英语词典使用指南（GuidetotheuseofEnglishDictionaries）

英语词典使用指南（GuidetotheuseofEnglish）

GuidetotheuseofEnglishDictiona

Wen/LiDing

Inmymore

adozenEnglishdictionaries.Becausewehave

accumulatedsomeofourownexperiencewhen

than10yearsofEnglish

study,Ihave

readmorethan

learnedmuchand

usedmore,

wehave

screeningandselectingthedictiona

supplyonthemarket.Next,

Iwill

sharemy

dictionarychoice

experiencewith

peoplewhoareindifferent

Englishclassesand

needdifferentkindsoftests.

First,nonEnglishmajorsmajoringinCET-4,CET-6andPETS-3:

Myrecommendationmaybestrangetothisgroupofpeople,that

is,anelectronicdictionary.Forthem,thereisnoneedtouse

anEnglishEnglishdictionary.TheEnglishChinesedictionary,

theelectronicdictionaryisnowava

whetheritisfromthevocabularyorfromaccuracy,andcanbe

comparabletotheprinteddictionary

convenienceandportabilityaresupe

Today,thevastmajorityofelectron

marketareoftencalledvocabulary500thousand,evenmillions

of,althoughitisagreatexaggerat

terms,thevocabularyofthese100t

stillbeguaranteed.Thisisrequire

4000~6000ofthefour,sixcandidates,itismorethanenough.

Theelectronicdictionaryalsoinclu

phrasesandcollocation;someproductsareevenintroducedsuch

asAmericanDictionaryandHeritagecopyrightCambridge

InternationalEnglishDictionaryandotherinternational

well-known,anexplanationisalsoverycomprehensiveplace,

canmeetthevariousneedsofthepopulation.

Ofcourse,forthosewhodon'tget90points(new-cet4610)

untilthe"hardcore"candidates,Iwouldrecommendthata

dictionaryofmodernEnglishusagedictionarypublishedby

ProfessorZhangDaozhen,the"FLTRP"compilation.This

dictionarycoversthemodernEnglishwordinterpretation,the

mostcommonlyusedcollocation,withpracticalexamples,

accordingtointernalnewsrumors,evenfour,sixmembersof

theCommitteeinapropositionwhentheyareinthedictionary

asareference.SoIbelievethatthisdictionaryshouldbethe

ultimatechoiceoffourandsixcandidates,butbecausethe

priceisnotexpensive(128yuan),soonlytothe"ashesclass"

candidatesrecommended.

Two,proformaTEM-4,8ofEnglishmajors,proforma,

postgraduateEnglish,interpretation,TOEFL,IELTS

candidates:

ForEnglishmajors,havealotofintensivetrainingand

practiceParaphrase;andTOEFLandIELTSinterpretation,the

candidateswillneedmoreaccurateinterpretationandEnglish

frequencyfunction,thentheelectronicdictionaryisnot

enough,werecommendtheuseofspecialadvancedEnglish

learningdictionaryready,ESL(EnglishasaSecondLanguage).

IwouldliketosaythatthefollowingmentionedEnglish

dictionaryisanEnglishEnglishDictionary("English-English

Dictionary"),notincludingthebilingualized,EnglishChinese

andChineseEnglishdictionary.

ThefieldofEnglishEnglishdictionaryhasbeenpublishedin

Britishpublishingcompanyintheworld.Themostfamousisthe

following5:OxfordAdvancedLearnersDictionary"("Oxford

dictionary"highorder),LongmanDictionaryofContemporary

English("LongmanDictionaryofContemporaryEnglish"),

CambridgeAdvancedLearnersDictionary"("CambridgeAdvanced

Englishlearningdictionary"),CollinsCobuildAdvanced

LearnersEnglishDictionary(""CollinsEnglishDictionary"),

seniorMacmillanEnglishDictionary("McmillanEnglish

Dictionary").These5dictionariesaregoodateachother,and

alongwiththedevelopmentofthetimes,thedictionaryis

attachedtotheCDdictionary,whichprovidesmoreconvenience

forus.

1,Oxford,Advanced,Learner'sDictionary(hereinafter

referredtoasOALD)

ThisisoneofthemostinfluentialdictionariesforEnglish

learnersinchina.Compiledinthe40softhelastcentury,

before80s,ithasbeeninthepositionof"martialarts

supremacy"intheESLdictionary.In1988,theCommercialPress

publishedbytheUniversityofOxfordgrantedinthemainland

published"OxfordAdvancedEnglishChineseDictionary"(Third

Edition).In1994,thetitlewasrenamed"Oxford

AdvancedLearnerdictionary",thisversionisbasedonthe1989

publicationofthefourtheditionpreparedlengththanthe

thirdversionincreasedbymorethan50%,richer,more

practicalandmoresuitablefornonEnglishspeakingcountries

themajorityofEnglishlearners'needs.However,the

shortcomingsofthisversionarealsoobvious,thatis,only

EnglishandChineseversions,whichseriouslyaffectlearners'

initiativeinexplainingEnglishinenglish.

Fortunately,in2003,theoriginalintroductionofUniversity

ofOxfordPress2000launchoftheOALDsixthedition,and

published.Thisversionofthelearningdictionaryiswidely

used,andtheprinciplesofsimplicityandinterpretationare

excellent,

Fortheoriginalinterpretationofthe3500wordsto3000words

inthesixthedition,deletingarateof1/7.Accordingtothe

latestresearchresultsofcorpuslinguistics,theselection

included4500newwordsandnewmeaningsofwords,andatotal

ofupto80thousand.

2,Longman,Dictionary,of,Contemporary,English(hereinafter

referredtoasLDOCE)

IftheOALDisYuchanggeochilmaru,thenLDOCEisableto

contendwiththeHeavenlySword,whichisthemostfrequently

useddictionary.Asapublishingindustryleader,Pearson

(Longman)willnotonlysatisfiedwiththeirproductsand

UniversityofOxfordpressproductstied,soLDOCEseries

killeristheCDattachedwiththepaperversion(imported

versionisnotincluded).Thefirstsenseofuseis-***!

Donetoobeautiful,accustomedtoKingsoftinterface,andso

on,firstsawLDOCEelectronicversion,asifusedtoruntwo

ofthecomputer,suddenlyupgradedtoBenfour,andreallya

bitnotadapt.

Astheword"compose",thereare5definitionsand8examples,

andthephoneticsymbolsaredistinguishedfromtheEnglishand

Americansounds.Thereare2synonyms(consist,of,make,up)

andphrases(be,composed,of,something,compose,a,

letter/poem/speech,compose,yourself,compose,your,

face/features/thoughts).TheCDversionincludedinthepaper

containsdifferentpronunciationsofEnglishandAmerican

sounds,andcanevenrecordtheirpronunciationforcomparison.

ThereareWordorigin,andanotherVerbformcontainsvarious

variationsofcomposeasaverb.Phrasebankcanfindrelevant

phrasestohelpwrite,andExamplebankprovidesabout30

examplesforreference.ItiseasytoseethatLDOCEissuperior

toOALDintermsoftheinterpretationanduseofpurewords.

SoifyouareafrequentEnglishlearner,thenitishighly

recommendedthatyouinstallanelectronicversionofLDOCE.

LDOCE'soriginaldictionarycanbepurchasedinforeign

languagebookstores,orcanalsobepurchasedonline,cheaper

about200yuantobuy.InadditiontothevalueaddedCDs,you

willfindthattheoriginalversionisabout60%lighterthan

theoriginalversion.Asadailylearningdictionary,the

originalLDOCEisthebestchoice.

3,Cambridge,Advanced,Learner'sDictionary(hereinafter

referredtoasCALD)

CompetitionbetweentheUniversityofOxfordandtheUniversity

ofCambridgehasbeenfiercesincethirteenthCentury.Fromthe

word"compose",theinterpretationofCALDisexactlythesame

asthatofOALD,fourdefinitions,onesynonymandtwophrases.

AnditsCD-ROMversionoftheBritishandAmerican

pronunciation,respectively,thereisa"VerbEndings"lists

theverb,allpersonal,wordsegmentationandtensechanges,

verydetailed.AnotherunusualplaceistheCommonLearner

Error,whichpointsoutthemistakesoftenmadebylearnersin

thiswordandisofgreatuseforreference.AndSmartThesaurus

functioncanquicklyfindalargenumberofsynonyms,synonyms,

translationandwritingareveryhelpful.

Bytheendof2005,NewOrientalandCUPintroducedthefirst

editionoftheCALDsecondedition,whichwaspricedat1/3:160

yuan(withanelectronicdisc),whiletheoriginalversionwas

pricedat$29.ThisversionisthebestintroductionI'veever

seen,orisitthelatesteditionthatisclosesttotheoriginal

one?.Inadditiontotheprintedstyleandtheoriginal

consistent,thechoiceofpaperisalsoveryclosetothe

original,sotheweightofthewholedictionaryismuchlighter

thantheintroductionofLDOCE,OALDandsoon.Moreimportantly,

forthefirsttime,theoriginalversioncomeswithanoriginal

disc.Predictably,theintroductionoftheCALDversionfor

dictionarylearningdomesticoligopolymarketbroughtanew

force,thefuturewillinevitablyformasituationof

tripartiteconfrontationsituation.

4,Collins,Cobuild,Advanced,Learner,s,English,Dictionary,

(hereinafterreferredtoasCollinsCobuild)

IfinthemostintensecompetitionisOxfordandCambridgepress,

andthenFLTRPcontendsisShanghaiforeignlanguageeducation

pressinChina(SFLEP).AnintroductionoftheclassicLDOCE,

SFLEPisintroducedastheclassicCollinsCobuild.But

unfortunately,foreignteachersin2000introducedthis

editionisthesecondeditionoftheCollinsseries,including

vocabularyinabout75000,thepriceisashighas170yuan.

However,theupdatedversionoftheThirdEdition(2001)was

originallysoldattheWangfujingforeignlanguagebookstore

inBeijingforjust120yuan,andtheFourthEdition(2004)sold

foronly136yuan(withaCDattached).Therefore,theauthor's

suggestionistochoosetheoriginaledition,butalsothethird

edition.Thereason,ofcourse,isnotbecauseitcostsless

thanadozendollars,butbecausethefourtheditionreduces

theamountofinformationaboutexplainingexamplesbyabout

20%.Itisthethirdeditionwith5square-----tomark

thefourtheditionofwordfrequency,reducedto3---asquare,

theaccuracydecreased.

TheCollinsCobuildserieshasalwaysbeentheauthentic

authenticEnglishcorpusofTheBankof(English).Thesecome

fromcommonEnglishinreallifeandinthemedia,including

spoken,written,BritishandAmericanenglish.Receivemore

than110thousandwords,includingtheevolutionofsomewords

and16thousandantonyms.Morethan105thousandrealexamples

reflecttheexactmeaninganduseofeachword.Informat,the

uniqueversionofCollinsCobuildthirdisthegrammarcolumn

nexttothetext,highlightingindividualgrammar,pragmatics,

intonation,partofspeech,frequencyofuse,allofwhichare

moresubstantialthanthepreviousversion.Inaddition,each

wordisdividedintosectionsofinterpretation,usage,and

easyaccesstomaketheformatclearer.

Stillinthecaseofcompose,inthethirdedition,markedas

thefrequencythatthereisnomovement,saidthewritten

languageisnotverycommon.Thereare5definitions,and24

synonymsof4interpretationsaregiven.Differentfromthe

above3dictionariesisthatCollinsCobuildhasmaintainedhis

Britishdescent,althoughmarkedEnglishpronunciationsounds

different,butintheCDversioncanonlyhearBritishEnglish

pronunciation.Inaddition,theCD-ROMversionalsolistsa

dozenwordsincludedintheinterpretationofcompose,suchas

formula,Sagaandsoon.Themostsurprisingthingisthatthe

word"compose"actuallylists30examples.Inthelatestfifth

edition,theCD-ROMversionofWordBankgivesastaggering71,

whichcanberegardedasaninvincibleweaponfortranslation

andwriting.

InJanuary2006,CollinsCobuildlaunchedaseriesoffifth

edition,isbyfarthemostnewlearningdictionary,whichalso

keepspacewiththetimesincludedsomenewwords,suchasblog,

MP3,Player,iPod,Google,tsunami,bird,fluetc..Ifyoudon't

particularlycareaboutthesenewwordsandCDsAttachedtoyour

dictionary,believethattheCollinsCobuildthirdeditionis

yourbestchoice.

5,Macmillan,English,Dictionary(hereinafterreferredtoas

MED)

MED(MacmillanandCo,aveteranBritishpublishingfirm,is

acorpusofWorldEnglishCorpus,whichuses2500wordsto

explainallentries.Buttheexamplesarenotliketheoriginal

versionofCollinsCobuild,butratherneedtobeadapted

appropriatelytofitthelevelofnon-nativespeakers.There

aremanyinnovativeplaces,suchastheuseofdoublecolor

printing,thekeycontentisoftenmarkedwithred:someofthe

commonlyusedwordsareoftenanentryaccountedforalarge

space,sotheentrywiththeredblockslistedthe"easytocheck

list(menu),letusquicklyandaccuratelyfindthedefinition

neededinaddition;MEDisclearlydividedintothecore

vocabularyofabout7500words(coreorproductivevocabulary

(infrequent)andorreceptiveinwordvocabulary),thecore

vocabularyappearsred,withanasterisk,definitionand

interpretationisverydetailed,bydefinitionandexplanation

ofvocabularyisbriefandclear.Theentryalsocontainsthe

usageofmetaphor(metaphor)thatletlearnerscanexperience

thedepthofEnglishspeakerswhyexpressionpatternslikethat,

itistheotherEnglishdictionariesdonothave.Inaddition,

MEDisdividedintoEnglishandEnglishversions,especially

forthosewhoneedtostudythedifferencesbetweenBritish

EnglishandAmericanenglish.

Three,toparticipateintheGRE,GMATexamstudents:

GREexaminationforthestudents'vocabularyisabout22

thousand,whichismorethantheaverageAmericanvocabulary,

sothatourfirstchoiceisnolongerlearningdictionary,but

Englishisusedbynativespeakersofthedictionary,Webster's

Dictionary(WebstersDictionary).Webster'sdictionarythere

aremorethan20versionsofthepopular3kinds:

Merrian-WebstersDictionary(MAILin,RandomHouseWebster

Dictionary)"sDictionary(Landonhouse,Webster'sdictionary

andWebster)sNewInternationalDictionary"(NewWorld

Dictionary).Oneofthemostauthoritative,butalsothe

officialETSdesignatedGREreferencedictionaryisthefirst

kindofMerrian-Webster'sCollegiateDictionary(hereinafter

referredtoasMWCD).