state-of-the-art”  很熟悉，我是常用的，主要是写proposal申请房顶。每次必用。还有一个词”novel”，同一文件中交换着用，以免单调。Review 别人proposal时，也是看到90%以上的文本也在用。从来没有查过辞典，因为从来没有怀疑过自己不懂它的意思。如果要我翻成中文的话，应该是‘当今顶尖的成果’。

听说还有第二种意思，好奇起来，具说字典也落伍了，真是有点不可思议。我自己英文底子低，无法判断是非，不过字典还时要查一查的，至少比我要权威的多。下面选登差到的三个字典的定义

Definition of “state-of-the-art” 

1. Wikipedia

State of the art (sometimes cutting edge)  refers to the highest level of general development, as of a device, technique, or scientific field achieved at a particular time.

2．Merriam-Webster (since 1828)

The level of development (as of a device, procedure, process, technique, or science) reached at any particular time usually as a result of modern methods

3. Cambridge dictionary

The besgt and most modern of its type

三个辞典的解释是一致的。 三者都没有给出第二种其它的意思。再看看这个词的原始出处的来龙去脉。

Origin and history ( from wikipedia)

The origin of the concept of "state of the art" took place in the beginning of the twentieth century.^[3] The earliest use of the term "state of the art" documented by the Oxford English Dictionary dates back to 1910, from an engineering manual by Henry Harrison Suplee (1856-post 1943), an engineering graduate (University of Pennsylvania, 1876), titled Gas Turbine: progress in the design and construction of turbines operated by gases of combustion. The passage reads: "In the present state of the art this is all that can be done". The term, "art", itself refers to the useful arts, skills and methods relating to practical subjects such as manufacture and craftsmanship, rather than in the sense of the performing arts and the fine arts.

看来是个相对的新词（1910），最早是用在指燃气轮机叶片达到当时的最高水平，也就是我说的顶尖的成果（"In the present state of the art this is all that can be done".）。z重要是 最后一句明白无误地点明：不要误读The term, "art"， 它与‘the sense of the performing arts and the fine arts.’无关。

那么有没有可能经过一，二百年后变迁。该词义演变出其他的新意呢？ 也许吧，尤其是如果这个新意已经广泛的被使用在某些领域，那么一定会在文献中找到有许多现成的例子。因为我自己孤陋寡闻，在科技文献中从来没有遇到过。很希望广闻博阅者帮助捡索出几个例子，让我们百闻不如一见，学习一下。