Preface To Xu Xinmin’ s Classified Dictionary For Writing
Source:Shaoyang International CultureWriter:Xu XinminTime:2015-01-15Clicks：次
When my dream comes true I’ve got to know of the hard years,
During which I stayed up in clothes and ate late at night!
Though not talented I am ambitious and passionate;
My ability is inadequate like a short rope for a deep well.
My desire was only to bring grace to future able generations;
Then my life would not be a waste in this world.
In today’ s peaceful era there are numerous outstanding people,
With whom I am grateful to the Heaven for this book.
------foreword
Language is the realization of thinking, as well as an important communicative tool, while words are materials that construct language. Therefore, a good mastery of a certain number of words is a necessary basic ability for anyone, especially a writer or a worker who uses language. In the course of writing, we often run into such a situation, in which though the idea of the writing is good and we have a lot of materials, we do not know what to write or convey clearly what we want to express just because of our poor vocabulary. Of course, an old hand of writing with rich and wide knowledge does not have such a problem. But in order to make his language accurate, bright and lively, he will be particular about the choice of words. In this case, he is superior to ordinary people. He will play with words and then select one in order to seek a best state of ‘never stopping till death if wording is not amazing to readers’. However, Chinese language, whether classic or modern, has so large a vocabulary that one cannot have good words at hand for the moment even though he has an extraordinarily good memory. Therefore, anyone needs a dictionary that he can refer to when he forgets something and that he can use readily in writing.
I once thought: if we arrange words---the smallest language units to be used freely (that is, they can be said singly and also used in a sentence) into categories according to the situations in which they are applied to compile a dictionary like construction workers put building materials such as reinforcing steel, cement, crushed stones and sand separately in good order, will it be greatly convenient for us learners poor in vocabulary and those masters devoted to forging perfect Chinese culture to use words to write freely and efficiently? Moreover, will it be better if we can have a better mastery of the meaning and usage of words through comparison and evaluation with the help of such a dictionary so as to make each word left by our ancestors more brilliant, more vital and more vigorous? It was early in the 1970s that I made an attempt to compile a book with words of similar meanings and usage put together for users’ convenient reference.
Since the establishment of New China, dictionaries with various features have been appearing. Unfortunately, common dictionaries only have the function of explaining the meanings of a word without explaining its uses for practical writing, that is, if one refers to such a dictionary when coming across an unfamiliar word in reading, he can find its meaning, but he cannot find a relevant expression according to meanings, nor can he find a series of relevant expressions readily to express what he wants to say in writing. Though some readers noticed the problem earlier, few took trouble to solve it or to fill the ‘blank’. As to many people, the fundamental reason is not a lack of ability but a lack of time, for everyone knows that solving the problem is a great task that has countless benefits but it is also a big tiring job. Without ten or scores of years of hard labor, it is absolutely impossible for anyone to realize such a dream as benefits the world as well as himself.
First, you must face a vast sea of words. Besides monosemic words, polysemous words and synonyms, there are antonyms, hypernyms an hyponyms. And the compositions are very complex. There are not only basic words but also common words, not only classical words but also written words, not only standard words but also social idioms, not only native words but also aliens, not only old words but also newly-born ones, and so on, here just to name a few. It is impossible for anyone on the earth to hold all these huge things in hand. Even it is not an easy job to pick one-tenth of them.
What’ s more, it is also brain-wearing work to pick each words out of the profound vast colorful Chinese vocabulary and then put them into different categories according to a certain practical principle. The reason is that most Chinese words obtained many meanings during the course of thousands of years’ development. And when understanding and analyzing words with a single meaning from different angles, people will have different ideas as if ‘kind people see kindness while wise people see wisdom’, and as a result they put them into different categories.
Third, the way to classify is a problem. To classify them roughly or finely? How to get a large category organically connected to a smaller item? It is a difficulty to make the words included under an item closely related to the term of the item. A rough classification is general and distinct but inconvenient to refer to and make a choice of words, while fine classification is trivial and verbose but convenient to use and chose words. Without a fixed standard to classify, disordered classifications will come about. Words whose most meanings are different are put under the same category, which appears embarrassing and confusing. However, as the generalization of the category or item is limited so that it cannot include everything, we might as well deal with the words based on their ‘big similarity’ regardless of their ‘small difference’. Who is willing to be cornered in a difficult situation of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, spending scores of years in searching his exhausted mind and wearing his brains？
I was an ordinary learned Chinese and Chinese language teacher. Since I could not do a great thing then I would like to do small one, for I was not specially good at something. The only valuable thing I have was my ‘persistence’. Since my determination was set, I was naturally happy to do the work that would be beneficial to those of today and those in the future who would transmit Chinese culture. The laborious work that people generally were not willing to do and some people would disdain to do cost one-fourth of my life without hesitation. After the end of ‘The Cultural Revolution’ I used free hours of ten years to make 60,000 cards, which weighed no less than fifty kilograms. After retirement, I again labored for 11 years despite the fact that I suffered from diabetes and heart disease. During the 21 years, I persevered in getting up at 5 o’ clock every day writing and copying from morning till night. Years passed with five times of rewriting. Ancient people said, ‘Work so hard as to forget meals, be so happy as to forget worries and do not realize old age when it it is coming.’ It does not exaggerate if I use the sentences to describe me. It is today when I am 75 years old that my dictionary is put into print. I feel as if I am unburdened. Buddha! .
Due to my limited knowledge, time and energy, there is no doubt that this dictionary has some shortcomings and weak points. I will always acknowledge specialists, scholars and readers for their earnest instructions and suggestions. Acknowledgments are also granted to the compilers of Dictionary Of Modern Chinese by the Commercial Publishing House, Standard Dictionary Of Modern Chinese by the Foreign Language Teaching & Research Publishing House and the Chinese Language Publishing House and Descriptive Dictionary For Writing by Jindun Publishing House. In the course of compiling mine, I referred constantly to the dictionaries mentioned above.
Acknowledgments should be given to Wugang Municipal Committee Of the CPC and Wugang Municipal Government for their support, to many literary friends for their hearty advice, to my wife, children and 40 former students for their hard word of copying and arranging the entries, and to Comrade Xiang Yang from Wugang Culture Center and Comrade Dai Zuomao from Shaoyang Canal Administrative Agency for their diligent work of proofreading. All these help, wisdom and devotion, I will engrave on my mind for ever.
(By Xu Xinmin, December 6, 2014)
(Translated by Yi Daoqun)
During which I stayed up in clothes and ate late at night!
Though not talented I am ambitious and passionate;
My ability is inadequate like a short rope for a deep well.
My desire was only to bring grace to future able generations;
Then my life would not be a waste in this world.
In today’ s peaceful era there are numerous outstanding people,
With whom I am grateful to the Heaven for this book.
------foreword
Language is the realization of thinking, as well as an important communicative tool, while words are materials that construct language. Therefore, a good mastery of a certain number of words is a necessary basic ability for anyone, especially a writer or a worker who uses language. In the course of writing, we often run into such a situation, in which though the idea of the writing is good and we have a lot of materials, we do not know what to write or convey clearly what we want to express just because of our poor vocabulary. Of course, an old hand of writing with rich and wide knowledge does not have such a problem. But in order to make his language accurate, bright and lively, he will be particular about the choice of words. In this case, he is superior to ordinary people. He will play with words and then select one in order to seek a best state of ‘never stopping till death if wording is not amazing to readers’. However, Chinese language, whether classic or modern, has so large a vocabulary that one cannot have good words at hand for the moment even though he has an extraordinarily good memory. Therefore, anyone needs a dictionary that he can refer to when he forgets something and that he can use readily in writing.
I once thought: if we arrange words---the smallest language units to be used freely (that is, they can be said singly and also used in a sentence) into categories according to the situations in which they are applied to compile a dictionary like construction workers put building materials such as reinforcing steel, cement, crushed stones and sand separately in good order, will it be greatly convenient for us learners poor in vocabulary and those masters devoted to forging perfect Chinese culture to use words to write freely and efficiently? Moreover, will it be better if we can have a better mastery of the meaning and usage of words through comparison and evaluation with the help of such a dictionary so as to make each word left by our ancestors more brilliant, more vital and more vigorous? It was early in the 1970s that I made an attempt to compile a book with words of similar meanings and usage put together for users’ convenient reference.
Since the establishment of New China, dictionaries with various features have been appearing. Unfortunately, common dictionaries only have the function of explaining the meanings of a word without explaining its uses for practical writing, that is, if one refers to such a dictionary when coming across an unfamiliar word in reading, he can find its meaning, but he cannot find a relevant expression according to meanings, nor can he find a series of relevant expressions readily to express what he wants to say in writing. Though some readers noticed the problem earlier, few took trouble to solve it or to fill the ‘blank’. As to many people, the fundamental reason is not a lack of ability but a lack of time, for everyone knows that solving the problem is a great task that has countless benefits but it is also a big tiring job. Without ten or scores of years of hard labor, it is absolutely impossible for anyone to realize such a dream as benefits the world as well as himself.
First, you must face a vast sea of words. Besides monosemic words, polysemous words and synonyms, there are antonyms, hypernyms an hyponyms. And the compositions are very complex. There are not only basic words but also common words, not only classical words but also written words, not only standard words but also social idioms, not only native words but also aliens, not only old words but also newly-born ones, and so on, here just to name a few. It is impossible for anyone on the earth to hold all these huge things in hand. Even it is not an easy job to pick one-tenth of them.
What’ s more, it is also brain-wearing work to pick each words out of the profound vast colorful Chinese vocabulary and then put them into different categories according to a certain practical principle. The reason is that most Chinese words obtained many meanings during the course of thousands of years’ development. And when understanding and analyzing words with a single meaning from different angles, people will have different ideas as if ‘kind people see kindness while wise people see wisdom’, and as a result they put them into different categories.
Third, the way to classify is a problem. To classify them roughly or finely? How to get a large category organically connected to a smaller item? It is a difficulty to make the words included under an item closely related to the term of the item. A rough classification is general and distinct but inconvenient to refer to and make a choice of words, while fine classification is trivial and verbose but convenient to use and chose words. Without a fixed standard to classify, disordered classifications will come about. Words whose most meanings are different are put under the same category, which appears embarrassing and confusing. However, as the generalization of the category or item is limited so that it cannot include everything, we might as well deal with the words based on their ‘big similarity’ regardless of their ‘small difference’. Who is willing to be cornered in a difficult situation of ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, spending scores of years in searching his exhausted mind and wearing his brains？
I was an ordinary learned Chinese and Chinese language teacher. Since I could not do a great thing then I would like to do small one, for I was not specially good at something. The only valuable thing I have was my ‘persistence’. Since my determination was set, I was naturally happy to do the work that would be beneficial to those of today and those in the future who would transmit Chinese culture. The laborious work that people generally were not willing to do and some people would disdain to do cost one-fourth of my life without hesitation. After the end of ‘The Cultural Revolution’ I used free hours of ten years to make 60,000 cards, which weighed no less than fifty kilograms. After retirement, I again labored for 11 years despite the fact that I suffered from diabetes and heart disease. During the 21 years, I persevered in getting up at 5 o’ clock every day writing and copying from morning till night. Years passed with five times of rewriting. Ancient people said, ‘Work so hard as to forget meals, be so happy as to forget worries and do not realize old age when it it is coming.’ It does not exaggerate if I use the sentences to describe me. It is today when I am 75 years old that my dictionary is put into print. I feel as if I am unburdened. Buddha! .
Due to my limited knowledge, time and energy, there is no doubt that this dictionary has some shortcomings and weak points. I will always acknowledge specialists, scholars and readers for their earnest instructions and suggestions. Acknowledgments are also granted to the compilers of Dictionary Of Modern Chinese by the Commercial Publishing House, Standard Dictionary Of Modern Chinese by the Foreign Language Teaching & Research Publishing House and the Chinese Language Publishing House and Descriptive Dictionary For Writing by Jindun Publishing House. In the course of compiling mine, I referred constantly to the dictionaries mentioned above.
Acknowledgments should be given to Wugang Municipal Committee Of the CPC and Wugang Municipal Government for their support, to many literary friends for their hearty advice, to my wife, children and 40 former students for their hard word of copying and arranging the entries, and to Comrade Xiang Yang from Wugang Culture Center and Comrade Dai Zuomao from Shaoyang Canal Administrative Agency for their diligent work of proofreading. All these help, wisdom and devotion, I will engrave on my mind for ever.
(By Xu Xinmin, December 6, 2014)
(Translated by Yi Daoqun)