词汇大师--Language From the Sea

　　AA: I'm Avi Arditti, with Rosanne Skirble, and this week on Wordmaster -- the catch of the day, terms from the sea.
Lots of nautical¹ expressions have washed ashore² into everyday English. Alan Hartley researches them for the Oxford³ English Dictionary -- that is, when he's not supervising the loading of grain onto foreign ships in the Great Lakes. We called him at his office in Minnesota, and immediately made headway.
ALAN HARTLEY: "When you make 'headway,' you're making progress forward. 'Way' is usually the forward motion of a ship. It could also be rearward motion, and that was called 'sternway.' But there are a lot of analogous⁴ terms in English that never made it into the general vocabulary. 'Headway' and 'sternway' are a good example of a pair, one of which made it and the other didn't.'"
AA: Maritime⁵ metaphors⁶ lend themselves to all kinds of situations on land. Let's say you're making headway on that big project at work, going "full steam ahead." It's all "smooth sailing" toward that big promotion⁷. Or so it seems.
All of a sudden you're "weathering a storm." You reach the "end of your rope" (anchor rope, that is). You look for "safe harbor." You "go overboard" to make things better. The last thing you want is to "scuttle⁸" your career and wind up "on the rocks," all because you've "run afoul" of the boss.

　　ALAN HARTLEY: "If you encountered another ship accidentally, you got too close to it, maybe you got tangled⁹ in its anchor cable, in that case you have 'run afoul' of the other ship and had an accident, essentially¹⁰."
AA: "And today we might talk about to 'run afoul of the law.'"
ALAN HARTLEY: "Sure, exactly. It's a very typical case of the extension into everyday English. And it shows that, you know, the word would be kicking around in nautical use for a few decades and gradually it would be picked up in general use."
RS: "Some of these words I find interesting because I didn't even know that they were maritime words."
ALAN HARTLEY: "Same for me. 'High and dry,' for instance, is something you say all the time. A ship got stuck on the mud flats or on a reef, the tide went out and the ship was left high and dry."
RS: "Well, here's an expression I never associated with the seas, usually associated with my doctor. When I go to the doctor I really like to come out with a 'clean bill of health.'"
ALAN HARTLEY: "Everybody does. And the crew of an old sailing ship would have felt the same way. It didn't mean quite the same thing then, but a ship on arriving at a port would have to be cleared by the local port authorities as having no communicable disease on board. And once they were cleared they got a 'clean bill of health.' Sometimes that took a long time. They would be in quarantine, which was a forty-day period. That's where the 'quarant' comes from."
RS: "Do you have a favorite maritime expression?"
ALAN HARTLEY: "The one that's maybe most striking to me is that phrase we use nowadays, the phrase 'to be taken aback.' A person is taken aback if he is surprised in a negative way, and that derives¹¹ from an old sailing term in which if the ship were headed too close to the direction of the wind, the wind would strike the sails on the forward surface instead of the after -- or rear -- surface.
"So if the wind got around too much toward the bow, toward the front of the ship, it could stop you in your tracks. But also, if you were taken aback hard enough, you could break the entire mast that the sail was suspended from. So it was a very dangerous and startling situation."
AA: Nowadays, don't look to the sea for many new expressions. Alan Hartley points out that we're still using mostly terms from the days of sailing ships.
ALAN HARTLEY: "A lot of the vocabulary that's developed since then is very technical, very specific to modern ships. It has very little application in everyday life."
AA: Alan Hartley is a ship-loading superintendent¹² in Minnesota and a researcher for the Oxford English Dictionary. He's put together a list of nautical language for our website. That address is voanews.com/wordmaster. And our e-mail address is [email protected]
Time to set sail! With Rosanne Skirble, I'm Avi Arditti.
(MUSIC: "Across the Sea"/Bobby Darin)
___
Originally broadcast August 2002
Words That Have Made Their Way from Nautical Language
into Everyday English
Alan H. Hartley, August 2002
(Note of explanation: 1666||1681 means that FIRST-RATE was, according to the 2nd edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, first recorded in nautical use in 1666 and in general use in 1681. The average lag between first nautical appearance and first general use is more than 100 years, but, as that includes some odd cases with very long gaps, I'd be inclined to say instead that it's usually a matter of “a few decades”.)
Before proceeding¹³ to sea, the crew will BATTEN DOWN THE HATCHES in order to prevent flooding below decks that might cause the ship to FOUNDER¹⁴ (1600||1613).
A ship just leaving its moorings GETS UNDER WAY (1743||1822): way is the forward (or sometimes backward) motion of a ship. If the ship continues on its desired course, it will MAKE HEADWAY (1748||1775), the ship's bow being called the head. (The analogous nautical term sternway never made it into popular English: we prefer progress to reversals.) A ship making a lot of headway will leave a slower one in its WAKE (1627||1806), the track it leaves in the sea.
A ship that sails well BY AND LARGE (1669||1706) sails well into (by) the wind as well as with a following (large) wind, that is, under most conditions. A ship that sails really well by the wind can stay ALOOF¹⁵ (1532||1583) from (upwind of) other vessels¹⁶. It will sail best if it is nearly ON AN EVEN KEEL, drawing the same depth of water along its whole length, rather than being much deeper at the bow or the stern.
To FORGE AHEAD (1769||1861), to proceed with effort and determination, probably comes from a common Mediterranean¹⁷ nautical expression meaning 'to press ahead by force of oars¹⁸ or sail' (cf. Italian forza di remo / di vela).
To FATHOM¹⁹ meant originally to measure the water's depth by the fathom (6 feet), roughly the span of a man's outstretched arms, and later to understand the depth of a subject. Failure to watch the depth carefully might leave the ship HARD AND FAST (1867||1867) aground, and perhaps even HIGH AND DRY (1822||1838) when the tide goes out.
A ship may wait IN THE OFFING (1627||1779), or off-shore, if it is inconvenient²⁰ or dangerous to approach the coast. At night or in unfavorable weather (to WEATHER A STORM), a ship might stand ON AND OFF the coast, that is, take a zigzag²¹ course alternately toward and away from the coast, giving the dangerous shore a WIDE BERTH²² (1829||1829) and assuring adequate LEEWAY (1669||1827), or room to maneuver²³, if the wind starts to blow the ship toward the lee shore. Jogging on and off requires the ship to make a leg in one direction and then TAKE A DIFFERENT TACK²⁴, a course different with respect to the direction of the wind.
Masts and other spars and rigging may GO BY THE BOARD (1630||1859), or GO OVERBOARD, by an accident at sea. By the board now refers to something no longer in effect: “those regulations have gone by the board.”
The main-mast might go by the board if the enemy—like a FIRST-RATE (1666||1681) man-of-war of 100 guns, firing a BROADSIDE (1597||1833) that raked the ship FROM STEM TO STERN (1627||1842)—shot away the MAIN-STAY (1485||1787, Thomas Jefferson). The main-stay is the heavy rope leading down and forward that supports the main-mast. It might be necessary to JURY-RIG a spare mast, that is, set it up temporarily until the ship could reach a port where proper repairs could be made.
In rigging, it won't do to use JUNK (1485||1842), old or inferior rope. The word probably comes from Old French jonc, a rope made of rushes (such a rope being weak and inferior); compare with jonquil, a plant with leaves shaped like those of the rush.
Damage to ship or cargo²⁵ is legally called AVERAGE (1491||1735), which is derived²⁶ ultimately from an Arabic word for damaged goods. The damages had to be distributed equitably²⁷, or averaged, among those owning interests in the ship or cargo.
Maneuvering²⁸ in CLOSE QUARTERS (1753||1809), one ship might easily RUN AFOUL (1809||1824) of another. FENDERS (1626||1919, U.S.), made of such things as old rope, serve to protect a ship during contact with a dock or another ship.
The pilot will SEE HOW THE LAND LIES (1700||1809) and use LANDMARKS²⁹ (1570||1667)—distinctive features on shore—to keep the ship in the designated channel, or FAIRWAY (1854||1910, in golfing), and STEER³⁰ CLEAR of obstructions³². (In poor visibility, as in rainy or HAZY³³ (1615||1665) weather, the pilot might LOSE HIS BEARINGS.)
A river-boat might HIT A SNAG (1804, Lewis and Clark||1829), which is an old tree-trunk or branch forming a dangerous obstruction³¹.

1 nautical   

adj.海上的，航海的，船员的

参考例句：

• A nautical mile is 1,852 meters.一海里等于1852米。
• It is 206 nautical miles from our present location.距离我们现在的位置有206海里。

2 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

3 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。

4 analogous   

adj.相似的；类似的

参考例句：

• The two situations are roughly analogous.两种情況大致相似。
• The company is in a position closely analogous to that of its main rival.该公司与主要竞争对手的处境极为相似。

5 maritime   

adj.海的，海事的，航海的，近海的，沿海的

参考例句：

• Many maritime people are fishermen.许多居于海滨的人是渔夫。
• The temperature change in winter is less in maritime areas.冬季沿海的温差较小。

6 metaphors   

隐喻( metaphor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I can only represent it to you by metaphors. 我只能用隐喻来向你描述它。
• Thus, She's an angel and He's a lion in battle are metaphors. 因此她是天使，他是雄狮都是比喻说法。

7 promotion   

n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传

参考例句：

• The teacher conferred with the principal about Dick's promotion.教师与校长商谈了迪克的升级问题。
• The clerk was given a promotion and an increase in salary.那个职员升了级，加了薪。

8 scuttle   

v.急赶，疾走，逃避；n.天窗；舷窗

参考例句：

• There was a general scuttle for shelter when the rain began to fall heavily.下大雨了，人们都飞跑着寻找躲雨的地方。
• The scuttle was open,and the good daylight shone in.明朗的亮光从敞开的小窗中照了进来。

9 tangled   

adj. 纠缠的，紊乱的 动词tangle的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• Your hair's so tangled that I can't comb it. 你的头发太乱了，我梳不动。
• A movement caught his eye in the tangled undergrowth. 乱灌木丛里的晃动引起了他的注意。

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 derives   

v.得到( derive的第三人称单数 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• English derives in the main from the common Germanic stock. 英语主要源于日耳曼语系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derives his income from freelance work. 他以自由职业获取收入。 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 superintendent   

n.监督人，主管，总监；(英国)警务长

参考例句：

• He was soon promoted to the post of superintendent of Foreign Trade.他很快就被擢升为对外贸易总监。
• He decided to call the superintendent of the building.他决定给楼房管理员打电话。

13 proceeding   

n.行动，进行，(pl.)会议录，学报

参考例句：

• This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
• The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

14 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

15 aloof   

adj.远离的；冷淡的，漠不关心的

参考例句：

• Never stand aloof from the masses.千万不可脱离群众。
• On the evening the girl kept herself timidly aloof from the crowd.这小女孩在晚会上一直胆怯地远离人群。

16 vessels   

n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人

参考例句：

• The river is navigable by vessels of up to 90 tons. 90 吨以下的船只可以从这条河通过。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• All modern vessels of any size are fitted with radar installations. 所有现代化船只都有雷达装置。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

17 Mediterranean   

adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的

参考例句：

• The houses are Mediterranean in character.这些房子都属地中海风格。
• Gibraltar is the key to the Mediterranean.直布罗陀是地中海的要冲。

18 oars   

n.桨，橹( oar的名词复数 )；划手v.划（行）( oar的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• He pulled as hard as he could on the oars. 他拼命地划桨。
• The sailors are bending to the oars. 水手们在拼命地划桨。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 fathom   

v.领悟，彻底了解

参考例句：

• I really couldn't fathom what he was talking about.我真搞不懂他在说些什么。
• What these people hoped to achieve is hard to fathom.这些人希望实现些什么目标难以揣测。

20 inconvenient   

adj.不方便的，令人感到麻烦的

参考例句：

• You have come at a very inconvenient time.你来得最不适时。
• Will it be inconvenient for him to attend that meeting?他参加那次会议会不方便吗？

21 zigzag   

n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行

参考例句：

• The lightning made a zigzag in the sky.闪电在天空划出一道Z字形。
• The path runs zigzag up the hill.小径向山顶蜿蜒盘旋。

22 berth   

n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊

参考例句：

• She booked a berth on the train from London to Aberdeen.她订了一张由伦敦开往阿伯丁的火车卧铺票。
• They took up a berth near the harbor.他们在港口附近找了个位置下锚。

23 maneuver   

n.策略[pl.]演习；v.(巧妙)控制；用策略

参考例句：

• All the fighters landed safely on the airport after the military maneuver.在军事演习后，所有战斗机都安全降落在机场上。
• I did get her attention with this maneuver.我用这个策略确实引起了她的注意。

24 tack   

n.大头钉；假缝，粗缝

参考例句：

• He is hammering a tack into the wall to hang a picture.他正往墙上钉一枚平头钉用来挂画。
• We are going to tack the map on the wall.我们打算把这张地图钉在墙上。

25 cargo   

n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物

参考例句：

• The ship has a cargo of about 200 ton.这条船大约有200吨的货物。
• A lot of people discharged the cargo from a ship.许多人从船上卸下货物。

26 derived   

vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取

参考例句：

• Many English words are derived from Latin and Greek. 英语很多词源出于拉丁文和希腊文。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He derived his enthusiasm for literature from his father. 他对文学的爱好是受他父亲的影响。 来自《简明英汉词典》

27 equitably   

公平地

参考例句：

• We should equitably assess historical figures. 我们应该公正地评价历史人物。
• Land was more equitably distributed. 土地得到更公平合理的分配。

28 maneuvering   

v.移动，用策略( maneuver的现在分词 )；操纵

参考例句：

• This Manstein did, with some brilliant maneuvering under the worse winter conditions. 曼施坦因在最恶劣的严冬条件下，出色地施展了灵活机动的战术，终于完成了任务。 来自辞典例句
• In short, large goals required farsighted policies, not tactical maneuvering. 一句话，大的目标需要有高瞻远瞩的政策，玩弄策略是不行的。 来自辞典例句

29 landmarks   

n.陆标( landmark的名词复数 )；目标；（标志重要阶段的）里程碑 ~ (in sth)；有历史意义的建筑物（或遗址）

参考例句：

• The book stands out as one of the notable landmarks in the progress of modern science. 这部著作是现代科学发展史上著名的里程碑之一。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The baby was one of the big landmarks in our relationship. 孩子的出世是我们俩关系中的一个重要转折点。 来自辞典例句

30 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

31 obstruction   

n.阻塞，堵塞；障碍物

参考例句：

• She was charged with obstruction of a police officer in the execution of his duty.她被指控妨碍警察执行任务。
• The road was cleared from obstruction.那条路已被清除了障碍。

32 obstructions   

n.障碍物( obstruction的名词复数 )；阻碍物；阻碍；阻挠

参考例句：

• The absence of obstructions is of course an idealization. 没有障碍物的情况当然是一种理想化的情况。 来自辞典例句
• These obstructions could take some weeks to clear from these canals. 这些障碍物可能要花几周时间才能从运河中清除掉。 来自辞典例句

33 hazy   

adj.有薄雾的，朦胧的；不肯定的，模糊的

参考例句：

• We couldn't see far because it was so hazy.雾气蒙蒙妨碍了我们的视线。
• I have a hazy memory of those early years.对那些早先的岁月我有着朦胧的记忆。