时间:2018-12-11 作者:英语课 分类:访谈录2010


英语课

Forget the dreaming spires 1 and the bicycles, the reason I've come to Oxford 2 is leather bound with meaning. The Oxford English Dictionary has turned over a new leaf, having undergone a digital makeover. The second edition of the full version or twenty volumes has been online for ten years. And now gets more than 6 million hits a month from subscribers.

“We've always had a commitment to keep up to date with the best delivery method for passing on our research and our knowledge about the English language to the widest possible audience. A digital medium seems to be one which conveys that knowledge in a very, very effective way, on a very, very large scale.”

The Oxford University Press made 115 million dollars last year, selling 115 million other books. The Oxford English Dictionary has never made a profit in its 120-year history. With the success of the online version, where subscribers can pay up to 315 dollars a year, the full version of the third edition may not make it onto paper.

Superfluous 3, that is “not needed or required, unnecessary, needless, uncalled-for.”

But its digital destiny won't be decided 4 just yet. Only 28% complete. The 80 lexicographers working on the third edition will need at least another decade before it's finished. By that time, it’s uncertain if there'll be any demand for the 1,200-dollar printed version.

"We need to decide whether to publish the print or not. Whether you do or not is just a question whether there is some market for it or not.”

The online version is updated every three months with roughly 250 new words, reflecting change not only in languages, but also in technology.

App, an application program.

"We don't put words into the dictionary as soon as they are coined. We fully 5 wait five or ten years before we put the word in the dictionary. The word 'Vuvuzela', a sort of horn trumpet 6, they were heard when in the World Cup. So, some of you will be working on that. And their job will be to amass 7 as much information as they can about the history of the words and to bring that to altogether to write a definitional basis for what evidence they have got.

The definition of dictionary has changed. With online versions, iPhone apps, and even Word of the Day email alerts. It's another sign of our technological 8 times. We are having the ability to upload twenty volumes of the English language. It's something to blow your Vuvuzela about.

Ayesha Durgahee, CNN, Oxford, England.



1 spires
n.(教堂的) 塔尖,尖顶( spire的名词复数 )
  • Her masts leveled with the spires of churches. 船的桅杆和教堂的塔尖一样高。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • White church spires lift above green valleys. 教堂的白色尖顶耸立在绿色山谷中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
2 Oxford
n.牛津(英国城市)
  • 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。
3 superfluous
adj.过多的,过剩的,多余的
  • She fined away superfluous matter in the design. 她删去了这图案中多余的东西。
  • That request seemed superfluous when I wrote it.我这样写的时候觉得这个请求似乎是多此一举。
4 decided
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的
  • This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
  • There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。
5 fully
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
6 trumpet
n.喇叭,喇叭声;v.吹喇叭,吹嘘
  • He plays the violin, but I play the trumpet.他拉提琴,我吹喇叭。
  • The trumpet sounded for battle.战斗的号角吹响了。
7 amass
vt.积累,积聚
  • How had he amassed his fortune?他是如何积累财富的呢?
  • The capitalists amass great wealth by exploiting workers.资本家剥削工人而积累了巨额财富。
8 technological
adj.技术的;工艺的
  • A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
  • Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今, 随着科技进步,生活节奏不断增快。
学英语单词
AC (access control)
Aletris L.
alphatopic
anilo fibre
antipolarities
arc-over voltage
archaeornis
b-29s
bagel
barosaur
bet my boots
blandings
brachidial pattern
brandons
carbon hearth
Chagodoshcha
civilta
colliquative sweat
collision quarter
commercial monopoly
complainers
counterweight pulley
deliquescent crystal
depsid
diagram cone
diospyros kurziis
disaffirming
El Perdigón
electro bop
equalization box
eterna
fissure for ligamentum teres hepatis
fixot
forced oscillations
Galenicals
game theoretical model
gas utilities
heemskerk
high-strength quartz glass
hull surface roughness
hydraulic tensioner
hydroxymyristic acid
infrared index
interhalogen-halogenoid compound
internet connection firewall
irradiated surface
Krebs' tricarboxylic acid cycle
L-LOBEINE
lacers
lessoned
Little Compton
machining superintendent
macrolide
molybdenum hexafluoride
morally
motor-neuron
national pension
non-Newtonian fluid mechanics
nonastrological
numerical mold loft
oostendes
Ortho-Norum
papilionids
passage form
polycarbonated
preferred view
primary rainbow
pseudosylvian
quadrant chain
radius indicator
reattacks
regular way sale
Reticon
rho-theta navigation system
ring-type briquetting machine
roentgen-equivalent-medical
rumizin
sandhoff's disease
schicchis
semi-hermetic refrigeration compressor
settling column analysis
shore boulders
shui-bian
signal demodulation
special visit count
sphaceloma murrgyae jenkins et grodsin-sky
sulbenox
superprogrammers
system programme error
Taillefer's valves
three-arm protractor
took my colour from
transition ride
triodan
tropidoneis lepidoptera
turn plow
volume of back filled earth works
vultur gryphuss
water distributor for inner cooling rotor
weight bridge
wobbegong
Wrangelia