英语演讲"改变世界的一个词"，什么样的词才能有吸引力呢？

Oxford Dictionaries: 2020 has too many Words of the Year to name just one

牛津词典：2020 “年度词汇”太多，只选一个不够

For the first time, the Oxford English Dictionary has chosen not to name a word of the year, describing 2020 as "a year which cannot be neatly accommodated in one single word".

今年，《牛津英语词典》首次决定不去挑选一个“年度词汇”，并将 2020 年描述为“无法用一个词来精准概括的一年”。

Tracking its vast corpus of more than 11bn words found in web-based news, blogs and other text sources, its lexicographers revealed what the dictionary described as "seismic shifts in language data and precipitous frequency rises in new coinage" over the past 12 months.***

牛津词典拥有一个由网络新闻、博客及其他文本来源构成的庞大语料库，规模超过 110 亿个词；词典的编纂者们在监测完该语料库后，在报告中写道，过去的 12 个月里，“语言资料发生了翻天覆地的变化，新词出现的频率也急剧上升”。

"Coronavirus", one of its words of the year, is a term that dates back to the 1960s. "Covid-19", first recorded on 11 February in a report by the World Health Organization, quickly overtook coronavirus in frequency of use.

“冠状病毒”是今年的年度词汇之一，该术语可追溯到上世纪六十年代。2 月 11 日，世界卫生组织发表的一份报告中首次出现了“新冠肺炎”一词，随后，它的使用频率便迅速超过了“冠状病毒”。

One of the year's most remarkable linguistic developments, according to the OED, has been the extent to which scientific terms have entered general discourse, as we have all become armchair epidemiologists, with most of us now familiar with the term "R number".***

《牛津英语词典》表示，今年最显著的一个语言发展趋势，就是科学术语更大程度地进入了一般性话语中，每个人都变成了“只会纸上谈兵的流行病学家”；如今，“R0 值”这个术语对于大多数人来说也不再陌生。

The revolution in working habits has also affected language. "On mute" and "unmute" have seen 500% rises since March, while the portmanteaus "workation" and "staycation" increased by 500% and 380% respectively.

此外，工作习惯的变革也影响了语言的使用。从今年 3 月起，“静音”和“取消静音”的使用频率增长了 500%；而混成词“工作假”和“居家休假”的使用频率则分别增长了 500% 和 380%。

Previous choices for word of the year from Oxford have included "climate emergency" and "post truth". Rival dictionary Collins chose "lockdown" for its word of the year earlier this month.

牛津词典以往选定的“年度词汇”包括“气候紧急状态”和“后真相”。本月初，牛津词典的竞争对手《柯林斯英语词典》评选出了今年的年度词汇——“封锁”。

"I've never witnessed a year in language like the one we've just had," said Oxford Dictionaries president Casper Grathwohl. "It's both unprecedented and a little ironic — in a year that left us speechless, 2020 has been filled with new words unlike any other."

牛津大学出版社词典部总裁卡斯帕·格拉斯沃说道：“从语言的角度来说，我认为这是史无前例的一年。2020 年这个让我们哑口无言的年份，却涌现出了比以往更多的新词，这既是前所未有的，又有些讽刺。”

去找找往年的年度词汇吧！