一篇英语好文，告诉你“自拍”（selfie）的前世今生

汉风唐韵

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.

2002年时，一位澳大利亚男子参加朋友的岁生日聚会。聚会上他喝得酩酊大醉，不慎从台阶摔下，磕破了嘴唇。他拍了张负伤照，并上传到网络论坛上与朋友分享。

“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）.

11月19日，《牛津词典》宣布“selfie（自拍）”成为牛津2013年度热词，以表彰这一凭借智能手机自拍以及社交媒体分享而风靡世界的词汇。

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.

Selfie（自拍）也是一个高产词汇，不断涌现出一系列衍生词，可以晒身体某一部分，如“发型自拍”；也可以晒活动，如“welfie（健身自拍）”和“drelfie（酒后自拍）”；甚至还可以晒家具，例如“shelfie（书架自拍）。

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）.

那么selfie（自拍）一词的当选又代表着怎样一种文化现象呢？ 玛丽·伊丽莎白·威廉姆斯在《沙龙》杂志上写道：“这个词在提醒我们，当代文化被打上了自恋的烙印。”

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）”.

尽管“自拍”同自恋画上等号，但那又如何？刊登在《大西洋月刊》上的一篇文章就指出，其实早在互联网出现之前，孕育“自拍”的极度自恋行为就已十分普遍。想想文森特·威廉·梵高和其他大师的自画像、书店里销售的自传（也可称作是“文学自拍”），都是自恋的体现。

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.

乔纳森·菲德兰德在英国《卫报》的文章中写道：自拍同许多伟大的艺术品一样，我们不应该只是就事论事。不管自拍看上去有多么肤浅，它最终目的都是为了通过社交媒体传播。这是自拍的一大优点。尽管拍照者可能关注的是自身，但这些照片表达了人类渴望交流的永恒诉求。

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.

“自拍”因其“外貌至上”的特点而饱受批评。而自拍照对于女性又产生了怎样的文化影响呢？艾琳·格洛丽亚·莱恩在社交网站Jezebel上写道，自拍照让年轻女性过于迷恋个人外貌，更爱以貌取人而非个人成就。莱恩说：“自拍照让女性认为自己是“花瓶”，这显然是一种价值观的扭曲。”

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）