9. The Tree Of Language

　　A World with out Language

　　It may be that when the world was young, no one knew how to talk. People had to learn tospeak just like babies do. When no one knew how to tell, how did anyone learn? That is amystery that remains unsolved even today.

　　The Stories behind Words

　　LUNCH Lunch perhaps comes from an old Spanish word lonje , a slab of1 ham. We may get ourword from a lump of bread, but whether lunch comes from ham or bread, it meant a hunk ofsomething to eat.

　　ATLAS An Atlas is a strong man, and also a book of maps. The story of this word begins a longtime ago in Greece. The ancient Greeks believed that their gods had once been a race of giants2called Titans. The Titans fought with another group of gods called Olympians, and theOlympians won. Atlas was a Titan. He was punished for fighting be having to stand at thewestern end of the world, holding the sky on his head and hands, so that it would not fall onthe world and smash everything.

　　After the ancient Greek religion died out, the idea of Atlas changed. From holding up the skywith his head and hands, he came to be thought of as holding the world on his shoulders.Mercator3, a map maker of the sixteenth century, used a picture of Atlas on the cover of abook of maps, so a book of maps came to be called an atlas.

　　The word has still another meaning. The top bone of the neck is called atlas because it supportsthe head.

　　GOOD-BYE or GOOD-BY Good-bye is a blessing; originally it was God be with ye, and in thecourse of time it became one word. Many of our greetings are good wishes, but we say themwith so little thought that we forget this. When we say good morning, good evening, goodnight, and so on, what we are really saying is, “I hope you will have a good morning ( orevening, or night) . ”

　　DAISY The daisy has a little golden eye , like a tiny sun . Perhaps this is the reason the Englishpeople named it day’s eye, or perhaps they chose the name because the English daisy closes atnight. The English loved their daisies, which were pink and red, as well as 028 white. Sixhundred years or so ago, the English poet Chaucer4 said:

　　The daisy, or else the eye of the day, / / The queen, and prettiest flower of all.

　　閱讀自測(cè)

　　Ⅰ. According to the passage , find the correct meanings of the words under lined :

　　1. With an atlas, Tom can find the place he wants to go easily.

　　A. a strong man B. the top bone of the neck C. a book of maps D. a name of god

　　2. When you say good-bye to your friend, what do you really mean?

　　A. never see him / her again B. a good wish to express that God be with him / her C. good luckD. break up with him / her

　　3. After a long vacation, he looks as fresh as a daisy like before.

　　A. look like the flower B. a kind of drink C. a first-class man D. vigorous and lively

　　Ⅱ. Question :

　　After reading this passage, what can you infer from the stories of the words?

　　參考答案

　　Ⅰ. 1. C 2 . B 3 . D

　　Ⅱ. ( 略)

　　參考譯文

　　語(yǔ)言趣話

　　沒(méi)有語(yǔ)言的世界 世界形成之初, 可能沒(méi)人知道怎么說(shuō)話。人們不得不像嬰兒一樣學(xué)著開(kāi)口講話。既然 無(wú)人知曉如何訴說(shuō), 人們又怎么學(xué)習(xí)呢? 這個(gè)謎團(tuán)至今尚待解決。

　　詞語(yǔ)背后的故事 Lunch ——— lunch ( 午餐) 可能來(lái)源于古西班牙語(yǔ)lonje 一詞, 意思是一塊火腿。也許這個(gè) 詞源指一塊面包。但是, 無(wú)論lunch 一詞源指火腿還是面包, 它的意思都是一塊可以吃的東西。

　　Atlas ——— Atlas ( 阿特拉斯) 既可以指身強(qiáng)體壯的人也可以指地圖冊(cè)。這個(gè)詞的故事起 源于很久以前的希臘。古希臘人相信他們信奉的神靈曾是被稱(chēng)為提坦的一種巨人。提坦 巨神與另一支號(hào)稱(chēng)奧林匹斯的神靈作戰(zhàn), 奧林匹斯神獲勝了。阿特拉斯是提坦巨神之一。 他被罰站在西天用頭和雙手支撐起蒼天, 不讓天塌下來(lái)砸碎萬(wàn)事萬(wàn)物。

　　古希臘宗教逐漸消失之后, atlas 的含義也改變了。阿特拉斯已經(jīng)從以前的用頭和雙手 支撐蒼天, 漸漸變成以肩頂天。16 世紀(jì)的地圖學(xué)家墨卡托, 在一本地圖冊(cè)的封面上使用了 阿特拉斯的圖像, 因此, 地圖冊(cè)就用atlas 表示。

　　Atlas 還有另一種意思。因?yàn)榈谝活i椎起到支撐頭部的作用, 所以它也叫atlas。

　　Goo d-bye ( 或Good -by) ———G ood-bye ( 再見(jiàn)) 是一種祝福, 原本的意思是God be with ye ( 上帝與你同在) 。隨著時(shí)間的推移, 它演變成了一個(gè)詞語(yǔ)。許多問(wèn)候語(yǔ)都是表達(dá)良好 祝愿的, 只是我們?cè)谒蛦?wèn)候的時(shí)候很少思考以致忘記了這一點(diǎn)。當(dāng)我們說(shuō)早上好, 晚上好, 晚安的時(shí)候, 我們真正要表達(dá)的是“ 我希望你早晨/ 傍晚/ 夜晚過(guò)得好。”

　　Daisy ——— daisy ( 雛菊) 上有個(gè)小小的金色的眼狀的花心, 就像一顆小太陽(yáng)。也許這就 是英國(guó)人稱(chēng)其為“ 白晝的眼睛”的緣故, 或許他們?nèi)∵@個(gè)名字是因?yàn)橛?guó)雛菊的花瓣夜晚 是合攏的。英國(guó)人很喜歡雛菊, 雛菊有粉色的、紅色的、還有白色的。大約六百年前英國(guó)詩(shī) 人喬叟就寫(xiě)過(guò)這樣的詩(shī)句: 雛菊, 抑或是白晝的眼睛/ / 最美麗的百花之后

　　閱讀導(dǎo)評(píng)

　　馬克思提出勞動(dòng)創(chuàng)造語(yǔ)言的觀點(diǎn), 指出人類(lèi)在發(fā)展過(guò)程中通過(guò)勞動(dòng)漸漸訓(xùn)練自己的發(fā) 聲器官, 使其發(fā)出各種美妙動(dòng)聽(tīng)的聲音, 從而形成了語(yǔ)言。在這個(gè)過(guò)程中, 不同地區(qū)的人又 賦予語(yǔ)言不同的文化內(nèi)涵, 這就體現(xiàn)了我們常說(shuō)的那句話———語(yǔ)言是文化的載體。我們真 該慶幸自己沒(méi)有生活在地球剛剛形成之時(shí)。

　　閱讀導(dǎo)釋

　　1. slab 本來(lái)的意思是指“( 方形或長(zhǎng)方形) 厚板, 平板, 板鋼”。a slab of 是“ 一塊”的意思, 這 是一種很有用的量詞搭配用法, 下文出現(xiàn)的a lump of, a hunk of 都是同樣的用法, 而且 三個(gè)詞組意思基本相同, 都可以譯成“一塊”, 如: a lump of sugar / clay ( 一塊糖/黏土) ; a hunk of bread / meat / cheese ( 一塊面包/肉/ 奶酪) 。

　　2. 原指希臘神話或人們想象中的巨人, 現(xiàn)常用來(lái)指“身材超群的巨人, 力量或智力超群的偉人, 巨物”, 如: aliterary giant ( 大文豪) ; an oil giant ( 石油巨頭) 。有句諺語(yǔ)說(shuō)“昔日多偉人”, 英 語(yǔ)就是There weregiants in those days。下文出現(xiàn)的titan 出自希臘神話, 與giant 意思相同。

　　3. 墨卡托(1512—1594) , 佛蘭德地圖學(xué)家, 發(fā)明繪制地圖的圓標(biāo)形投影法, 首先使用atlas 一詞。

　　4. Geoffrey Chaucer, 喬叟( 1340—1400) , 英國(guó)詩(shī)人, 用倫敦方言創(chuàng)作。他的代表作《坎特伯 雷故事集》反映了14 世紀(jì)英國(guó)社會(huì)各階層的生活面貌, 體現(xiàn)了人文主義思想。文章中 選用的詩(shī)句出自他的作品《善良女子殉情記》( The Legend of Good Women) 的序言。在這 個(gè)序言中, 雛菊被稱(chēng)譽(yù)為百花之后, 擁有一種美德和尊榮, 是善良仁慈的象征, 這正是作者所大加頌揚(yáng)的品質(zhì)