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2017年度词汇 (同谋 | 假新闻)

LearnAndRecord 2022-07-26


日前,字典网站Dictionary.com公布了它评选出的2017年度词汇:同谋(complicit),来看看Dictionary.com的解释:

Complicit means "choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others; having partnership or involvement in wrongdoing." 和他人一起参与到可疑的或非法的活动中;涉及或参与违法行为

But my silence was not only wrong; I am complicit on some level in nurturing the "rape culture" that we see today in our country.
但是,我的沉默不光是错误的;在某种程度上我是助长我们国家现在这种“强奸文化”的同谋。


Trump's First Year in One Word

纽约时报(节选)


Every year, Dictionary.com chooses one word, "a symbol of the year's most meaningful events and lookup trends," to be the Word of the Year. The past few picks seem to follow a chilling but logical evolution. In 2015 the Word of the Year was broad and neutral — "identity" — issues of racial and gender injustice having finally come closer to becoming national priorities and weathered a ghastly but predictable (and still developing) backlash. Two thousand fifteen was a difficult year, but it was a year of progress.

每一年,Dictionary.com网站都会选择一个年度词汇,它代表着“年度最有意义的事件和搜索潮流”。过去几年的选择似乎遵循着一种令人不寒而栗却合乎逻辑的趋势。2015年的年度词汇是一个涵义广泛而中性的词——“身份”(identity)——经历了可怕但可以预见(并且仍在发展)的强烈反对,种族和性别不公正问题终于成为国家优先事项。2015年是困难的一年,但却是进步的一年。



By the end of 2016, as Trumpism seized the wheel, our national conversation on identity sharpened to a sinister[1] specificity: that year's word was "xenophobia." Two thousand sixteen was a year of us versus them, of villains making their plans clear, of straight, white, Christian identity politics moving to supplant[2] everyone else.

到了2016年年底,随着特朗普主义占据上风,我们国家对于身份的讨论变得尖锐而险恶:当年的年度词汇是“仇外”(xenophobia)。2016年是针锋相对的一年,坏人制定了清晰的计划,异性恋、白人、基督徒身份政治正在排挤其他人的身份政治。


[1]sinister: making you feel that something evil, dangerous, or illegal is happening or will happen  不祥的,凶兆的;阴险的;邪恶的

There is a sinister side to these events. 
这些事件有邪恶的一面。

there is something/nothing sinister about sb/sth

There was something sinister about Mr Scott's death. 

斯科特先生的死有点蹊跷。


[2]supplant: to take the place of a person or thing so that they are no longer used, no longer in a position of power etc 取代,代替;排挤掉

Barker was soon supplanted as party leader. 

巴克在党内的领导地位很快就被人取代了。


This year, the Word of the Year zooms out[3], implicating millions of us. The word is "complicit." Two thousand seventeen is a year of reckoning.

今年,“年度词汇”的涉及范围缩小了,只牵涉到我们当中数千万人。这个词是“同谋”(complicit)。二零一七年,是清算的一年。


[3]zoom in/out: to (cause a camera or computer to) make the image of something or someone appear much larger and nearer, or much smaller and further away (使照相机或计算机)画面放大/缩小 

If you zoom out at this point, we shall get a view of the whole square.

如果你在此地把镜头推远,我们将看到整个广场。

Television cameras zoomed in on the fans cheering in the stands. 

电视镜头定格在看台上斗殴的球迷身上。


Searches for the definition of "complicit" spiked[4] in May, Dictionary.com tells us, when Ivanka Trump was asked to respond to accusations of complicity on "CBS This Morning." This is one of my favorite Trump-family anecdotes, if one can be said to have a "favorite" venomous snake biting your child on the face: "If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact," Ivanka said, "then I'm complicit."

Dictionary.com告诉我们,今年5月,伊万卡·特朗普(Ivanka Trump)在《CBS早间新闻》(CBS This Morning)节目中被要求回答关于同谋的指控,当时对“同谋”词义的搜索出现了激增。这是我最喜欢的一条特朗普家族轶事——如果你可以说一条咬了你孩子脸的毒蛇是你最“喜欢”的蛇。“如果‘同谋’意味成为着一种好的力量,并且产生积极的影响,”伊万卡说,“那么我就是同谋。”


[4]spike

1) if the number or rate of something spikes, it increases quickly and by a large amount 激增

New telephone orders have spiked in the last two years. 

新装电话订单在过去两年里激增。

2) to secretly add strong alcohol or a drug to someone’s drink or food

在…里偷偷掺入〔烈酒或药物〕

spike sth with sth

The orange juice had been spiked with gin. 

这橙汁里掺了杜松子酒。



Unfortunately for the first daughter, despite what her father has taught her, even the very rich do not have the right (yet) to redefine basic English words so they can weasel out of[5] accountability for abetting the rise of Nazism in America. The actual definition of complicit is having "involvement with wrongdoing," and Ivanka Trump is certainly complicit by that measure. (Shaq, as far as I know, is in the clear.) Unfortunately for the rest of us, the rise of Trumpism is a systemic issue — the conditions that made it possible were fostered by our system, not in spite of it — which means that we're culpable[有罪的;应受谴责的], too.

对“第一女儿”来说,不幸的是——不管她的父亲教了她什么——即便非常富有的人也没有权利重新定义基本的英语单词(目前还没有),以便推诿在美国煽动纳粹主义崛起的责任。“同谋”的真正定义是“参与作恶”,根据这一定义,伊万卡·特朗普当然是同谋。(据我所知,奥尼尔是清白的。)对我们其他人来说,不幸的是,特朗普主义的崛起是一个系统性的问题——令其成为可能的条件是由我们这个体系所培育的,而不是独立于这个体系之外的,这意味着我们同样也有罪。


[5]weasel out (of sth): to avoid doing something that you have agreed to do, especially by being dishonest (尤指不诚实地)推诿,逃避(答应过的事) 

Although they had signed the contract they tried to weasel out of the deal later. 

尽管他们已经签了合同,但事后却试图逃避这笔买卖。


Complicity, obviously, is a spectrum[光谱]. Ivanka Trump, for example, is more complicit than your neighbor who voted for Gary Johnson, who is more complicit than your cousin who supported Hillary Clinton but still laughs at sexist jokes. She's presumably[很可能] less complicit than her father, although one of the scariest things about Donald Trump is that he doesn't even seem to be at the top of his own complicity food chain.

显然,同谋的程度有所不同。比如,伊万卡·特朗普比投票支持加里·约翰逊(Gary Johnson)的邻居更是共谋,而这位邻居又比你那位投票支持希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)但听到性别歧视笑话仍然会笑的表亲更是同谋。伊万卡的父亲又比她更是同谋,虽然唐纳德·特朗普身上最可怕的一件事之一,就是他似乎并不位于他自己的这个同谋食物链的顶端。




在此之前,英国权威英语词典《柯林斯词典》把“假新闻”(Fake News)评选为自己的2017年度词汇。这个词语也和特朗普总统有关。特朗普经常会说媒体的报道是“假新闻”。“假新闻”还被认为影响了2016年的总统大选。《柯林斯》词典对假新闻的解释是:“假借新闻报道形式传播的错误虚假、耸人听闻的信息。”




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