Day 323 morning 2021
charm：魅力
最初指的是具有魔力的咒语
当今之世哪个女人不希望自己富于 charm （魅力），然而在14世纪 charm 用于女人就不是什么好的字眼了。
英语单词 charm 其实和 chant （吟唱、圣歌）、 enchant （迷住）同源， 它来自拉丁语 carmen ，而 carmen 来自 chant 的词源 canere （唱），指的是唱的“咒语”。做动词时等于 enchant ，指通过念咒施展魔 法来迷住。后来才衍生出“魅力、魔力”等含义，而原来的“咒语”含义反而消失了。
charm 借自法语 charme ，而法语词则源自拉丁语 carmen （曲子，妖术），因此 charm 最初有“摄人心魂的歌声”“妖术”“魔法”等义。嗣后，词义中“歌声”这一成分逐渐丧失，而且词义变化也由贬而褒。
charm 的今义“魅力”“迷人之处”始用于16世纪。英语中另有几个词如 chant （曲子，圣歌）， enchant （使着魔，使入迷）， incantation （咒语，妖术）等与 charm 一词均有些亲缘关系。
So I lived my life alone, without anyone that I could really talk to, until I had an accident with my plane in the Desert of Sahara, six years ago. Something was broken in my engine. And as I had with me neither a mechanic nor any passengers, I set myself to attempt the difficult repairs all alone. It was a question of life or death for me, I had scarcely enough drinking water to last a week.
The first night, then, I went to sleep on the sand, a thousand miles from any human habitation. I was more isolated than a shipwrecked sailor on a raft in the middle of the ocean. Thus you can imagine my amazement, at sunrise, when I was awakened by an odd little voice. It said:
“If you please—draw me a sheep?”
“What?”
“Draw me a sheep…”
I jumped to my feet, completely thunderstruck. I blinked my eyes hard. I looked carefully all around me. And I saw a most extraordinary small person, who stood there examining me with great seriousness. Here you may see the best portrait that, later, I was able to make of him.
But my drawing is certainly very much less charming than its model.
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