If a providential whisper had told Murray at the moment a hundred years ago (when at the age of forty he agreed to edit the dictionary)that nine years after the work had started only the letters A and B would have been published, and that he would die at the age of 78 without having quite reached the end of his endeavor, would he ever have set out on such a life work?

熱心網友

providential 幸運的如果100年前，在默里40歲剛同意編纂這本字典的時候，他幸運地知道在工作開始的9年之后連字典的A詞條和B詞條都還不會被出版，并且在他78歲時就會擱下遠未完成的這項工作離開人世的話， 他還會決定接受這份花費他一生的工作嗎？