近日，柯林斯词典（Collins Dictionary）公布了2024年度词汇：Brat.
🤔️小作业：
1. Why was “brat” chosen as Collins' 2024 word of the year?
A) The word “brat” has recently gained a new cultural meaning.
B) It is commonly used to describe children with bad behavior.
C) Charli xcx’s fans pressured Collins to include the term.
D) Collins wanted to represent the popularity of the “brat summer” fashion trend.
无注释原文：
Charli xcx fans rejoice: 'Brat' chosen as Collins word of the year
From: The Guardian
Most have us have long moved on from “brat summer”, when, sparked by Charli xcx's album of the same name, wearing slime green and embracing your inner messiness was on trend. But the lexicographers at Collins dictionary are still firmly in their brat era, naming it their 2024 word of the year.
Though Collins already defined “brat” as “someone, especially a child”, who “behaves badly or annoys you”, it has been selected as word of the year because of its new definition: “characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude”.
“'Brat' has become one of the most talked about words of 2024,” Collins said. It “resonated with people globally and 'brat summer' established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life”.
Brat tops a list of 10 words chosen by the dictionary publisher which represent 2024. Another pop star-inspired word made the list, “era”, inspired by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. “Supermajority” was the only word that reflected the year's high number of elections – it apparently saw a sharp increase in usage around the time of the UK general election in July.
As is often the case when it comes to words of the year, expressions popularised by social media featured heavily on the list. “Yapping” – ie talking too much – has become a popular term on TikTok, as has “looksmaxxing”, defined by Collins as “attempting to maximise the attractiveness of one's physical appearance”.
“Delulu”, slang for deluded, is another word known for its social media usage. Meanwhile “brainrot”, “an inability to think clearly caused by excessive consumption of low-quality online content”, has also made the top 10.
Completing the list are “anti-tourism” – the opposition of large-scale tourism – and “romantasy”, a steamy subgenre of fantasy that has become hugely popular in recent years via authors such as Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yarros.
Alex Beecroft, managing director of Collins, said that “while 'supermajority' does the heavy lifting in a year of political upheaval in the UK and around the world, the big disruptors in language have come from different sources. With many of this year's notable words being popularised by generations Z and Alpha, we can confidently say this is the most 'brat' word of the year list ever!”
Collins dictionary monitors its 20bn-word database along with a range of media sources to create an annual list that aims to “reflect our ever-evolving language and the preoccupations of those who use it”. The words on the list tend to be a mixture of completely new words and existing terms that have been particularly notable that year – “lockdown” was the word of the year in 2020, for example – or ones that have developed additional meanings, such as brat. Last year's word of the year was AI.
- ◆ -
注：完整题目见本文开头；中文文本为机器翻译并非一一对应，仅供参考
含注释全文：
Charli xcx fans rejoice: 'Brat' chosen as Collins word of the year
From: The Guardian
Most have us have long moved on from “brat summer”, when, sparked by Charli xcx's album of the same name, wearing slime green and embracing your inner messiness was on trend. But the lexicographers at Collins dictionary are still firmly in their brat era, naming it their 2024 word of the year.
大多数人已经不再追求“brat summer（叛逆夏日）”的风格了，当时，在查莉·XCX（Charli xcx）同名专辑的推动下，穿荧光绿衣服、展现自我个性成为了潮流。但是《柯林斯词典》的词典编纂者们却仍坚守着他们的“brat era（叛逆时代）”，将“brat”一词选为2024年年度词汇。
brat
brat /bræt/ 表示“小孩；（尤指）顽童，淘气鬼”，英文解释为“a child, especially one who behaves badly”
在最新的潮流用法中，“brat”并非指传统意义上的“熊孩子”，而是一种年轻、无拘无束的自我表达方式。尤其是在查莉·XCX的专辑《BRAT》带动下，这个词被用来描述一种大胆、无畏的生活态度。它代表了一种敢于自我、玩乐和坦诚的心态，常与“brat summer”等词结合使用，象征一种轻松、自在的生活方式。这一词在社交平台上大受欢迎，成为年轻人新的流行文化象征。
此外，brat一词的影响力还蔓延到美国大选。查莉·XCX曾发推称“Kamala IS brat”（卡玛拉就是小崽子）。于是，哈里斯竞选团队在社交平台官方账号上采用与《BRAT》专辑封面相似的视觉风格，荧光绿底黑字，旨在吸引年轻人。
rejoice
rejoice /rɪˈdʒɔɪs/表示“非常高兴；深感欣喜；充满喜悦”，英文解释为“to feel or show great happiness about something”举个🌰：Everyone rejoiced at the news of his safe return. 听到他安全返回的消息，大家都欣喜万分。
🎬电影《霍比特人：五军之战》（The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies）中的台词提到：Those who've lived through dragon fire should rejoice! 没葬身火海应该高兴啊。
spark
spark /spɑːk/ 表示“引发”，英文解释为“If one thing sparks another, the first thing causes the second thing to start happening.”举个🌰：My teacher organized a unit on computer science that really sparked my interest. 我的老师编排了一个关于计算机科学的单元，它真正激发了我的兴趣。
此前，《后浪》和「青年」文中标题中就用到：Bilibili's May 4th Youth Day video sparks discussion on social media 引发热议。
类似的还有：
📍stir表示“激发，激起（强烈的感情）；引起（强烈的反应）”，英文解释为“to make someone have a strong feeling or reaction”举个🌰：The poem succeeds in stirring the imagination. 这首诗能够激发起想象力。
📍provoke也表示“激起，引起”，英文解释为“to cause a reaction or feeling, especially a sudden one”，如：provoke debate/discussion 激起辩论/讨论。
📍spur 鼓动；激励；鞭策；刺激；鼓舞”，英文解释为“If one thing spurs you to do another, it encourages you to do it.”举个🌰：It's the money that spurs these fishermen to risk a long ocean journey in their flimsy boats. 是金钱驱使这些渔民驾驶单薄的小船冒险出海远航。
🎬电影《龙之心3：巫师的诅咒》（Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse）中的台词提到：To spur the clans to war. 激励部族发起战争。
📍trigger表示“发动；引起；触发”，英文解释为“to make sth happen suddenly”举个🌰：Nuts can trigger off a violent allergic reaction. 坚果可以引起严重的过敏反应。
slime
slime /slaɪm/ 表示“（令人不快的）黏液”，英文解释为“a sticky liquid substance that is unpleasant to touch, such as the liquid produced by fish and snails, or the greenish-brown substance found near water”举个🌰：You could see trails of slime where the slugs had crossed the path. 你可以看见鼻涕虫爬过后的黏液痕迹。
“Slime”在这里指的是一种粘稠的、通常是明亮或荧光色的物质，通常与“史莱姆”（slime）有关。在现实生活中，史莱姆是一种手工玩具，通常由粘液状的物质制成，手感柔软，可以揉捏和拉伸。它是一种流行的减压工具，尤其受儿童和青少年喜爱。在电子游戏和奇幻小说中，史莱姆是一种虚构的生物。这种“生物”通常是果冻状的，有弹性和可塑性，在游戏和文学作品中经常作为低级别的敌人出现。
lexicographer
lexicographer /ˌleksɪˈkɒɡrəfə(r)/ 表示“词典编纂者”，英文解释为“a person who writes and edits dictionaries”
Though Collins already defined “brat” as “someone, especially a child”, who “behaves badly or annoys you”, it has been selected as word of the year because of its new definition: “characterised by a confident, independent, and hedonistic attitude”.
尽管《柯林斯词典》此前定义“brat”是指“行为恶劣或惹恼你的人，尤其是孩子”，但它之所以被选为年度词汇，是因为有了新定义：“表现出自信、独立和享乐主义的态度”。
hedonistic
hedonistic /ˌhed.ənˈɪs.tɪk/ 形容词，表示“享乐主义的”，英文解释为“living and behaving in ways that mean you have as much pleasure as possible, according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself”
hedonism /ˈhed.ən.ɪ.zəm/ 名词，表示“享乐主义”，英文解释为“living and behaving in ways that mean you get as much pleasure out of life as possible, according to the belief that the most important thing in life is to enjoy yourself”
“'Brat' has become one of the most talked about words of 2024,” Collins said. It “resonated with people globally and 'brat summer' established itself as an aesthetic and a way of life”.
“Brat已成为2024年最受关注的词汇之一，”《柯林斯词典》指出。该词汇“在全球范围内引起了人们的共鸣，‘叛逆夏日’已成为一种美学和生活方式”。
resonate
resonate /ˈrez.ən.eɪt/ 1）表示“使产生联想；引起共鸣”，英文解释为“If an experience or memory resonates, it makes you think of another similar one.”举个🌰：Her experiences resonate powerfully with me, living, as I do, in a similar family situation. 她的家庭生活环境和我相似，所以她的经历在我心中引起强烈共鸣。
2）表示“流传；产生深远影响；继续发挥重要性”，英文解释为“to continue to have a powerful effect or value”举个🌰：The significance of those great stories resonates down the centuries. 这些著名故事的深远意义将世代流传。
aesthetic
aesthetic /iːsˈθetɪk；esˈθetɪk/ 表示“审美的；有审美观点的；美学的”，英文解释为“concerned with beauty and art and the understanding of beautiful things”如：an aesthetic appreciation of the landscape 用审美的眼光欣赏风景。
Brat tops a list of 10 words chosen by the dictionary publisher which represent 2024. Another pop star-inspired word made the list, “era”, inspired by Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. “Supermajority” was the only word that reflected the year's high number of elections – it apparently saw a sharp increase in usage around the time of the UK general election in July.
《柯林斯词典》选出代表2024年的10个单词中，“brat”名列榜首。受另一位流行歌手影响的词汇“era（时代）”也入选了年度词汇榜单，该词源于泰勒·斯威夫特（Taylor Swift）的时代巡回演唱会。“Supermajority（超级多数）”是唯一一个反映了今年众多选举的词汇——显然，七月英国大选前后，该词的使用率急剧上升。
As is often the case when it comes to words of the year, expressions popularised by social media featured heavily on the list. “Yapping” – ie talking too much – has become a popular term on TikTok, as has “looksmaxxing”, defined by Collins as “attempting to maximise the attractiveness of one's physical appearance”.
与往年年度词汇一样，社交媒体上流行的词汇也在榜单中占据一席之地。“Yapping（瞎扯/唠叨）”已成为TikTok上的流行词汇，“looksmaxxing（努力提升颜值的行为）”也是，《柯林斯词典》将其定义为“试图最大限度地提高自己颜值的吸引力。”
ie
i.e. /ˌaɪˈiː/ 表示“也就是，即”，英文解释为“used especially in writing before a piece of information that makes the meaning of something clearer or shows its true meaning”举个🌰：The price must be more realistic, i.e. lower. 价格必须更切合实际些，也就是说要更低些。
“Delulu”, slang for deluded, is another word known for its social media usage. Meanwhile “brainrot”, “an inability to think clearly caused by excessive consumption of low-quality online content”, has also made the top 10.
“Delulu（妄想）”是另一个社交媒体热门词语。此外，“brainrot（脑袋坏掉）”——指因过度浏览低质网络内容而无法清晰思考——也跻身前十。
slang
slang /slæŋ/ 1）作名词，表示“俚语”，英文解释为“very informal language that is usually spoken rather than written, used especially by particular groups of people”如：a slang expression 一句俚语；
2）作动词，表示“谩骂”，英文解释为“to attack with angry, uncontrolled language”举个🌰：The players started slanging each other in the middle of the game. 比赛到中局阶段时，球员们开始互相谩骂。
deluded
deluded /dɪˈluː.dɪd/ 表示“受骗的，上当的”，英文解释为“believing things that are not real or true”举个🌰：Poor deluded girl, she thinks he's going to marry her. 真可怜，受骗的女孩还以为他会和她结婚呢。
inability
inability /ˌɪn.əˈbɪl.ə.ti/ 表示“无能，无力”，英文解释为“lack of ability to do something”举个🌰：Inability to use a computer is a serious disadvantage when you are applying for jobs. 不会操作电脑在求职时是个十分不利的条件。
Completing the list are “anti-tourism” – the opposition of large-scale tourism – and “romantasy”, a steamy subgenre of fantasy that has become hugely popular in recent years via authors such as Sarah J Maas and Rebecca Yarros.
此外，“anti-tourism”（反对大规模旅游）和 “romantasy（浪漫奇幻小说）”也榜上有名。“Romantasy”是一种近年来因萨拉·J·马斯和丽贝卡·亚罗斯等作家的作品而广受欢迎的浪漫幻想文学类别，情节热烈且充满情感。
steamy
steamy /ˈstiː.mi/ 1）表示“充满蒸汽的；热而潮湿的”，英文解释为“filled with steam, or hot and wet like steam”如：steamy summer weather 闷热潮湿的夏季天气。
2）表示“色情的”。
subgenre
表示“亚类；次类型”，英文解释为“a genre (= a style, especially in the arts, that involves a particular set of characteristics) that is part of a larger genre”
fantasy
fantasy /ˈfæn.tə.si/ 1）表示“魔幻故事；奇幻文学”，英文解释为“a story or type of literature that describes situations that are very different from real life, usually involving magic”举个🌰：His preferred reading was horror stories and fantasy. 他更喜欢看恐怖故事和奇幻文学。
2）表示“幻想；想象”，英文解释为“a pleasant situation that you enjoy thinking about but is unlikely to happen, or the activity of imagining things like this”
Alex Beecroft, managing director of Collins, said that “while 'supermajority' does the heavy lifting in a year of political upheaval in the UK and around the world, the big disruptors in language have come from different sources. With many of this year's notable words being popularised by generations Z and Alpha, we can confidently say this is the most 'brat' word of the year list ever!”
《柯林斯词典》总经理亚历克斯·比克罗夫特（Alex Beecroft）表示：“虽然‘supermajority’反映了英国和全球的政治动荡，但今年语言变化的主要推动力却来自社交媒体，许多热门词汇由Z世代和阿尔法世代推崇，我们可以自信地说，这是有史以来最‘叛逆’的年度词汇榜单！”
upheaval
upheaval /ʌpˈhiː.vəl/ 表示“剧变；激变；动乱；动荡”，英文解释为“a big change that causes a lot of confusion, worry and problems”如：a period of emotional upheaval 情绪波动很大的时期。
📍2020年8月《经济学人》（The Economist）一篇讲述卡车业文章的标题就叫：The trucking industry is in the midst of upheaval—and hype 卡车运输业正在经历剧变，以及炒作。
Collins dictionary monitors its 20bn-word database along with a range of media sources to create an annual list that aims to “reflect our ever-evolving language and the preoccupations of those who use it”. The words on the list tend to be a mixture of completely new words and existing terms that have been particularly notable that year – “lockdown” was the word of the year in 2020, for example – or ones that have developed additional meanings, such as brat. Last year's word of the year was AI.
《柯林斯词典》通过监测其200亿词汇数据库和一系列媒体来源，编制年度词汇榜单，旨在“反映不断演变的语言及人们的关注点”。榜单既包括新兴词汇，也包括当年特别引人关注的词汇，例如2020年的“lockdown（封锁）”，或衍生出新含义的词汇，如“brat”。去年，柯林斯词典年度词汇是“AI（人工智能）”。
database
database /ˈdeɪ.tə.beɪs/ 表示“（计算机）资料库，数据库”，英文解释为“a large amount of information stored in a computer system in such a way that it can be easily looked at or changed”举个🌰：We're linked to the online database at our head office. 我们与总部的网上数据库联网。
preoccupation
preoccupation /priːˌɒk.jəˈpeɪ.ʃən/ 表示“（时常想的）想法、事情；关注；盘算，思虑，长久思考的事情”，英文解释为“an idea or subject that someone thinks about most of the time”举个🌰：My main preoccupation now is trying to keep life normal for the sake of my two boys. 我现在想得最多的是要为了我的两个儿子而尽力使生活保持正常。
📍牛津词典公布2021年度词汇：Vax文中也提到了这个词：Then we ran the analysis and a story started to emerge, revealing how vax sat at the centre of our preoccupations this year. 然后我们进行了分析，报道开始出现，揭示了vax是如何成为我们今年关注的焦点。
- 词汇盘点 -
- 词汇助记 By ChatGPT -
