Like little pebbles in a stream, words get worn down with age; the more we use them, the less they come to resemble their original meanings. But there is still pleasure to be found in exploring some of our most commonly and casually used words. Here’s a short list of the full definitions behind some of our favourite adjectives.

　　就像溪水里的小鹅卵石会随着时间的流逝而磨损，文字也是一样，我们越多地使用它们，它们也就越来越偏离原来的本意。但是在探索我们常用和不常用的单词的时候还是有一些乐趣的。以下是我们最常用来表达‘极好的’的形容词的简短列表以及完整定义。

　　1.Incredible

　　难以置信的

　　Let’s start with a word that is currently in very popular use, the adjective ‘incredible’. ‘Incredible’ has three main meanings. It is popularly used to describe something extremely good or great, especially in size or scale: ‘the party was incredibly good fun’; ‘that’s incredible news!’. But the word itself stems from ‘credibility’, the extent to which something can be believed. Its true meanings, therefore, are the strong one – not credible, cannot be believed, beyond belief – or the weaker one, which is closer to the popular use – difficult to believe, hard to realize.

　　让我们以一个非常流行的形容词‘incredible’作为开篇。‘Incredible’有三层含义。它通常被用来描述在大小或者规模上非常好或者很伟大的事物：‘晚会非常有趣’;‘这是个令人难以置信的消息!’。但是这个词本身起源于‘credibility’。用来指某物可以被相信的程度。因此，它的真正的含义表达的含义是很强烈的，不可相信的，不能被相信，难以置信– 或者它表示的含义不是那么强烈，更受大众所欢迎 – 难以置信，难以实现。

　　2.Wonderful

　　奇妙的，极好的

　　‘Wonderful’ is similar to ‘incredible’. It means, quite literally, ‘full of wonder’, and describes when either an object inspires in us feelings of excitement or astonishment, or when we ourselves feel those sensations.

　　‘Wonderful’和‘incredible’含义很像。从字面上来看，它意为‘奇迹般地’，用来描述能够激发我们激动或者惊讶的事物，或者它也可以用来表达我们的震撼。

　　3.Marvellous

　　不可思议的，惊人的

　　‘Marvellous’ is a close synonym of ‘wonderful’, and means ‘to excite wonder or astonishment; surprising; having extraordinary properties’. This last definition means it can be applied to apparently mystical experiences. In its weakened state, though, ‘marvellous’ means simply ‘extremely good or pleasing’.

　　‘Marvellous’是 ‘wonderful’的近义词，它意为：‘使惊讶，使惊奇;惊讶的;拥有非凡的性能’。很明显，最后的定义可以用来描述神秘的体验。在语气较弱的状态下，‘marvellous’仅仅意为‘非常好或者令人愉悦的’。

　　4.Awesome

　　令人敬畏的，极好的

　　On the theme of the supernatural, let’s look at the word ‘awesome’. ‘Awesome’ means ‘full of awe’ and is defined as ‘profoundly reverential; appalling, dreadful, weird’. This might seem like a strange mix of characteristics, between what we now call ‘awful’ things and apparently religious or reverential experiences. This can be explained with reference to the related concept of the ‘sublime’: the ‘sublime’ is an experience of very large, potentially dangerous things that remind us of our insignificance in the world, and how large and powerful the universe is.

　　关于超自然这个主题，让我们来看一下‘awesome’这个词。‘Awesome’意为‘充满敬畏’，被定义为‘非常虔诚;可怕;奇怪’，这似乎是一个非常奇怪的混合特征，介于非常‘糟糕’的事物以及宗教或者虔诚的事物之间。这可以用‘sublime’的相关概念来解释：‘sublime’是一种非常大的，有潜在危险的一种经历，这会让我们想起我们在这个世界上有多么渺小，以及这个宇宙有多么巨大。

　　5.Fantastic

　　极好的，空想的

　　The word ‘fantastic’ is also one that come to mean ‘excellent, good beyond expectation’. This seems to be especially the case within professional contexts; imagine a shop assistant replying with ‘fantastic’ when you produce a loyalty card, for example. But the word actually means ‘pertaining to fantasy’: ‘existing only in imagination; proceeding merely from imagination; fabulous, imaginary, unreal; fanciful’.

　　‘Fantastic’这个词也意为‘卓越的，比预期要好的’。这个在专业背景下尤其如此，例如，你可以想象，当你办理了一张忠诚卡时，商店的售货员就会说‘好极了’。但是实际上这个词意为‘与幻想有关’：‘只存在于想象之中;源自想象;传说的，想象的，不真实的;想象的，稀奇的’。

　　6.Fabulous

　　传说的，极好的

　　‘Fantastic’ leads us straight to ‘fabulous’, a word in its weakened state, often used as a synonym for ‘terrific’ or ‘marvellous’ – especially when it’s shortened to ‘fab’. Actually, it refers to anything relating to a fable or story. This could include a ‘fabulous’ author or a reader of their works; the events or characters of a fable; or real-life events or people that seem as if they are straight out of a work of fiction. To judge something ‘fabulous’, therefore, does not necessarily mean it is good.

　　‘Fantastic’这个词直接让我们想到了‘fabulous’这个词，‘fabulous’的语气没有‘fantastic’强，通常用作‘terrific’或者‘marvellous’的同义词 – 尤其是当‘fabulous’被缩写成‘fab’的时候。事实上，它指的是任何与寓言故事有关的事情。这可能包括一个极好的作者或者他们作品的读者;可以是寓言的时间或者人物;或者是那些现实生活中的事件以及那些看起来像从小说里走出来的人物。因此，判定某事是‘难以置信的’不一定意味着这一定是好事。

　　7.Epic

　　优秀的，杰出的

　　Another literary word that has strayed far from its original meaning is ‘epic’. The OED chiefly defines epic as ‘a poem, typically derived from ancient oral tradition, which celebrates in the form of a continuous narrative the achievements of one or more heroic characters; a book, film, or other creative work likened to an epic’. Think of the epics of Homer, the Iliad or the Odyssey. But ‘epic’ in its modern use tends to draw only on the grandeur of those classic poems, which were thousands of lines long, featured feats of superhuman endeavour, and had narratives that spanned a great many years. The dictionary records the weakened use of ‘epic’ as ‘particularly impressive or remarkable; excellent, outstanding’.

　　另一个偏离其文学原意的词汇就是‘epic’。《牛津英语词典》主要把‘epic’定义为一首诗，它通常来源于古代的口述传统，以一种持续的叙述形式来庆祝一个或者多个英雄人物的成就。一本书，一部电影或者其他的创造性作品都可以被比作‘epic’。想想荷马的史诗，《伊利亚特》或者《奥德赛》。但是在现代的用法之中，‘epic’似乎只指那些经典诗歌的伟大之处，这些诗有数千行，记录了一些超人的壮举，承载了上千年的故事。《牛津英语词典》记录了‘epic’被弱化的用法，意为‘尤其令人印象深刻，优秀的，杰出的’。

　　8.Brilliant

　　极好的

　　When we talk about a book or film we like, or about a friend’s examination scores, we might reach for the word ‘brilliant’. The OED records this kind of use as simple synonyms for the weakened ‘amazing’ or ‘fantastic’, and notes that the word ‘brilliant’ often relates to the intellect.

　　当谈论我们喜欢的电影，书籍或者是好朋友的考试分数时，我们可能都会用到‘brilliant’这个词。据《牛津英语词典》记录，brilliant的这种用法是作为‘amazing’或者‘fantastic’的同义词出现，此外词典中还说明‘brilliant’常指智力。

　　9.Amazing

　　令人惊讶的

　　‘Amazing’ is a word we use a lot to mean ‘great beyond expectation’ or ‘wonderful’, but which also has a good deal of other meanings annexed to it. An ‘amazing’ thing can be one that causes distraction or consternation, or which tends to confuse us – again, it is not simply the case that ‘amazing’ means good or positive.

　　我们常常使用‘amazing’来表示‘好到超出预期’或者是‘极好的’，但是‘amazing本身还有许多其他含义。’‘不可思议的’东西可能会让我们分心或者惊愕，甚至会让我们感到困惑 – 再次强调，‘amazing’不仅仅意味着好的或者积极的情况。

　　10.Lovely

　　令人愉快的

　　And last, but not least, is ‘lovely’. It might be its own fault that ‘lovely’ is so frequently used, as it has an extremely broad field of signification. At its broadest, it relates to ‘love’ and ‘loveable’, and means ‘loving, kind, affectionate’, but also ‘loveable and attractive’, ‘beautiful’, ‘pleasing to the senses’. Its weakest use, in the terms of the dictionary, is when it is used to mean ‘excellent; delightful, pleasant, nice’.

　　最后一个，但是却同样重要的就是‘lovely’。人们经常使用‘lovely’。这可能是‘lovely’本身的问题，因为‘lovely’本身含义就很广泛。广义上来讲，‘lovely’与‘爱’或者‘可爱的’联系紧密，意为‘爱，善良，感情丰富的’，也意为‘可爱的有吸引力的’，‘漂亮的’，‘悦耳的’。狭义上来讲，据词典中记载，它指‘优秀的，快乐的，令人愉快的，好的’。

　　That last point is perhaps the most important one of all. All the words on this brief list can be used to mean ‘good or great’. There’s a simple truth to the fact that we have pulled so many words towards one point of meaning, the judgment that something is ‘good or great’ – it’s that we’re looking for as many ways as possible to say good things to each other.

　　最后一点也许是最重要的一点。这个列表里所有的单词都可以用来表示‘好或者伟大的’。有一个简单的事实是我们把这么多的单词都归结为一个意义，用它们来表示判断，即某物是‘好的或者伟大的’– 这是我们在寻找尽可能多的表达方法来向彼此传达积极的事物。