走进塞缪尔·约翰逊的词典世界

曹翔羽

塞缪尔·约翰逊（Samuel Johnson）编纂的英语词典对英语的发展做出了重大贡献。

1 During the period from 1660 through 1800， Great Britain became the worlds leader. Language itself became submitted （顺从） to rules during this period. This need to fix the English language is best illustrated （说明） in the making of A Dictionary of the English Language by Samuel Johnson. Guides to the English language had been in existence before Johnson began his project in 1746. These， however， were often lists of hard words. When definitions of common words were supplied， they were often unhelpful. For example， a “horse” was defined in an early dictionary as “a beast well known”.

2 Johnson changed all that， but the task was not an easy one. Renting a house at 17 Gough Square， Johnson began working in the worst conditions. Supported only by his publisher， Johnson worked on the dictionary with five assistants. Compared to the French Academys dictionary， which took forty workers fifty?five years to complete， Johnsons dictionary was completed by very few people very quickly.

3 Balanced on a chair with only three legs， Johnson sat against a wall in a room filled with books. Johnson would read widely from these books， mark passages illustrating the use of a particular word， and give the books to his assistants so that they could copy the passages on small pieces of paper. These small pieces of paper were then stuck to eighty large notebooks under the key words that Johnson had selected. Fixing the word by this method， Johnson could record a words usage and its definition （解釋）.

4 How many passages were used？ According to Johnsons modern biographer （传记作者）  Walter Jackson Bate， the original total number could have been over 240，000. How many words were defined by the lexicographer？ Over 40，000 words appeared in two large books in April of 1755. Did Johnson fully understand the huge task he was undertaking when he began？ As he told his contemporary biographer James Boswell， “I knew very well what I was undertaking and very well how to do it—and have done it very well.”

1. What can be learned about early English dictionaries？

A. They offer colorful pictures.

B. They list just a few foreign words.

C. They hardly give translations.

D. They include many hard words.

2. Which word can best describe Johnsons process of making the dictionary？

A. Easy. B. Meaningless.       C. Tough. D. Exciting.

3. Whats paragraph 3 mainly about？

A. Why Johnson made his dictionary.

B. How Johnson made his dictionary.

C. Where Johnson found useful passages.

D. When Johnson finished his biography.

4. What does the underlined word “lexicographer” in paragraph 4 refer to？

A. A dictionary publisher. B. A biographer.

C. A dictionary maker. D. A map reviser.

Difficult sentence

As he told his contemporary biographer James Boswell， “I knew very well what I was undertaking and very well how to do it—and have done it very well.” 正如他告诉同时代的传记作家詹姆斯·博斯韦尔的那样：“我非常清楚我所做的事情，也非常清楚如何去做——而且已经做得很好了。”

【点石成金】该句中，As引导非限制性定语从句，意为“正如”，一般不指代某个具体的名词或代词，而是指代整个主句或主句的一部分。