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Oxford Dictionary, one part of our memory
牛津字典，我们记忆中的一部分
Sales of the third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) have fallen and will never appear in print again because of the impact of the internet on book sales, according to its publisher.
牛津大学出版社近日称，他们有可能停止《牛津英文词典》第三版的再版。由于网络对图书市场的冲击，《牛津英文词典》第三版销量下降。
The dictionary’s owner, Oxford University Press (OUP), said the impact of the internet means the third edition of the OED-known as OED3-will probably appear only in electronic form.
牛津大学出版社称网络的冲击使得《牛津英文词典》第三版将来很有可能只以电子版形式销售。
“The print dictionary market is just disappearing, it is falling away by tens of percent a year,” said Nigel Portwood, the chief executive of OUP.
牛津大学出版社行政总裁奈杰尔-波特伍德称，“印刷版词典市场正在缩水，每年市场份额都下降10 个百分点左右”。
Asked if he thought the third edition would be printed, he said: “I don’t think so.” Portwood said printed dictionaries had a shelf life of about another 30 years.
当被问到第三版会不会继续印刷时，他说：“我可不这么想。”波特伍德称印刷版词典在货架上销售的“寿命”只剩下30 年。
Now a team of 80 lexicographers has been working on the third edition of the OED3 for the past 21 years.
在过去的21 年里，由80 人组成的编纂小组一直从事着《牛津英文词典》第三版的编纂工作。
It is still estimated to be more than a decade away from completion; only 28 percent has been finished to date.
但是编纂工作才仅仅完成了21%，还需要十年时间继续努力。
OUP said it would continue to print the more familiar Oxford Dictionary of English, the single-volume version sold in bookshops and which contains more contemporary entries such as vuvuzela, the plastic trumpet encountered in the 2010 football World Cup.
出版社称将继续出版为大众所熟悉的《牛津英文词典》版本，即书店常见的单卷版。这个版本收录了更多当代词条。例如，今年南非世界杯期间的助威工具呜呜祖拉已入选最新的修订版。
The most recent OED has existed online for more than a decade, where it receives two million hits a month from subscribers who pay an annual fee of 240 pounds.
时下流行的《牛津英文词典》第二版已在网上流行了10 年，每月点击率达200 万次。想要使用的用户每年需支付240 英镑订阅费。
“Books are about to vanish; reading is about to expand as a pastime; these are inescapable realities,”said Portwood.
波特伍德说，“纸质书即将消失，阅读将会成为一种消遣，我们无法阻止这些事实的发生。”
