剑桥词典年度词汇:“多疑”成为2016年主旋律(在线收听

   It’s that time again, when publishers reveal the word or words that they believe encapsulate the year. As many readers will know from previous years, we like to base our word on what our millions of users worldwide have been looking up over the course of the year. And what a year it’s been: in June, the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union, causing great uncertainty in the UK and across Europe (even now, the only certainty we have is that Brexit means Brexit); then, in November, after a vicious and divisive campaign, the people of the United States elected businessman Donald Trump as President ahead of politician Hillary Clinton, in one of the most extraordinary political stories of modern times. Add to this the ongoing backdrop of a bloody civil war in Syria, several terrorist attacks around the world and numerous celebrity deaths, and there can be no denying that it has been an eventful and worrying year.

  又到这个时候了,出版商们要发表他们认为能够概述这一整年的词汇(或词组)了。正如许多读者从往年所知的那样,我们喜欢在我们全球数百万用户这一整年所查找词汇的基础上确定我们的年度词汇。而今年我们经历了:六月份,英国投票脱离欧盟,在英国和整个欧盟造成巨大的不确定性(即使是现在,我们唯一能够确定的是“脱欧”意味着英国脱离欧盟);然后十一月,在经历了一场凶狠和分裂的竞选之后,美国人民选出商人唐川普担任美国总统,而不是政治家希拉里,这是现代史上最不寻常的政治事件之一。此外,叙利亚血腥内战持续进行、全世界发生了多起恐怖袭击、数位名人死亡,不可否认2016是一个多事之秋、令人忧虑的一年。
  As ever, global events are reflected in the words you look up on our site. So what single word has had the biggest increase in searches over the whole year? Ladies and gentlemen, the Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year for 2016 is . . . paranoid.
  正如以往一样,全球事件在你从我们网站查找词汇的过程中得到了体现。那么哪一个词汇在过去一整年中的搜索次数增加最多呢?女士们先生们,剑桥词典2016年度词汇是…“多疑(paranoid)”。
  Why paranoid? Searches have risen hugely this year, over four times more than in 2015. We cannot, of course, know exactly why users are searching for a particular word, but it suggests perhaps a feeling that the institutions that have kept us safe can no longer be trusted, that the world feels more uncertain than it did a year ago. When we look at other words that have shown similar increases, we can build a fuller picture: anxiety, chaos; a feeling that societies are breaking down; increases in prejudice, bigotry and bullying; and people feeling nostalgic for what are perceived as simpler times.
  为什么是多疑?今年这个词的搜索量大幅上升,比2015年多四倍。当然,我们不能准确地知道为什么用户们搜索一个特定的词汇,但是那也许表明了这样一种感觉--那些曾经保障我们安全的机构不能够再被信任、这个世界比上一年更加不确定!当我们看到那些搜索量同样有所增长的词汇,我们可以构建一个更加完整的画面:焦虑、混乱;一种社会正在被打破的感觉;偏见、固执和欺凌在增加;人们对那些被视为“更简单的时代”感到怀念。
  But perhaps it’s not all doom and gloom: another word that has seen a big increase in searches is adorable – maybe our users are comforting themselves with videos of cute animals, and trying to think happier thoughts?
  但是2016年也许并不完全是绝望和沮丧:另一个搜索量增长很大的词汇是“可爱的(adorable)”--也许我们的用户正在用一些可爱动物的视频来安慰自己、或者试着想一些更加快乐的事情?
  原文地址:http://www.tingroom.com/listen/vocabulary/386609.html