2019年接近尾聲，各大詞典紛紛發布年度詞匯。詞典網站Dictionary.com的年度詞匯也于近日出爐。該網站指出，“存在主義（existential）” 一詞貫穿于2019全年的討論中，成為人們關注的焦點。

Climate change, gun violence, the very nature of democracy and an angsty little movie star called Forky helped propel “existential” to Dictionary.com’s word of the year.

氣候變化、槍支暴力、民主的本質和易怒的電影小明星“玩具叉叉”使“存在主義”一詞獲選詞典網站Dictionary.com 2019年度詞匯。

existential [?eɡz??sten?l]：adj.存在主義的；有關存在的

The choice reflects months of high-stakes threats and crises, real and pondered, across the news, the world and throughout 2019.

這個選擇反映出數月以來的高風險威脅和危機，真實存在且引人深思，遍及新聞界和整個世界，貫穿2019全年。

“In our data, it speaks to this sense of grappling with our survival, both literally and figuratively, that defined so much of the discourse,” said John Kelly, senior research editor for the site, ahead of Monday’s announcement.

該網站的高級研究編輯約翰·凱利在周一（12月2日）發布年度詞匯之前表示：“在我們的數據中，這個選擇體現了一種與生存抗爭的意識，無論是字面上還是象征意義上，界定了很多討論。”

The word earned top of mind awareness in sustained searches at Dictionary.com in the aftermath of wildfires and Hurricane Dorian, and mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, and El Paso, Texas. It also reared itself in presidential politics and pop culture, including Forky the white plastic spork who was the breakout star of “Toy Story 4.”

在森林大火、颶風“多里安”、新西蘭基督城和美國德克薩斯州埃爾帕索的大規模槍擊事件之后，“存在主義”一詞在詞典網站Dictionary.com的搜索量一直居高不下，成為人們最關注的焦點。這一詞匯也在總統政治和流行文化中嶄露頭角，包括《玩具總動員4》中脫穎而出的明星——白色塑料“玩具叉叉”。

The soiled utensil is convinced his destiny is in the trash, until he embraces his purpose as a treasured toy of kindergartener Bonnie.

這個被弄臟的餐具確信自己注定會被丟進垃圾桶，直到成為幼兒園小朋友邦妮珍愛的玩具，才接納了自己的使命。

“Forky underscores how this sense of grappling can also inspire us to ask big questions about who we are, about our purpose,” Kelly told The Associated Press.

凱利在接受美聯社采訪時表示，“叉叉的故事告訴我們，這種抗爭意識也能激發我們思考一些重大問題，比如我們是誰，我們生活的目的是什么。”

Oxford Dictionaries picked “climate emergency” as its word of the year, noting usage evidence that reflects the “ethos, mood, or preoccupations of the passing year,” the company said in a statement.

該公司在一份聲明中稱，牛津詞典將“氣候緊急狀態”選為今年的年度詞匯，并指出人們使用這個詞匯的證據能反映“過去一年的社會思潮、情緒或關注點”。

Dictionary.com crunches lookup and other data to decide which word to anoint each year. The site has been picking a word of the year since 2010.

詞典網站Dictionary.com通過分析查找和其他數據來決定當年的年度詞匯。該網站自2010年開始評選年度詞匯。

anoint[??n??nt]：vt.指定

Among search spikes for “existential” were those that occurred after both Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders and 16-year-old climate activist Greta Thunberg characterized climate change as an “existential” crisis, Kelly said.

凱利說，一部分“存在主義”的搜索高是在美國民主黨總統候選人伯尼·桑德斯和16歲的氣候活動家格里塔·騰貝格將氣候變化描述為“存在主義”危機之后出現的。

Another spike occurred when former Vice President Joe Biden, also vying for the Democratic presidential nod, painted President Donald Trump as an “existential threat” to decency.

另一次搜索高峰出現在美國前副總統喬·拜登將總統唐納德·特朗普描述為對于體面的“存在主義威脅”之后。喬·拜登也加入了民主黨總統候選人的角逐。

The word dates to 1685, deriving from Late Latin’s “existentialis.” Dictionary.com defines existential as “of or relating to existence” and “of, relating to, or characteristic of philosophical existentialism; concerned with the nature of human existence as determined by the individual’s freely made choices.”

這個詞可以追溯到1685年，源于后期拉丁語existentialis。詞典網站Dictionary.com將存在主義定義為“存在的或與存在有關的”，或“哲學存在主義的，或與哲學存在主義有關的，或具有哲學存在主義特征的；關注由個人自由選擇所決定的人類存在的本質”。

Climate, guns and the impeachment crisis for Donald Trump were just a few areas that seemed to frame debate in existential terms. So did the Notre Dame fire, tensions between the United States and China, and Big Tech’s privacy and fake news problems.

氣候、槍支和唐納德·特朗普的彈劾危機只是少數幾個從存在主義角度引發辯論的領域。巴黎圣母院失火、中美關系緊張、大科技公司的隱私和假新聞問題也是如此。

impeachment [?m?pi?t?m?nt]：n.彈劾；控告

“We started to see existential in the dialogue beginning in January and all the way through the year,” said Jennifer Steeves-Kiss, Dictionary.com’s chief executive officer. “This is a consistent theme that we saw in our data, but it also was leveraged across many different important questions of our time.”

詞典網站Dictionary.com的首席執行官珍妮弗?斯蒂維斯-基思說：“從今年1月開始，一直到今年年底，我們都能從對話中看到存在主義。這是我們在數據中看到的一個永恒的主題，但它也用在了當今時代許多不同的重要問題上。”

As for Forky, his journey from disposable utensil to handmade toy points to the concept of “agency,” Kelly said, referring to the power to direct our own existences. That, he said, affords us the “opportunity to turn existential threats into existential choices.”

至于叉叉，凱利說，他從一次性餐具到手工玩具的經歷指出了“能動性”這一概念，“能動性”指的是指導我們自身存在的力量，這“給了我們機會，把存在的威脅變成存在的選擇”。

agency：能動性，在存在主義的思想中，能動性是經常用來描述自由的詞語

英文來源：abcnews

翻譯&編輯：yaning