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Terms of endearment in the English language like “darling” and “my dove” have been used for hundreds of years, but others fell out of favor. Now you can find out more about lots of phrases over the past thousand years in a vast database of English words and phrases that’s just been published online.

Doctor Mark Alexander is senior lecturer of English at Glasgow University. Valory Sanderson asked him for more examples of phrases or words that have now become obsolete.

So why does the language change dramatically over the years?

So about 70% of English is borrowed. We just borrow a better word or a different word for variety. So words like “belly” try to get replaced by the Latin “abdomen”. Just because people like show off. They like variation in their life. Or sometimes because the middle-classes adopt a term which distinguishes them from the working classes and so on.

For a long time, the animal sheep and the meat that you got from a sheep was “sheep”. And then after the French came over in Norman Conquest, you then had words like “mutton”appearing which is the French for “sheep”. And “muttons” apply to the meat. You can see how society has changed very quickly just by looking at words, for example “foreign people”.

And you can see some very offensive terms and been replaced in later years with much nicer terms. Same for woman. A lot of the terms for woman in the history of English are quite offensive.

Doctor Mark Alexander.

Google says it was drawing its Internet-connected glasses, the so-called Google glasses. The company will stop taking orders for the product from next week, but insists it’s committed to developing future versions of the glasses. Our technology correspondent Rory Cathleen-Jones reports.

When Google glass first went on sale two years ago to a select group of software developers, it was held as a futuristic product which could change the way we live. The smart glasses allowed users to receive information from the Internet in a small screened perched above their right eye.

It could also take photos andvideos, and give directions. But after the initial enthusiasm, doubts began to grow. There was concern about the privacy implications of the device. And it was banned from some restaurants and cinemas. Some usersfelt it made them look strange and stopped wearing it in public.

Now Google has announced that it will endthe experimental program and stop making glass in its present form. The company insists that its smart glasses team will continue its work with the aim of bringing out new versions at an unspecified date in the future.

詞匯解析

belief

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.信念；信仰；相信

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

It bolstered my belief.

這增強了我的信念。

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generation

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.代；（產(chǎn)品類型的）代；產(chǎn)生；繁殖

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

There is a generation gap between my parents and I.

我父母和我之間有代溝。

The second generation of machines utilized improved miniature electronic tubes, and later solid-sate circuits.

第二代機器使用改良的微電子管和后固體電路。

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cultivate

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

vt.栽培；耕作；培養(yǎng)；陶冶；結(jié)交(朋友)

參考例句

用作及物動詞 (vt.)

You must cultivate people who can help you in business.

你得結(jié)交在業(yè)務上對你有用的人。

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anxiety

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.焦慮；擔心；渴望

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

They show great anxiety concerning their retirement allowance.

他們對自己的養(yǎng)老金問題顯得十分焦慮。

His anxiety for knowledge is to be praised.

他對知識的渴求應該受到稱贊。

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comedy

難度：3星常用詞匯，屬常用6000詞

英漢解釋

n.喜?。换?；幽默事件

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

This comedy has had them rolling in the aisles for two weeks.

這出喜劇讓觀眾們連續(xù)兩個星期樂得前仰后合。

There is not much comedy in modern war.

現(xiàn)代戰(zhàn)爭并不是好玩的事。

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cargo

難度：4星核心詞匯，屬常用3000詞

英漢解釋

n.貨物；船貨

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

The ship is discharging the cargo.

船正在卸貨。

This port handles 100 million tons of cargo each year.

這個港口每年貨物吞吐量達1億噸。

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issue

難度：5星基本詞匯，屬常用1000詞

英漢解釋

n.議題；問題；期刊號；一次發(fā)行額；發(fā)行；<律>子女

v.發(fā)表；公布；正式發(fā)給；發(fā)行；流出

參考例句

用作名詞 (n.)

Parliament will debate the nationalization issue next week.

議會將在下周辯論國有化議題。

The new issue will be divided into four tranches.

新一批發(fā)行的債券分為四部份。

用作動詞 (v.)

New members will be issued with a temporary identity card.

新成員將配發(fā)臨時身分卡。

Banknotes of this design were first issued 10 years ago.

這種圖案的鈔票是十年前首次發(fā)行的。

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