每日一词 01 | cripple
1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:cripple
英英释义:to cause great damage to something
例句:The war has crippled the economy.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
“cripple”作为名词,常表示“瘸子”(有冒犯意义),作动词常表示“使残疾”、“使成为跛子”,不过它也常用来表示“严重破坏(组织、体系)”。
当我们想表示“破坏”时,除了用 damage…badly,我们可以直接用更简洁、形象的 cripple。比如:
The war has crippled the economy.
战争使经济陷入瘫痪。这句话读起来,仿佛“economy”是个人一样,一下子因为“war”成了残疾,很有画面感。
前不久洪水严重破坏了山东寿光的上百万户家庭,就可以说:
Not long ago floods crippled millions of households in Shouguang, Shandong Province.
“cripple” 的“严重破坏”还可以是心理上的。比如在《中国合伙人》中,邓超饰演的孟晓俊从美国回来给学生们做演讲,不过他上台后,因为怯场在演讲台上一句话也说不出来。这时我们就可以说:
Stage fright crippled him.
美国脱口秀主持人 Trevor Noah 在它的回忆录 Born a Crime 中也用到了这个词。想要实现种族隔离(apartheid),政府需要先让黑人群体接受次等的教育,让他们变得愚蠢,作者就写到:
The only way to make apartheid work is to cripple the black mind.
3. 从认识到会用
翻译下面的句子:
台风山竹(Typhoon Mangkhut)严重破坏了香港和广东地区的电力供应和通讯服务。
(参考翻译:Typhoon Mangkhut has crippled the electricity supply and communication services in Hong Kong and Guangdong. )
每日一词 02 | count
1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:count
英英释义:to be important or valuable
例句:How you learn it counts more than how much you learn.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
“count”最常见的动词意思是“数数”,但也可作不及物动词,表示“什么什么重要”。很多时候当我们想用到形容词“important”时,就可以用更简洁的动词“count”。这个用法可能是《经济学人》的记者和编辑最喜欢使用的几十个小词之一,在口语中也是极其高频的表达。
我们常说“细节非常重要”,就可以说 Details count. “第一印象很重要”,可以说 First impressions count. 比如想要表达“财富观比拥有的财富本身更重要”时,我们可以说:
What counts the most is not how rich you are, but how you treat wealth.
这个 “What counts the most is not X, but Y.” 就是一个超高频句式,口语和写作中都可以用得到。在《极简欧洲史》(The Shortest History of Europe)中,作者提到“民主”的定义时就引用了下面这段话:
When it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses.
“count”的这层意思还有一个孪生词:“matter”。两个词可以完美同义替换,上面例句中的“count”也都可以用“matter”来替换,比如:
How you learn it matters more than how much you learn.
这段话也体现了“每日一词”的初衷:学习那些最值得学习的词,把这些词学透。
3. 从认识到会用
翻译下面的句子:
重要的不是发生了什么事,而是你如何应对这件事。
(参考翻译:How you respond to it counts/matters more than what happened.)
每日一词 03 | shape
1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:shape
英英释义: to influence the way that a person, idea, or situation develops
例句:Phenomenal English is shaping how English learners approach the language.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
“shape”作为名词表示“形状”,它也常作为动词使用,意思是“影响”、“塑造”、“决定”。用它可以替换 influence 和 have an impact on。由于“shape”有“形状”的意思,因此作“塑造”的意思形象生动,表示影响的程度很大。
比如,柯林斯词典中就有这样一个简单实用的例句:
Like it or not, our families shape our lives and make us what we are.
《经济学人》在写政策、制度、法规等对社会和人的影响时,会经常用到这个词。2016 年《经济学人》圣诞特刊中,有一篇文章写的是经济学人集团所在的大楼对它的影响,作者是这样写的:
Over the years the building has shaped The Economist in several ways, some good, some less so.
再如,On Writing Well 的作者 William Zinsser 在另一本著作 Writing Places 中,提到一份报纸对他童年的影响时是这样写的:
When I was a kid the Herald Tribune had shaped the values I would take through life as a writer.
另外,“reshape”也经常出现,可以和“shape”放在一起来学习。
3. 从认识到会用
翻译下面的句子:
很多人认为,我们所讲的语言可以决定我们的思维方式。
(参考翻译:Many believe that the language we speak shapes the way we think.)
每日一词 04 | shift
1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:shift
英英释义:to change a situation, discussion, etc by giving special attention to one idea or subject instead of to a previous one
例句:An increasing number of English learners are shifting their focus from input to output.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
“shift”本意是一个物体、一个东西的位置发生了变化,电脑上的“shift”键就是切换键,按住它再按其它的键就会实现不同的功能。
“shift”逐渐也引申为表示观点、态度、聚焦点等的变化,很多时候都可以用它替换“change”。
比如,最近几年大众对同性恋的态度已经有所改变了,就可以说:
Attitudes to homosexuality have shifted in recent years.
再比如,很多人已经不再选择拥有自己的自行车,而是骑共享单车了,就可以说:
Many have shifted from owning bicycles to using shared bicycles.
再如,William Zinsser 在写到自己写作的兴趣时也用到了“shift”:
I wanted to understand what was happening, and as the old values shifted, so did my concerns as a journalist.
3. 从认识到会用
翻译下面的句子:
这家消费品公司的战略从国内市场转移到了国外市场。
(参考翻译:This consumer goods company has shifted its strategy from domestic market to overseas market.)
每日一词 05 | favor
1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:favor
英英释义:feel or show approval or preference for
例句:Phenomenal English has been increasingly favored by serious English learners.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
从“favor”的英英释义可以看得出,它有两层意思,一层是赞同(approval),另一层是偏好(preference),所以“favor”可以分别替换“support”和“prefer”。不管是哪层意思,“favor”都是及物动词,也都会经常出现在《经济学人》中。
比如,最近有一个很火的二手书交易平台“多抓鱼”(它的外文名是 Déjà vu),我们就可以说:
Déjà vu, an online second-hand book marketplace, has been increasingly favored by book lovers.
再比如,我们发现在很多地铁上和公园里,乞丐都在用微信和支付宝收款码乞讨了,就可以这么说:
Mobile payment has been increasingly favored by beggars.
你应该注意到了,“X has been increasingly favored by Y” 是一个超高频句式。当你想表达什么东西越来越受某个人群的青睐了,就可以直接用。
“favor”表示“赞同”的意思也很常见。比如,特朗普的移民政策不太友好,就可以说:
Clearly, Trump doesn't favor immigration.
再如,William Zinsser 在 On Writing Well 中写采访的注意事项时,就用过“favor”表“赞同”的意思:
If he [interviewee] carefully weighed two sides of an issue and you only quote his views of one side, making him seem to favor that position, you will misrepresent what he told you.
3. 从认识到会用(作业)
翻译下面的句子:
很多中国大学生毕业后都会选择留在北上广这样的大城市。
(参考翻译:Many graduates in China favor big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. )