| 词组 | fascination |
| 释义 | fascination 1. As near as can be determined, the sense of fascination meaning "the state of being fascinated" was first entered in dictionaries in the closing years of the 19th century: first the Century Dictionary (1889), then Webster 1890, then the OED (1897). Not long after, language critics took to admonishing against this use of fascination. MacCracken & Sandison 1917 had this to offer: • To say "I've always had a fascination for Becky Sharp" means "I have always fascinated Becky Sharp." A bewitching person exercises a fascination on or over (more colloquially, has a fascination for) the person who is charmed. Despite the disapprobation of some critics, this sense of the word remained in use, and a definition of it was carried through into Webster's Second 1934. At about this same time use of the sense in print began to increase, and it became widespread particularly during the 1950s. Hence, by the time Webster's Third was published in 1961, this sense offascination was in very common use: • ... an extreme example of James's fascination by brutality and violence —John Farrelly, New Republic, 5 July 1948 • ... his lifelong fascination for clowns and their art —Current Biography, June 1953 • ... his fascination with politics goes beyond his work —Current Biography, May 1966 Although the sense of the word is now fully established, some critics persist in warning against its use: Phythian 1979 and Barzun 1985 repeat MacCracken & Sandison's criticisms from 1917. What triggered the outcry against this use of fascination can only be guessed at. It is true that sometimes one cannot be quite sure what the intent of the writer is: • I find a fascination, like the fascination for the moth of a star, in those who hold aloof and disdain me — Logan Pearsall Smith, All Trivia, 1934 By suggesting that we revise this use of fascination out of our sentences, language commentators are probably hoping to avoid the sort of puzzlement offered by Smith. The fact of the matter is, however, that most contexts in which fascination is used in this sense are quite straightforward. Current evidence offers no reason to avoid it, if the writer will exercise care in its application. 2. When used with a preposition, fascination is most often used with for, of, or with: • ... there is a pride and fascination for them in a new love adventure —H. G. Wells, Joan and Peter, 1918 • He felt the strange fascination of shadowy religious places —D. H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, 1913 • ... Hunt's fascination with the mechanics and engineering of public opinion —Theodore H. White, The Reporter, 8 June 1954 Less often, it appears with about, before, by, or in: • There is, however, a terrible human fascination about the miniature —Loren C. Eiseley, Harper's, March 1953 • ... lived in a constant dilemma between disapproval of Lucy's frivolity, and rapturous fascination before her femininity —Vita Sackville-West, The Edwar-dians, 1930 • ... an intensely strong attraction toward beauty and an equally intense fascination by the ugliness which is contrasted with it —T. S. Eliot, "Tradition and the Indvidual Talent," 1917 • There is today, among some labor bosses, the same childlike fascination in finance, in deals, in handling big chunks of money —Eric Sevareid, The Reporter, 18 Sept. 1958 |
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