在悼念斯坦李老爷子的同时，一起来了解这句"Excelsior!" 的真正含义,文波英语微信公众号文章

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美国当地时间11月12日，漫威之父Stan Lee于洛杉矶去世，享年95岁。他的个人官方推特账号于12日发布了去世的消息，并配有老爷子的经典结束语"Excelsior!"

社交网络上也有很多人以Excelsior结尾来悼念这位漫画巨匠。

Excelsior这个单词到底代表了什么，今天我们悼念这位漫画巨匠的同时，一起来了解一下老爷子这句"Excelsior!" 的真正含义：

Do You Know What Stan Lee's Catchphrase 'Excelsior' Really Means?

catchphrase n. 警句，标语

excelsior adj. 精益求精的；不断向上的

Comic and superhero creator, Stan Lee passed away at 95 yesterday.

He was known for creating characters like Spider-Man, Iron Man, the Hulk, X-Men and a cavalcade of other Marvel Comics superheroes that have become mythic figures in pop culture and have turned into movies with soaring success at the movie box office.

cavalcade n. 行列，队伍；骑兵队

mythic adj. 神话的；虚构的

figure n. 人物；画像；图形；体形；数字 v. 计算；描绘；象征；认为；出现；扮演角色

soaring adj. 高耸的；猛增的；翱翔的

Excelsior also spiked in Google Trends searches.

spike v. 用尖物刺穿；阻止；以大钉钉牢这里指谷歌搜索量突增

After the news of his death broke, fans, friends and family paid their tribute on social media with one keyword 'Excelsior.'

pay tribute 致敬；朝贡

So, what is 'Excelsior'?

'Excelsior' which is Latin for "ever upward," was Stan Lee's catchphrase. In 1960's when Atlas Comics became Marvel, Lee's monthly column would be signed off with "Excelsior."

column n. 专栏；纵队，列；圆柱，柱形物

In a 2007 interview, he revealed how he wanted to create a unique word that his rivals at the time wouldn't be tempted to copy.

rival n. 竞争者；对手 adj. 竞争的 v. 与···竞争；比得上某人

tempt v. 诱惑；引起；使···感兴趣；冒···的风险

"I used to have a lot of expressions that I would end my comic book columns with: Hang Loose, Face Front, 'Nuff Said, and I found that the competition was always imitating them and using them. So, I said I'm going to get one expression that they're not going to know what it means, and they won't know how to spell it. And that's where excelsior came from, and they never did take up on it, thank goodness," he had then said.

Nuff=enough的口语化表达

imitate v. 模仿，效仿；仿造，仿制

take up 占据；拿起；开始从事

What Stan Lee claimed started as a clever way to sign-off and not have it copied, became a slogan for him, which he would continue to repeat throughout his life. Maybe more than just a way to sign-off, 'excelsior' became part of Stan Lee's way of reminding us, to move 'ever upwards.'

sign-off 广播完毕；签署同意

slogan n. 标语；呐喊声

Stan Lee is known for creating superhero characters. But perhaps, Stan Lee was the superhero all along. Through his work he gave us enough space to be weird, different and ourselves. To all the young kids who would pore over their pulp magazines, turning pages, wide-eyed at Spiderman yet again saving the day, he provided a refuge, a different world, and a safe space. More than just creating superheroes, he created superheroes in all of us - reminding us that potential is endless, and even though we can't all have Adamantium running through our veins, bravery was something Wolverine didn't have clinically injected into him.

pore over 集中精神的阅读；注视

pulp magazine 纸浆杂志（一种20世纪上半叶的廉价杂志）

wide-eyed adj. 吃惊的；睁大眼睛的；天真的

refuge n. 避难所；庇护 v. 给予···庇护；（接纳···）避难

vein n. 血管；叶脉；纹理；性情 v. 使成脉络

Wolverine 金刚狼

clinically adv. 临床地；不偏不倚地

inject v. 注射；注入

Tributes to Stan Lee after news of him passing, show just that.