2005/07/15
Dear friends,
Although this week’s quote is not directly related to the world of books and libraries, we think it certainly captures the essence of the changes our sector has experienced over the past 10 years. Just think of the effect of the World Wide Web on information distribution or of Google on searching. Both were revolutionary when first introduced, but have since become everyday tools. What would we ever do without them? Google has become so accepted that the verb “to google” has already entered the English language.
“At first people refuse to believe that a strange new thing can be done, then they begin to hope it can be done, then they see it can be done, then it is done and all the world wonders why it was not done centuries before”.
“En un primer momento los humanos desconfían de la posibilidad de que algo nuevo pueda hacerse; a continuación empiezan a sentir el deseo de que se haga; después descubren que puede hacerse; por fin se hace y la humanidad entera se pregunta por qué no se hizo cientos de años atrás”.
This quote was contributed by Cristina de la Peña, who used it in her presentation at the 2005 Fesabid meeting in Madrid. She first heard it from her colleague Wim Luijendijk, though the authorship is attributed to Frances Hodgson Burnett (1849-1924), an English writer of children’s books.
VOCABULARY
everyday = cotidiano
to google = realizar una búsqueda en Google.
Ejemplo:
She googled Burnett’s name to find out what books the author had written.
to wonder = preguntarse:
She wondered whether or not she could keep up with all the technological changes.
to refuse = negarse, rechazar. El acento recae en la última sílaba. La misma palabra, con el acento en la primera sílaba, se convierte en sustantivo con el significado de “basura”.
Otras palabras que ofrecen esta misma dualidad son:
acento en la primera sílaba – acento en la segunda sílaba:
refuse = basura – rechazar
present = regalo – presentar
produce = productos de huerto – producir
progress = progreso – progresar
desert = desierto – desertar
Y para terminar el postre:
dessert [disét] (se pronuncia diferente que “desertar” [dizét] en inglés) = postres
What is there for dessert? = ¿Qué hay de postre?
Enjoy the weekend!
Alice & Tomà s
