Lexicography provides at its best a joyful sense of busyness with language2) One is immersed in the details of language as in no other field. 3) Sometimes the details are so overwhelming and endless they sap the spirit and depress the mind4) Often at the end of a hard day’s work one realizes with dismay that the meager stack of finished work one has accomplished has an immeasurably slight impact on the work as a whole 5) As I hope the readers of this work will come to understand dictionaries do not sprint into being 6)People must plan them collect information and write them.7 )Writing takes time and it is often frustrating and even infuriating.8 )No other form of writing is at once so quixotic and so intensely practical.9) Dictionary making does not require brilliance or originality of mind.10) It does require high intelligence mastery of the craft and dedication to hard work.11) If one has produced a dictionary one has the satisfaction of having produced a work of enduring value.

　　參考譯文

　　詞典編纂的絕妙之處是給人一種與語(yǔ)言打交道的快樂(lè)感。不像其他領(lǐng)域，編詞典的人整天都鉆在語(yǔ)言材料中。有時(shí)碰到的語(yǔ)言材料浩如煙海，令人耗神。往往一天辛苦工作下來(lái)，發(fā)覺(jué)所完成的薄薄幾頁(yè)草稿只是全部工作的九牛一毛，好不沮喪。正如我希望這部著作的讀者會(huì)逐漸明白的那樣，詞典并非是一蹴而就的。必須先制定計(jì)劃，收集材料，然后方能編寫(xiě)。編寫(xiě)詞典不僅耗費(fèi)時(shí)間，而且常讓人受挫，甚至惱怒。沒(méi)有其他的寫(xiě)作像編纂詞典那樣，既要有空想又要腳踏實(shí)地。詞典編纂并不需要橫渡的才華或獨(dú)創(chuàng)的思維，但卻要求很高的智力，對(duì)詞典編纂的精通，和甘于吃苦的精神。一個(gè)人編寫(xiě)出一部詞典，就會(huì)因它的長(zhǎng)久價(jià)值而得到一份快慰。