新奇事件簿 网络用语看词汇变化

The fast pace at which the Internet has entered and transformed our lives has had an impact on the words and language we use. It is 20 years since the website Dictionary.com was created, and it has looked back at the past two decades to see how the worldwide web has created additional definitions to many commonly used words. Dictionary.com boss Liz McMillan says it's interesting to see, "just how much the rise of technology has shaped our word use over time". She said: "To commemorate¹ the 20th birthday of Dictionary.com, we look back at 20 words that have expanded in meaning over the last 20 years." The website has been documenting new lexical uses since, "the dawn of the Internet era".

互联网以迅雷不及掩耳之势闯入了我们的生活，改变了我们的生活方式，语言也受到了互联网的影响。在线字典网站“Dictionary.com”已经成立了20年，我们来看看这20年里互联网为日常单词增添了多少附加含义。“Dictionary.com”总裁利兹·麦克米伦认为这非常有趣，看看随着技术的不断进步，我们对语言的使用到底改变了多少。她称：“为了庆祝“Dictionary.com”建立20周年，我们选择了20个在这20年中增加语义的单词。”自从进入互联网时代，该网站就记录下了新的词汇使用法。

Perhaps one of the most easily recognisable changes is to the word "friend". For centuries, this word has been a noun. However, with the meteoric² rise of Facebook, this very common word is now also a verb, as in, "Can you friend me?" A variant³ of this word is "befriend," which means to become friends with someone (usually in the real and not cyber world). The word "tablet" used to commonly refer to a flat piece of stone, clay, or wood that is used to write on. Now it's more likely to mean a touchscreen device that is Internet-enabled. Other words that have new definitions include "cloud," "wireless," "viral," "tweet" and "troll". There's no knowing which new words will have new meanings in the next two decades.

最容易引起人们注意的单词或许是对“朋友”一词的改变。几个世纪以来，这个单词一直是以名词的形式出现。随着“脸书”的迅速崛起，这个日常单词开始出现了动词含义，意思是“你能加我为好友吗”。该单词的变化形式为“befriend”，意思是成为某人的朋友（通常并非指网络世界）。单词“tablet”通常指的是人们能够在上面书写的石头、陶土或是木头匾。如今，该单词更多的含义是可以连通互联网的触屏产品。如“cloud”、“wireless”、“tweet”以及“troll”都拥有了新的含义。未来20年，不知道人们还会赋予哪些单词新的含义。

1 commemorate   

vt.纪念，庆祝

参考例句：

• This building was built to commemorate the Fire of London.这栋大楼是为纪念“伦敦大火”而兴建的。
• We commemorate the founding of our nation with a public holiday.我们放假一日以庆祝国庆。

2 meteoric   

adj.流星的，转瞬即逝的，突然的

参考例句：

• In my mind,losing weight is just something meteoric.在我眼中，减肥不过是昙花一现的事情。
• His early career had been meteoric.他的早期生涯平步青云。

3 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。