1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:weather
英英释义:to deal successfully with a difficult situation or a problem
例句:Over the past 20 years, Alibaba has weathered storms and scandals.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
我们很熟悉“weather”作为名词是“天气”的意思,它其实也常用作动词,表示“渡过(难关)” “从困难中挺过来”。在一些语境中,使用 weather 比 deal with 或者 experience 更准确。
weather 表示这个意思的时候,后面常接有负向含义的名词,例如 crisis/recession/criticism/scandal。比如夫妻刚结婚的时候难免要熬过一段适应期:
The couple had to weather some difficult times in the early years of their marriage.
像阿里巴巴这样的企业,创业过程中有过丑闻,经历过大风大浪。我们就可以说:
Over the past 20 years, Alibaba has weathered storms and scandals.(weather the storm 是个习惯表达,表示“渡过难关”)
《经济学人》在报道石油巨头 ExxonMobil 时就用到了 weather 的这种用法:
It has weathered lawsuits over everything from a leaky petrol station to abetting torture in Indonesia.
这里的 lawsuit 也是有负面意义的名词,说明它虽然官司不断,但是最终都能挺过来。
3. 从认识到会用(作业)
1)翻译下面的句子:
这家公司从经济危机中挺了过来,最终得以蓬勃发展。
This company weathered financial crisis and prosper finally.
(参考翻译: The company weathered the financial crisis and ultimately thrived.)
蓬勃发展:boom/flourish/prosper/thrive
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。
场景:在我们的人生中,我们不可能总是一帆风顺的,我们有时会经历一些艰难时光。
造句:In our life, we would not be successful all the time, as we would weather some difficult time sometimes.