名字意味著什么？（閱讀剖析：What's in a Name? ）

今天我們繼續(xù)再分析一篇《劍橋國(guó)際英語(yǔ)教程》預(yù)備二級(jí)（即Level 2 Unit 1）的閱讀部分。請(qǐng)看以下原文，以及為便于基礎(chǔ)學(xué)員理解翻譯整理出來(lái)的譯文：

What's in a Name? 名字意味著什么？

Your name is very important. When you think of yourself, you probably think of your name first. It is an important part of your identity.

Right now, the two most popular names for babies in the United States are “Jacob” for boys and “Emily” for girls. Why are these names popular? And why are some names unpopular?

Names can become popular because of famous actors, TV or book characters, or athletes. Popular names suggest very positive things. Unpopular names suggest negative things. Surprisingly, people generally agree on the way they feel about names. Here are some common opinions about names from a recent survey.

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So why do parents give their children unpopular names? The biggest reason is tradition. Many people are named after a family member. Of course, opinions can change over time. A name that is unpopular now might become popular in the future. That’s good news for all the Georges and Bettys out there.?

譯文：每個(gè)人的名字都非常重要。當(dāng)你想到自己的時(shí)候，你可能首先想到的就是自己的名字，這是你身份的一個(gè)重要部分。 如今，在美國(guó)最流行的兩個(gè)嬰兒名字男孩是“雅各布”，女孩是“艾米麗”。為什么這些名字受歡迎呢？而一些名字又不受歡迎呢？ 一些名字由于著名的演員、電視或書(shū)中人物，或運(yùn)動(dòng)員而流行。受歡迎的名字暗示了積極的事物，不受歡迎的名字則暗示了消極的事物。令人驚訝的是，人們普遍在對(duì)名字的感覺(jué)上達(dá)成一致。以下是來(lái)自最近的一項(xiàng)調(diào)查中，一些關(guān)于人們對(duì)名字的普遍看法。

那么為什么父母會(huì)給孩子取不受歡迎的名字呢？最大的原因是傳統(tǒng)。很多人是以家庭成員的名字命名的。當(dāng)然，這些看法也會(huì)隨時(shí)間而改變，一個(gè)現(xiàn)在來(lái)說(shuō)不受歡迎的名字可能在將來(lái)很受歡迎，這對(duì)于所有的喬治們和貝蒂們來(lái)說(shuō)可是個(gè)好消息。

解析：許多初來(lái)的學(xué)員都沒(méi)有英文名字，但是外教卻又都習(xí)慣于叫大家英文名字，所以同學(xué)們也樂(lè)于給自己找一些好聽(tīng)的英文名字，有不少同學(xué)的英文名字就很好聽(tīng)，和自己的中文名字又音近，非常獨(dú)特好記，沒(méi)有重名而且也很有意義；有的卻苦于不知道該怎么找，有的還隔一段時(shí)間換一個(gè)。希望以上文章內(nèi)容能給大家一個(gè)參考。下面就來(lái)學(xué)一下本篇文章的新鮮詞匯啦。 Vocabulary: ? Average: like everybody else Creative: making or using new or unusual ideas Athletic: good at sports Nerdy: smart, but without good social skills Old-fashioned: having old ideas; not modern Independent: able to do things without help Adventurous: liking excitement and new things Plain: not special Ordinary: not special Intelligent: smart?

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