The earliest English dictionaries for foreign learners were an outgrowth of English language teaching by British educators in Ja

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问题    The earliest English dictionaries for foreign learners were an outgrowth of English language teaching by British educators in Japan. The New Method English Dictionary (1935) was the first dictionary for foreign learners. Oxford editions of the Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (OALD) were not seriously challenged until the appearance in 1978 of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (LDOCE) .
   LDOCE was an innovative work in a number of ways. With a completely modern approach to vocabulary selection, containing many current idioms, slang, and colloquialisms, LDOCE was well received by learners and teachers alike. It gave much more attention to American English than the contemporary e-dition of OALD. It simplified the presentation of grammar, employed a defining vocabulary limited to about 2, 000 words, and was printed in an attractive, readable style. Suddenly the door was open for other ESL dictionaries. It was not long before others seized upon the opportunity to compete in this growing market. Following the publication of LDOCE in 1978, the rapid development of linguistic corpora resulted in two major new ESL dictionaries—Collins Cobuild English Language Dictionary in 1987 and Cambridge International Dictionary of English in 1995 to join OALD and LDOCE
   ESL lexicography is an area in which the British have always been far ahead of America because historically the teaching of English throughout world was largely a product of British colonialism and the role of British missionaries to spread the word of the English Bible. Both in theory and practice, ESL lexicography had been led by British and other European scholars of the English language. The last few years, however, have seen a dramatic change in the North American market. In the past, Oxford and Longman produced ESL dictionaries for the American market, supposedly in American English, but both were small in size and were obviously closely based on their British progenitors. As far as the coverage of many common American usages went, they were grossly inadequate.
   The publication of the Longman Dictionary of American English (2nd, 1997) marks a turning point in the history of ESL lexicography in America, as this is the first corpus-based, soundly edited ESL dictionary giving extensive coverage of American English. It was followed in 1998 by the Oxford American Wordpower Dictionary, and in late 1999 by the Cambridge Dictionary of American English, which was based on a large corpus of current American English. These three, all published under the imprints of British publishers but edited by American lexicographers, have raised the quality of ESL lexicography in America to a higher level. However, as these three dictionaries have been joined by a raft of other dictionaries , none of them is corpus-based, and therefore not nearly as reliable in representing actual usage , although they are not without their individual merits. Now that American publishers have discovered there is an ESL market for American English, we can expect a continuing stream of dictionaries, but they have a long way to go before they will be able to match the British-made ESL dictionaries, especially at the advanced levels.

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答案 最早为外国学习者编纂的英语 词典是英国教育工作者在日本进行英语教学的产物。1935年出版的《新方法英语词典》是第一部专门面向外国学习者的词典。直到1978年,《朗文当代高级英语辞典》问世,牛津版《高阶英语词典》在英语学习词典领域的地位才受到严峻挑战。 《朗文当代高级英语辞典》在许多方面都有创新。它采用了完全现代化的选词方法,收录了许多流行的成语、俚语、俗语,因而受到师生的一致好评。较《牛津高阶当代英语词典》而言,它更侧重美式英语。此外,它还简化了语法的呈现方式,仅使用约2 000个词汇解释词义,且印刷风格新颖,极具可读性。不断增长的词典需求瞬间打开了市场大门,为其他英语学习型词典提供了发展机遇。很快,又有其他字典抓住机会,加入竞争行列。在1978年《朗文当代高级词典》的出版之后,随着语言语料库快速发展,又出现了两本重要的英语学习型词典——1987年出版的《柯林斯高级英语学习词典》和1995年出版的《剑桥国际英语词典》。 在英语学习型词典编纂领域,英国一直遥遥领先于美国,因为从历史上来说,全世界的英语教学基本上都是英国殖民主义的产物,是英国传教士传播英文版《圣经》的产物。无论是从理论还是从实践上来说,英语学习型词典的编纂工作一直由英国和欧洲其他国家的英语语言学者引领。然而,过去几年,北美市场发生了惊人的变化。过去,美国市场的英语学习型词典皆出自牛津或朗文。据称它们使用的是美式英语,但开本太小,且明显只是基于英式英语的版本,就许多常见的美式英语用法而言,并未收录完全。 1997年,第二版《朗文美语词典》的出版成为美国英语学习型词典编纂工作的一个历史性转折点,因为这是第一部基于语料库、制作精良且美语覆盖面广的英语学习型词典。之后,1998年, 《牛津美语词汇拓展词典》出版,次年末,以现代美式英语大型语料库为基础的《剑桥美国英语词典》问世。这三部词典虽然都由英国出版商发行,但却由美国词典编纂者编辑,将美国的英语学习型词典编纂质量提升到了更高的水平。这三部字典的竞争者繁多,而且各有优点,但他们都没有语料库基础,因此在实际应用时不如它们可靠。既然美国出版商看到了英语学习者对美式英语的需求,我们可以预见到,市场将迎来源源不绝的词典,不过要做到与英国制作的英语学习型词典,尤其是高阶版抗衡,它们依然任重而道远。

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