后真相(Post-Truth)成为了今年牛津字典的年度词汇。
The Oxford Dictionaries website told readers post-truth could be "one of the defining words of our time."
牛津字典网站告诉读者,后真相可能会成为“定义我们这个时代的词汇之一”。
The term comes from an idea that became popular during the 2016 election campaign in the United States.
这个词汇归因于2016年美国大选期间流行开来的一种想法。
Post-truth, as the website defines it, means to relate to situations where "objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief."
正如该网站所定义的,后真相是指“在影响公众舆论方面,客观事实的影响力不及诉诸于情感和个人信念”这么一种状况。
Oxford Dictionaries officials say they chose post-truth as Word of the Year because of its rising popularity. They said the term's usage appeared to increase 2,000% in 2016 alone.
牛津字典官员表示他们选择后真相作为年度词汇,是因为它越来越受欢迎。他们称2016年这个词汇的使用量上涨了2000%。
Casper Grathwohl is the president of Oxford Dictionaries. He said that the choice was no surprise after a year filled with difficult discussions about politics.
牛津字典总裁卡斯帕·格拉斯沃(Casper Grathwohl)表示,在经历了充斥着关于政治的艰难讨论的这么一年之后,这个词汇被选为年度词汇并不奇怪。
Grathwohl said post-truth has become popular at a time when more people are using social media to get news. Some people trust social media more for news and information than establishment media or political leaders.
格拉斯沃表示,正值人们更多使用社交媒体获得新闻的这么一个时刻,后真相这个词汇流行了开来。有些人在新闻和信息上更相信社交媒体而不是新闻部门或政治领袖。
Choosing the Word of the Year
选择年度词汇
If you plan to use the word, Oxford Dictionaries defines it as an adjective. An example of it is the expression "post-truth politics."
牛津词典将后真相这个单词定义为形容词,例如后真相政治。
The website said that post-truth has gone from being a new term to a word often used in political commentary. Major publications now use the term without feeling the need to define its meaning.
该网站表示,后真相已经从一个新词汇变成了政治评论中的常用词汇。主流出版物认为现在使用这个词汇已经无需定义其含义。
A number of other terms were under consideration for Oxford Dictionaries' Word of the Year. They included "Brexiteer," which means someone who supported Britain's decision to exit, or leave, the European Union. Another choice was "alt-right," which describes a group tied to extreme conservative ideas, and known to reject traditional politics. A third possibility was "adulting," a noun meaning the action of someone behaving like a responsible adult.
牛津大学年度词汇还考虑了很多其它词汇,其中包括英国脱欧支持者(Brexiteer),意思是支持英国退出欧盟的人士。另一个备选词汇是另类右翼运动(alt-right),它是指思想观念极度保守,以排斥传统政治而闻名的团体。第三个可能词汇是成年人的行事方式(adulating),这是个名词,指的是负责任的成年人所持的行为方式。
History of "Post Truth"
后真相这个词汇的发展历史
It appears that post-truth, with its current meaning, has been in existence for more than 20 years.
具备当前意义的后真相这个词汇似乎已经存在了20多年。
Oxford Dictionaries found its first use in a 1992 commentary published in The Nation magazine. Steve Tesich, a Serbian-American playwright, used "post-truth" in writing about the Iran-Contra scandal and the Gulf War.
牛津字典发现《国家》杂志1992年发表的一篇评论中首次用到了这个词汇。塞尔维亚裔美国剧作家史蒂夫·特西希(Steve Tesich)使用后真相这个词描述了伊朗门事件和海湾战争。
"We, as a free people, have freely decided that we want to live in some post-truth world," he wrote.
他写道,“我们作为一个自由民族,已经自由决定我们想要生活在一个后真相的世界中。”
I'm Phil Dierking.
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