| 词组 | scan |
| 释义 | scan The case of scan is a bit unusual. In the 20th century it has developed a new sense which—on the face of it—seems directly contradictory to one of its older senses, but almost no one seems to mind. The older sense is "to examine thoroughly and carefully." It was first recorded in about 1800, and continues in use today: • Conscious of handwritings now, she scanned Eden's carefully —Herman Wouk, Marjorie Morningstar, 1955 The newer, and now more common, sense of scan is "to look over or glance through quickly," which was first recorded in the 1920s: • ... he approached the letter boxes and quickly scanned the nameplates —Bernard Malamud, Atlantic, March 1973 • I scanned the story rapidly and felt a little better — Russell Baker, Growing Up, 1982 The contradiction in these uses of scan is not as extreme as it may appear. The fundamental, underlying sense in both cases is that the eyes are moving from point to point. They may be moving slowly and searchingly, carefully taking in every detail ("The lookout scanned the horizon"), or they may be moving quickly, looking only for points of particular interest ("He scanned the morning paper before breakfast"), but the idea of movement is always primary. Criticism of scan in its "look over quickly" sense has been limited to British commentators, such as Partridge 1942 and Phythian 1979. British dictionaries, on the other hand, now treat this sense as standard. American commentators, including Evans 1957 and Bernstein 1971, note its apparent inconsistency with the older sense, but regard it as established and acceptable nevertheless. Heritage 1969 suggests that care should be taken to assure that the context makes clear which sense is intended. This is usually accomplished by the use of adverbs, such as carefully, quickly, and rapidly in the passages quoted above. |
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