| 词组 | critique |
| 释义 | critique 1. We don't know why the word was used in the first place, but the desire may have been to have a word free from the original, usually censorious sense of criticism. The word was first spelled critic or critick and gradually—during a period stretching from Dryden to the early 19th century—was made over on the French pattern. Addison and Pope may have been influential, both using critique, but Johnson spelled it critick in his dictionary. Todd revised Johnson's spelling to critique in his early-19th-century edition. The word seems never to have dropped out of use. • ... I was more anxious to hear your critique, however severe, than the praises of the million —Lord Byron, letter, 6 Mar. 1807 • I wonder if you could cut out, and send me, The Times critique on Sowing the Wind? —Lewis Carroll, letter, 5 Oct. 1893 • ... and their critiques were very commonly either mere summaries or scrappy "puffs" —George Saintsbury, A History of Nineteenth Century Literature, 1.896 • ... did his best to persuade Thoreau to write brief critiques of his eminent Concord friends —Henry Seidel Canby, Thoreau, 1939 • ... the unfavorable critiques of the last thirty years —Janet Flanner, New Yorker, 29 Dec. 1951 • In their critique of criticism these writers give a salutary warning —Times Literary Supp., 6 Feb. 1953 • ... reading a book for my Inquiry (somebody's critique of Adam Smith's economics, I do believe) — John Barth, The Floating Opera, 1956 • ... the ideal critique is itself a work of art as well as an explication of and meditation on the work of art it examines —John Simon, Movies Into Film, 1971 • ... "reviews," which assumes the reader has not seen the work, and "critiques," which assume he or she has seen (or read) it —Robert L. Boyce, Library Jour., 1 June 1976 The word is useful and will undoubtedly continue to be used. 2. Our evidence suggests that the current use of the verb is more of a revival than a real continuation, starting apparently in the 1950s. Critique is at the first step of a line of historical development that began with censure, which originally meant "estimate, judge" but gradually came to be used only for fault-finding. Criticize has followed the same path, and even though its neutral sense is still in use, the usual negative overtones it carries for most people have probably prompted the choice of critique. The majority of our citations come from the world of education and are quite clearly the result of a desire to avoid the negative implications of criticize. In 1981 or 1982 the cover of a New York Times Magazine carried the headline "Betty Friedan Critiques the Women's Movement." You can see the reason for using critique here. Criticize would be interpreted as "censure," and review would have suggested more of a historical overview than a critical examination. Here are a couple of other examples from outside the educational world: • ... the insights of experts from many other countries invited to critique the plans —Hazel Henderson, Saturday Rev., 18 Dec. 1973 • ... Theodore M. Bernstein, who critiqued The New York Times —Copperud 1980 You can use this verb or avoid it. It is sometimes particularly useful, and it does—so far—avoid the overtones of disparagement commonly carried by criticize. But there is resistance to its use of which you should be aware. |
| 随便看 |
|
英语用法大全包含2888条英语用法指南，基本涵盖了全部常用英文词汇及语法点的翻译及用法，是英语学习的有利工具。