VOA慢速英语2013 Words and Their Stories: Belittle

Words and Their Stories: Belittle 1

词汇典故：贬低

Now, the VOA Special English program WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

现在是美国之音慢速英语词汇典故节目。

Today’s word is belittle. It was first used by Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States.

今天要谈到的单词是belittle（贬低、轻视）。美国第三任总统托马斯·杰斐逊（Thomas Jefferson）首次使用这个词。

Many years ago, a French naturalist 2, the Count de Buffon, wrote some books about natural history. The books were a great success even though some critics did not like them. Some critics said, “Count Buffon is more of a poet than a scientist.”

许多年前，法国博物学家布丰伯爵写了一些有关自然史的书。这些书大获成功，尽管有些评论家不喜欢它们。有些人批评说，“布丰伯爵与其说是一个科学家，不如说是一个诗人。”

Thomas Jefferson did not like what the Count had said about the natural wonders of the New World. It seemed to Jefferson that the Count had gone out of his way to speak of natural wonders in America as if they were unimportant 3.

杰斐逊不喜欢伯爵对新大陆自然奇观的说法。在杰弗逊看来，伯爵对美洲自然奇观的描述脱离了他一贯的方式，似乎它们无足轻重。

This troubled Thomas Jefferson. He too was a naturalist, as well as a farmer, inventor, historian 4, writer and politician. He had seen the natural wonders of Europe. To him, they were no more important than those of the New World.

这让杰弗逊非常气恼。他也是一个博物学家，同时还是农民，投资家，历史学家，作家和政治家。他曾纵览欧洲自然奇观。对他来说，那些并不比新大陆的自然奇观强多少。

In seventeen eighty-eight, Thomas Jefferson wrote about his home state, Virginia. While writing, he thought of its natural beauty and then of the words of Count de Buffon. At that moment, Jefferson created a new word – belittle. He said, “The Count de Buffon believes that nature belittles 5 her productions on this side of the Atlantic.”

1788年，杰弗逊写到他的家乡弗吉尼亚州。在写作时，他想到了那些自然美景，随后又想到了布丰伯爵的话。在那一刻，杰斐逊创造了一个新词 - belittle。他说：“布丰伯爵认为，大自然轻视她在大西洋彼岸创造的奇景。”

Noah Webster, the American word expert, liked this word. He put it in his English language dictionary in eighteen-oh-six. ‘Belittle – to make small, unimportant.’

美国词典专家诺亚·韦伯斯特（Noah Webster）很喜欢这个词。1806年，他将这个单词收入他的英语词典（注：这个就是著名的韦氏词典哦）。 "Belittle - 解释为to make small-unimportant（小看，轻视）"。

Americans had already accepted Jefferson’s word and started to use it. In seventeen ninety-seven, the Independent Chronicle newspaper used the word to describe a politician the paper supported. “He is an honorable man,” the paper wrote, “so let the opposition 6 try to belittle him as much as they please.”

美国人已接受杰斐逊的这个单词并开始使用。1797年，独立纪事报用这个词来描写一个他们支持的政治家。 “他是一个高尚的人，”报纸写道，“因此反对派爱怎么贬低他，都随他们去吧。”

In eighteen forty-four, the Republican 7 Sentinel of Virginia wrote this about the opposition party: “The Whigs may attempt to belittle our candidates … that is a favorite game of theirs.”

1844年，弗吉尼亚的共和党哨兵报这样描写反对派：“辉格党可能试图贬低我们的候选人……那是他们惯用的伎俩。”

In eighteen seventy-two, a famous American word expert decided 8 that the time had come to kill this word. He said, “Belittle has no chance of becoming English. And as more critical writers of America, like those of Britain, feel no need of it, the sooner it is forgotten, the better.”

1872年，美国一位著名的词汇专家认为，是时候封杀这个词了。他说：“Belittle不可能成为英语。随着越来越多的美国作家开始和英国作家一样，觉得它一无所是，它越早被遗忘越好。”

This expert failed to kill the word. Today, belittle is used, not only in the United States and England, but in other countries where the English language is spoken. It seems that efforts to belittle the word did not stop people from using it.

但这位专家未能封杀这个词。今天，belittle不仅在美国和英国，还在其他使用英语的国家得到了广泛应用。 看来，贬低这个词所作的努力并未阻止人们使用它。