Gradgrind 的词源

“冷漠、事实主义者”，源自查尔斯·狄更斯在《艰难时世》（1854年）中描绘的学区监督和工厂主的名字：

THOMAS GRADGRIND, sir. A man of realities. A man of facts and calculations. A man who proceeds upon the principle that two and two are four, and nothing over, and who is not to be talked into allowing for anything over. Thomas Gradgrind, sir - peremptorily Thomas - Thomas Gradgrind. With a rule and a pair of scales, and the multiplication table always in his pocket, sir, ready to weigh and measure any parcel of human nature, and tell you exactly what it comes to. It is a mere question of figures, a case of simple arithmetic. ....

In such terms Mr. Gradgrind always mentally introduced himself, whether to his private circle of acquaintance, or to the public in general. In such terms, no doubt, substituting the words 'boys and girls,' for 'sir,' Thomas Gradgrind now presented Thomas Gradgrind to the little pitchers before him, who were to be filled so full of facts.

Indeed, as he eagerly sparkled at them from the cellarage before mentioned, he seemed a kind of cannon loaded to the muzzle with facts, and prepared to blow them clean out of the regions of childhood at one discharge. He seemed a galvanizing apparatus, too, charged with a grim mechanical substitute for the tender young imaginations that were to be stormed away. 

汤姆斯·格拉德格林，先生。一个现实主义者。一个事实和计算的信奉者。一个坚信二加二等于四，绝不容许任何偏差的人。他就是汤姆斯·格拉德格林，先生——坚定地称呼自己为汤姆斯——汤姆斯·格拉德格林。手里拿着尺子和天平，口袋里永远揣着乘法表，随时准备衡量和评估任何人性的小细节，准确告诉你结果。这不过是数字游戏，简单的算术问题。……

正是这样的方式，格拉德格林先生总是向他的私人朋友或公众介绍自己。毫无疑问，他在向面前的小朋友们介绍自己时，也会把“先生”换成“男孩和女孩”，以此方式向他们传达，他就是那个要灌输给他们无数事实的汤姆斯·格拉德格林。

事实上，当他从前面提到的地下室里兴奋地朝他们闪现时，他就像一门装满事实的炮，准备一发将他们从童年的世界彻底轰出。他也像一个电击器，充满了机械的冷酷，准备用无情的方式取代那些脆弱而美好的童年想象，强行驱散它们。