评论
打印
And now, Words and Their Stories from VOA Learning English.
欢迎收听VOA慢速英语《词汇掌故》节目。
English language dictionary publishers traditionally announce their words of the year as the year is coming to a close.
英语词典出版商传统上会在年尾宣布他们的年度词汇。
Sometimes, they choose words based on how many times people look them up.
有时，他们会根据人们查找词汇的频率来选择年度词汇。
Others select words that have been in the news a lot.
其他时候则选择经常出现在新闻中的词语。
This week, American dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster announced that it selected "gaslighting" as its word of the year for 2022.
本周，美国词典出版商韦氏词典宣布，其选择“gaslighting”作为2022年的年度词汇。
Merriam-Webster defines gaslighting as "the act or practice of grossly misleading someone, especially for one's own advantage."
韦氏词典将gaslighting定义为“严重误导他人的行为或做法，尤其是为了自己的利益”。
In 2022, lookups for gaslighting on merriam-webster.com increased 1,740 percent over the year before.
2022年，在merriam-webster.com上对gaslighting的搜索量比前一年增加了1740%。
Peter Sokolowski is Merriam-Webster's editor at large.
彼得·索科洛夫斯基是《韦氏词典》的资深编辑。
He told the Associated Press, "It's a word that has risen so quickly in the English language, and especially in the last four years, that it actually came as a surprise to me and to many of us."
他告诉美联社：“这个词在英语中迅速崛起，尤其是在过去四年里，它确实让我和我们中的许多人感到惊讶。”
Merriam-Webster said English has many ways to say "lies," including falsehood, untruth, and disinformation.
韦氏词典表示，英语中有很多表达“谎言”的方式，其中包括falsehood、untruth和disinformation。
But in this age of misinformation with fake news, deepfakes and artificial intelligence, the word "gaslighting has emerged as a word for our time."
但在这个充斥着假新闻、深度伪造技术和人工智能的虚假消息时代，“gaslighting”这个词已经成为我们这个时代的一个词。
Other lookups on Merriam-Webster included oligarch, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Omicron, a fast-spreading version of the COVID-19 virus, and Queen Consort, as the wife of Britain's King Charles, Camilla, is now known.
韦氏词典上其他搜索词汇包括：oligarch（寡头政治家），比如俄罗斯入侵乌克兰后出现的寡头，奥密克戎，即迅速传播的新冠病毒变种，以及王后，比如目前众所周知的英国查尔斯国王的妻子卡米拉王妃。
Now, if a British English dictionary publisher says it has chosen an American English word as its word of the year, you would likely say someone is gaslighting you.
现在，如果一家英国英语词典出版商说它选择了一个美式英语单词作为其年度词汇，你很可能会说某人骗你。
But that is exactly what happened.
但这正是已经发生的事情。
In November, Cambridge Dictionary announced that its word of the year for 2022 is... homer.
11月，剑桥词典宣布其2022年的年度词汇为homer。
Cambridge says homer, short for homerun, "is a point scored in baseball when you hit the ball, usually out of the playing field, and are able to run around all the bases at one time to the starting base."
剑桥词典表示，homer是homerun的缩写，指的是在棒球比赛中，当你击球后，通常是在比赛场地外，一举绕过所有垒包跑回本垒得分的情况。
Why homer, you ask?
你会问，为什么是homer？
Cambridge said there were 65,000 searches for the word homer in a single day.
剑桥词典表示，一天内homer这个词的搜索量达到了6.5万次。
It was May 5. That was the day when homer was the winning word on the popular online game Wordle.
那一天是5月5日。那天，homer成为热门网络游戏Wordle的获胜词。
The British publisher said many Wordle players outside of the United States had not heard this word before.
这家英国出版商表示，美国以外的许多Wordle玩家以前从未听说过这个词。
Some expressed their frustration on social media, but many more turned to Cambridge to find its meaning.
有些人在社交媒体上表达了他们的沮丧，但更多的人求助剑桥词典查询它的意义。
The popularity of Wordle also brought searches for other five-letter words, including caulk, tacit, humor, and bayou.
Wordle的流行还使得人们搜索其他由五个字母构成的单词，其中包括caulk、tacit、humor和bayou。
So, now you know that we are not gaslighting you!
所以，现在你知道我们不会欺骗你！
Another publisher, Collins, said 2022 seems to be a year of permanent crisis with the pandemic, the war in Ukraine, and the worldwide economic downturn.
另一家出版商柯林斯词典表示，2022年似乎是一直充满危机的一年，包括新冠疫情、乌克兰战争和全球经济衰退。
So, Collins selected permacrisis as the word of the year for 2022.
因此，柯林斯词典选择permacrisis作为2022年的年度词汇。
The dictionary defines the word as "an extended period of instability and insecurity."
该词典将这个词定义为“长时间的不稳定和不安全”。
Collins said the year also gave us terms like quiet quitting, which involves doing no more work than necessary, and sportswashing, which people are accusing Qatar and Saudi Arabia are doing with the World Cup and LIV golf.
柯林斯