In 2002, an Australian man went to his friend’s birthday party. He got drunk, tripped on（在…摔了一跤） some steps and cut his lip（割伤了嘴唇）. He took a picture of（对着…拍照） his injuries and shared it with his friends on an online forum.
“And sorry about the focus（这里指相机的“对焦”）” he wrote, “it was a selfie（自拍）.”
他写道：“抱歉没对好焦，有些模糊，因为这是张selfie。”
That was the first recorded（首次被记录下来的） use of the word “selfie”, according to linguistic experts（语言学家） at Oxford Dictionaries.
来自《牛津词典》的语言专家组表示，这是“selfie（自拍）”一词最早出现的记录。
On Nov 19, Oxford Dictionaries declared “selfie” Word of the Year for 2013（2013年度热词）, in honor of （对…表示敬意）the term（术语，这里就是指“selfie”） having taken over（占领…，在这里引申为“风靡于”） the world thanks to millions of smartphone self-portraits（比较正规的“手机自拍”的说法）and the resulting（形容词，作为结果的，由此产生的） shares on social media（在社交媒体上，注意介词on）.
Its linguistic productivity（语言学派生能力） is already evident（明显的） in the creation of numerous related spin-off（派生的） terms showcasing（分词做后置定语，展示）particular parts of the body like helfie (a picture of one’s hair); a particular activity —welfie (workout selfie) and drelfie (drunken selfie), and even items of furniture —shelfie.
So what does the choice of the word say about（述说着、反映着） our culture? Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing in Salon magazine, says the word reminds us that contemporary culture is defined by our narcissism（自我陶醉、自恋）.
Selfies are narcissistic（形容词，自恋的）, but so what（那又如何）? An article in The Atlantic Wire points out that the very sort of narcissism that feeds selfies was thriving（兴旺）well before the Internet. Think about painted self-portraits by Van Gogh and other masters. Bookstores, too, have an entire section for narcissism —the autobiography, or “literary selfie（文学 “自拍”现象）”.
Like great works of art（艺术品）, selfies aren’t meant to be（不该被） looked at solely by the subject, writes Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. However superficial（形容词，肤浅的） a selfie may look, its purpose is to be transmitted（传播） by social media. This is the selfie’s redeeming feature（有弥补作用的特点，可理解为“可取之处”）. They may be focused on the self, but they also express a timeless（永恒的）human need（其实这个词很高端，表示“诉求”） to connect with others.
Selfies invite（除了“邀请”，还有“引起、引发”的意思） judgment based on appearance alone. What kind of cultural influence does this have on women? Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel says selfies teach young woman to obsess over（对…迷恋） their appearance and judge themselves on the basis of（基于）beauty rather than accomplishments. “They’re a reflection of the warped way（一种扭曲的方式） we teach girls to see themselves as decorative（注重外在装饰的）,” said Ryan.
In Slate magazine, Rachel Simmons has the opposite view. She argues that selfies are an example of young women promoting themselves（提升自我） and taking control of（掌控） their own self-presentation（自我表达）. Think of each one, she says, as “a tiny pulse（小冲动） of girl pride —a shout-out（呐喊） to the self. ”（ Kevin英语课堂）