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与古典神话相关的词源

  本期写一点关于古希腊罗马神话(Classical mythology)相关的词源故事,希望可以帮助大家更好地记住与之有关的单词。 1. Echo Echo 我们都知道是回声的意思。在希腊神话中,有个山岳仙女(Mountain nymph)也叫 Echo,她经常用美丽的声音,迷人的故事故意缠住好妒的赫拉(Hera,宙斯之妻),转移她的注意力,以便于宙斯(Zeus)可以趁机与其他仙女幽会。不料东窗事发,愤怒的赫拉让 Echo 失去了声音,作为惩罚。此后 Echo 只能重复别人所发出的声音,于是 Echo 一词进入英语之后就有了“回声”的意思。后来 Echo 遇到了 Narcissus(那耳喀索斯,又译作纳西瑟斯),他们俩一见钟情,可是因为 Echo 无法表达自己的爱意,她郁郁而终,最后只剩下声音回荡在山谷之中。 2. Narcissism Echo 喜欢的 Narcissus 正是 narcissism(自恋)的来源,他是个帅气到爱上自己的男子。传说他出生后,他的母亲向预言家提瑞西阿斯(Tiresias)询问自己儿子的命运。Tiresias说,Narcissus 只要不看到自己的脸,就能得长寿。因此,尽管 Narcissus 长大后成为全希腊最俊美的男子,他却从不知道自己长什么样子。 Narcissus 的美貌让全希腊的女性为之倾倒,但他对所有前来求爱的女人都无动于衷。被他拒绝的女子们都要求复仇女神 Nemesis(涅墨西斯)惩罚那耳喀索斯。Nemesis 同意了她们的请求。一次打猎归来时,他在池水中看见了自己俊美的脸,于是爱上了自己的倒影,无法从池塘边离开,终于憔悴而死。这样就实现了 Tiresias 在他幼年时所作出的预言。之后 Narcissus 也就成了自恋的代名词。 3. Nemesis Nemesis 是复仇女神,该词直接被用在了英语中,意为天谴,报应或者 应得 的失败。因为复仇女神是一位比较正面的形象,所以 nemesis 也是偏正面的,通常是坏人所得的惩罚。 其中 Nem 作为 nemesis 的词根,意思是 distribute, assign(按照每个人的行为 分配 结果,好人好报,恶人恶报)。还有其他单词也源自于 nem, 表示管理(arrange),分配(distribute): autonomy anomy,a 表否定,不管理  \Righ

英语中数字的词根

  本期谈谈使用频率较高的数字,其中包含了一些有用的词根,记住之后可以举一反三地学习。 1. One One 这个单词不只是出现在英语中,通过元音变化可以变成其他语言中的“一”,比如: 德语:ein(‘o’ 变 ‘ei’,去‘e’。) 冰岛语:einn 瑞典语:en(‘o’ 变 ‘e’。) 荷兰语:een 法语:un,une(u = o) 西班牙、意大利语:uno,una(u = o, a = e),UNO 牌就是在最后一张牌需要喊出 “uno” 因此而得名。 Uni- 和 mono- 在英语中作为前缀,也表示“一”。 Unicycle,独轮车 Unicorn,独角兽 Unilateral,单边的 Unicellular,单细胞的 Monopoly(mono “一”,poly “卖”),一个人卖  \Rightarrow ⇒  垄断。 Monotone(tone,音调),一个音调  \Rightarrow ⇒  单调的(可表示函数单调性monotonicity)。 2. Two Twin,twain,twice 都是与 “two” 直接相关的单词。 还有两个前缀可以表示“二”,bi- 和 di- Bi- Binary,二进制 Bliateral,双边的 Bicycle,二轮车 Bipedal,双足行走的,ped表示“足”,al 表形容词(p = f,t = d,发音类似故相等,参考格林定律) Bilingual,两种语言的,lingua 表舌头,language 也由 lingua 变化而来 Di- Dioxide,二氧化物 Diphthong,双元音 Duo,双人的 Double,双倍的 Deuce(deu = di,ce 表名词),平局,特指在 tennis 和 table tennis 等比赛中,出现需要连续赢两次的平手,比如网球的 40:40,乒乓球的10:10等。 注:这里 w 算作半元音,所以也可以元音变化。参考 这篇文章 第一,我们称字母w和y为半元音字母,是因为这两个字母既可以用在音节的开头做辅音字母使用,又可以用在音节的末尾当元音使用。如,wet,water中的w在音节的开头元音字母前,它就是辅音字母,而few,now中的w在音节的末尾与其它元音字母构成字母组合发一个元音,few的发音是/ fju: /,now的读音是/ nau /。因此字母w的发

2010年英语一大作文

  The Cultural Hotpot There is a hotpot standing in the middle of the picture, containing various kinds of food with different names such as swan lake, enlightenment, Confucianism, etc., as if all of them were mixing perfectly and harmoniously. The caption under the cartoon says: the cultural hot pot is both delicious and nutritious. The cartoon intends to illuminate that our culture is not an isolated island where folks only absorb things that they are familiar with. What we need to assimilate, however, is cultural features from different nations and various races. And by this means, the hotpot would be so delicious and nutritious that everyone in this society can relish what they have achieved eventually and can unconsciously affect each other afterward. In my viewpoint, diverse cultures enormously broaden ones’ horizons. In other words, whatever we are in touch with, it may provide a different way in which we see the world where there may be another treasure in an unnoticed corner.

2011年英语一大小作文

  小作文:推荐信 Dear El, It has been a long time since we had a chat last time. How have you been these days? Recently I watched a movie  Braveheart  on Netflix and thought you might love it as well. So I recommend this epic and historical movie to you. The first reason is the protagonist William Wallace-a Scottish warrior-shows his perfect acting skills and real medieval life to the audiences. Second is that you are a big fan of history, so you will learn many historical backgrounds of conflicts between England and Scotland, which were fierce at that time. Last but not least, the film also advocates the spirit of freedom and the fight against unjust fate. I hope you would enjoy the movie, and I am looking for your reply. Have a nice day! Yours sincerely, Li Ming 大作文:谈环境 There are two youngsters, in this drawing, sitting on a boat who chatter and smoke happily. Surprisingly, lots of fishes are floating on the river due to the garbage chucked by them. Still, the rowing guide unexpectedly igno

2012年英语一大小作文

  小作文:欢迎信 Dear friends, Welcome to our university! On behalf of the Students’ Union, I am writing this email to express our excitement for your coming and offer some practical suggestions for your campus life here. Most important is that: Do not forget to enroll with your student cards on the first day to university, and keep your cards at hand in case of checking when entering specific constructions. Furthermore, our sports field is open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m., so please adjust your exercise time accordingly and do not work out too late. I hope you can enjoy your studying time and have fun here. If you have any problems, please contact us by email via  union@student.com . We are here for you! Yours sincerely, Li Ming 大作文:悲喜之间 There are two men, as is depicted in this meaningful cartoon, making different responses to the very same incident happening on the road where a bottle of water tips down on the ground, and part of the water in it spills out. One of them reacts to it with depress

考研高频单词讲解-7

  56. helicopter 地上有个大H的就是停直升机的地方。 57. abandon ab + ban,去禁掉  \Rightarrow ⇒  放弃。 58. province 省份。Pro + vince,其中 Vince 在 这篇博文 提到过,Pro “向前” + vince “conquer”,向前征服的地方  \Rightarrow ⇒  地区(territory,region),省份。 59. reject Re ‘back’ + ject ‘throw’,向后扔  \Rightarrow ⇒  拒绝。 60. select se ‘apart’ + lec ‘collect, gather’,分开来从中选择  \Rightarrow ⇒  挑选,选择。 注意 elect 和 select 的区别: e  在这里表示向外,向外选  \Rightarrow ⇒  选举。 61. actual act 意为一个做过的事情(a thing done),al 表形容词,所以 actual 表示实际的,现实的。 62. capital cap 做词根表示头(head),所以 cap 在英文中是帽子。Capital 表首都(首 = 头),首字母(也和头有关)。因此 Capitalize 也表示首字母化。 63. species 一种(a kind or sort),物种(生物学)。spec表示看(look),所以这个单词可以理解为看一眼,也就是一种。所以在生物学领域的一种就是物种,在物理和逻辑学中都有这个术语,这里不做解释了。 64. specific 该单词也和 spec 有关,在尾部加上了 fic(做,make),为了某一个种做的  \Rightarrow ⇒  特定的。要注意与 special 的区别,special 仅仅表示它代表了某一方面、种,而不是为了某一方面而制作(make)的,所以 special 是特别的,不是特定的。 Fic 意思是做,形成(form,make)也很常见,比如 figure 和 fiction 都与做有关。Figure 意思比较多,其中大多也和做有关,比如形状,图表,身材。Fiction 是做出来的东西  \Rightarrow ⇒  (虚构)小说。 65. agency ag,ac(c = g,发音相同)意思是做、行动(d

词缀讲解后缀篇之 “ive”

  本期是补充一下 这篇文章 ,做一个关于后缀 “ive” 的更完整的介绍。 首先介绍一下 ive 做后缀的意思,主要有两个: having the nature(性质) of a thing tending to the action indicated 与  ous  不同的是,ive 如果做为suffix,那么它的词干(stem,就是 ive 前面的单词,与 root 为近义词,起到表意作用),只能是 动词!动词!动词! (而 ous 只能是名词)。这种用法比较正式的说法为: implied by a v or by a v 下面分析以上两个意思,第一个比较简单,某物拥有某个性质(nature),例如 addictive,有使人让人成瘾(addict)的性质  \Rightarrow ⇒  成瘾性。同理 creative  \Rightarrow ⇒  创造性。 第二个 indicated 是个被动用法, \text{the action indicated} the action indicated  这个短语意思是 被表明的的动作 ,tending to就是趋向于这个动作。其中被 indicated 的东西就是词干,tending to 这个部分由 ive 表达。举个例子:Simon is active(act + ive),这里 act 就是 indicated 的东西,ive表示 Simon 有 act 的倾向  \Rightarrow ⇒  Simon 是有活动(act)倾向(ive)的  \Rightarrow ⇒  Simon很活跃。 正因为 ive 能表性质,所以大多用于正式的语境,所以在大量专业术语中能看到它,比如数学,计算机,英语… 下面介绍一些相关单词,可能有部分专业性词汇,不感兴趣的跳过即可。 Conclusive:Conclude 由 Con + close 组成,共同关闭  \Rightarrow ⇒  总结。总结 + ive  \Rightarrow ⇒  总结性的。 Transitive,过渡性的。在语法中翻译为及物动词(transitive verb),这种翻译只关注了结果,而没有突出 过渡 这一过程。至于为什么及物 = 过渡,这里做出解释: 首先 trans 为过(across),it 作为词根表走(go,知道就行不用记忆)

2013年英语一大小作文

  小作文:邀请信 Dear Professor Ford, I am one of your students who attend your business classes. I am writing this e-mail because I want to invite you to be the judge for this Sunday English speech contest. I attended your business management classes last year, and I was impressed by your personalities and humorousness. So I thought you are the best person to take part in our English interactions and be the judge to make remarks about everyone’s performance. The subject of our contest is whether the government should pool more money to conserve endangered animals. It will be hosted in classroom E325 on March 17(this Sunday). I hope you can accept my invitation. Thanks for reading, and we are waiting for you! Yours sincerely, Li Ming 大作文:毕业的选择 This enlightening cartoon features a scene that happens when each college student is about to graduate. Many youngsters stand hesitantly in the face of a four-direction crossroad with nerves on edge and getting cold feet. In front of them, there are fou