《牛津英语词典》收录WFH、social distancing等新冠肺炎疫情相关词汇_BEC初级作文

《牛津英语词典》收录WFH、social distancing等新冠肺炎疫情相关词汇

《牛津英语词典》的编纂者们注意到，越来越多的人开始使用专业医学术语和新的缩写词，比如WFH（在家办公）和PPE（个人防护用品）。1995年，人们首次注意到“在家办公”的用法，但帕顿指出，“在居家办公成为我们许多人的生活方式之前，很少有人知道这个缩写。”个人防护用品的缩写PPE可以追溯到1977年，但“以前可能仅限于医护和急救专业人员使用”。

Social distancing, first used in 1957, “was originally an attitude rather than a physical term, referring to an aloofness or a deliberate attempt to distance oneself from others socially. Now we all understand it as keeping a physical distance between ourselves and others to avoid infection,” wrote Paton.

“保持社交距离”这种说法最早出现于1957年，“最初是一种态度，而不是一个描述身体距离的术语，指的是一种超然的态度，或者在社交上故意疏远他人。现在我们都明白，这是为了避免感染而与他人保持身体上的距离”，帕顿写道。

aloofness [əˈluːfnəs]：n.冷漠；高傲；超然离群

Previous pandemics have also given rise to new vocabulary. Usage of “pestilence”, or “a fatal epidemic or disease”, first appears in 1382, not long after the bubonic plague peaked in Europe between 1347 and 1351. The adjective “self-quarantined” was first used in 1878 to describe the actions of the villagers of Eyam in the 17th century, who isolated themselves to prevent the second wave of “Black Death” from spreading to surrounding villages.