新奇事件簿 2012年热词"Omnishambles"

The Oxford¹ English Dictionary has chosen the neologism (new word) "omnishambles" as its Word Of The Year for 2012. The OED's blog defines this recent addition to the English vocabulary as "a situation that has been comprehensively mismanaged, characterized by a string of blunders and miscalculations". It is a noun and is used informally. The word is a combination of the prefix² "omni," which means "in all ways" or "of all things," and "shambles," which means "a state of total disorder³ from every possible angle". The word was first coined in 2009 in a BBC political comedy but rose to prominence⁴ earlier this year after it was used to attack the British government by at least eight politicians in the British Parliament.

牛津英语词典将“Omnishambles”评选为2012年度热词。在牛津词典博客中，它将刚刚收入词典中的“Omnishambles”定义为“由一系列错误和错估造成的一种全面的管理不善的局面”。“Omnishambles”是名词，并用在非正式语境中。它结合了前缀“omni”，意思是“全部的”，又结合了“shambles”意思是某件事一团糟。2009年，该次首次出现在了BBC政治讽刺片中，之后在英国国会上，有至少8名政界人士使用“Omnishambles”来攻击英国政府，今年该词榜上有名。

Other words in Oxford's top ten include "Eurogeddon" , the threatened financial collapse⁵ in Europe and "second screening" , to watch television and a device such as an iPad simultaneously⁶. The texting acronym⁷ "YOLO" you only live once also made it onto the list. Oxford said there was no guarantee omnishambles would be added to its dictionary. It said the word first had to "stand the test of time". Oxford selects its Word Of The Year "to reflect the ethos of the year and its lasting⁸ potential as a word of cultural significance". Past winners include "podcast," "carbon footprint" and "credit crunch⁹". This year's American winner is "gif" the format¹⁰ extension of many images on the Internet.

排名在牛津前十的新词还包括“Eurogeddon”，意指欧洲的金融危机，还有“second screening”，意思是电视和电子产品同时看，例如Ipad。短信缩写“YOLO”，“你只活一次”也在名单之中。牛津词典称，我们不能保证“omnishambles”能够收入到词典中。它需要经得起时间的考验。“Omnishambles”反映了当今的思潮，表现了语言对于文化的深远意义，这是牛津选择它为年度热词的原因。过去几届年度热词包括“播客”，“碳足迹”以及“信贷危机”。今年的美国热词为“gif”，意思是图形交换格式。

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 prefix   

n.前缀；vt.加…作为前缀；置于前面

参考例句：

• We prefix "Mr."to a man's name.我们在男士的姓名前加“先生”。
• In the word "unimportant ","un-" is a prefix.在单词“unimportant”中“un”是前缀。

3 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

4 prominence   

n.突出；显著；杰出；重要

参考例句：

• He came to prominence during the World Cup in Italy.他在意大利的世界杯赛中声名鹊起。
• This young fashion designer is rising to prominence.这位年轻的时装设计师的声望越来越高。

5 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

6 simultaneously   

adv.同时发生地，同时进行地

参考例句：

• The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。
• The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

7 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

8 lasting   

adj.永久的，永恒的；vbl.持续，维持

参考例句：

• The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
• We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。

9 crunch   

n.关键时刻；艰难局面；v.发出碎裂声

参考例句：

• If it comes to the crunch they'll support us.关键时刻他们是会支持我们的。
• People who crunch nuts at the movies can be very annoying.看电影时嘎吱作声地嚼干果的人会使人十分讨厌。

10 format   

n.设计，版式；[计算机]格式，DOS命令:格式化(磁盘)，用于空盘或使用过的磁盘建立新空盘来存储数据；v.使格式化，设计，安排

参考例句：

• Please format this floppy disc.请将这张软盘格式化。
• The format of the figure is very tasteful.该图表的格式很雅致。