阅读理解
"I killed the wrong goose (鹅), " a man complained in his letter about the Xinhua Dictionary. It was the 1970s. The man wanted to kill a male goose. He didn't know the difference between male and female goose, so he turned to the dictionary for help. It read, "The male geese have a yellow bump on their head."
The man chose a goose that matched the description. But when he opened its stomach, many eggs poured out, and the man was angry.
The dictionary wasn't totally wrong. However, it didn't make it clear that all geese have a yellow bump on their head. Males have just bigger ones. The dictionary's editors corrected it in the next edition (版本) .
Since its birth in 1953, the Xinhua Dictionary has been used as an encyclopedia (百科全书) by people across China. More than 600 million copies have been sold.
In 1949, about 80 percent of China's population was uneducated. Xinhua Dictionary succeeded in opening up knowledge to millions of Chinese people. "I had no education when I was little. The dictionary helped me get into high school. " Said a woman in her 50s.
Over the past 50 years, the dictionary has been improved in each edition. "鲟"was once explained as"can be eaten". Later editions made it clear that it was "an animal in danger". The meaning of "豹"is no longer "wild animals whose fur can be made into clothes". New editions have included many new meanings. The character "晒" (to dry something under the sun) , for example, now has a second meaning: to share. Popular expressions like "初心"have also been added to dictionary.
In a way, Xinhua hasn't just explained words; it has shaped the way Chinese people think. According to an article in Southern Weekly, "When children write about a spring outing, the sky is always ‘cloudless for ten thousand miles'. They will always ‘sing and dance' on the way. " "Both sentences, " the editor added, " are from examples in the Xinhua Dictionary."
