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Even in so settled a matter as spelling, a dictionary cannot always be absolute. Theater is correct, but so is theatre.
即便在拼写这样较为确定的问题上，词典都不能给予绝对权威的说明。Theater的拼法是正确的，但theatre的拼法也同样正确。
And so are traveled and travelled, plow and plough, catalog and catalogue, and scores of other variants The reader may want a single certainty.
类似的情况还有traveled和travelled，plow，plough和catalon：和catalogue等以及其他数十上百种异体拼法的例子。
He may have taken an unyielding position in an argument, he may have wagered in support of his conviction and may demand that the dictionary "settle" the matter.
读者可能想得到一个唯一的毫无疑义的答案。他可能坚信某一种拼法是正确的并因此与人争辩，他甚至可能为此而同别人打赌而要让词典来"裁定"这个问题。
But neither his vanity nor his purse is any concern of the dictionary's; it must record the facts.
然而，词典既没有义务去满足他的虚荣心，也没有义务去关心他的钱包。
And the fact here is that there are many words in our language which may be spelled, with equal correctness, in either of two ways.
词典的任务是记录事实，而与此有关的事实是，我们的语言中有许多词可以用两种方法拼写，而两种拼法都同样正确无误。
So with pronunciation. A citizen listening to his radio might notice that James B. Conant, Bernard Baruch, and Dwight D. Eisenhower pronounce economics as ECKuhnomiks,
发音方面的情形也是如此。有的人在听广播时可能注意到詹姆斯B科南特、班纳德巴鲁奇和德怀特D艾森豪威尔将economics一词的音念成ECKuhnomiks，
while A. Whitney Griswold, Adlai Stevenson, and Herbert Hoover pronounce it EEKuhnomiks.
而A怀特格里斯沃尔德、阿德莱E史蒂文森和赫伯特胡佛则将它念成EEKuhnomiks，
He turns to the dictionary to see which of the two pronunciations is "right" and finds that they are both acceptable.
于是他就去查词典，想看看究竟这两种读音中的哪一种才是正确的，而结果呢，他发现两者都是可行的。
Has he been betrayed‘? Has the dictionary abdicated its responsibility?
是他被词典欺骗了吗?是词典失职了吗?
Should it say that one must speak like the president of Harvard or like the president of Yale, like the thirty-first President of the United States or like the thirty-fourth?
词典是否应该指出，人们说话必须模仿哈佛大学校长，或是模仿耶鲁大学校长，以美国第三十一任总统的发音为准，抑或是以第三十四任美国总统的发音为准?
Surely it's none of its business to make a choice.
无疑地，作出决择可不是词典的事儿。
Not because of the distinction of these particular speakers; lexicography, like God, is no respecter of persons.
这倒并不是因为对这些特殊人物的崇高的社会地位有所顾忌。词典编纂学，像上帝一样，是不会趋奉任何人的。
But because so wide-spread and conspicuous a use of two pronunciations among people of this elevation shows that there are two pronunciations.
词典不作出取舍决择的真正原因乃是因为在社会地位这样高的人们当中竟然如此广泛而显著地使用着两种发音，这事实就足以说明的确存在着两种发音。
Their speaking establishes the fact which the dictionary must record.
他们的说话方式就构成了词典必须记录的事实。
