十分钟了解英语历史 莎士比亚

 The history of English in ten minutes. Chapter three, Shakespeare, or a plaque¹ on both his houses.

十分钟内了解英国历史。第三章，莎士比亚，或两个家的纪念匾。

As the dictionary tells us about 2,000 new words and phrases were invented by William Shakespeare.

就如字典告诉我们的，大约2000个新单词和短语是莎士比亚造出的。

He gave us handy words like eyeball, puppydog and anchovy² and more show-offy words like dauntless, besmirch³ and lacklustre. He came up with the word alligator⁴ soon after he ran out of the things to rhyme with crocodile. And the nation of tea drinkers finally took into their hearts when he invented the hob-nob.

他留给我们灵巧的词语，如eyeball, puppydog和anchovy，以及很多更炫的词如dauntless, besmirch 和 lacklustre。他造出了这个词，短吻鳄，不久他就才思用尽想不出跟鳄鱼押韵的词。一个全国和茶的民族最终特别喜欢他，当他创造出“对酌”这个词。

Shakespeare knew the power of catchphrases as well as biscuits. Without him, we would never eat our flesh and blood out of house and home. We would have to say good riddance to the green-eyed monster and breaking the ice would be as dead as a doornail.

莎士比亚知道引人注目的话语和饼干一样有吸引力，没有他我们从不会吃肉喝血，不会倾家荡产，我们不得不说可喜的摆脱了绿眼怪，打破僵局将会是一命呜呼。

If you tried to get your money's worth, you'd be given short shrift and anyone who laid it on with a trowel could be hoised with his own petard. Of course it's possible other people used these words first. But the dictionary writers like looking them up in Shakespeare because there was more cross dressing⁵ and people poking⁶ each other's eyes out. 

如果你想要使物有所值，你会被忽视。任何想要用铲子挖地的人会是作茧自缚。当然有可能其他人首先用了这些词，但是字典编纂者喜欢在莎士比亚书里查找，因为这里有更多奇装异服的人，人们彼此伤害。

Shakespeare's poetry showed the world that English was a rich vibrant⁷ language with limitless expressive⁸ and emotional power and he still had time to open all those tea rooms in Stratford.

莎士比亚展示了一个世界，英语在这里丰富多彩，极具特色和表现力，情感不会被限制，他依旧保持威力进入斯特拉特福德的茶馆。

1 plaque   

n.饰板，匾，(医)血小板

参考例句：

• There is a commemorative plaque to the artist in the village hall.村公所里有一块纪念该艺术家的牌匾。
• Some Latin words were engraved on the plaque. 牌匾上刻着些拉丁文。

2 anchovy   

n.凤尾鱼

参考例句：

• Waters off the Peruvian coast become unusually warm,destroying the local anchovy fishing industry.由于异常的高温，秘鲁海岸的海水温度变化异常，影响了当地的凤尾鱼捕捞业。
• Anchovy together with sweet-peppergarlic,milk,chicken stock,and add cheese toasted.奶油状的搅打鸡蛋，放在涂有凤尾鱼糊的吐司面包上。

3 besmirch   

v.污，糟蹋

参考例句：

• He has accused local people of trying to besmirch his reputation.他指责当地人企图败坏他的名声。
• The scandalous remarks in the newspaper besmirch the reputations of every member of the society.报刊上那些恶意中伤的报道败坏了该社团全体成员的名声。

4 alligator   

n.短吻鳄(一种鳄鱼)

参考例句：

• She wandered off to play with her toy alligator.她开始玩鳄鱼玩具。
• Alligator skin is five times more costlier than leather.鳄鱼皮比通常的皮革要贵5倍。

5 dressing   

n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料

参考例句：

• Don't spend such a lot of time in dressing yourself.别花那么多时间来打扮自己。
• The children enjoy dressing up in mother's old clothes.孩子们喜欢穿上妈妈旧时的衣服玩。

6 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

7 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

8 expressive   

adj.表现的，表达…的，富于表情的

参考例句：

• Black English can be more expressive than standard English.黑人所使用的英语可能比正式英语更有表现力。
• He had a mobile,expressive,animated face.他有一张多变的，富于表情的，生动活泼的脸。