爱思英语编者按：《牛津词典》宣布“selfie(自拍)”成为2013年度热词。那么这个词因何走红？又有着怎样的进化史？一起来看看年度热词的前世今生吧！
‘Selfie’ joins ranks of dictionary words
“自拍”：年度热词的前世今生
In 2002, an Australian man went to his friend’s 21st birthday party. He got drunk, tripped on some steps and cut his lip. He took a picture of his injuries and shared it with his friends on an online forum.
2002年时，一位澳大利亚男子参加朋友的21岁生日聚会。聚会上他喝得酩酊大醉，不慎从台阶摔下，磕破了嘴唇。他拍了张负伤照，并上传到网络论坛上与朋友分享。
“And sorry about the focus,” he wrote, “it was a selfie.”
他写道：“抱歉没对好焦，有些模糊，因为这是张‘selfie’（自拍）。”
That was the first recorded use of the word “selfie”, according to linguistic experts at Oxford Dictionaries.
来自《牛津词典》的语言专家组表示，这是“selfie（自拍）”一词最早出现的记录。
On Nov 19, Oxford Dictionaries declared “selfie” Word of the Year for 2013, in honor of the term having taken over the world thanks to millions of smartphone self-portraits and the resulting shares on social media.
11月19日，《牛津词典》宣布“selfie（自拍）”成为牛津2013年度热词，以表彰这一凭借智能手机自拍以及社交媒体分享而风靡世界的词汇。
Research by Oxford Dictionaries’ editors found that the frequency of “selfie” in the English language has increased by 17,000 percent since this time last year.
《牛津词典》编委会经研究发现，英语中“selfie（自拍）”一词的使用频率较去年同期增长了170倍。
“The word gained momentum throughout the English-speaking world in 2013 as it evolved from a social media buzzword to mainstream shorthand for a self-portrait photograph,” Oxford Dictionaries explained in a news release. “Its linguistic productivity is already evident in the creation of numerous related spin-off terms showcasing particular parts of the body like helfie (a picture of one’s hair); a particular activity — welfie (workout selfie) and drelfie (drunken selfie), and even items of furniture — shelfie.”
《牛津词典》编委会在一场新闻发布会上表示：“该词在2013年的英文界可谓是风生水起，它从一个社交媒体流行词发展演变成公认的“自拍照”简称。Selfie（自拍）也是一个高产词汇，不断涌现出一系列衍生词，可以晒身体某一部分，如“发型自拍”；也可以晒活动，如“welfie（健身自拍）”和“drelfie（酒后自拍）”；甚至还可以晒家具，例如“shelfie（书架自拍）”。
So what does the choice of the word say about our culture? Mary Elizabeth Williams, writing in Salon magazine, says the word reminds us that contemporary culture is defined by our narcissism.
那么selfie（自拍）一词的当选又代表着怎样一种文化现象呢？ 玛丽·伊丽莎白·威廉姆斯在《沙龙》杂志上写道：“这个词在提醒我们，当代文化被打上了自恋的烙印。”
Selfies are narcissistic, but so what? An article in The Atlantic Wire points out that the very sort of narcissism that feeds selfies was thriving well before the Internet. Think about painted self-portraits by Van Gogh and other masters. Bookstores, too, have an entire section for narcissism — the autobiography, or “literary selfie”, as it should be renamed for young readers.
尽管“自拍”同自恋画上等号，但那又如何？刊登在《大西洋月刊》上的一篇文章就指出，其实早在互联网出现之前，孕育“自拍”的极度自恋行为就已十分普遍。想想文森特·威廉·梵高和其他大师的自画像、书店里销售的自传（也可称作是“文学自拍”），都是自恋的体现。
Like great works of art, selfies aren’t meant to be looked at solely by the subject, writes Jonathan Freedland in The Guardian. However superficial a selfie may look, its purpose is to be transmitted by social media. This is the selfie’s redeeming feature. They may be focused on the self, but they also express a timeless human need to connect with others.
乔纳森·菲德兰德在英国《卫报》的文章中写道：自拍同许多伟大的艺术品一样，我们不应该只是就事论事。不管自拍看上去有多么肤浅，它最终目的都是为了通过社交媒体传播。这是自拍的一大优点。尽管拍照者可能关注的是自身，但这些照片表达了人类渴望交流的永恒诉求。
Selfies invite judgment based on appearance alone. What kind of cultural influence does this have on women? Erin Gloria Ryan on Jezebel says selfies teach young woman to obsess over their appearance and judge themselves on the basis of beauty rather than accomplishments. “They’re a reflection of the warped way we teach girls to see themselves as decorative,” said Ryan.
“自拍”因其“外貌至上”的特点而饱受批评。而自拍照对于女性又产生了怎样的文化影响呢？艾琳·格洛丽亚·莱恩在社交网站Jezebel上写道，自拍照让年轻女性过于迷恋个人外貌，更爱以貌取人而非个人成就。莱恩说：“自拍照让女性认为自己是“花瓶”，这显然是一种价值观的扭曲。”
In Slate magazine, Rachel Simmons has the opposite view. She argues that selfies are an example of young women promoting themselves and taking control of their own self-presentation. Think of each one, she says, as “a tiny pulse of girl pride — a shout-out to the self”.
瑞秋·西蒙在美国《石板》杂志上则发表了不同看法。她认为自拍照是年轻女性懂得自我提升、自我展示的体现。她表示，看着一张张自拍，仿佛都是“女孩彰显自信的小火花，是种自我的呐喊”。