1. 这是个什么词?
词:inertia
英英释义:when no one wants to do anything to change a situation
例句:He stayed where he was, not because he got unlucky, but out of inertia.
2. 为什么选这个词?
“inertia”是不可数名词,意思是“惰性、不作为”。这个词多用来指某个政府、机构、部门,因此前面经常用 bureaucratic 和 political 来做修饰。它一般可以和 inactivity (in + activity) 作同义替换。我们在口语和写作中都可以使用这个词,下面通过几个例句来掌握它。
比如一个人过了几年还是不上不下,不是因为他运气不好,而是因为他原地踏步,就可以说:
He stayed where he was, not because he got unlucky, but out of inertia.
很多大公司开会时大家会提出各种各样的想法,但真正能落地的却很有限,原因就是不作为,我们就可以说:
Many projects in big companies are frequently abandoned through sheer inertia.
这里的 sheer 修饰 inertia,意思是“纯粹、完全、十足”,强调了不作为的程度。可以将 through sheer inertia 作为一个固定搭配记下来。
由于《经济学人》会用相当篇幅来讨论政治和社会话题,所以我们时不时就会碰到 inertia 这个词。 比如在一篇写泰国政治的文章中有这么一句:
All this is intended to ensure that Mr Prayuth remains prime minister, despite his inertia and ineptitude.
在一篇报道美国阿片类药物的滥用的文章中也出现了 inertia:
America is not Switzerland. Taxpayer-sponsored heroin therapy is unlikely any time soon. But even less controversial harm-reduction policies are being stymied by governmental inertia and a misunderstanding of the evidence.
注意这句中修饰 inertia 的词是 governmental, 也可以用 bureaucratic 来替换。
另一篇将非洲国家用英语作为授课语言的文章中也出现了 inertia:
In sub-Saharan Africa, only Tanzania, Ethiopia and Eritrea do not use a colonial language at all during primary education. Others use either English or French. That is partly because of inertia.
最后一句我们还可以改为:That is partly because of inactivity.
3. 怎样学会使用这个词?
1)翻译下面的句子:
这座城市的旅游资源没有好好开发利用,主要原因是政府的不作为。
The city's tourism resources are underused largely because of its governmental inertia.
Had it not been for the bureaucratic inertia, this city's tourism resources would be better exploited.
(参考翻译:The city's tourism resources are underused largely because of its governmental inertia. 或 The city's tourism resources are underused largely out of its governmental inertia. 或 Had it not been for the bureaucratic inertia, this city's tourism resources would be better exploited.)
2)结合自己的生活、学习、工作、兴趣等,想象在什么语境下会用到这个表达。先简要描述这个场景,再造句。
例子: 欧洲
场景 : Mario Draghi,the president of the European Central Bank, promised to do “whatever it takes”to preserve the single currency. Although the bond-buying scheme set up to fulfil that pledge has never been tested, yields on sovereign bonds have fallen. The euro mess has morphed from an acute crisis into a chronic one. Mr.Draghi should be tough. The euro zone’s politicians, even in supposedly prudent Germany, out of inertia, have been reluctant to look too deeply into banks’balance-sheets, let alone to force them to clean themselves up.