First published in Harper’s Magazine, April 1937 Contributed to the new Encyclopédie Fran?aise, August 1937

IT is probable that the idea of an encyclopaedia¹ may undergo very considerable extension and elaboration in the near future. Its full possibilities have still to be realised. The encyclopaedias² of the past have sufficed for the needs of a cultivated minority. They were written “for gentlemen by gentlemen” in a world wherein universal education was unthought of, and where the institutions of modern democracy with universal suffrage³, so necessary in many respects, so difficult and dangerous in their working, had still to appear. Throughout the nineteenth century encyclopaedias followed the eighteenth-century scale and pattern, in spite both of a gigantic increase in recorded knowledge and of a still more gigantic growth in the numbers of human beings requiring accurate and easily accessible information. At first this disproportion was scarcely noted⁴, and its consequences not at all. But many people now are coming to recognise that our contemporary encyclopaedias are still in the coach-and-horses phase of development, rather than in the phase of the automobile⁵ and the aeroplane. Encyclopaedic enterprise has not kept pace with material progress. These observers realise that modern facilities of transport, radio, photographic reproduction and so forth⁶ are rendering⁷ practicable a much more fully⁸ succinct⁹ and accessible assembly of fact and ideas than was ever possible before.

Concurrently10

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1 encyclopaedia
n.百科全书
参考例句：
An encyclopaedia contains a lot of knowledge.百科全书包含很多知识。 This is an encyclopaedia of philosophy.这是本哲学百科全书。

2 encyclopaedias
n.百科全书，大全( encyclopaedia的名词复数 )
参考例句：
IT IS normally hard to get excited about encyclopaedias. 一般情况下，人们很难对一本百科全书而感到兴奋。 来自互联网 He went from door door, selling encyclopaedias. 他逐门逐户去推销百科全书。 来自互联网

3 suffrage
n.投票，选举权，参政权
参考例句：
The question of woman suffrage sets them at variance.妇女参政的问题使他们发生争执。 The voters gave their suffrage to him.投票人都投票选他。

4 noted
adj.著名的，知名的
参考例句：
The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。 Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

5 automobile
n.汽车，机动车
参考例句：
He is repairing the brake lever of an automobile.他正在修理汽车的刹车杆。 The automobile slowed down to go around the curves in the road.汽车在路上转弯时放慢了速度。

6 forth
adv.向前；向外，往外
参考例句：
The wind moved the trees gently back and forth.风吹得树轻轻地来回摇晃。 He gave forth a series of works in rapid succession.他很快连续发表了一系列的作品。

7 rendering
n.表现，描写
参考例句：
She gave a splendid rendering of Beethoven's piano sonata.她精彩地演奏了贝多芬的钢琴奏鸣曲。 His narrative is a super rendering of dialect speech and idiom.他的叙述是方言和土语最成功的运用。

8 fully
adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地
参考例句：
The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。 They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

9 succinct
adj.简明的，简洁的
参考例句：
The last paragraph is a succinct summary.最后这段话概括性很强。 A succinct style lends vigour to writing.措辞简练使文笔有力。

10 concurrently
adv.同时地
参考例句：
He was given two twelve month sentences to run concurrently. 他两罪均判12个月监禁，同期执行。 来自《简明英汉词典》 He was given two prison sentences, to run concurrently. 他两罪均判监禁，同期执行。 来自辞典例句

11 organisation
n.组织，安排，团体，有机休
参考例句：
The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。 His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

12 resistant
adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的
参考例句：
Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。 They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

13 texture
n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理
参考例句：
We could feel the smooth texture of silk.我们能感觉出丝绸的光滑质地。 Her skin has a fine texture.她的皮肤细腻。

14 unified
(unify 的过去式和过去分词)； 统一的； 统一标准的； 一元化的
参考例句：
The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。 The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。

15 supplementary
adj.补充的，附加的
参考例句：
There is a supplementary water supply in case the rain supply fails.万一主水源断了，我们另外有供水的地方。 A supplementary volume has been published containing the index.附有索引的增补卷已经出版。

16 gist
n.要旨；梗概
参考例句：
Can you give me the gist of this report?你能告诉我这个报告的要点吗？ He is quick in grasping the gist of a book.他敏于了解书的要点。

17 bibliography
n.参考书目；(有关某一专题的)书目
参考例句：
There is a useful bibliography at the end of each chapter.在每一章后附有一份有用的参考书目。 The production of this bibliography is totally automated.这个目录的编制过程全是自动化的。

18 infancy
n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期
参考例句：
He came to England in his infancy.他幼年时期来到英国。 Their research is only in its infancy.他们的研究处于初级阶段。

19 recondite
adj.深奥的，难解的
参考例句：
Her poems are modishly experimental in style and recondite in subject-matter.她的诗在风格上是时髦的实验派，主题艰深难懂。 To a craftsman,the ancient article with recondite and scholastic words was too abstruse to understand.可是对一个车轮师父而言，这些之乎者也的文言文是太深而难懂的。

20 specimens
n.样品( specimen的名词复数 )；范例；（化验的）抽样；某种类型的人
参考例句：
Astronauts have brought back specimens of rock from the moon. 宇航员从月球带回了岩石标本。 The traveler brought back some specimens of the rocks from the mountains. 那位旅行者从山上带回了一些岩石标本。 来自《简明英汉词典》

21 simultaneously
adv.同时发生地，同时进行地
参考例句：
The radar beam can track a number of targets almost simultaneously.雷达波几乎可以同时追着多个目标。 The Windows allow a computer user to execute multiple programs simultaneously.Windows允许计算机用户同时运行多个程序。

22 projection
n.发射，计划，突出部分
参考例句：
Projection takes place with a minimum of awareness or conscious control.投射在最少的知觉或意识控制下发生。 The projection of increases in number of house-holds is correct.对户数增加的推算是正确的。

23 diffused
散布的，普及的，扩散的
参考例句：
A drop of milk diffused in the water. 一滴牛奶在水中扩散开来。 Gases and liquids diffused. 气体和液体慢慢混合了。

24 vitality
n.活力，生命力，效力
参考例句：
He came back from his holiday bursting with vitality and good health.他度假归来之后，身强体壮，充满活力。 He is an ambitious young man full of enthusiasm and vitality.他是个充满热情与活力的有远大抱负的青年。

25 artistic
adj.艺术(家)的，美术(家)的；善于艺术创作的
参考例句：
The picture on this screen is a good artistic work.这屏风上的画是件很好的艺术品。 These artistic handicrafts are very popular with foreign friends.外国朋友很喜欢这些美术工艺品。

26 simplicity
n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯
参考例句：
She dressed with elegant simplicity.她穿着朴素高雅。 The beauty of this plan is its simplicity.简明扼要是这个计划的一大特点。

27 condensations
n.冷凝( condensation的名词复数 )；冷凝液；凝结的水珠；节略
参考例句：
The removal of ultrafine particles from coal combustion was investigated experimentally based on condensations vaporwet scrubber. 对洗涤塔内相变促进燃煤细颗粒凝结长大与脱除进行了实验研究。 来自互联网

28 sanely
ad.神志清楚地
参考例句：
This homogenization simplifies and uncomplicated the world enough to model It'sanely. 这种均质化的处理方式，简化了世界，足以能够稳妥地为它建模。 She is behaving rather sanely these days even though we know she is schizophrenic. 尽管我们知道她有精神分裂症，但那些天她的举止还算清醒。

29 archaic
adj.(语言、词汇等)古代的，已不通用的
参考例句：
The company does some things in archaic ways,such as not using computers for bookkeeping.这个公司有些做法陈旧，如记账不使用电脑。 Shaanxi is one of the Chinese archaic civilized origins which has a long history.陕西省是中国古代文明发祥之一，有悠久的历史。

30 discords
不和（discord的复数形式）
参考例句：
There are many discords in this family. 在这个家庭里有许多争吵。 The speaker's opinion discords with the principles of this society. 演讲者的意见与本会的原则不符。

31 steadily
adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地
参考例句：
The scope of man's use of natural resources will steadily grow.人类利用自然资源的广度将日益扩大。 Our educational reform was steadily led onto the correct path.我们的教学改革慢慢上轨道了。

32 ideology
n.意识形态，(政治或社会的)思想意识
参考例句：
The ideology has great influence in the world.这种思想体系在世界上有很大的影响。 The ideal is to strike a medium between ideology and inspiration.我的理想是在意识思想和灵感鼓动之间找到一个折衷。

33 unity
n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调
参考例句：
When we speak of unity,we do not mean unprincipled peace.所谓团结，并非一团和气。 We must strengthen our unity in the face of powerful enemies.大敌当前，我们必须加强团结。

34 concisely
adv.简明地
参考例句：
These equations are written more concisely as a single columnmatrix equation. 这些方程以单列矩阵方程表示会更简单。 来自辞典例句 The fiber morphology can be concisely summarized. 可以对棉纤维的形态结构进行扼要地归纳。 来自辞典例句

35 essentially
adv.本质上，实质上，基本上
参考例句：
Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。 She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

36 colossal
adj.异常的，庞大的
参考例句：
There has been a colossal waste of public money.一直存在巨大的公款浪费。 Some of the tall buildings in that city are colossal.那座城市里的一些高层建筑很庞大。

37 mentality
n.心理，思想，脑力
参考例句：
He has many years'experience of the criminal mentality.他研究犯罪心理有多年经验。 Running a business requires a very different mentality from being a salaried employee.经营企业所要求具备的心态和上班族的心态截然不同。

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