A new list of the most common nouns in the English language published in the latest Oxford dictionary reveals that English speakers are obsessed with time, Oxford University Press (OUP) researchers said. The word "time" topped the list, with "year" in third place and "day" in fifth position and "week" at 17th. "Person" reached number two on the list and men are still on top, with "man" ranking at number seven, "child" at 12 and "woman" trailing at 14. "Work" appears at number 16, while "rest" and "play" are nowhere to be seen in the top 100. "Money" appears not to be as important as people might think, weighing in at number 65, although researchers thought this could be due to the multitude of other related words such as "cash". English speakers talk about "war", 49th, far more than "peace", which does not even feature in the top 100. The common nouns section appears in the revised eleventh edition of the Concise Oxford English Dictionary, considered as the definitive guide to the evolving language. OUP project manager Angus Stevenson said the frequency with which words such as "time" and "man" occur could be down to the love of phrases in English such as "I would not even pass the time of day with him", and "time waits for no man". "The thing that struck me when I put together this list was that 90 percent of the top 100 words were one syllable," Stevenson said. The 10 most common nouns: 1. Time
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据牛津大学出版社研究员介绍,最新版牛津词典中列出的常用英语名词榜显示,英语里最常被念叨的词就是“时间”。 “时间”一词居于榜首,“年”排在第3位,“日”和“星期”分别排在第5和第17位。 此外,“人”名列排行榜第2位,同时,和人相关的名词也高居榜首,其中,“男人”排在第7位,“儿童”位于第12位,“女人”紧跟其后,排在第14位。 “工作”排在第16位,而“休息”和“玩”竟没有进入前100名。 “金钱”似乎没有人们想象的那么重要,仅排在第65位。而研究员们则认为这是由于存在很多和“金钱”相关的名词,如“现金”。 另外,“战争”的使用频率大大高于“和平”,排在第49位,而“和平”则未进入前100名。 常用名词排行榜收录在最新修订的第11版《简明牛津英文词典》中,该词典被公认为是记录语言发展的权威工具书。 牛津大学出版社经理安格斯·史蒂文森说,词的使用频率,如“时间”和“人”,和人们喜爱使用的一些词组有关,如“我甚至不愿跟他说话”及“时间不等人”。 史蒂文森说:“在整理这些词语时,我惊奇地发现在这100个上榜名词中,有90%竟然都是一个音节。” 十大常用名词: |
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Vocabulary: |
pass the time of day : 寒暄 |