英语听力精选进阶版 6159

Reading Dictionaries for Fun 以读字典为乐

Mr Shea owns over 1,000 dictionaries and he likes to read them for fun.

He recently spent a year reading all 20 volumes of the Oxford¹ English Dictionary. The dictionary contains more than 20,000 pages and over 59 million words.

As he read from A to Z, he noted² down interesting words in a ledger³. This includes words such as happify, meaning to make someone happy, and tripudiate which means to dance, skip or leap for joy.

Mr Shea also kept a diary about his experience which has since been turned into a best-selling book.

Why did he do this?

He claims it was fun: "I’ve always enjoyed reading dictionaries, they are far more interesting than people give them credit for."

It appears that it was not his goal to sound more intelligent through learning and using larger and more complex words.

"I’m not against big words or fancy or obscure words, but I’m opposed to using them for their own sake," he said.

In fact, as a result of reading so many words, Mr Shea often forgot his everyday vocabulary. He wrote, "My head was so full of words that I often had trouble forming simple sentences."

Mr Shea is not alone in his love of reading dictionaries. Elaine Higgleton, a representative of Collins Cobuild dictionaries, explained that thousands of crossword⁴ and Scrabble fans read dictionaries for fun and to improve their game.

Ms Higgleton did however note that, "It’s probably not the best way to learn English, and you’d learn more than you need."

It is not known how many of the 59 million words Mr Shea has remembered but he has certainly made history with his eccentric hobby.

GLOSSARY 词汇表

keen on 热爱

novel 小说

takes your interest 吸引你，使你感兴趣

Oxford English Dictionary 牛津英语字典

volumes 版本，读卷

ledger 分类记录本（同帐簿类似）

happify 使（某人）高兴

tripudiate （兴奋得）手舞足蹈；雀跃

best-selling 畅销的

give them credit for 给他们的赞扬，归功于他们

complex 复杂的

fancy 华丽的；讲究的

obscure 费解的

opposed to 反对

sake 缘故

forming 组成

crossword 纵横字谜

Scrabble 拼字游戏

game 游戏

eccentric 古怪的

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 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

3 ledger   

n.总帐，分类帐；帐簿

参考例句：

• The young man bowed his head and bent over his ledger again.那个年轻人点头应诺，然后又埋头写起分类帐。
• She is a real accountant who even keeps a detailed household ledger.她不愧是搞财务的，家庭分类账记得清楚详细。

4 crossword   

n.纵横字谜，纵横填字游戏

参考例句：

• He shows a great interest in crossword puzzles.他对填字游戏表现出很大兴趣。
• Don't chuck yesterday's paper out.I still haven't done the crossword.别扔了昨天的报纸，我还没做字谜游戏呢。