《现代汉语词典》不仅是中小学生必备的学习工具书现代汉语字典，其中词条的收录和删除也展现出时代的变迁和中国的发展变革。最新版的《现代汉语词典》还收录了一些时下流行的网络潮词。
7月15日，一名小读者在杭州一家书店里阅读《现代汉语词典》第6版。龙巍摄（新华社发）
在中国，如果一个中小学生想要一本参考书，《现代汉语词典》肯定是首选。
In China, if a primary or middle school student wants a reference book, the Modern Chinese Dictionary will definitely be at the top of the shopping list.
商务印书馆汉语编辑中心主任余桂林表示现代汉语字典，9月中旬，该词典推出了手机应用程序，为使用者提供更便捷的服务项目加盟，丰富他们的阅读体验。
In mid-September, the dictionary launched its mobile app to offer more convenient services for users and enrich their reading experience, according to Yu Guilin, director of the Chinese language editing center of the Commercial Press.
自1978年首次出版以来，《现代汉语词典》已在全球售出7000多万册，对汉语学习产生了深远的影响。同一年，中国开始改革开放。
With a far-reaching influence in learning the Chinese language, the Modern Chinese Dictionary has sold more than 70 million copies globally since its first edition came out in 1978, the same year China began its reform and opening up.
但是对于编纂者来说，从零开始编写汉语词典是一个漫长而艰难的过程。他们在20世纪50年代开始编写，当时市面上大多数词典都是用文言文编写的，已经过时。
But it was a long and uphill journey for compilers to create the dictionary in Mandarin Chinese from scratch. They started the project in the 1950s when most dictionaries on the market were written in Classical Chinese and had been outdated.
from scratch：从头开始
“电报”是首版《现代汉语词典》收录的超过5.6万个词条之一，这在当时还是新鲜事物。
“Telegraph” was among more than 56,000 entries in the first edition of the dictionary, new to Chinese at that time.
entry[ˈentrɪ]：n. 条目
72岁的李向国（音）回忆起20世纪80年代初电报的全盛时期，当时他在中国西北的陕西省当公务员。当时，中国人主要通过电报传递信息。
Li Xiangguo, 72, recalled the heyday of the telegraph when he worked as a public servant in northwest China’s Shaanxi province in the early 1980s. At the time, Chinese people delivered messages mainly through telegraph.
heyday [ˈheɪdeɪ]：n. 全盛期
他说：“当时，电话机在全县并不普及。电报员每天都忙着收发电报。”
“Telephone sets were not widely available in the whole county. Telegraphers were very busy tapping on the keys of the telegraph machines every day,” Li said.
人们耐心地等待数小时、数天或数周才能收到信息的日子已经一去不复返了。如今，只需在手持设备的屏幕上轻敲几下就可以传递信息。
Long gone are the days when people mustered enough patience to wait hours, days or weeks for their messages to get through. Nowadays, messages can be delivered through a few taps on a handheld screen.
这一变化已反映在词典中。《现代汉语词典》第六版增加了“手机”一词。
The change has been reflected in the dictionary. In the sixth edition of the Modern Chinese Dictionary, the new term “cellphone” was added.
正如已故的词典主编吕叔湘所说，现代的词典应该通过不断的修订与时俱进。
As Lyu Shuxiang, the late chief editor of the dictionary put it, the modern dictionary should keep up with the times through revisions.
由于经济的快速增长和社会的剧烈变化，《现代汉语词典》每六到七年就会修订一次。自1949年中华人民共和国成立以来，这部词典已经出版了七次。
Through rapid economic growth and drastic social change, the Modern Chinese Dictionary has been revised every six to seven years. Seven editions have been published since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949.
1996年出版的版本有超过6.1万个词条，其中有许多新词、短语和习语，如“个体经营者”、“商品房”和“打车”，这些都是改革开放以来随着市场经济的兴起而出现的。
In the version published in 1996, which had over 61,000 entries, there were many new words, phrases and idioms, such as “self-employed individual,” “commercial residential building” and “taxi-hailing,” which emerged with the rise of the market-oriented economy since China’s reform and opening up.
