚。并从很早就开始接触写作和政治。10岁那年正值西班牙内战，他写了一篇关于纳粹主义威胁的文章。他天赋异禀，并紧随当今时事。并获得语言学和哲学硕士学位。

Chomsky received his Ph.D. in linguistics in 1955. His thesis helped shape today’s understanding of what language is and how we all learn it so naturally. He joined the teaching staff of MIT in 1955 and has remained there to this day. Chomsky has spent decades there researching and writing on language, psychology⁵ and politics and has influenced hundreds of researchers and academics.

1955年，乔姆斯基获得语言学博士学位。他的理论形成了我们对语言的了解，以及自然学习法。1955年，他开始在麻省理工任教，并一直到今天。乔姆斯基用了数十年时间著书论说，他在语言、政治以及心理方面的论述也影响了数百位学者。

Chomsky is a fierce critic of US foreign policy and continually questions the misuse⁶ of American power. He has strongly opposed all wars from Vietnam to Iraq. He is largely shunned⁷ by the media in the United States for being unpatriotic and has received death threats. However, he is in high demand for his ideas and speeches around the world.

乔姆斯基也是美国外交政策的有力批判者，并一直对美国滥用权力表示质疑。从越战到伊拉克战争，他反对所有战争。因无爱国情深，他的曝光度不高，还曾收到死亡恐吓。然而，他的理论和演说风靡全球。

1.foreign policy 外交政策

例句：They have revamped their foreign policy. 

他们修改了外交政策。

2.Civil War 内战

例句：The civil war has raged almost continuously since 1976.

自从1976年开始，内战几乎没有中断过。

3.Needless to say 不用说

例句：Needless to say, theory and practice sometimes diverged⁸.

不用说，理论和实践有时候并不相符。

4.cite as 引用

例句：I am merely citing his reaction as typical of British industry.

我仅以他为例来说明英国工业界的典型反应。

1 linguist   

n.语言学家；精通数种外国语言者

参考例句：

• I used to be a linguist till I become a writer.过去我是个语言学家，后来成了作家。
• Professor Cui has a high reputation as a linguist.崔教授作为语言学家名声很高。

2 commentator   

n.注释者，解说者；实况广播评论员

参考例句：

• He is a good commentator because he can get across the game.他能简单地解说这场比赛，是个好的解说者。
• The commentator made a big mistake during the live broadcast.在直播节目中评论员犯了个大错误。

3 linguistics   

n.语言学

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• Linguistics is a scientific study of the property of language.语言学是指对语言的性质所作的系统研究。

4 prolific   

adj.丰富的，大量的；多产的，富有创造力的

参考例句：

• She is a prolific writer of novels and short stories.她是一位多产的作家，写了很多小说和短篇故事。
• The last few pages of the document are prolific of mistakes.这个文件的最后几页错误很多。

5 psychology   

n.心理，心理学，心理状态

参考例句：

• She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
• He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。

6 misuse   

n.误用，滥用；vt.误用，滥用

参考例句：

• It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能，使我深感不安。
• He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。

7 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 diverged   

分开( diverge的过去式和过去分词 )； 偏离； 分歧； 分道扬镳

参考例句：

• Who knows when we'll meet again? 不知几时咱们能再见面！
• At what time do you get up? 你几时起床？