But What's a Dictionary For?
词典的用途究竟何在?
Bergen Evans
伯根伊凡斯
The storm of abuse in the popular press that greeted the appearance of Webster's Third New International Dictionary is a curious phenomenon. Never has a scholarly work of this stature been attacked with such unbridled fury and contempt. An article in the Atlantic viewed it as a "disappointment," a "shock," a " calamity ," "a scandal and a disaster. " The New York Times, in a special editorial, felt that the work would " accelerate the deterioration " of the language and sternly accused the editors of betraying a public trust. The Journal of the American Bar Association saw the publication as " deplorable ," "a flagrant example of lexicographic irresponsibility,, " "a ser, ious blow to the cause of good English." Life called it "a non-word deluge " monstrous ", " abominable ," and "a cause for dismay." They doubted that "Lincoln could have modelled his Gettysburg Address" on it-a concept of how things get written that throws very little light on Lincoln but a great deal on Life.
《韦氏新国际英语词典》(第三版)刚一问世，便遭到许多有名的报刊连篇累牍的攻击，这真是一个奇怪的现象。以前还从来没有哪一部像这样有学术价值的鸿篇巨著遭到过如此肆无忌惮的攻击和侮蔑。《大西洋》杂志上刊载的一篇文章评价这部词典"令人失望"，"令人震惊"，是"一大不幸"，"耻辱和灾难"。《纽约时报》则发表一篇专论，称这部词典将"加速英语的退化进程"，并严厉指责词典编者们有负众望。《美国律师学会学刊》认为该词典的出版是"令人遗憾的事件"、"词典编者不负责任的杰出典范"、"对英语规范化事业的一记沉重打击。"《生活》杂志上的文章则称这部词典为"无用的词海"，说它"荒谬可笑"、"糟糕透顶"、"让人痛心"。文章作者们还说他们怀疑"林肯在写葛底斯堡演说时是否会参考这部词典。这种观点并没有很清楚地说明林肯的写作方式，却很能说明《生活》杂志上的那些文章是怎样写出来的。
What underlies all this sound and fury? Is the claim of the G. R C. Merriam Company, probably the world's greatest dictionary maker, that the preparation of the work cost $3.5 million, that it required the efforts of three hundred scholars over a period of twenty-seven years, working on the largest collection of citations ever assembled in any language-is all this a fraud, a hoax?
究竟是什么导致了这场喧嚣与愤怒呢?出版这部词典的麦里姆出版公司也许称得上是全球最大的词典出版商，该公司声称他们为筹划这部词典的出版工作耗资三百五十万美元，动员了三百名专家学者花费二十七年的心血才完成了世界上任何语言中词汇量最大的词库。难道这一切都是骗人的把戏吗?