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George W. Bush is mocked for strangling grammar. But he can hold his
head up high in the new Oxford Dictionary of Quotations published on
Thursday.
The U.S. President makes a respectable first appearance in one of the
world's most famous reference books with his notorious "Axis of Evil"
speech about Iran, Iraq and North Korea. Bush, long renowned for his malapropisms, has in the past
offered such gems as misunderestimate, embetter and resignate.
But Oxford dictionary editor Elizabeth Knowles works on very different
criteria for new entrants in
the revered tome.
"You look at the quotation, not at their linguistic dexterity," she
told reporters.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Bush's closest ally in the war on
Iraq, is given prominence for waxing lyrical in appropriately
Shakespearean tones in the lead-up to the conflict: "This is not the time
to falter." Intriguingly the latest edition of the famous sayings book
first published in 1941 highlights how history has a way of repeating
itself when it comes to the memorable soundbite.
Bill Clinton, watching the saga of the Florida chaos unfolding in the
2000 U.S. Presidential election, said: "The American people have spoken --
but it's going to take a little time to determine what they said."
That echoed the complaint by British Conservative statesman Lord
Salisbury in 1877: "One of the nuisances of the ballot is that when the
oracle has spoken, you never know what it means."
"We are constantly trying to pick up material that has become
newly resonant," Knowles said,
citing a John Quincy Adams quote that struck a chord after the September
11 attacks on the United States.
"Wherever the standard of freedom and independence has been or shall be
unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be. But
she goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy."
(Agencies) |
喬治·布什經常因令人窒息的語法錯誤而被人嘲笑。然而，在周四（9月9日）出版的新版《牛津引語詞典》里，他終于可以揚眉吐氣了。
這位美國總統曾經在一次演講中將伊朗、伊拉克和北朝鮮稱為“邪惡軸心（Axis of
Evil）”，這個臭名昭彰的單詞讓他首次在這本世界上最著名的參考書中光榮亮相。布什一直以誤用詞語而聞名，他曾經創造出諸如misunderestimate（underestimate）,
embetter (embitter)和resignate (resignation)等經典詞匯。
牛津詞典的編輯伊麗莎白·諾爾斯在搜集引語時用了不同尋常的標準，在這本倍受尊敬的詞典中加入了這個詞語。
她告訴記者說：“你要看引語本身，而不要挑剔其語言上的技巧。”
英國首相托尼·布萊爾是布什在伊拉克戰爭中最親密的盟友。他那恰到好處的莎士比亞語調使其戰爭動員的演講帶有抒情詩的韻味。他說：“現在不是躊躇徘徊的時刻。”令人感興趣的是，這本詞典的最新版本突出強調了記錄下這些值得紀念的同期聲可以再現歷史的一幕。1941年，這本記錄名人名言的詞典首次出版。
比爾·克林頓目睹了2000年美國總統選舉中因佛羅里達州計票爭議而引起的混亂局面，他說：“美國人民已經表達了自己的意愿，不過還需要一點兒時間來弄清楚他們的意愿。”
這句話與1877年英國保守黨政治家索爾茲伯里勛爵的抱怨相互呼應。他說：“投票令人討厭的一點是當圣人講話時，你永遠也不懂它的意思。”
“我們不斷地嘗試挑選能引起最新共鳴的材料。”諾爾斯引用了約翰·昆西·亞當斯的話。這句話在美國9/11恐怖襲擊事件發生后，引起了共鳴。
“無論（美國式）自由和獨立標準已經或將會出現在哪里，那里都會有美國的精神、祝福和祈禱。但是，美國不會到別的國家去搜尋怪物并將之摧毀。”
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2004-09-15 10:04
