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1、A e（委婉语）is commonly defined as an a（吉祥的）or e（ 赞扬的）term （like “ sanitation engineer） that is used in place of a more down -to-earth term （like “garbage man）. People who are p（ 倾向于）to euphemisms stand accused of being“p（ 虚伪的）” or trying to hide what it is they are really talking about.And there is no
2、doubt that in some situations the a （ criticized） is entirely proper. Forexample, one of the more detestable euphemisms I have come across in recent years is the term “Operation Sunshine, which is the name the U. S. Government gave to some experiments it conducted with the h（ 氢）bomb in the South Pac
3、ific.It is obvious that the government, in choosing this name, was trying to e（ remove） theh（ unpleasant） imagery that the bomb e（弓丨起）and in so doing committed,as I see it, an immoral act. This sort of process 一 giving pretty names to essentially ugly realities 一 is what has given euphemizing such a
4、 bad name. And people like George Orwell have done valuable work for all of us in calling attention to how the process works. But there is another side to euphemizing that is worth mentioning, and a few words here in its defense will not be a（wrong）.To begin with, we must keep in mind that things do
5、 not have “real names, although many people believe that they do. A garbage man is not “really a “garbage man, more than he is a “sanitation engineer. And a pig is not called a “pig because it is so dirty, nor a shrimp a “shrimp because it is so small. There are things, and then there are the names
6、of things, and it is considered a fundamental error in all branches of s（ 语义学）to assume that a name and a thing areone and the same. It is true, of course, that a name is usually so firmly associated with the thing it d（扌旨示）that it is extremely difficult to separate one from the other. That is why,
7、forexample, advertising is so effective. Perfumes are not given names like “Bronx Odor, and an automobile will never be called “The Lumbering Elephant. Shakespeare was only half right in saying that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. What we call things affects how we will perceive them.
8、 It is not only harder to sell someone a “horse mackerel sandwich than a “tuna fish sandwich, but even though they are the “same thing, we are likely to enjoy the taste of tuna more than that of the horse mackerel. It would appear that human beings almost naturally come to identify names with things
9、, which is one of our more fascinating illusions. But there is some s（ 实质）to this illusion. If you change the names of things, you change how peoplewill regard them, and that is as good as changing the nature of the thing itself.Now, all sorts of scoundrels know this perfectly well and can make us l
10、ove almost anything by getting us the charm of a name to whatever worthless thing they are promoting. But at the same time and in the same v（ style）, euphemizing is a perfectly intelligent method ofgenerating new and useful ways of perceiving things.The man who wants us to call him a “sanitation eng
11、ineer instead of a “garbage man is hoping we will treat him with more respect than we presently do. He wants us to see that he is of some importance to our society. His euphemism is laughable only if we think that he is not deserving of such notice or respect. The teacher who prefers us to use the t
12、erm “culturally different childreninstead of “slum children is euphemizing, all right, but is d oing it to encourage us to see aspects of a situation that might otherwise not be attended to. The point I am making is that there is nothing in the process of euphemizing itself that is c（卑鄙的）.Euphemizin
13、g iscontemptible when a name makes us see something that is not true or d（转移）ourattention from something that is. The hydrogen bomb kills. There is nothing else that it does. And when you experiment with it, you are trying to find out how widely and well it kills. Therefore, to call such an experime
14、nt “Operation Sunshine is to suggest a purpose for the bomb that simply does not exist. But to call “slum children “culturally different is something else. It calls attention, for example, to l（合情合理的）reasons why such children might feelalienated from what goes on in school.I grant that sometimes suc
15、h euphemizing does not have the intended effect. It is possible for a teacher to use the term “culturally different but still be controlled by the term “slum children （which the teacher may believe is their “real name）. “Old people may be called “senior citizens, and nothing might change. And “lunat
16、ic asylums may still bef（ 下流的），p（野蛮的）prisons though they are called “mental institutions. Nonetheless,euphemizing may be regarded as one of our more important intellectual resources for creating new perspectives on a subject.The attempt to rename “old people “senior citizens was obviously motivated by a desire to give them a political identity; which they not only w（ 使合理）but which may yet haveimpor
