请双击下面的英文字幕来播放视频。
翻译人员: Jane Yip
校对人员: Tony Yet
00:25
Now, have any of y'all ever looked up this word?
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好,你们中有谁查过这个单词?
00:29
You know, in a dictionary? (Laughter) Yeah, that's what I thought.
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用字典?(大笑)是的,我想也就这个样子。
00:33
How about this word?
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这个单词呢?
00:35
Here, I'll show it to you.
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看看解释:
00:36
Lexicography: the practice of compiling dictionaries.
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Lexicography(字典学):编纂字典的活动。
00:39
Notice -- we're very specific -- that word "compile."
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注意,这是专用的说法,定义里用“编纂”这个词。
00:42
The dictionary is not carved out of a piece of granite,
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字典并不是从一大块岩石里凿出的花岗岩,
00:45
out of a lump of rock. It's made up of lots of little bits.
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而是由很多的小块小块合起来的。
00:48
It's little discrete --
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分离的,
00:49
that's spelled D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E -- bits.
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英语里边的串法是 D-I-S-C-R-E-T-E——小块
00:53
And those bits are words.
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我们这里说的小块就是指单词了。
00:55
Now one of the perks of being a lexicographer --
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作为字典编纂者的好处——
00:59
besides getting to come to TED -- is that you get to say really fun words,
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除了有机会来 TED演讲以外,就是可以说很有趣的单词,
01:02
like lexicographical.
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例如,lexicographical,字典编纂学。
01:05
Lexicographical has this great pattern:
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这个词有一种很棒的押韵,
01:07
it's called a double dactyl. And just by saying double dactyl,
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“扬抑抑格”。只要说到“扬抑抑格”,
01:09
I've sent the geek needle all the way into the red. (Laughter) (Applause)
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古怪指数就可以飙升到红色警戒。
01:12
But "lexicographical" is the same pattern as "higgledy-piggledy."
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其实, lexicographical与 "higgledy-piggledy"(“杂乱无章”的意思)有一样的押韵。
01:16
Right? It's a fun word to say,
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对吧?这个词单发音就很好玩,
01:18
and I get to say it a lot.
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我常常说它。
01:21
Now, one of the non-perks of being a lexicographer
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同时,作为字典编纂者,一个让人郁闷的地方
01:24
is that people don't usually have a kind of warm, fuzzy, snuggly image of the dictionary.
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是字典从来没有给人留下一个温暖,舒适的印象。
01:29
Right? Nobody hugs their dictionaries.
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对吧?没有人会拥抱他们的字典。
01:32
But what people really often think about the dictionary is, they think more like this.
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但是,其实人们通常对字典的看法是这样的。
01:39
Just to let you know, I do not have a lexicographical whistle.
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告诉你一件事情,我没有什么纂字哨子,
01:42
But people think that my job is to let the good words
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尽管大家认为我的工作是让所谓的好词
01:44
make that difficult left-hand turn into the dictionary,
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做一个有难度的左转拐入字典,
01:47
and keep the bad words out.
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而把所谓的坏词挡于门外。
01:49
But the thing is, I don't want to be a traffic cop.
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问题是,我不想当交通警察。
01:52
For one thing, I just do not do uniforms.
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首先,我不喜欢制服。
01:56
And for another, deciding what words are good
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而且,决定谁是好词
02:00
and what words are bad is actually not very easy.
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谁是坏词其实一点也不容易,
02:02
And it's not very fun. And when parts of your job are not easy or fun,
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还不好玩。如果你的工作中有这么一部分既不容易又不好玩,
02:06
you kind of look for an excuse not to do them.
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你就会千方百计去回避它。
02:09
So if I had to think of some kind of occupation
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由此,如果要找一种工作
02:14
as a metaphor for my work, I would much rather be a fisherman.
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来比喻我在干的活,我宁可当一个渔夫。
02:20
I want to throw my big net into the deep, blue ocean of English
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我要在英语这个深蓝的海洋里撒上我的大网,
02:23
and see what marvelous creatures I can drag up from the bottom.
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看可以从海里捕到什么珍异的海产。
02:27
But why do people want me to direct traffic, when I would much rather go fishing?
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可是现实中,为什么人们期望我去当交警而不是渔夫呢?
02:32
Well, I blame the Queen.
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这,是英女王的错。
02:34
Why do I blame the Queen?
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为什么我要责怪她?
02:36
Well, first of all, I blame the Queen because it's funny.
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首先,责怪女王比较有趣,
02:38
But secondly, I blame the Queen because
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另外的原因是,
02:41
dictionaries have really not changed.
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自维多利亚女王以来,字典并没有什么变化。
02:43
Our idea of what a dictionary is has not changed since her reign.
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我们对字典的理解自维多利亚女王统治时期以来没有改变过。
02:45
The only thing that Queen Victoria would not be amused by in modern dictionaries
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在现代字典里,唯一不会让女王欢喜的是
02:51
is our inclusion of the F-word, which has happened
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对脏话的引入,
02:54
in American dictionaries since 1965.
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自1965年起出现在美国字典里。
02:56
So, there's this guy, right? Victorian era.
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看看这位先生,维多利亚时期的,
02:59
James Murray, first editor of the Oxford English Dictionary.
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詹姆斯 穆雷,牛津英语字典的第一位编辑。
03:01
I do not have that hat. I wish I had that hat.
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我没有像他那样的帽子,我多希望有这样的一顶帽子。
03:04
So he's really responsible for a lot of
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就是他
03:08
what we consider modern in dictionaries today.
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把我们至今还认为是现代的元素放在字典里。
03:10
When a guy who looks like that, in that hat,
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如果把一个如此打扮的人,看那帽子,
03:13
is the face of modernity, you have a problem.
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作为现代的代表,那你们就有麻烦了。
03:20
And so, James Murray could get a job on any dictionary today.
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詹姆斯•穆雷即使活在今天也还是能为任何一本字典担任编纂工作,
03:22
There'd be virtually no learning curve.
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而无需学习曲线。
03:25
And of course, a few of us are saying: okay, computers!
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当然,你们中的有些人会说,计算机!
03:27
Computers! What about computers?
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计算机!计算机是新东西吧?
03:29
The thing about computers is, I love computers.
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不要误会,我喜欢计算机,
03:31
I mean, I'm a huge geek, I love computers.
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我超级喜欢计算机,
03:33
I would go on a hunger strike before I let them take away Google Book Search from me.
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如果有人不让我用谷歌的图书搜索,我一定会绝食抗议。
03:37
But computers don't do much else other than
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但是,在字典编纂工作中,计算机能起到的作用,
03:39
speed up the process of compiling dictionaries.
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就是加快了编纂的工作进程,仅此而已。
03:43
They don't change the end result.
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计算机没有改变最终结果。
03:47
Because what a dictionary is,
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因为字典就是
03:50
is it's Victorian design merged with a little bit of modern propulsion.
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维多利亚时代的设计和现代推动力的整合。
03:53
It's steampunk. What we have is an electric velocipede.
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没什么,就是一台电动的脚踏车。
03:59
You know, we have Victorian design with an engine on it. That's all!
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给维多利亚时代的设计加上一个引擎,仅此而已!
04:02
The design has not changed.
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设计上没有任何变化。
04:05
And OK, what about online dictionaries, right?
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好,那线上字典呢?
04:07
Online dictionaries must be different.
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线上字典不一样了吧。
04:10
This is the Oxford English Dictionary Online, one of the best online dictionaries.
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这是牛津线上英语字典,目前最好的线上字典之一。
04:12
This is my favorite word, by the way.
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看一下一个我喜欢的词,
04:13
Erinaceous: pertaining to the hedgehog family; of the nature of a hedgehog.
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Erinaceous:属于刺猬的;刺猬的本性。
04:18
Very useful word. So, look at that.
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非常有用的词。看看这里,
04:24
Online dictionaries right now are paper thrown up on a screen.
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线上字典目前就是把纸质版本放到屏幕前。
04:26
This is flat. Look how many links there are in the actual entry: two!
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还是很平面。看看这个单词有几个链接?两个!
04:31
Right? Those little buttons,
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对吧?那些小按键 ,
04:33
I had them all expanded except for the date chart.
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除了日期纪录,我把他们都展开了。
04:36
So there's not very much going on here.
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没什么东西,
04:38
There's not a lot of clickiness.
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没什么可以点击。
04:40
And in fact, online dictionaries replicate
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事实上, 线上字典继承了
04:43
almost all the problems of print, except for searchability.
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印刷品几乎所有的毛病,除了搜索功能。
04:46
And when you improve searchability,
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而当搜索功能改善了,
04:48
you actually take away the one advantage of print, which is serendipity.
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你同时也把印刷品的优势拿走,那就是能不经意间有新的发现的能力。
04:51
Serendipity is when you find things you weren't looking for,
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你能发现一些并不是你要找的东西,
04:54
because finding what you are looking for is so damned difficult.
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其实是因为找到你想找的东西是如此困难。
04:57
So -- (Laughter) (Applause) -- now, when you think about this,
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所以,(大笑),现在,当你想到这些,
05:06
what we have here is a ham butt problem.
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我们面对的问题其实是火腿屁股的问题。
05:09
Does everyone know the ham butt problem?
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有人知道火腿屁股的问题吗?
05:11
Woman's making a ham for a big, family dinner.
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有个女人正在弄火腿,给一个大家庭做晚餐。
05:13
She goes to cut the butt off the ham and throw it away,
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她正要把火腿根部切去扔掉,
05:15
and she looks at this piece of ham and she's like,
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看着那片火腿,她想,
05:16
"This is a perfectly good piece of ham. Why am I throwing this away?"
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“这其实是块好肉,为什么我要把它扔掉呢?”
05:18
She thought, "Well, my mom always did this."
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她继续想,“可是我妈都是这么做的”,
05:20
So she calls up mom, and she says,
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于是她打电话给她妈妈,问,
05:21
"Mom, why'd you cut the butt off the ham, when you're making a ham?"
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“妈妈,为什么你做火腿的时候要把火腿屁股切掉?”
05:23
She says, "I don't know, my mom always did it!"
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她妈妈说,“我不知道,我妈一直都这么做的!”
05:26
So they call grandma, and grandma says,
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于是她们又打电话给外婆,外婆说,
05:28
"My pan was too small!" (Laughter)
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“我的锅太小了!”(大笑)
05:32
So, it's not that we have good words and bad words.
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所以,这不是因为有好词和坏词的存在,
05:36
We have a pan that's too small!
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只是我们的锅太小了!
05:39
You know, that ham butt is delicious! There's no reason to throw it away.
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要知道,其实火腿屁股味道可好了!没理由把它扔掉。
05:41
The bad words -- see, when people think about a place
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所谓的坏词——当人们想去一个地方,
05:44
and they don't find a place on the map,
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却不能在地图上找到这个地方,
05:46
they think, "This map sucks!"
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他们就认为,”这地图一点用也没有!“
05:48
When they find a nightspot or a bar, and it's not in the guidebook,
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当人们发现一个旅游指南上没有的夜店或酒吧,
05:50
they're like, "Ooh, this place must be cool! It's not in the guidebook."
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他们又认为,” 旅游指南上没有的,这地方一定很酷!“
05:53
When they find a word that's not in the dictionary, they think,
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而当人们发现一个字典上没有的单词,他们就觉得
05:56
"This must be a bad word." Why? It's more likely to be a bad dictionary.
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”这个一定是坏词“。为什么呢?这其实更像是一本坏字典的问题。
06:01
Why are you blaming the ham for being too big for the pan?
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为什么要责怪火腿比锅大呢?
06:06
So, you can't get a smaller ham.
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你不能找到小一点的火腿,
06:09
The English language is as big as it is.
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因为英语本身就很大。
06:12
So, if you have a ham butt problem,
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所以如果你知道火腿屁股这事儿,
06:14
and you're thinking about the ham butt problem,
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而你又正在考虑这个问题,
06:16
the conclusion that it leads you to is inexorable and counterintuitive:
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它引向的结论是决绝又有违直觉的:
06:21
paper is the enemy of words.
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纸张是文字的敌人。
06:24
How can this be? I mean, I love books. I really love books.
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怎么可能?我爱书,非常的爱书。
06:28
Some of my best friends are books.
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我的一些最好的朋友就是书。
06:30
But the book is not the best shape for the dictionary.
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但是书本并不是字典最好的载体。
06:35
Now they're going to think "Oh, boy.
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有人会疑惑”不要吧,
06:37
People are going to take away my beautiful, paper dictionaries?"
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人们不是要把优美的纸质字典拿走吧?“
06:40
No. There will still be paper dictionaries.
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不是。纸质的字典还是会存在的。
06:42
When we had cars -- when cars became the dominant mode of transportation,
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当我们有了车,当车成了主要的交通工具,
06:46
we didn't round up all the horses and shoot them.
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就不见得要把所有的马匹都毙了。
06:49
You know, there're still going to be paper dictionaries,
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纸质的字典还是会存在的,
06:51
but it's not going to be the dominant dictionary.
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只是不会再是主要的载体了。
06:54
The book-shaped dictionary is not going to be the only shape
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书本形式的字典不将是唯一形式的字典,
06:57
dictionaries come in. And it's not going to be
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而且不会是
06:59
the prototype for the shapes dictionaries come in.
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将来字典的原型。
07:03
So, think about it this way: if you've got an artificial constraint,
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设想一下,如果你有人为的制约,
07:07
artificial constraints lead to
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这种制约就会引致
07:11
arbitrary distinctions and a skewed worldview.
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一个武断的区分和一个倾斜的世界观。
07:15
What if biologists could only study animals
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如果生物学家只研究
07:18
that made people go, "Aww." Right?
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人们喜欢的动物,对吧,
07:20
What if we made aesthetic judgments about animals,
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如果我们以审美角度来判断动物,
07:22
and only the ones we thought were cute were the ones that we could study?
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只研究我们觉得可爱的动物,这会怎样?
07:27
We'd know a whole lot about charismatic megafauna,
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我们就只能了解那些有魅力的大群落,
07:31
and not very much about much else.
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对其它的物种就不太了解了。
07:33
And I think this is a problem.
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我认为这是一个问题。
07:35
I think we should study all the words,
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我们应该研究所有的词,
07:37
because when you think about words, you can make beautiful expressions
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因为使用词可以创造出美丽的表达,
07:42
from very humble parts.
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即使是从非常卑下的部分。
07:46
Lexicography is really more about material science.
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字典编纂学是研究物质的科学。
07:50
We are studying the tolerances of the materials
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我们在研究不同物料的偏差,
07:53
that you use to build the structure of your expression:
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当你去架构你的表达的时候:
07:56
your speeches and your writing. And then, often people say to me,
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你的演说和写作。于是人们常常对我说,
08:03
"Well, OK, how do I know that this word is real?"
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”那好,我怎么知道这词是真实存在的?”
08:08
They think, "OK, if we think words are the tools
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他们认为,“好,如果词语是
08:15
that we use to build the expressions of our thoughts,
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我们用于表达思想的工具,
08:17
how can you say that screwdrivers are better than hammers?
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那你怎么可以说起子比锤子要好?
08:20
How can you say that a sledgehammer is better than a ball-peen hammer?"
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你怎么可以说这种锤子比那种锤子好?
08:23
They're just the right tools for the job.
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它们只是合适的工具而已。”
08:26
And so people say to me, "How do I know if a word is real?"
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由此,人们对我说,“我怎么知道一个词是真正的词?”
08:29
You know, anybody who's read a children's book
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任何读过儿童读物的人
08:32
knows that love makes things real.
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都知道,爱让事物变真实。
08:36
If you love a word, use it. That makes it real.
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如果你爱一个词,用它。这样子,它就成真了。
08:41
Being in the dictionary is an artificial distinction.
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词放在字典里只是人工的区分,
08:44
It doesn't make a word any more real than any other way.
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这并没有让一个词变得比其它词更真实。
08:47
If you love a word, it becomes real.
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如果你爱一个词,它才会变真实。
08:51
So if we're not worrying about directing traffic,
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如果我们不需要花心思在指挥交通上,
08:54
if we've transcended paper, if we are worrying less
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如果我们超越了纸张,如果我们少担心
08:59
about control and more about description,
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控制而更关注表述,
09:03
then we can think of the English language
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那英语就成为
09:05
as being this beautiful mobile.
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一个美丽的活物了。
09:08
And any time one of those little parts of the mobile changes,
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当其中的一个小组件变化了,
09:10
is touched, any time you touch a word,
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被触动了 ——任何时候你接触到一个单词,
09:13
you use it in a new context, you give it a new connotation,
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你把它用到新的内容中,你赋予它新的涵义,
09:15
you verb it, you make the mobile move.
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你就让它活起来了——让它移动了。
09:18
You didn't break it. It's just in a new position,
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你没有破坏它,只是让它移到一个新的地方,
09:22
and that new position can be just as beautiful.
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这新的地方也可以是一样美丽。
09:25
Now, if you're no longer a traffic cop --
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现在,你不再是交警——
09:29
the problem with being a traffic cop is
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交警管理交通的问题是
09:31
there can only be so many traffic cops in any one intersection,
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要么你得在每个十字路口都安排交警,
09:34
or the cars get confused. Right?
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要么就让车辆犯糊涂。对吧?
09:37
But if your goal is no longer to direct the traffic,
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然而,如果你的目标不再是指挥交通,
09:40
but maybe to count the cars that go by, then more eyeballs are better.
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而是去数来往的车辆,那越多双眼睛越好。
09:44
You can ask for help!
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你可以找人帮忙!
09:46
If you ask for help, you get more done. And we really need help.
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越多人帮忙,你可以完成更多的活。我们真的很需要帮忙。
09:50
Library of Congress: 17 million books,
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国会图书馆有一千七百万本藏书,
09:53
of which half are in English.
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一半是英语,
09:56
If only one out of every 10 of those books
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假设其中每十本书
10:00
had a word that's not in the dictionary in it,
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有一个词不在字典里,
10:02
that would be equivalent to more than two unabridged dictionaries.
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那就相当于超过两本非缩略版字典的词汇量。
10:05
And I find an un-dictionaried word --
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我发现没收录到字典里边的词(un-dictionaried)——
10:08
a word like "un-dictionaried," for example --
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以一个像 “un-dictionaried” 那样的未收录词为例——
10:10
in almost every book I read. What about newspapers?
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在我读过的几乎每一本书里都有。还有报纸呢?
10:15
Newspaper archive goes back to 1759,
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报纸藏品从1759年开始,
10:20
58.1 million newspaper pages. If only one in 100
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共有五千八百一十万个报纸页面。只要每100页
10:25
of those pages had an un-dictionaried word on it,
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报纸有一个没有收录的单词,
10:28
it would be an entire other OED.
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那就相当于一整本 OED(牛津英语字典)了,
10:31
That's 500,000 more words. So that's a lot.
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超过五十万词,那是很大的词汇量。
10:36
And I'm not even talking about magazines. I'm not talking about blogs --
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我还没有说到杂志,博客——
10:39
and I find more new words on BoingBoing in a given week
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一周内,我在 BoingBoing发现的新词
10:41
than I do Newsweek or Time.
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比新闻周刊或时代杂志还多。
10:43
There's a lot going on there.
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那里正在创造出很多的新词。
10:45
And I'm not even talking about polysemy,
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这还没说到一词多义,
10:47
which is the greedy habit some words have of taking
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有些词有贪心的习惯,
10:50
more than one meaning for themselves.
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自己有好几个意思。
10:55
So if you think of the word "set," a set can be a badger's burrow,
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当你想到一个词“set”—“set”可以指獾的穴,
10:59
a set can be one of the pleats in an Elizabethan ruff,
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也可以指伊利沙白时代衣领上的褶——
11:02
and there's one numbered definition in the OED.
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在 OED 里就有好几个定义,
11:04
The OED has 33 different numbered definitions for set.
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在 OED 里“set”共33种定义。
11:07
Tiny, little word, 33 numbered definitions.
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小小的一个单词,33种定义。
11:10
One of them is just labeled "miscellaneous technical senses."
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其中一个只是说“不同的技术时态。”
11:15
Do you know what that says to me?
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你知道这对我来说意味着什么?
11:16
That says to me, it was Friday afternoon and somebody wanted to go down the pub. (Laughter)
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那就是说周五下午某人想去酒吧。
11:21
That's a lexicographical cop out,
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用字典编纂学的术语来说,
11:23
to say, "miscellaneous technical senses."
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就是 “不同的技术时态。”
11:25
So, we have all these words, and we really need help!
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有那么多词,我们真的很需要帮助!
11:29
And the thing is, we could ask for help --
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事实上,我们可以寻求帮助——
11:32
asking for help's not that hard.
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要求帮助并不困难。
11:33
I mean, lexicography is not rocket science.
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字典编纂不是开发火箭。
11:36
See, I just gave you a lot of words and a lot of numbers,
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看,我刚给了你很多词和很多数字,
11:39
and this is more of a visual explanation.
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这里是个更形象的解释。
11:41
If we think of the dictionary as being the map of the English language,
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我们可以把字典当作代表英语的地图,
11:44
these bright spots are what we know about,
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这些亮点是我们已知的,
11:46
and the dark spots are where we are in the dark.
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黑点是未知的。
11:49
If that was the map of all the words in American English, we don't know very much.
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如果这个地图指美国英语的所有单词,我们还有很多不知道。
11:54
And we don't even know the shape of the language.
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我们连整个语言的轮廓也不知道。
11:57
If this was the dictionary -- if this was the map of American English --
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如果这个是字典,美国英语地图——
12:00
look, we have a kind of lumpy idea of Florida,
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看,我们有个大致的佛罗里达州了,
12:03
but there's no California!
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可是还没有加州!
12:06
We're missing California from American English.
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连加州都还没有,
12:09
We just don't know enough, and we don't even know that we're missing California.
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我们知道的确实很不够,我们甚至连缺了加州这个事情也不知道。
12:14
We don't even see that there's a gap on the map.
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我们连地图里有个空白也不知道。
12:16
So again, lexicography is not rocket science.
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再强调,字典编纂不是开发火箭。
12:19
But even if it were, rocket science is being done
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即使是火箭开发科学,
12:22
by dedicated amateurs these days. You know?
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当今也有热诚的业余爱好者参与其中了。是吧?
12:26
It can't be that hard to find some words!
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发现词语不可能有那么难!
12:30
So, enough scientists in other disciplines
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足够多的科学家在其它领域
12:33
are really asking people to help, and they're doing a good job of it.
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正寻求大家帮忙,而且大伙也干的不错。
12:36
For instance, there's eBird, where amateur birdwatchers
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例如,有一种电子鸟,业余观鸟爱好者
12:38
can upload information about their bird sightings.
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可以把自己的观察结果上传,
12:40
And then, ornithologists can go
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之后鸟类学家可以从中
12:42
and help track populations, migrations, etc.
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追踪数量,迁徙情况等。
12:45
And there's this guy, Mike Oates. Mike Oates lives in the U.K.
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有个叫 迈克 奥特斯的人,他住在英国,
12:48
He's a director of an electroplating company.
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他是一家电镀公司的总监。
12:52
He's found more than 140 comets.
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他发现了超过140个彗星。
12:55
He's found so many comets, they named a comet after him.
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他发现了如此之多的彗星,有一颗彗星就以他命名。
12:58
It's kind of out past Mars. It's a hike.
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那些彗星比火星还远,是一个长途旅行。
12:59
I don't think he's getting his picture taken there anytime soon.
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我不认为他拍过什么照片。
13:01
But he found 140 comets without a telescope.
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他发现的140颗彗星,并没有用望远镜,
13:05
He downloaded data from the NASA SOHO satellite,
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而是从 NASA SOHO卫星下载数据
13:08
and that's how he found them.
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分析出来的。
13:10
If we can find comets without a telescope,
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如果我们可以不用望远镜就能发现彗星,
13:14
shouldn't we be able to find words?
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为什么我们就不能发现单词呢?
13:16
Now, y'all know where I'm going with this.
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现在你明白我的立场了。
13:18
Because I'm going to the Internet, which is where everybody goes.
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我要去互联网,就像大伙那样。
13:21
And the Internet is great for collecting words,
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互联网非常合适搜集单词,
13:23
because the Internet's full of collectors.
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因为互联网上有很多搜集者。
13:24
And this is a little-known technological fact about the Internet,
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这是一个关于互联网的不为人知的技术事实,
13:27
but the Internet is actually made up of words and enthusiasm.
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互联网实际上是由单词和热情组成的。
13:30
And words and enthusiasm actually happen to be
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而单词和热情正好是
13:35
the recipe for lexicography. Isn't that great?
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字典编纂的膳料。那不是很好吗?
13:38
So there are a lot of really good word-collecting sites out there right now,
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现在已经有很多单词搜集网站了,
13:42
but the problem with some of them is that they're not scientific enough.
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只是它们中有些还不够科学,
13:44
They show the word, but they don't show any context.
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有些显示了词,没有显示上下文,
13:47
Where did it come from? Who said it?
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词从哪里来?谁说的?
13:49
What newspaper was it in? What book?
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源自哪张报纸?哪本书?
13:51
Because a word is like an archaeological artifact.
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因为一个词就像一个考古学产物,
13:55
If you don't know the provenance or the source of the artifact,
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如果你不知道起源或源头,
13:58
it's not science, it's a pretty thing to look at.
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这就不够科学——这是应该去考究的。
14:01
So a word without its source is like a cut flower.
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一个没有来源的词就像一朵被剪下来的花。
14:04
You know, it's pretty to look at for a while, but then it dies.
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看一会还可以,不久就蔫了。
14:08
It dies too fast.
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蔫得太快了。
14:09
So, this whole time I've been saying,
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我一直在说,
14:13
"The dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary, the dictionary."
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“字典,字典, 字典,字典。”
14:15
Not "a dictionary," or "dictionaries." And that's because,
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而不是“一本字典”,或“很多字典”,这是因为,
14:18
well, people use the dictionary to stand for the whole language.
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人们用字典去代表整个语言。
14:21
They use it synecdochically.
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这是一种借代(以点代面)的说法(synecdochically)——
14:24
And one of the problems of knowing a word like "synecdochically"
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知道“synecdochically”会引起的问题是
14:27
is that you really want an excuse to say "synecdochically."
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你真的很想找个理由去说synecdochically
14:30
This whole talk has just been an excuse to get me to the point
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这整个演讲也就是个借口,为了能让我可以有机会
14:32
where I could say "synecdochically" to all of you.
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跟你们说 synecdochically这个词。
14:34
So I'm really sorry. But when you use a part of something --
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真对不起。但如果你用一样事物的一部分,
14:37
like the dictionary is a part of the language,
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例如字典是语言的一部分,
14:39
or a flag stands for the United States, it's a symbol of the country --
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或者用国旗代表美国作为一个国家的象征——
14:44
then you're using it synecdochically.
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那样你在用借代。
14:48
But the thing is, we could make the dictionary the whole language.
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不过,我们可以让字典成为语言的全部,
14:52
If we get a bigger pan, then we can put all the words in.
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如果我们有个大一点的锅,那我们就可以把所有的单词都放里边了,
14:56
We can put in all the meanings.
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还可以把所有的单词解释都放里边。
15:00
Doesn't everyone want more meaning in their lives?
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每个人不都想人生更有意义吗(英语里,意义和单词解释是同一个单词)?
15:04
And we can make the dictionary not just be a symbol of the language --
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那样,我们就可以让字典不仅仅是语言的象征,
15:08
we can make it be the whole language.
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我们就可以让字典涵盖整个语言。
15:11
You see, what I'm really hoping for is that my son,
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你看,我真希望到我儿子的时候——
15:13
who turns seven this month -- I want him to barely remember
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这个月他就满7岁了——我想他只记得
15:16
that this is the form factor that dictionaries used to come in.
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这是过去的字典的形式,
15:21
This is what dictionaries used to look like.
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这是过去的字典的样子。
15:23
I want him to think of this kind of dictionary as an eight-track tape.
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我想他把这种字典当成8轨录音带类似的东西,
15:25
It's a format that died because it wasn't useful enough.
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是种已经过时的形式,
15:29
It wasn't really what people needed.
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不再适合人们的需求。
15:32
And the thing is, if we can put in all the words,
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如果我们可以涵盖所有单词,
15:35
no longer have that artificial distinction between good and bad,
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不再人为的区分好词坏词,
15:39
we can really describe the language like scientists.
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我们就可以像科学家那样的描述语言,
15:42
We can leave the aesthetic judgments to the writers and the speakers.
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我们可以把审美判断留给作家和演讲者。
15:44
If we can do that, then I can spend all my time fishing,
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如果我们可以做到这点,那我就可以把我所有的时间花在捕鱼上,
15:48
and I don't have to be a traffic cop anymore.
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用不着再当交警。
15:53
Thank you very much for your kind attention.
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谢谢,感谢您的关注。
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