新奇事件簿 韦氏词典赋予代词新定义

The reference book company Merriam-Webster has added a new definition of the pronoun "they" to its famous Webster's Dictionary. It now lists the word "they" as referring to a "single person whose gender¹ identity is non-binary". This will be welcome news for those who identify neither as male nor female - people with non-binary identities. Many institutions have already incorporated a gender-neutral option into their official forms. A growing number of local governments, schools and airlines have introduced the gender choice of "X" to accommodate people who do not consider themselves as male or female, and for gender fluid people who switch between different genders².

辞书出版公司梅里亚姆-韦伯斯特公司在其著名的韦氏词典中增加了“they”一词的新定义。现在该字典将“they”一词列为“性别身份非二元的单身人士”。对对于那些既不认为自己是男性也不认为自己是女性的人（非二元性别的人）来说，这将是一个好消息。许多机构已经在其正式表格中加入了性别中立选项。有越来越多的当地政府、学校以及航空公司已经引入了“X”性别选项以适应那些认为自己既不是男性也不是女性的人以及那些在不同性别间转换的性别流动人士。

Merriam-Webster stated that the use of "they" in place of "he" or "she" recognizes people who did not "conform to an expected gender expression, or who seemed to be neither male nor female". It added: "We've struggled to find the right language to describe these people, and in particular, the right pronouns." It points out that the word "they" has been used as a singular pronoun since the late 1300s. William Shakespeare used it in this way in the early 17th century. In 1898, the playwright³ George Bernard Shaw wrote in his play Antony and Cleopatra that: "No man goes to battle to be killed....But they do get killed." Merriam-Webster says that today, "nearly everyone uses the singular "they" in casual conversation".

梅里亚姆-韦伯斯特公司表示用‘they’替代‘he’或者‘she’，这就是承认了那些不符合预期的性别表达，或者看上去既不是男性也不是女性”的人的身份。其还补充道：“我们一直在努力寻找合适的语言来描述这些人，尤其是正确的代词。”其指出，自14世纪末，‘they’一词一直被用作单数代词。威廉·莎士比亚在17世纪早期就这样用过。1898年，剧作家乔治·伯纳德·萧在他的戏剧《安东尼与克里奥佩特拉》中写道：“没有人去战斗是为了被杀…但他们确实被杀了。”梅里亚姆-韦伯斯特公司今天表示，“几乎每个人在日常对话中都使用单数“they”。

1 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

2 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

3 playwright   

n.剧作家，编写剧本的人

参考例句：

• Gwyn Thomas was a famous playwright.格温·托马斯是著名的剧作家。
• The playwright was slaughtered by the press.这位剧作家受到新闻界的无情批判。