为什么不能用“死亡词语”



“死亡词语”(dead words)这个教学方法出现在美国的课程规划上已超过十年。到底教师应否禁止学生在写作时使用“good(好)”、“bad(坏)”、“fun(有趣)”和“said(说)”等简单的英语常用词呢？小编引用教师、学生和家长的观点，从多角度探讨这个问题。

在英文写作中或许要多注意这几个词：

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‘Use More Expressive Words!’ Teachers Bark, Beseech, Implore

“多用表达性词语!” 教师呵斥，恳求，哀求

To encourage lively writing, instructors put certain words to rest; no more ‘fun’

为了让学生写出生动的文章，教师将某些词语列为禁词; 不许再写“fun(有趣)”

By JAMES R. HAGERTY

Nov. 29, 2015

1English teachers were once satisfied if they could prevent their pupils from splitting infinitives. Now some also want to stop them from using words like “good,” “bad,” “fun” and “said.”

曾经英文老师只要成功阻止学生在 to和动词之间插入副词，就已经很满足了。如今，一些教师还希望学生不要使用“good(好)”、“bad(坏)”、“fun(有趣)”和“said(说)”等英语常用字。

2“We call them dead words,” said (or declared) Leilen Shelton, a middle school teacher in Costa Mesa, Calif. She and many others strive to purge pupils’ compositions of words deemed vague or dull.

美国加州科斯塔梅萨市一名中学教师莱琳•谢尔顿(Leilen Shelton)说(或表示) “我们称它们为‘死亡词语’。” 她还有很多教师正努力禁止学生在写作时使用意思含糊或沉闷的词。

3“There are so many more sophisticated, rich words to use,” said (or affirmed) Ms. Shelton, whose manual “BanishBoring Words” has sold nearly 80,000 copies since 2009.

“还有很多更精准和丰富的词可以用。”谢尔顿说道(或肯定地说道)。她2009年出版的替代字手册《摈弃平庸词汇》(“Banish Boring Words”)已卖出近80,000本。

4Her pupils know better than to use a boring word like “said.” As Ms. Shelton put it, “ ‘Said’ doesn’t have any emotion. You might use barked. Maybe howled. Demanded.Cackled. I have a list.”

她的学生会用更生动的词语去代替“said(说)”这类无聊的词。谢尔顿认为“'said(说)’一词不带任何情感，你可以使用‘barked(呵斥)’、‘howled(大声呼叫)’、‘Demanded(质问)’和’ Cackled(嘎嘎大笑)’来代替。我有一个词汇表。”

5So does the Powell River Board of Education in British Columbia. Its website provides a list of 397 alternatives to the dreaded "said". They include “emitted,” “beseeched,” “continued,” “sniveled,” and “spewed.”

对于”said(说)”这个可怕的词，加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省鲍威尔里弗教育委员会(Powell River Board of Education)亦在其网站列出397个替代词[1]，包括“emitted(发出声音)”、“beseeched(恳求)”、“continued(继续)”、“sniveled(哭诉)”、“spewed(发泄)”等。

[1] 'Said is Dead' Word List: is dead

6The goal is livelier writing. The result can be confusion.

变换用词的目的是令文章更加生动，但成效如何不得而知。

7Megan Riley, a sixth-grader in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., recently joined her classmates in chanting the words that their English teacher has pronounced dead: “Good, bad, nice, a lot, OK, fun, thing and stuff.” Later, the students were told, they might hold a mock funeral to bury those words.

美国宾夕法尼亚州莱巴嫩市一名6年级学生梅根•赖利(Megan Riley)最近跟同学一起念诵被英文老师宣布死亡的词语: “Good(好)、bad(坏), nice(不错)、a lot(许多)、OK(好的)、fun(有趣)、thing(事情)和stuff(东西)”。接下来，学生可能要为这些“死亡词语”举行模拟葬礼。

8“I think it’s very sad they have passed,” Megandeadpanned. “I grew up with them.”

“我为它们的离去感到很难过，毕竟它们陪伴我长大。” 梅根严肃地说。

9Some seventh-grade teachers at her middle school have much longer lists. One contains 40 humdrum words including “walk,” “run,” “happy,” “talk”, “go” and “see.”

在梅根的中学，有些7年级老师甚至准备了更详尽的禁用词列表。其中一个词表包括“walk(走)”、“run(跑)”、“happy(开心)”、“talk(讲)”、“go(去)”和“see(看)”等40个单调乏味的词语。

10A spokeswoman for the Mt. Lebanon school district clarified: “It is a lighthearted project where kids have to explore more expressive ways to say words such as 'said,’ ‘good,’ or ‘bad.’ ”

莱巴嫩学区的发言人澄清“模拟葬礼是个轻松的活动，旨在让孩子们寻找更能表达情感的词汇来代替'said(说)’、‘good(好)’和‘bad(坏)’等词。”

11Megan’s father, Jack, recently asked her to explain why the words were off limits.

最近，梅根的父亲杰克(Jack)要求梅根解释禁止使用这些词语的原因。

12“To make your writing sound—I don’t know—more sophisticated,” Megan posited.

“我也不知道，能够让文章看起来更有深度吧。” 梅根猜想。

13Mr. Riley, an architect, was skeptical. “They’re perfectly fine words, and they have their place,” he proclaimed. “I suppose the emphasis should be on using them correctly.”

梅根的父亲是一名建筑师，他却对这个活动有所质疑。他表示“被禁的都是绝对没有问题的字眼，它们有它们的用处”，更认为”重点在于是否正确地使用。”

14Students do their best to cope. One of Megan’s schoolmates, looking for a permissible way to say “big,” came up with “anti-microscopic.”

一众学生正努力适应。梅根其中一个同学为了迎合教师的要求，甚至想到用“anti-microscopic(极不微小)”来形容“big(大)”。

15Bonnie Dougherty, another Mt. Lebanon parent, endorsesthe exercise. “It has forced my kids to search harder for more descriptive words,” she enthused.

莱巴嫩学区另一名家长邦尼•多尔蒂(Bonnie Dougherty)则支持这个活动。“这迫使我的孩子更用心去搜寻更具表达性的词语。”她兴奋地说道。



16Her son Josh, a ninth-grader, and daughter Josie, who is in sixth grade, agree. Josh considered the mock funeral a “silly little activity” but thinks his writing was improved by having dozens of terms “drilled into my head as words that you are 100% not allowed to use.” In sixth grade, a teacherdocked him seven points for slipping in a few of them.

邦尼有两名子女，儿子乔希(Josh)正就读9年级，而女儿乔西(Josie)正就读6年级，他们都同意母亲的说法。乔希觉得模拟葬礼是一个“愚蠢的小活动”，但他认为谨记一些词语绝对不能使用，对写作很有帮助。在6年级的时候，他不经意地用了几个禁词，被老师扣掉7分。

17Now he automatically hunts for more picturesquelanguage. “Rather than saying, ‘This soup was good,’ you can say something like, ‘The soup was delectable,’ which really enhances it,” Josh instructed. “It gives it sort of this extra push.”

如今，乔希下意识地搜寻形象更生动的语言。他举例说”你可以用‘The soup was delectable(这汤很鲜甜美味)’去取代‘This soup was good(这汤很好喝)’。这样能把句子提升到更高的层次。”

18One recent afternoon after school, Josie and Josh agreed to take a stab at editing famous authors, starting with the closing words of James Joyce’s “Ulysses”: “….yes I said yes I will Yes.”

近日下午，乔西和乔希下课后尝试修改著名作家的句子。一开始他们修改詹姆斯•乔伊斯(James Joyce)的长篇小说《尤利西斯》(“Ulysses”)的最后一句“….yes I said yes I will Yes (于是我说 好吧 我愿意 好吧)”。

19Head down, her pigtails brushing the paper, Josie examined the phrase and then suggested a small amendment: “…yes I hollered yes I will Definitely.”

乔西低下头，发辫在纸上扫来扫去。她仔细研究了一番，然后提出了细微的修改: “…yes I hollered yes I will Definitely (于是我大喊 好吧 我愿意 一定)”。

20Josh decided to let “said” stand, given Joyce’s reputation. He did, however, insert the commas neglected by Joyce.

鉴于乔伊斯是个有名气的作家，乔希决定保留“said(我说)”。但他替乔伊斯补上了逗号。

21In “A Farewell to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway refers to cars “going very fast.” Josie revised that to “going at a superior speed.” Josh went with “lightning speeds.”

欧内斯特•海明威(Ernest Hemingway)的小说《永别了，武器》(“A Farewell to Arms”)中有一句形容汽车“going very fast(开得非常快)”。乔西把这句改成“going at a superior speed(以极速行驶)”，而乔希则改成“lightning speeds(以闪电般的速度行驶)”。

22Second-guessing famous authors was tricky, Josh cautioned: “It’s almost as though they’re given a free pass” to flout the rules. Josie submitted that she wasn’t sure they should get that pass.

评论著名作家的作品并不容易，乔希小心地说“他们似乎拥有‘免死金牌’，可以无视写作规则”。乔西坦言她不确定那些作家应否得到这样的特权。

23Her brother winced: “You’ve got to remember,” he lectured, “most of these guys are dead.”

她的哥哥听到后眉头一皱，并教训她说“你要记得，他们大多数已经死了。”

24The search for synonyms dates to ancient times, and Peter Mark Roget published his thesaurus in 1852. It is unclear, though, when or where the dead-words approach originated. Teachers say it has been percolating through lesson plans for more than a decade. Pinterest and other websites overflow with helpful lists, including “200 Ways to Say Went.” They include “wormed” and “peregrinated.”

很久以前，人们就已经开始搜寻同义词，彼得•马克•罗热(Peter Mark Roget)早在1852年出版了著名的《罗热同义词词典》(Roget's Thesaurus)。虽然很难追溯“死亡词语”这个教学方法是由何时或从哪里开始的，但教师们说这渗入课程规划已超过10年。美国图片社交网站Pinterest和其他网站充斥着各式各样实用的词汇表，例如"Went(去)的200种说法"，其中包括“wormed(移动)”和“peregrinated(漫游)”等。

25The movement has even peregrinated into popular music. Four years ago, Garrett Hollowell of Fort Worth, Texas, named his punk rock band Dead Words, with a nod to a wall of them he recalled from ninth grade. “I try to stay away from using too many simple words,” explained Mr. Hollowell, 23 years old. His lyrics feature words rarely heard in punk rock, such as “desensitized” and “narcissistic”.

搜寻同义词的运动甚至扩展到流行音乐界。四年前，美国得克萨斯州沃思堡市的加勒特•霍洛韦(Garrett Hollowell)将他的朋克摇滚乐团命名为“死亡词语”(Dead Words)，向他们9年级时遭遇到的困难致意。现时23岁的他解释说“我尽量避免使用过多简单的词。”他创作的歌词会专门使用一些朋克摇滚音乐中少见的词语，例如“desensitized(变得麻木)”和“narcissistic(自恋者)”等。

26Some teachers dislike the concept. “How in the world is a word dead that people use every day?” asked Shekema Holmes Silveri, a veteran English teacher in Atlanta who is developing a new charter school. Sometimes, Ms. Silveriasseverated, “ 'she said’ is just the very best way to say that.”

不过，有些教师不认同“死亡词语”这个概念。亚特兰大资深英文老师史卡马(Shekema Holmes Silveri)正创办一所新的特许学校，他问到“人们每天都在用的词怎么会是死的呢?”。他更断言说“有时候'she said(她说)’就是最贴切的描述。”

27Jennifer Walters, a fifth-grade teacher in State College, Pa., produced her own list a few years ago. Rather than writing that one thing is like another, she suggested, pupils might use “commensurate” or “agnate”, which means related through male descent or on the father’s side.

美国宾夕法尼亚州州学院市一名5年级教师珍妮弗•沃尔特斯(Jennifer Walters)在几年前亦整理过一份词汇表。但她提到学生可能会用“commensurate(相称的)”或“agnate(男系的/父系的)”去形容某两样东西很相似。

28Since then, Ms. Walters has ditched the list. “Kids were just randomly selecting words, picking the ones they ‘thought sounded the coolest,’ and not thinking about their piece in particular,” she recounted in an email.

自此以后，沃尔特斯就不再提供词汇表。她在电邮中叙述说“孩子只是随便选一些他们认为看起来最帅的词，不会多加考虑用词是否恰当。”

29Robert C. March, a writing teacher at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem, N.C., stands by his list. He has banned “I,” “you,” “we,” “why” and “it,” among others. Mr. March makes clear on his Web page that he means business: “Any banned word, or contraction, that appears in a work submitted to me will count as -5 (minus five) points off the total grade.”

美国北卡罗来纳州温斯顿塞勒姆市阿特金斯高中(Atkins High School)一名作文老师罗伯特•马奇(Robert C. March)则坚持使用他的禁用词列表。他禁止学生在写作中使用“I(我)”、“you(你)”、“we(我们)”、“why(为什么)”和“it(它)”等词[2]。他更在个人主页上清楚列明“如果作业中出现任何禁词或缩写，会在总分中扣5分”，可见他是相当认真的。

30When students note that those words frequently have wormed their way into Great Literature, Mr. March has his answer ready: “When you get to the level of Charles Dickens, you can do with words whatever you want.”

学生指出这些词经常在文学巨著中出现，为何他们却不能使用。马奇毫不犹豫地回答“你哪天达到查尔斯•狄更斯(Charles Dickens)那样的水平，你想用什么词随便你。”

译者： Jacqueline ，校对：Melanie

生词本

1.Beseech: to ask for something in a way that shows you need it very much

2.Implore: to ask for something in a sincere and emotional way

3.Split infinitive: a phrase in which an adverb or other word is put between "to" and an infinitive. Some people consider split infinitives to be bad grammar, but they are becoming more acceptable

4.Purge: to make someone or something free of something evil or harmful

5.Banish: to get rid of something completely

6.Howl: to make a loud sound, usually to express pain, sadness or another strong emotion

7.Cackle: to laugh in a loud, high voice

8.Emit: to make a sound

9.Snivel: to cry slightly in a way that is weak and does not make other people feel sympathy for you

10.Spew: eject or send out in large quantities, also metaphorical

11.Chant: to repeat or sing a word or phrase continuously, or to sing a religious prayer or song to a simple tune

12.Deadpan: Say something amusing while affecting a serious manner

13.Humdrum: having no excitement, interest or new and different events; ordinary

14.Lighthearted: amusing and not serious

15.Off limits: not allowed or approved of

16.Posit: to assume or suggest that it is true

17.Skeptical: doubting that something is true or useful

18.Permissible: allowed

19.Microscopic: extremely small

20.Endorse: to express support for someone or something, especially in public

21.Enthuse: to express excitement about something or great interest in it

22.Drilled into: to tell someone something repeatedly to make them remember it

23.Dock: to remove part of something, especially money

24.Slip in: insert casually

25.Picturesque: (Of language) unusual and vivid

26.Delectable: beautiful; giving great pleasure

27.take a stab at something: an attempt to do something, especially when you have no experience of doing it

28.Holler: to shout loudly

29.Second-guess: evaluate or criticize with hindsight

30.Flout: to intentionally not obey a rule, law, or custom

31.Wince: make a slight involuntary grimace or shrinking movement of the body out of pain or distress

32.Synonym: a word or phrase which has the same or nearly the same meaning as another word or phrase in the same language

33.Thesaurus: a type of dictionary in which words with similar meanings are arranged in groups

34.Percolate: if information or ideas percolate, they spread gradually and become known to more people

35.Worm: to succeed in moving along in a difficult or crowded situation, by moving your body slowly and carefully

36.Peregrinate: travel around, through, or over, especially on foot

37.Desensitize: to cause someone to experience something, usually an emotion or a pain, less strongly than before

38.Narcissistic: someone who has too much admiration for themselves

39.Veteran: having been involved in a particular activity for a long time

40.Charter school: in the US, a school that is paid for with public money but is organized by a private group for a special purpose and admits only students who meet its standards

41.Asseverate: state categorically

42.Commensurate: in a correct and suitable amount compared to something else

43.Agnate: related on the father's side

44.Ditch: to get rid of something or someone that is no longer wanted

45.Recount: to describe how something happened

46.Mean business: to want very much to achieve something, even if other people disagree with you

背景知识

1. 詹姆斯•乔伊斯(James Joyce)

爱尔兰作家、诗人，二十世纪最伟大的作家之一，后现代文学的奠基者之一，其作品及“意识流”思想对世界文坛影响巨大。

2. 欧内斯特•海明威(Ernest Hemingway)

美国记者和作家，被认为是20世纪最著名的小说家之一。海明威的写作风格以简洁著称，对美国文学及20世纪文学的发展有极深远的影响；他的很多作品至今仍极具权威。

3. 查尔斯•狄更斯(Charles Dickens)

19世纪英国现实主义文学的主要代表。艺术上以妙趣横生的幽默、细致入微的心理分析，以及现实主义描写与浪漫主义气氛的有机结合著称。马克思把他和萨克雷等称誉为英国的“一批杰出的小说家”。