VOA慢速英語：《韋氏辭典》宣布2016年年度詞匯

What is the 2016 Word of the Year?

《韋氏辭典》宣布2016年年度詞匯

The American dictionary Merriam-Webster has named "surreal" its 2016 Word of the Year.

美國 《韋氏詞典》確定超現(xiàn)實(surreal)為該詞典2016年年度詞匯。

Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary defines the adjective as "very strange or unusual" or "having the quality of a dream."

《韋氏學(xué)習(xí)詞典》將這個形容詞解釋為“非常離奇或不尋常的”或是“夢幻般的”。

The word entered the English language in the 1930s, following the artistic movement known as surrealism.

這個詞于上世紀(jì)30年代由于被稱之為超現(xiàn)實主義的藝術(shù)運動而進入英語語言。

Merriam-Webster says searches for "surreal" rose after several world events and tragedies in the past year.

《韋氏詞典》表示，在去年發(fā)生的數(shù)起世界大事和悲劇之后，這個單詞的搜索量有所增加。

Major increases in the number of lookups directly followed the terrorist attacks in Belgium and France, the overthrow attempt in Turkey, the Brexit vote, and the death of American musician Prince.

在比利時和法國的恐怖襲擊、土耳其政變企圖、英國退歐公投以及美國音樂家普林斯去世之后，直接查找量大幅增加。

But, Merriam-Webster reports, the largest increase in searches for "surreal" came just after the United States presidential election last month.

但是《韋氏詞典》報告稱，查找“超現(xiàn)實”這個單詞最大幅的增加是在上個月美國總統(tǒng)大選之后。

Its meaning comes from the word's two parts. The word "real" comes after the preposition "sur," which means "above" or "over" in the French language.

它的意義來自于這個單詞的兩個部分。real這個單詞跟在sur這個前置詞之后，sur在法語中的意思是在...之上。

"Surreal" is often used to describe something shocking. People might use the word when they cannot believe -- or do not want to believe -- reality.

Surreal通常用于描述令人震驚的事情。人們不相信或不愿意相信現(xiàn)實時就可能會用到這個單詞。

"Surreal" can have a negative or positive meaning. For example, the Grand Canyon or a trip to the Moon could be described as surreal.

Surreal兼具負(fù)面和正面的意義。例如，大峽谷或月球旅行就可以被形容為超現(xiàn)實的。

Other popular words of 2016 include revenant, icon, and bigly, Merriam-Webster says.

《韋氏詞典》表示，2016年的其它熱門詞匯還包括revenant，icon以及bigly。

Revenant means "one that returns after death." It comes from the French verb for "return." The Oscar-winning Hollywood film "The Revenant" drove this word's popularity.

Revenant意思是死而復(fù)生者。它源自法語動詞中的歸來這個單詞。獲得奧斯卡獎的好萊塢電影《荒野獵人 The Revenant》提升了這個單詞的受歡迎度。

People searched for the word "icon" in high numbers following the death of pop star Prince. It means "a person who is very successful and admired."

人們在流行音樂明星普林斯去世后大量搜索icon(偶像)這個單詞，它的意思是“非常成功和極受崇拜的人”。

"Bigly" became hugely popular after many people thought U.S. President-elect Donald Trump used the word during a presidential debate.

很多人以為美國候任總統(tǒng)川普在總統(tǒng)競選期間提到了Bigly這個單詞，于是這個單詞開始走紅。

People questioned whether the adjective "big" can be used as an adverb in the English language.

人們質(zhì)疑在英語語言中，形容詞big是否可以用作副詞。

But language experts agreed that Trump actually said "big league." This expression describes something very successful or high-level. Trump used it as an adverbial phrase.

但是語言專家認(rèn)為川普實際上說的是big league，這個詞匯用于形容非常成功或高水平的東西。川普將它作為一個副詞短語。

Language experts also agreed that "bigly" is a word, although it is not often used.

語言專家還承認(rèn)bigly確實是一個單詞，雖然它不常被用到。

Other dictionaries have also announced their 2016 words of the year.

其它詞典也宣布了各自的2016年年度詞匯。

The Oxford-English Dictionary chose "post-truth," which describes situations in which "facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief." The phrase became popular during the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.

牛津字典選擇了后真相(post-truth)，它描述了“在影響公眾輿論方面，客觀事實的影響力不及訴諸于情感和個人信念”這么一種狀況。這句話在2016年美國總統(tǒng)大選期間走紅。

Dictionary.com named "xenophobia" its Word of the Year. It means "fear or hatred of foreigners." A huge increase in searches for the word happened on June 24 -- one day after Britain voted to leave the European Union.

Dictionary.com確定“xenophobia(仇外)”為該網(wǎng)站2016年年度詞匯，它的意思是“對外國人的恐懼或仇恨”。6月24日，也就是英國公投退歐之后一天，這個單詞的搜索量劇增。

I'm Ashley Thompson.

阿什利·湯普森報道。