2009年高考英语上海卷 - 阅读理解E

Features of college dictionaries
大学词典的特点

You’re probably most familiar with college dictionaries often called abridged dictionaries. Although abridged means — shortened these dictionaries contain more than 150 000 entries and provide detailed definitions that are sufficient for most college students and general users. College dictionaries also contain separate lists of abbreviations, biographical and geographical names, foreign words and phrases, and tables of measures. Webster’s || New Riverside University Dictionary and the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language are college dictionaries.
你最熟悉的是大学词典可能通常是删节词典。虽然删节意味着“缩短”，但这些词典包含的词条超过150000，并提供了足够大多数大学生和普通用户使用的详细定义。大学词典还包含单独的缩略词、传记、地名、外来词、短语以及度量表。韦伯斯特第二版《新河滨大学词典》和《美国传统英语词典》是大学词典。

Complete editions of dictionaries
词典的完整版

Unabridged dictionaries contain as many as 500,000 entries and provide detailed definitions and extensive word histories (etymologies). These dictionaries, possibly in several volumes and mostly found in libraries, are excellent sources for scholarly inquiries. Unabridged dictionaries include the Oxford English Dictionary and the Random House Dictionary of the English Language.
未删节的词典包含的词条多达500000个，提供了详细的定义和广泛的单词历史（词源）。这些词典可能有好几卷，大多在图书馆里找到，是学术研究的绝佳来源。未删节的词典包括《牛津英语词典》和《兰登书屋英语词典》。

Elements under a word item
单词条目下的元素

A dictionary entry has many elements: multiple definitions, syllabication, preferred spelling and pronunciation, and part-of-speech labels. Some entries also include plurals and capitalized forms, synonyms,antonyms, and derivatives. Americanisms and etymologies may be provided along with usage notes, cross-references, and idioms.
字典条目有很多元素：多个定义、音节化、首选拼写和发音（有些单词有不止一个可接受的拼写和发音）以及词性标签。一些条目还包括复数和大写形式、同义词、反义词。美语和词源可能和用法注释、交叉引用和习语一起提供。

Accessing dictionaries electronically
以电子方式访问词典

If you prefer using the dictionary on a computer, you can obtain CD-ROM versions of many major dictionaries. In addition, you can access numerous dictionaries, such as WWWebster’s Dictionary, on the Internet. Online dictionaries allow you to enter a search word to see a definition, and sometimes even an illustration. Online dictionaries also offer additional features, such as word games, language tips, and amusing facts about words. Some online dictionary services allow you to access numerous dictionaries, both general and specialized, in on search.
如果您喜欢在计算机上使用词典，您可以获得许多主要词典的CD-ROM版本。此外，您可以在线访问海量词典，如WWWebster词典。在线词典允许您输入搜索词（甚至可以获得拼写帮助）以查看定义，有时甚至是一个插图。在线词典还提供其他功能，如文字游戏、语言提示和有趣的单词事实。一些在线词典服务允许您在一次搜索中访问多个通用和专用词典。

Using dictionaries for particular fields
使用专业字典

Specialized dictionaries provide in-depth information about a certain field. For example, there are dictionaries for the specialized vocabularies of law, computer technology, and medicine. In addition, there are dictionaries of synonyms, cliche’s, slang, and even regional expressions, such as the Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE). There are also dictionaries of foreign languages, famous people’s names, literary characters’ names and place names.
专业词典提供有关某一领域的深入信息。例如，有专门的法律、计算机技术和医学词汇词典。此外，还有同义词、旧词汇、俚语，甚至是放言的词典，例如《美国地区英语词典》（DARE）。还有一些关于外语、名人姓名、文学人物姓名和地名的词典。