考研英語閱讀:牛津字典,我們記憶中的一部分

Oxford Dictionary, one part of our memory

牛津字典，我們記憶中的一部分

Sales of the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have fallen and will never appear in print again because of the impact of the internet on book sales, according to its publisher.

牛津大學(xué)出版社近日稱，他們有可能停止《牛津英文詞典》第三版的再版。由于網(wǎng)絡(luò)對圖書市場的沖擊，《牛津英文詞典》第三版銷量下降。

The dictionary’s owner, Oxford University Press (OUP), said the impact of the internet means the third edition of the OED-known as OED3-will probably appear only in electronic form.

牛津大學(xué)出版社稱網(wǎng)絡(luò)的沖擊使得《牛津英文詞典》第三版將來很有可能只以電子版形式銷售。

“The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year,” said Nigel Portwood, the chief executive of OUP.

牛津大學(xué)出版社行政總裁奈杰爾-波特伍德稱，“印刷版詞典市場正在縮水，每年市場份額都下降10 個百分點左右”。

Asked if he thought the third edition would be printed, he said: “I don’t think so.” Portwood said printed dictionaries had a shelf life of about another 30 years.

當(dāng)被問到第三版會不會繼續(xù)印刷時，他說：“我可不這么想。”波特伍德稱印刷版詞典在貨架上銷售的“壽命”只剩下30 年。

Now a team of 80 lexicographers has been working on the third edition of the OED3 for the past 21 years.

在過去的21 年里，由80 人組成的編纂小組一直從事著《牛津英文詞典》第三版的編纂工作。

It is still estimated to be more than a decade away from completion; only 28 percent has been finished to date.

但是編纂工作才僅僅完成了21%，還需要十年時間繼續(xù)努力。

OUP said it would continue to print the more familiar Oxford Dictionary of English, the single-volume version sold in bookshops and which contains more contemporary entries such as vuvuzela, the plastic trumpet encountered in the 2010 football World Cup.

出版社稱將繼續(xù)出版為大眾所熟悉的《牛津英文詞典》版本，即書店常見的單卷版。這個版本收錄了更多當(dāng)代詞條。例如，今年南非世界杯期間的助威工具嗚嗚祖拉已入選最新的修訂版。

The most recent OED has existed online for more than a decade, where it receives two million hits a month from subscribers who pay an annual fee of 240 pounds.

時下流行的《牛津英文詞典》第二版已在網(wǎng)上流行了10 年，每月點擊率達(dá)200 萬次。想要使用的用戶每年需支付240 英鎊訂閱費。

“Books are about to vanish; reading is about to expand as a pastime; these are inescapable realities,”said Portwood.

波特伍德說，“紙質(zhì)書即將消失，閱讀將會成為一種消遣，我們無法阻止這些事實的發(fā)生。”

 

 

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