评论
打印
From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.
这里是VOA教育频道
The competition was more youthful, more hipster, more urban, even naughtier. But in the end, "they" won.
现在竞争变得更加时尚、与时俱进和城市化，甚至有些顽皮，但是最终"they"脱颖而出
The pronoun "they" won out as Word of the Year, voted by the esteemed members of the American Dialect Society (ADS) on Friday.
周五，美国方言协会会员投票，选择名词"they"为今年的年度词汇
It is a pesky pronoun: It has been used as a singular pronoun in spoken English for years. In writing, however, it has mostly been used as the third-person plural.
They是一个麻烦的名词：口语里面常常用作第一人称，但是在书面语中是作为第三人称复数
Although some linguists say "they" has been used in both of these ways for many years, the media has been forced to use "they" more often when reporting about people who identify as transgender.
尽管，一些语言学家表示"they"的这两种用法已经并存许多年了，媒体一直以来使用they作为变性人的人称代词
"Singular they had the best chance of winning," says linguist Ben Zimmer, who writes a column in the Wall Street Journal. "There's been a lot of discussion this year about something that has actually existed in the language for centuries."
"作为第一人称使用的they赢面很大，今年对于已经存在了许多年的用法有了新的讨论。"语言学家Ben Zimmer表示，他曾经为华尔街日报写过专栏。
English does not have a standard third-person pronoun that is gender-neutral, Zimmer explained. But very often "they" is used to describe a generic person like "everyone" or "anyone."
英语里面没有特别指代性别的第三人称复数。但是"they"常常被用来指带普通人里的每个人或者是任何人
More and more, "they" is being used beyond the traditional gender binary of the "he" and "she" pronouns, he said. For example, "they" is used for people who identify as transgender, gender-fluid or gender-queer.
所以，现在they的使用频率比传统的用来表示性别的he和she高。比如，"they"可以用来指代那些变性人、男同志和双性人
When former Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner took a female identity this year, he changed his name to Caitlyn Jenner. The new use of "they" would allow the use of "their" instead of "his," as in, "they changed their name to Caitlyn Jenner."
今年，前奥运会运动员Bruce Jenner 被确认性别为女性，他就把自己的名字改为Caitlyn Jenner。而they新用法的出现，‘their’也可以替代his。所以就可以这么说"they changed their name to Caitlyn Jenner."
American Dialect Society president Alan Metcalf said people have argued about the use of "they" for more than 100 years.
美国方言协会主席Alan Metcalf表示：早在100年前，人们就已经开始对they的用法有了争论
"I think there is often a false sense that this is the turning point, that from now on this particular usage will be accepted and won't be argued about," Metcalf said.
"我认为，现在关于这个问题存在一个误解，就是从现在起，这种用法会被广泛接受而且不再改变"
"But you look at 100 years ago and you will find the same sorts of arguments. … I think that 100 years from now they will still be a bit of a discussion point."
"但是回顾100年前，你会发现还存在类似的争议。我认为，从100年前到现在，还是有许多值得讨论的地方"
Words from seven categories are considered in the competition: most useful, most creative, most unnecessary, most outrageous, most euphemistic, most likely to succeed and least likely to succeed.
今年的年度词汇大赏分了7个模块，分别是：最实用、最有创造性、最无用、最粗暴、最委婉、最成功和最失败
Competing with "they" in the "most useful" category were:
和they一起在最使用模块里竞争的词语有：
mic drop, a definitive end to a discussion after making an impressive point; microaggression, subtle form of racism or bias; shade, insult, criticism or disrespect, shown in a subtle or clever manner
mic drop，用来表示发音中最令人影响深刻的部分；microaggression表示微妙存在的种族主义和歧视；shade, insult, criticism和 disrespect,最微妙的表示方法
"There is no scientific criteria. It's just from all the words used during the past year. Sometimes it's a phrase or an abbreviation, but which one really seems to express the concerns and attitudes of the year gone by?" said Alan Metcalf, president of ADS.
"这里没有科学依据。仅仅只是去年一年所有的词汇使用状况来判定的。有时会选出短语或者缩写。但是到底哪一个可以表示今年词语使用的态度和公众关注的焦点。"
Metcalf explains that the group had the idea for the Name of the Year back in 1990.
Metcalf表示他们组织早在1990年就有了宣传年度词汇的想法
"Every year, Time magazine does a 'Person of the Year,' and we're the experts on words, so why don't we come up with a 'Word of the Year?' And we gradually developed the procedures for doing it, so those who vote on it would take some time to think about it."
"每年，时代周刊都会选出年度人物。我们是词汇专家，所以我们也弄了一个年度词汇。现在已经逐渐形成了具体流程，选择投票的人也成了至关重要的工作"
The society voted at its annual conference in Washington, D.C. Another group, the American Name Society, chose the important names of the year. You will probably not be surprised to learn that the name of the year was "Caitlyn Jenner."
在华盛顿的另外一个社会组织也举行了类似的投票，选出了今年最重要的名字。你可以会毫不意外的发现，年度名字就是"Caitlyn Jenner."
本栏目视频字幕与文本并不完全对应，且视频播放缓冲时间较长，敬请谅解！
