TE共读单词赏析 Para3-4

From there things get more poisonous still. Oxford Dictionaries chose “toxic” as its emblem for 2018. That word has come to be attached to many others: toxic masculinity, toxic homosociality (male bonding through awful behaviour), toxic debates over things like transgender rights. And Oxford’s shortlist of other contenders was nearly as bleak. It included “gaslighting” (trying to make someone doubt their own memory or even sanity) and “incel” (self-described “involuntarily celibate” men, an increasing number of whom have taken to violence).

段落大意：本段提到了三个年度热词，”toxic”, ”gaslighting” 和“incel”。

Toxic 有毒的

It originates from the poison in the environment and health, but nowadays, it is a metaphor. It has come to be attached to many others: work, school, culture, interpersonal relationships and pressure. As well as protest, politics, it is used in rhetoric agendas and legacies of leaders and governments around the globe.

该词汇一开始指环境和健康领域，如今，“有毒”变成了一种隐喻。人们用来描述工作场所、学校、文化、人际关系和压力。不少抗议活动、政治领域都用这个词，它也用来形容全球领导人和政府的言论、政策、议程和遗产等。

Gaslighting  “煤气灯”

The action of manipulating someone by psychological means into accepting a false depiction of reality or doubting their own sanity.

通过心理手段让别人接受错误信息，或者怀疑自己失去理智，从而操控别人的行为。

Incel  非自愿独身者

Incel, short for ‘involuntarily celibate’, is used as a self-descriptor by members of an online subculture who typically deem themselves chronically unable to attract romantic or sexual partners. They hold views that are hostile towards to women and to men who are sexually active.

Incel是“非自愿独身者”的缩写，是网络上一些亚文化人群的自我描述用语。他们认为自己一直无法恋爱，也没有性伴侣。他们对女性和性生活活跃的男性都抱有敌视态度。

段落精读：

That word has come to be attached to many others.

这个词也可以用在许多其他方面或者这个词也可以和其他许多方面联系起来。

attach, associate, relate, unite, join 几个联系的区别

attach: 指把局部连接在整体上，小的接在大的上面，活动的接在固定的上面

associate: 指人与人友好和平、平等地联合在一起；用于物时，指两事物因历史或其它原因，很自然被人们联系在一起，即产生联想。

relate: 指人与人有亲戚或婚烟关系；也指人或物之间尚存的实际或假想的联系。

unite: 指联合、团结、结合在一起，构成一个整体。

join: 侧重把原来不相连接的物紧密地连接在一起，但仍可再分开。也指把分散的人或几个部分的人联合起来，或加入到某团体中去

背景介绍：

TE共读单词赏析 Para3-4

词源： “Toxic”来源于中古拉丁文toxicus，在17世纪中期首次出现在英语里，而直到1913年，《牛津英语辞典》才正式将这个词收录。在最初的字面意思中，指有毒物质。

英国牛津词典出版社美国词典部主任凯瑟琳•马丁（Katherine Connor Martin）表示“有毒”的比喻用法在上世纪八十年代真正开始涌现，到九十年代出现“有毒债务”(toxic debt)一词，近期则见到“有毒男子气概”这个词被大量使用。

先来感受一下2018年“中毒最深”（搜索频率最高）的10大“毒物”：

Toxic Chemical 有毒化学品

Toxic Masculinity 直男癌

Toxic Substance 有毒物质

Toxic Gas 有毒气体

Toxic Environment 有毒环境

Toxic Relationship 有毒的不良关系

Toxic Culture “毒”文化

Toxic Waste 有毒的（工业）垃圾

Toxic Algae 有毒藻类

Toxic Air 有毒的空气

纵观这些词汇，是不是涉及到了健康、环境，还有文化，人际关系等方面。雾霾有毒，深夜秀美食，你有毒啊！同学成绩没考好，你还奚落人家，你有毒啊？是不是很常用。

Gaslighting

TE共读单词赏析 Para3-4

来源：Gaslighting takes its name from the 1944 film Gaslight, in the film, Paula (Bergman) is deliberately and gradually manipulated by her husband, Gregory (Boyer), into believing she is insane. Paula’s late aunt’s priceless jewels are hidden in their house: if Paula is declared insane and committed to an asylum, Gregory can search for the jewels in peace.

One of his main tactics in convincing Paula she is losing her mind is his manipulation of the gaslights in their home. Whenever he sneaks off to the attic to search for the jewels, he switches on the lights in that part of the house: this leads all other lights to flicker and dim. Upon returning to Paula, he denies all knowledge of this, leading her to question her sanity.

In the film’s final scenes, Paula allows a policeman to enter the house while Gregory is preoccupied with his search. The policeman confirms that the lights are flickering, demonstrating that Paula is not insane.

煤气灯这个词来源于同名电影，电影中丈夫故意控制妻子让她认为自己精神失常，目的是得到妻子姑姑的珠宝。他就是利用控制煤气灯让他妻子认为自己精神失常。

For instance, many news articles have been written about Donald Trump’s so-called gaslighting behaviour towards the American public, in which he has tried to manipulate people into “doubting their reality”.

例如，许多新闻媒体报道称川普对美国民众的所谓的煤气灯行为，他师徒控制人们怀疑他们的现实生活。

Incel

TE共读单词赏析 Para3-4

来源：Incel, perhaps ironically, begins with a woman.

In 1997, a woman from Toronto thought to create an online community for singles who had limited experience with romantic relationships and sex. First, she needed a name. Identifying as bisexual, Alana knew the power of labels. She wanted a neutral designation for people like her that was less judgmental than terms like lonely virgin.

After considering late bloomer, perpetually single, and dating-shy, Alana landed on involuntary celibacy—people who aren’t having sex or intimate relations but not for lack of desire or effort.（ Dating back to the 1600s, the word celibacy originally refers to the willing abstention from sex and marriage by priests, hence Alana’s distinguishing involuntary.）

That May, Alana launched Alana’s Involuntary Celibacy Project. By fall, she created an email list for members, shortening involuntary celibacy to INVCEL, which became intel for easier pronunciation.

多伦多的一位女性Alana想要为缺乏爱情经验和性关系的单身者门建立一个网络社群，她需要取一个名字界于异性恋和处女中间。Celibacy起源于十七世纪初，指神父主动放弃性和婚姻，因此Alana以Alana’s Involuntary Celibacy Project命名，后为了读起来容易简写为Incel.

In general, the term incel has come to refer to a man who believes he is entitled to sex from women—and hates them for not giving him that sex.

Are you a fat incel addicted to shitty power fantasies? Have I got a movement for you!

网友认为非自愿独身者指的是那些有权享受性生活但是讨厌女人不给他们性的男人。好矛盾的一个词啊！ 

A kind of opposite of “toxic” has also had a big year: fragility, as in “white fragility”. This refers to the inability (or alleged inability) of whites to handle claims of racism perpetrated against nonwhites, so that they panic when the subject is brought up, shutting down discussions about discrimination, privilege and worse. Coming out of the academic school of “critical race theory”, white fragility has given birth to “male fragility”, “cis fragility” (on the part of people who are not transgender), and so on.

段落大意：有毒的反义词脆弱也成为词典网站的年度热词之一，如白人的脆弱，指的是白人在处理非白人的种族主义犯罪时所谓的脆弱，因此提及当此类话题时就会恐慌， 涉及到歧视、特权和恶劣的事情会停止讨论。来自批判种族理论的学院派，从白人的脆弱又衍生出男性的脆弱和顺式脆弱（对于那些不是跨性别的人来说）。

段落精读：

1.    fragility, fragile, fragileness

fragility n. 脆弱，虚弱 fragile adj.虚弱的，易碎的 fragileness n.易碎性

The white fragility got more fragile around race discussions lately. Obviously it represents his fragileness and ultra of self.

这位脆弱的白人最近面对种族讨论时尤其脆弱，很明显这表现出他自我的脆弱和偏执。

2.    alleged inability所谓的无能

所谓的表达：what is called, what is known as, so called

This is what is called superstar. 这就是所谓的超级明星。

All his so-called friends deserted him. 他所谓的朋友都背叛了他。

3.    racism perpetrated 犯种族主义（的人）

perpetrate a crime; perpetrate a practical joke 犯罪；耍恶作剧

4.    discrimination n.歧视

gender discrimination 性别歧视 racial discrimination 种族歧视

discrimination against homosexuals 对同性恋的歧视

discrimination on the basis if color 基于肤色的歧视

5.    privilege 特权 special right

exclusive privilege 专有特权 special privilege 特权

Club members have special privilege, like free use of the pool.

6.    male fragility

TE共读单词赏析 Para3-4

背景介绍

2017, perhaps more than any other year in recent history, has seen an uptick of accusations of oversensitivity from across the political spectrum. Famous men accused (and sometimes convicted) of sexual harassment complain that women are being ‘too sensitive’. Conservative activists accuse college students of being ‘special snowflakes’ who can’t tolerate opposing views. On the left, anti-racist activists accuse white folks of wallowing in ‘white fragility’. But is calling someone out on white fragility from the left the same as calling them a snowflake from the right?

2017年政治界蔓延了一股脆弱风，左翼中反种族激进主义者指责白人沉迷于白人的脆弱。这个词由此而来。

TE共读单词赏析 Para3-4