【英语学习】【WOTD】cacophony 释义/词源/示例

cacophony n. [ka-KAH-fuh-nee]

 刺耳的声音；杂音

Definition

1: harsh or discordant sound: dissonance; specifically: harshness in the sound of words or phrases
1：刺耳的或者不和谐的声音：【音】不和谐音；尤其是单词或短语中刺耳的声音

2: an incongruous or chaotic mixture: a striking combination
2：不协调的或者杂乱的混和物：令人striking的组合

Did You Know?

Words that descend from the Greek word phōnē are making noise in English. Why? Because phōnē means "sound" or "voice." Cacophony comes from a joining of the Greek prefix kak- (from kakos, meaning "bad") with phōnē, so it essentially means "bad sound." Symphony, a word that indicates harmony or agreement in sound, traces to phōnē and the Greek prefix syn-, which means "together." Polyphony refers to a style of musical composition in which two or more independent melodies are juxtaposed in harmony, and it comes from a combination of phōnē and the Greek prefix poly-, meaning "many." And euphony, a word for a pleasing or sweet sound, combines phōnē with eu-, a prefix that means "good."

词源词根演化 caco (kak-, 即kakos, bad) + phony (phōnē ，sound) --> cacophony (bad sound) 

从希腊单词phōnē 衍生出来的单词在英语中正在“制造噪音”，为什么会这样呢？因为phōnē 这个词白表示“声音”或“语音”。cacophony是希腊前缀kak-（来自于kakos，意思是坏的）与phōnē 组合而成，基本意思是“坏声音”，引申为噪音，杂音。symphony（交响乐）这个词表示声音的和谐与一致，是由希腊前缀syn-（together，一起）与phōnē 组合而成。Polyphony（复调音乐）是音乐作品的一种风格，由两种或多种旋律共同构成和弦，来自于希腊词根poly-（many，多种）与phōnē 的组合。最后，euphony（悦耳之声，谐音）表示令人愉悦或者甜美的声音，由eu-（good，美好）与phōnē 组合而成。

Examples

• "But never in their most uneasy dreams did they expect the cacophony - a word which here means 'the sound of two metal pots being banged together by a nasty foreman standing in the doorway holding no breakfast at all' - that awoke them." 
  --- Lemony Snicket, The Miserable Mill, 2000
  
  注：但是在他们最糟糕的梦中，也没有意料到这种刺耳的噪音 - 这种噪音是“走廊上一个脏兮兮的领班不断的碰撞两个金属壶产生的，而且他根本就没有端早餐” - 这噪音吵醒了他们。
• "Divided into groups of ten or so, the students came forward for an opportunity to play the instruments. The cacophony that resulted was machted only by the children's broad smiles as they blew tubas, banged on drums or drew bows across violins."
  --- Steven Felschundneff, The Claremont (California) Courier, 29 Nov. 2018
  
  分成了大约10组，学生们积极踊跃地要演奏乐器。当孩子们吹着喇叭，敲着鼓，拉着小提琴时产生的不和谐乐声只与他们憨态可掬的笑容交相辉映。
  
  注：come forward for：涌现，积极要求做某事；play instrument：演奏乐器；broad smile：爽朗的笑容，笑容可掬；blow tuba：吹低音大喇叭；bange on drum：敲鼓；draw bow across violin：拉小提琴