Politics and English Language 政治与英语语言

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1、GeorgeOrwell,"PoliticsandtheEnglishLanguage,"1946MostpeoplewhobotherwiththematteratallwouldadmitthattheEnglishlanguageisinabadway,butitisgenerallyassumedthatwecannotbyconsciousactiondoanythingaboutit.Ourcivilizationisdecadent衰微的andourlanguage--sotheargumentruns--mus

2、tinevitably必然地shareinthegeneralcollapse失败.Itfollowsthatanystruggleagainsttheabuse陋习oflanguageisasentimental感伤的archaism拟古主义,likepreferringcandlestoelectriclightorhansom马车cabstoaeroplanes.Underneath下面的thisliesthehalf-consciousbeliefthatlanguageisanaturalgrowthandnotan

3、instrumentwhichweshapeforourownpurposes.Now,itisclearthatthedecline衰退ofalanguagemustultimately基本上havepoliticalandeconomiccauses:itisnotduesimplytothebadinfluenceofthisorthatindividualwriter.Butaneffectcanbecomeacause,reinforcingtheoriginalcauseandproducingthesameeff

4、ectinanintensified增强form,andsoonindefinitely不确定地.Amanmaytaketodrinkbecausehefeelshimselftobeafailure,andthenfailallthemorecompletelybecausehedrinks.ItisratherthesamethingthatishappeningtotheEnglishlanguage.Itbecomesuglyandinaccurate错误的becauseourthoughtsarefoolish,bu

5、ttheslovenliness邋遢ofourlanguagemakesiteasierforustohavefoolishthoughts.Thepointisthattheprocessisreversible.ModernEnglish,especiallywrittenEnglish,isfullofbadhabitswhichspreadbyimitation模仿andwhichcanbeavoidedifoneiswillingtotakethenecessarytrouble.Ifonegetsridofthes

6、ehabitsonecanthinkmoreclearly,andtothinkclearlyisanecessaryfirststeptowardpoliticalregeneration再生:sothatthefightagainstbadEnglishisnotfrivolous无聊的andisnottheexclusive独有的concernofprofessionalwriters.Iwillcomebacktothispresently,andIhopethatbythattimethemeaningofwhatI

7、havesaidherewillhavebecomeclearer.Meanwhile,herearefivespecimens样本oftheEnglishlanguageasitisnowhabituallywritten.Thesefivepassageshavenotbeenpickedoutbecausetheyareespeciallybad--Icouldhavequoted引证farworseifIhadchosen--butbecausetheyillustrate阐明variousofthementalvic

8、es恶习fromwhichwenowsuffer.Theyarealittlebelowtheaverage,butarefairlyrepresentative有代表性的examples.Inumberthemsothaticanreferbacktothemwhennec