【正文】 Some languages resist the introduction of new words. Others, like English, seem to wele them. Robert MacNeil looks at the history of English and es to the conclusion that its tolerance for change represents deeply rooted ideas of freedom. 有些語言拒絕引入新詞。另一些語言，如英語，則似乎歡迎新詞的引入。羅伯特麥克尼爾回顧英語的歷史，得出結(jié)論說，英語對變化的包容性體現(xiàn)了根深蒂固的自由思想。 The Glorious Messiness of EnglishRobert MacNeil 1 The story of our English language is typically one of massive stealing from other languages. That is why English today has an estimated vocabulary of over one million words, while other major languages have far fewer. 英語中絢麗多彩的雜亂無章現(xiàn)象羅伯特麥克尼爾 我們的英語的歷史是典型的大量竊取其它語言的歷史。正因為如此，今日英語的詞匯量據(jù)估計超過一百萬，而其它主要語言的詞匯量都要小得多。 　2 French, for example, has only about 75,000 words, and that includes English expressions like snack bar and hit parade. The French, however, do not like borrowing foreign words because they think it corrupts their language. The government tries to ban words from English and declares that Walkman is not desirable。 so they invent a word, balladeur, which French kids are supposed to say instead but they don39。t. 例如，法語只有約75,000個單詞，其中還包括像snack bar（快餐店）和 hit parade（流行唱片目錄）這樣的英語詞匯。但法國人不喜歡借用外來詞，因為他們認(rèn)為這樣會損害法語的純潔性。法國政府試圖逐出英語詞匯，宣稱Walkman（隨身聽）一詞有傷大雅，因此他們造了個新詞balladeur讓法國兒童用——可他們就是不用。 3 Walkman is fascinating because it isn39。t even English. Strictly speaking, it was invented by the Japanese manufacturers who put two simple English words together to name their product. That doesn39。t bother us, but it does bother the French. Such is the glorious messiness of English. That happy tolerance, that willingness to accept words from anywhere, explains the richness of English and why it has bee, to a very real extent, the first truly global language. Walkman一詞非常耐人尋味，因為這個詞連英語也不是。嚴(yán)格地說，該詞是由日本制造商發(fā)明的，他們把兩個簡單的英語單詞拼在一起來命名他們的產(chǎn)品。這事兒我們不介意，法國人卻耿耿于懷。由此可見英語中絢麗多彩的雜亂無章現(xiàn)象。這種樂意包容的精神，這種不管源自何方來者不拒的精神，恰好解釋了英語為什么會這么豐富，解釋了英語緣何在很大程度上第一個成了真正的國際語言。 4 How did the language of a small island off the coast of Europe bee the language of the planet more widely spoken and written than any other has ever been? The history of English is present in the first words a child learns about identity (I, me, you)。 possession (mine, yours)。 the body (eye, nose, mouth)。 size (tall, short)。 and necessities (food, water). These words all e from Old English or AngloSaxon English, the core of our language. Usually short and direct, these are words we still use today for the things that really matter to us. 歐洲沿海一個彈丸小島的語言何以會成為地球上的通用語言，比歷史上任何一種其他語言都更為廣泛地被口頭和書面使用？英語的歷史體現(xiàn)在孩子最先學(xué)會用來表示身份（I, me, you）、所屬關(guān)系（mine, yours）、身體部位（eye, nose, mouth）、大小高矮（tall, short），以及生活必需品（food, water）的詞匯當(dāng)中。這些詞都來自英語的核心部分古英語或盎格魯－薩克遜英語。這些詞通常簡短明了，我們今天仍然用這些詞來表示對我們真正至關(guān)重要的事物。 5 Great speakers often use Old English to arouse our emotions. For example, during World War II, Winston Churchill made this speech, stirring the courage of his people against Hitler39。s armies positioned to cross the English Channel: We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills. We shall never surrender. 偉大的演說家常常用古英語來激發(fā)我們的情感。例如，在二戰(zhàn)期間，溫斯頓丘吉爾作了如下的演講來激勵國民的勇氣以抵抗屯兵英吉利海峽準(zhǔn)備渡海作戰(zhàn)的希特勒的軍隊：“我們要戰(zhàn)斗在海灘上，我們要戰(zhàn)斗在著陸場上，我們要戰(zhàn)斗在田野和街巷，我們要戰(zhàn)斗在群山中。我們決不投降?！?6 Virtually every one of those words came from Old English, except the last surrender, which came from Norman French. Churchill could have said, We shall never give in, but it is one of the lovely and powerful opportunities of English that a writer can mix, for effect, different words from different backgrounds. Yet there is something direct to the heart that speaks to us from the earliest words in our language. 這段文字中幾乎每個詞都來自古英語，只有最后一個詞——surren