| 词组 | sustain |
| 释义 | sustain Sustain is an old verb with many senses, most of which have been in use for centuries. Among them is the sense "to suffer or undergo," as in "sustain an injury" and "sustain losses," which was first attested in the early 1400s. Samuel Johnson included this sense without stigma in his dictionary, illustrating its use with quotations from Shakespeare and Milton. Noah Webster also regarded it as a standard sense, and it continues to be treated as one in current dictionaries. Usage commentators, however, have found various reasons for disliking it. The first critic to take note of sustain seems to have been Dean Alford 1866, who regarded the "suffer" sense as an example of the "diluted English" favored by journalists. Like most of its later critics, Alford seems unaware that this sense has a long history of reputable use. His regarding it as a recent corruption suggests that it may well have come into more widespread use by way of newspapers during the 19th century. Part of what caught his attention was the use of this sense of sustain with a specific injury, such as "a fracture," as its direct object. He implied that such use was ludicrous to anyone acquainted with the "proper" senses of sustain, such as "to bear up under" and "to give support to": • Men never break their legs, but they always "sustain a fracture" of them; a phrase which suggests to one the idea of the poor man with both hands holding up the broken limb to keep it straight. The 20th-century critics of the "suffer" sense of sustain have, like Alford, generally regarded it as illogical and pretentious journalese. Bierce 1909 observed that "he sustained a broken neck" should be understood as meaning "that although his neck was broken he did not yield to the mischance." Fowler 1926 was aware of the history of this sense and did not consider it erroneous, but he recommended avoiding it anyway, both because it seemed excessively formal to him and because he felt that its use tended to weaken "the other meaning in which [sustain] is valuable, viz to bear up against...." Krapp 1927 saw it as a feature of "crudely ambitious writing." Partridge 1942 limited his censure to its use with such specific direct objects as fracture and broken leg, regarding "sustain injuries" as formal but acceptable. Among more recent critics, Flesch 1964 has dismissed it as "pompous," and Bernstein (in Winners & Sinners, 25 June 1958) has called it "a flossy synonym for 'receive'or 'suffer.'" The criticism, however, has not been universal by any means. The Heritage 1969 panel found the "suffer" sense of sustain acceptable by a slight majority, and Copperud 1964 referred to its critics as "those who have never looked up the word." Most very recent commentators have nothing to say on the subject, and their silence strongly suggests that the controversy concerning this time-honored sense may be gradually dying out. The sense itself, meanwhile, continues to be alive and well: • ... the company sustained operating losses totalling more than $30 million —Richard A. Lester, New Republic, 27 June 1955 • ... decorated with the Purple Heart for injuries he sustained on Okinawa —Current Biography, November 1967 • ... mentioned the "neglect and destruction" Jerusalem had sustained "during its more-or-less recent history" —Katharine Kuh, Saturday Rev., 24 Jan. 1976 • ... estimates that some 77,000 persons a year sustain bruises, cuts ... —Consumer Reports, September 1980 • ... in December 1980 Howe sustained a grisly injury —Jack Falla, Sports Illustrated, 17 Jan. 1983 |
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