(单词翻译:单击)
听力文本
Every year, language researchers and dictionary publishers choose a "Word of the Year." The word often reflects the news or social media trends during the year.
The American Dialect Society started the practice in 1991. This year, Dictionary.com selected the word "complicit" as its word of the year.
The online dictionary site chooses its Word of the Year based on the number of people who look up the word's meaning. Overall, there were 300 percent more people looking up the word "complicit" in 2017 than there were in 2016.
Before you run to look up the word, too, we will let you know that Dictionary.com says complicit means "choosing to be involved in an illegal or questionable act, especially with others."
Staying silent about crimes is being complicit
Jane Solomon is an editor at Dictionary.com. She told The Associated Press that there were many discussions in 2017 about people in power and the people around them who stayed silent about crimes they may have seen.
"This year a conversation that keeps on surfacing is what exactly it means to be complicit," she said. "Complicit has sprung up in conversations about those who speak out against powerful figures in institutions, and those who stay silent."
Interest in "complicit" began with a satire video on Saturday Night Live, a weekly television comedy. The video shows a fake commercial for a perfume designed by Ivanka Trump, a daughter of the United States President Donald Trump. The name of the perfume is "Complicit." A voice in the video explains, "She's beautiful, she's powerful, she's complicit." The satire tries to connect Ms. Trump with accusations that people in her father's election campaign broke laws.
About a month later, Ivanka Trump appeared on a morning news television program and said, "I don't know what it means to be complicit." Since she did not explain, more people looked up the word.
Senator says he will not be complicit
On October 24, Arizona Republican Senator Jeff Flake announced from the Senate floor that he would not try to win another term in the Senate. He criticized President Trump and asked other members of his party not to silently support the president.
"I have children and grandchildren to answer to, and so, Mr. President, I will not be complicit," Flake said.
Solomon says that another reason for the increase in look-ups for "complicit" is the accusations of sexual harassment against movie producer Harvey Weinstein. Some of Weinstein's associates say that they knew about the accusations years earlier, but were afraid to say anything about it publicly.
More words of the year to come
Keep your eyes open for more "Word of the Year" awards coming up in December and January. We will help you to add those words to your vocabulary in English, too.
I'm Jill Robbins.
重点解析
1.look up 查找;查阅;探望;看望
I decided I would go to the Archive the next day and look up the appropriate issue.
我决定第二天去档案馆查找对应的问题。
2.spring up 突然出现;突然产生
What caused this doubt to spring up in your mind?
什么原因使你突然产生了这个疑团？
3.speak out against 公然反对，大胆抗议
No one dared to speak out against the injustice.
没人敢对不公正行为表示公开反对。
4.sexual harassment 性骚扰
"Many of our customers told us they bought them as a defense against sexual harassment, " said the store's customer service supervisor.
该店客服介绍说，很多顾客表示买这些装备是为了对付性骚扰。
参考译文
语言研究者们和词典出版商们每年都会选出一个“年度词汇（Word of the Year）”。这个词通常能反映这一年里的新闻或是社交媒体的趋势。
美国方言学会于1991年开始的这项实践活动。今年，词典网站选出的年度词汇是“complicit（同谋的）”。
在线词典网站依据“查找单词含义的人数”来选出年度词汇。综合来看，相较于2016年，2017年查找单词“complicit”的人数增长了3倍。
在你也跑去查这个单词之前，我们会告诉你找个单词的含义。词典网站上“complicit”的释义为“选择参与一个非法或者有问题的行动，尤其是同他人一起。”
对于犯罪行为保持沉默就是一种同谋
简·所罗门是词典网站的一名编辑。她告诉美联社，2017年人们对“对犯罪行为视若无睹的有权人士及其周边人士”的议论颇多。
“‘(complicit)同谋的确切含义’是今年一直不断的话题”，她说道。“‘(complicit)同谋’这个词从‘那些公然反对机构中的权势人物以及那些保持沉默的人’的话题中产生。”
人们对“(complicit)同谋”这个词的关注源于周播喜剧秀节目《周六夜现场》里的一个讽刺视频。视频里是一条关于美国总统特朗普的女儿伊万卡·特朗普设计的一款名为“Complicit”的香水的虚假广告，视频里说道，“她美丽动人，她影响非凡，她是同谋(she's complicit)。”这段讽刺视频意图把特朗普女士同她父亲的团队在总统竞选中的违法行为受到谴责一事联系在一起。
大概一个月过后，伊万卡·特朗普出现在晨间新闻的电视节目里，她说：“我不知道‘complicit’是什么意思。”由于她没有对这个单词的含义做出解释导致查阅的人越来越多。
参议员说他不会成为同谋
10月24日，亚利桑那州共和党参议员杰夫·弗莱克在参议院宣布，他将不会参与下一任参议员的竞选。他对特朗普总统作出批评并要求其他的共和党人不能默不作声地支持总统。
“我要对我的孩子和孙子们负责，所以，总统先生，我不会成为同谋”，弗莱克说道。
所罗门称导致查阅“同谋”次数增多的另一个原因和对电影制片人哈维·韦恩斯坦作出的性骚扰指控也有关系，韦恩斯坦的一些同事坦言自己早年前就知道这些指控，但是却没敢公开说明。
更多年度词汇来袭
12月和1月将揭晓更多“年度词汇”，敬请期待，同时我们也会帮助你们掌握这些英语词汇。
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。
