英语定义法

    提高阅读理解力和表述能力的好帮手:英语定义法

    一、为什么英语定义法有助于提高阅读理解力和表述能力?

    在阅读的过程中，有些英语生词或习语(set phrase)会使我们望文生义或难以理解。例如，在President Barach Obama has not lived up to his promise to his wife to go cold turkey with his smoking.一句中，出现了cold turkey。不熟悉该习语的人就有可能把这两个字直译成“冷火鸡”。但按其字面意思(the literal meaning)去理解整个句子，则让人有云里雾里之感。那么cold turkey的真正含义是什么呢?还是先让我们读其定义，探其究竟: Cold turkey refers to the decision that a person has made to quit a bad habit abruptly and completely.原来，cold turkey表示一个人突然做出了彻底戒除某一不良习惯的决定，而与“冷火鸡”风马牛不相及。了解了该习语的含义后，上面那句话就一目了然了，即:奥巴马总统未能向夫人兑现立即戒烟的承诺。

    受母语干扰(mother tongue interference)，有些英语学习者在谈及与中国国情有关的话题时，又往往简单地把他们所要表达的中文意思逐字逐句地(word for word)译成英语。以“小皇帝”一词为例，该词在不加任何说明的情况下可指中国封建社会某个登基时年龄很小的皇帝，也可指当下某些独生子女家庭中受到娇惯的孩子。要想表明该词在当代中国所具有的新的内涵(implied significance)时，不妨把“小皇帝”定义成: A little emperor can be a child who is spoilt by his/her parents and/or grandparents in a modern Chinese family.这样就减少了跨文化交流(intercuitural communication)时可能产生的误解。

    二、如何用英语下定义?

    用英语下定义的常用公式为:被下定义的词语+动词(be/refer to/indicate/ mean/describe等)+总类别词+‘wh-'开头的词+特性词，即: the term to be defined+ verb+ general class word+‘wh-'word+ unique features。

    一般情况下，以‘wh-'开头的词中，‘who'用于人，‘which'或‘that'用于动物和无生命的事物，‘where'用于地点。

    例1.A matchmaker(媒人) is a person who introduces two people to each other，hoping that they will get married.

    例2.A pet is an animal(which is) kept as a companion and treated with affection.

    例3.Stethoscope(听诊器) is an instrument which doctors use to hear a patient's heartbeat.

    例4.Stage fright(怯场) refers to the terrible feeling of fear or nervousness that a person gets when speaking in front of a group of people.

    例5.A natural reserve(自然保护区) is a piece of land where wild animals are kept safe from hunters.

    三、下定义时应注意哪些问题?

    一个不规范的定义通常会出现以下三种情况:

    1.循环定义。如果把a psychiatrist定义为A psychiatrist is a doctor who practices psychiatry，那么，不明白psychiatry一词的人，读后依然是一头雾水。建议改为: A psychiatrist is a doctor who diagnoses and treats mental disorders.这样我们就可得知psychiatrist的词意为:精神病医生或精神病学家。

    2.以具体例子替代被下定义词语的特性。如果把encyclopedia(百科全书)定义为An encyclopedia is a book like“World Book”，那么encyclopedia特性则没有表现出来，让人只见树木不见森林。可考虑改为: An encyclopedia is a book or a set of books which gives information about a lot of different subjects in alphabetical order.

    3.缺少总类别词。当读到A guinea pig could be used as a subject in any sort of experiment.一句时，其意似乎是什么猪被当成了试验品。正是由于缺少了总类别词，才让读者在理解的准确性上出现了偏差。加上缺失的部分后，其定义则变得完整达意: A guinea pig could be a person or an animal that is used as a subject in any sort of experiment.原来，a guinea pig所指的实验对象既可以是人也可以是各种动物，而非某一特定的猪。

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    练习一.根据英语定义，将下列斜体字部分译成汉语。

    1. Culture shock is a sense of confusion，uncertainty(不安)，and/or anxiety that may affect a person exposed to a different culture without adequate preparation.

    2. A fugitive is a person who has done something illegal and is running away so as not to be caught by police.

    3. A black sheep is a member of a family or group who has committed a wrong doing serious enough to harm the reputation of that family or group.

    4. Jet lag is a temporary disruption of the body's normal biological rhythms which occurs after long flight through several time zones.

    5. Indian summer is a weather term that indicates another hot period before autumn ends.

    6. A white elephant is an object that is useless and may have cost a lot of money.

    7. A soup kitchen is a place that serves food free to poor or unemployed people or to victims of a disaster.

    8. A vegetable is a person whose brain has been damaged and who is in a coma and unable to move and think.

    9. Paparazzi are photographers who follow famous people in order to take pictures of them that newspapers and magazines will buy.

    10. A nursing home is a residence where old people who cannot take care of themselves live and are cared for.

    练习二.为下列汉语下定义。

    1.红包2.铁饭碗

    练习三.为你目前所学专业、所从事工作中或生活中的某个术语下定义。

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    练习一答案:

    1.文化冲击2.逃犯、逃亡者3.败家子、害群之马4.时差反应5.秋老虎6.华而不实之物7.赈济所8.植物人9.狗仔队10.敬老院

    练习二答案:

    1.“A red bag”in China may refer to a cash-filled envelop which is given to someone as an incentive.

    2.“The iron rice bowl”describes the Chinese employment system which used to assure every citizen of a permanent job.

    练习三答案:(略)

    总之，助借定义理解英语术语、习语或新名词的含义并学会用英语下定义，不仅有助于提高我们的阅读理解能力，而且也有助于我们在表述思想概念上的准确性。因此，我们应充分利用下定义这一大有潜力可挖的资源，让我们的英语水平不断提高。