词汇大师(Wordmaster)--Front Matter Matters

AA: I'm Avi Arditti with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster: the second part of our conversation with Erin McKean, editor-in-chief of American dictionaries for Oxford¹ University Press.

RS: We start by talking about the proper way to get to know a new dictionary.

ERIN McKEAN: "I wish that everyone who bought a dictionary, that the first thing that they did was sit down and read the front matter. Lexicographers spend a lot of time and effort writing the introduction to the dictionary. And the introduction to the dictionary is the users manual. And a lot of people, when they buy a new piece of electronics, they never read the users manual, and then they're frustrated² by the remote control, they can't figure out how to make it work. Same thing happens with the dictionary."

AA: "Yeah, because I just bought a dictionary and I'll be honest with you, I haven't looked at the ... "

ERIN McKEAN: "I know, no one reads the front matter."

RS: "And you're saying it's really important."

ERIN McKEAN: "It tells you what the kind of habits of the dictionary are. For instance, the New Oxford American Dictionary, as I said before, arranges entries by core sense and then sub-sense. But other dictionaries put their definitions in chronological³ order, so the oldest one comes first. And other dictionaries put it in frequency order, so the most frequent one comes first."

RS: "How can understanding your dictionary help you to be a better writer?"

ERIN McKEAN: "Well, if you think of words as the tools of writers, the more you work with the words as your tools, the better you'll be with them. I feel that most writers need not just a good dictionary but a good thesaurus, and that they should always be used together. It's like you can't have a hammer without a nail.

"So if you have a thesaurus, that gives you kind of a constellation⁴ of words that [are] all grouped together. You should then go to your dictionary and sort out exactly what the two or three likely candidates that you want to use mean. One sign of a very poor writer is someone who goes straight to the thesaurus to replace what they consider to be an ordinary word with something fancy and shiny and sparkly, who chooses a word that is completely wrong for the context."

RS: "How does the Oxford American Dictionary address grammar?"

ERIN McKEAN: "We do try and give as much information as possible about how words work -- what kind of complements⁵ they take, in what context you find them. Are they mostly used as adjectives? If they're nouns, are they mostly used as adjective modifiers? If they're verbs, do they take an object, do they not take an object?

"Unfortunately because our core user, our target user, is a native speaker, we don't give as much information as a learner's dictionary does. And that's the real tradeoff. A learner's dictionary [is] the training wheels on your bike, to get you to the point where you can use a dictionary that's intended for a native speaker."

AA: "Now the Internet makes it easy to look up frequency of use, right? To be able to see how often new words are being used in publications and so forth⁶. Can you give us a hint of what's coming up on the radar⁷ -- are there terms you'd like to see in the next edition, or something you tried to get into this one but got overruled?"

ERIN McKEAN: "The Internet is actually very, very frustrating⁸. It gives us glimpses of words that are coming up, but we can't get any exact numbers. I'm trying to think what some of the newer words are. Actually I keep a running memo⁹ on my cell phone of words that we want to add. I'm looking at the word 'pathosphere,' which is kind of the realm of pathogens, things that make you sick.

"I know that I want to include the word 'turducken.'"

AA: "Spell that please."

ERIN McKEAN: "T-U-R-D-U-C-K-E-N."

RS: "And what does it mean?"

ERIN McKEAN: "It's this crazy New Orleans Creole delicacy¹⁰ that is served at Thanksgiving. It is a turkey, deboned, stuffed with a chicken, deboned, stuffed with a duck, deboned, and then there's bread stuffing all around all the different layers."

AA: "Sounds good for Thanksgiving."

ERIN McKEAN: "It is good for Thanksgiving."

RS: "Well, what's it going to take to get it into the dictionary?"

ERIN McKEAN: "I need to make sure that it's as widespread as I think it is. I was actually surprised that it wasn't in at this point, because I've heard it for years. It was featured in a Wall Street Journal article, but it just slipped by. Sometimes words sound like they've been around forever."

RS: Erin McKean is editor-in-chief of American dictionaries at Oxford University Press. You can look up the first part of our interview on our Web site, voanews.com/wordmaster.

AA: And, to send e-mail to Rosanne and me, write to...........With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.

 

1 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

2 frustrated   

adj.挫败的，失意的，泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的过去式和过去分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's very easy to get frustrated in this job. 这个工作很容易令人懊恼。
• The bad weather frustrated all our hopes of going out. 恶劣的天气破坏了我们出行的愿望。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 chronological   

adj.按年月顺序排列的，年代学的

参考例句：

• The paintings are exhibited in chronological sequence.这些画是按创作的时间顺序展出的。
• Give me the dates in chronological order.把日期按年月顺序给我。

4 constellation   

n.星座n.灿烂的一群

参考例句：

• A constellation is a pattern of stars as seen from the earth. 一个星座只是从地球上看到的某些恒星的一种样子。
• The Big Dipper is not by itself a constellation. 北斗七星本身不是一个星座。

5 complements   

补充( complement的名词复数 )； 补足语； 补充物； 补集（数）

参考例句：

• His business skill complements her flair for design. 他的经营技巧和她的设计才能相辅相成。
• The isoseismal maps are valuable complements to the instrumental records. 等震线图是仪器记录有价值的补充资料。

6 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。

7 radar   

n.雷达，无线电探测器

参考例句：

• They are following the flight of an aircraft by radar.他们正在用雷达追踪一架飞机的飞行。
• Enemy ships were detected on the radar.敌舰的影像已显现在雷达上。

8 frustrating   

adj.产生挫折的，使人沮丧的，令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 )；挫败；使受挫折；令人沮丧

参考例句：

• It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间，真令人懊恼。
• It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

10 delicacy   

n.精致，细微，微妙，精良；美味，佳肴

参考例句：

• We admired the delicacy of the craftsmanship.我们佩服工艺师精巧的手艺。
• He sensed the delicacy of the situation.他感觉到了形势的微妙。