⊙ By Nina Porzucki

翻译：T Boy

历史选择了英语

⊙ By Nina Porzucki

翻译：T Boy

English: The Language of Choice for Science

美式发音 适合精听

语速：175词/分钟

“为什么国际科学界基本上都用英语交流呢？”“因为英国曾经是强大的‘日不落帝国’，英语的影响无所不在。”小编做了个小范围调查，大部分人都这么回答。这听起来确实是一个很合理的解释，可惜是错的。上个世纪初，英语最多只有三分之一的机会主宰国际科学界，但历史在一百年前拐了个弯，为英语创造了千载难逢的机会……

Host: We wondered, how is it that so many scientists all over the world write in English.

Let’s go back before 1900. I mean, when I went to school, I…all the1)taxonomy of species was in2)Latin. I mean, doctors still use Latin to describe3)anatomy. So, when did Latin lose out?

1) taxonomy [tæk'sɒnəmɪ] n. 分类学；（动、植物）分类

2) Latin ['lætɪn] n. 拉丁语；adj. 拉丁语的

3) anatomy [ə'nætəmɪ] n. 解剖，解剖学

4) somewhat ['sʌm,hwɒt] adv. 有几分，略

Michael Gordin (Prof. at Princeton): Latin’s place in the history of science is4)somewhatstrange. It was, of course, the universal language of communication in Western Europe from the late Medieval Period, say around 13th century, until about the mid-17th century, and then it started to5)fracture. It started to become one of many languages in which science was done.

Host: So, fast forward now, to 1900. We’ve got the three possible languages that could win out to6)dominate science, or maybe a mix, as you say, of all three, French, German and English. What were some of the7)geopolitical8)dynamic [sic] in the 20th century that kind of led to English becoming the language of choice for science?

Michael: First dynamic is the rise of the United States. But the heart of the story will be a series of geopolitical conflicts that center in Europe. The first major shock to the system of basically having a third of science published in English, a third in French, and a third in German was World War I, which had two very major impacts—long-term, delayed impacts, but impacts on this ecology of scientific languages. The first impact is that, after World War I, the Belgian, French and British scientists organize a9)boycott of the Axis powers注scientists, such that German and Austrian scientists aren’t invited to10)conferences, don’t publish in Western journals. The reason why that matters is, it’s that moment, 1919, 1920, 1921, when international organizations to govern science start getting established, like the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry. And those organizations function bilingually—English and French. German, which had been the dominant language of chemistry is“written out.” The boycott’s lifted in 1926, but the damage is a long, slow11)fuse, but is12)underway.

The second is also caused by World War I, but happens across the Atlantic. Starting in 1917, when the United States enters the war, there’s this13)massive wave of anti-German14)hysteria that15)sweeps the United States. And there’s this wave, this16)backlash. German is17)criminalized in over 23 states. You’re not allowed to speak it in public, you’re not allowed to publish in it, you’re not allowed to use it on the radio, you’re not allowed to teach it to a child under age 10. In 1923, the Supreme Court18)overturns all these laws as exceeding the constitutional19)capacity of the states. But, for a while, that’s the law of the land, and what it does is absolutely20)devastate foreign language education in the U.S. What you end up having is a generation of people who come of age in the 30s and 40s, who have no21)exposure to foreign languages or very limited exposure to foreign languages. That’s the moment when the American scientific22)establishment starts to take over dominance in the world, and you have a set of people who don’t speak foreign languages. And so, you end up with a very American-23)centric, and therefore, very English-centric community of science after World War II.

5) fracture ['fræktʃə(r)] v. 断裂，分裂

6) dominate ['dɒmɪneɪt] v. 统治，支配；名词形式是dominance。

7) geopolitical [,dʒi(ː)əʊpə'lɪtɪkəl] adj. 地缘政治的

8) dynamic [daɪ'næmɪk] n. 动力，活力

9) boycott ['bɔɪkɒt] n. 联合抵制

10) conference ['kɒnfərəns] n. 会议，协商

11) fuse [fjuːz] n. 导火索

12) underway ['ʌndə'weɪ] adj. 正在进行的

13) massive ['mæsɪv] adj. 巨大的，有力的

14) hysteria [hɪ'stɪərɪə] n. 歇斯底里，疯狂

15) sweep [swiːp] v. 横扫，扫过

16) backlash ['bæklæʃ] n. 强烈的反响，对抗性的反应

17) criminalize ['krɪmɪn(ə)laɪz] v. 当罪犯看待

18) overturn [,əʊvə'təːn] v. 推翻

19) capacity [kə'pæsɪtɪ] n. [法]权力，法定资格

20) devastate ['devəsteɪt] v. 毁灭，破坏

21) exposure [ɪk'spəʊʒə(r)] n. 接触

22) establishment [ɪ'stæblɪʃmənt] n. 机构，权力机构

23) centric ['sentrɪk] adj. 中心的，中央的

注：此处为专家口误。在一战中，奥地利是同盟国（Central Powers）的成员国，在二战中是轴心国（Axis powers）的成员国。

CY百科

◆ Central Powers & Axis powers 同盟国与轴心国：德国、奥匈帝国、奥斯曼帝国、保加利亚王国在第一次世界大战时期结成同盟国，与另一方的协约国对抗。其中的奥匈帝国是匈牙利与奥地利协议建立的二元帝国。一战后奥匈帝国解体，分别建立奥地利、匈牙利和捷克斯洛伐克三个国家。德国、意大利和日本三国在第二次世界大战成立轴心国，对抗另一方的同盟国。德国在1938年3月吞并了奥地利，使其成为德意志第三帝国下辖的一个省。二战后，奥地利获得独立。

见招拆招

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