[ti:For Words of the Year: Brat, Brain Rot, Polarization]
[by:www.21voa.com]
[00:00.00]更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
[00:00.04]From "brat" to "brain rot"
[00:03.28]and "polarization,"
[00:05.24]word experts agree
[00:07.80]that social media and politics
[00:10.72]have driven conversations
[00:12.92]that use these terms.
[00:15.96]Here are their selections
[00:17.92]for word of the year.
[00:21.04]The American dictionary publisher
[00:23.92]Merriam-Webster selected polarization
[00:27.96]as its word of the year for 2024.
[00:32.16]The dictionary publisher defines polarization
[00:36.68]as "division into two sharply distinct opposites;
[00:41.92]especially, a state in which the opinions,
[00:45.92]beliefs, or interests of a group or society
[00:50.32]...become concentrated at opposing extremes."
[00:56.52]As divided as Americans appear,
[00:59.60]Merriam-Webster says polarization
[01:03.56]"happens to be one idea
[01:06.20]that both sides of the political spectrum agree on."
[01:12.20]The word was widely used
[01:14.76]in news stories and broadcasts
[01:17.36]to describe the presidential election
[01:20.60]in the United States.
[01:22.96]Supporters of both candidates,
[01:25.72]president-elect Donald Trump
[01:27.96]and Vice President Kamala Harris,
[01:31.20]voiced the opinion that the opposing candidate
[01:35.32]was a threat to the nation.
[01:38.60]The U.S. election also brought attention
[01:42.16]to two other words: pander and weird.
[01:47.88]Trump's supporters accused Harris of pandering,
[01:52.36]in other words, changing her policy positions
[01:56.76]to get votes.
[01:59.28]And Democratic vice-presidential candidate
[02:02.80]Tim Walz called his opponents weird,
[02:07.32]meaning strange or unusual.
[02:11.72]The editors at Britain's Oxford University Press say
[02:16.88]usage of its word of the year selection, brain rot,
[02:22.12]increased by 230 percent from 2023 to 2024.
[02:30.80]Oxford defines brain rot
[02:33.68]as "the supposed deterioration
[02:37.16]of a person's mental or intellectual state,
[02:41.12]especially viewed as the result of
[02:44.36]overconsumption of material
[02:46.96](now particularly online content)
[02:50.80]considered to be trivial or unchallenging."
[02:56.72]The phrase likely first appeared in written form
[03:01.24]in Henry David Thoreau's 1854 book Walden
[03:06.72]about his experiences living a simple lifestyle.
[03:12.16]He wrote: "While England endeavors
[03:15.60]to cure the potato rot,
[03:18.00]will not any endeavor to cure the brain-rot
[03:22.12]– which prevails so much more widely and fatally?"
[03:28.16]In 2024, the phrase has been used
[03:31.88]to describe concerns
[03:33.88]about the harm of overconsuming,
[03:37.12]or watching and reading too much, online material.
[03:42.00]Casper Grathwohl, President of Oxford Languages, noted,
[03:47.44]"I find it fascinating that the term ‘brain rot'
[03:51.44]has been adopted by Gen Z and Gen Alpha,
[03:56.04]those communities largely responsible
[03:59.72]for the use and creation
[04:02.00]of the digital content the term refers to."
[04:07.20]Politics and social media come together
[04:10.84]in the Collins Dictionary's selection of brat
[04:14.96]as its word of the year.
[04:18.36]The most recent usage of brat
[04:21.08]started as the title of an album
[04:24.36]by pop singer Charli XCX.
[04:28.16]Then it went viral as a campaign slogan
[04:32.96]"Kamala IS Brat"
[04:36.00]for the Democratic presidential candidate.
[04:39.96]The word means different things to different people.
[04:44.08]Traditionally, brat describes an immature person
[04:49.04]or an unruly child.
[04:51.44]But Collins says
[04:53.80]it is now used to describe a person
[04:57.00]with "confident, independent,
[04:59.96]and hedonistic attitude."
[05:04.36]Collins says the term brat
[05:07.12]"has clearly captured something
[05:09.72]of the spirit of the age."
[05:12.36]And for a short time, the word brat summer
[05:16.88]even "established itself
[05:19.28]as an aesthetic and a way of life."
[05:24.68]The online Dictionary.com selected demure
[05:30.44]as its word of the year for 2024.
[05:35.72]Between January and the end of August,
[05:39.12]Dictionary.com said
[05:41.72]the word "saw a nearly
[05:44.48]1200 percent increase in usage
[05:48.80]in digital web media alone."
[05:53.12]The sharp rise is credited
[05:55.76]to several videos on TikTok by Jools Lebron.
[06:02.44]"You see how I do my makeup for work?" she asked.
[06:06.80]"Very demure, very mindful."
[06:11.60]Demure is another example
[06:14.20]of how popular word usage changes over time.
[06:19.60]In the 14th century,
[06:22.32]demure was used to describe people
[06:25.76]who avoid bringing attention to themselves.
[06:29.44]Today, the word is used to describe someone
[06:33.92]who brings attention to themselves
[06:36.88]with "refined and
[06:39.48]sophisticated appearance or behavior."
[06:44.32]And those are the Words of the Year for 2024.
[06:49.84]I'm Mario Ritter, Jr. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA京香2018下载
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