参考词典:Merriam-Webster's Advanced Learner's Dictionary
今日学习单词:cripple 。
名词释义:
1.(Old-fashioned + offensive)a person who cannot move or walk normally because of a permanent injury (such as a damaged leg or foot) or other physical problem.
He returned from war a cripple.
他从战场上回来时腿瘸了。
2. (Informal) a person who has emotional problems that prevent normal behavior with other people.
She’s an emotional cripple. [= She’s unable to express her emotions normally.]
她不善于表达情绪。
我们常说的社交恐惧/社交无能,就可以用social cripples 来表示。这里把腿/脚的缺陷扩展到精神/行为层面。
动词释义:
1. To cause ( a person or animal ) to be unable to move or walk normally, usually used as (be) crippled.
2. To make (something) unable to work normally, to cause great damage to (something)
作为动词,与 名词类似,也有两个义项。第一为“致残,导致瘸腿”。第二为“损坏,毁坏”,尤其指巨大的破坏。
Higher taxes could cripple small businesses.
高额的税负阻碍了小企业发展。
近期发生的台风“山竹”造成了我国南部地区巨大的灾害,就可以用 cripple 来造句:
Typhoon Mangkhut has crippled the power supply and communication services in Guangdong and Hong Kong.
台风“山竹”严重破坏了广东省和香港地区的电力供应和通信服务。
同样,作为的名词的 cripple 可以表示心理方面的破坏,动词一样可以表示。
例如最近在读的 Born a Crime 中,作者 Trevor Noah写到:
The only way to make apartheid work is to cripple the black mind.
实现种族隔离的唯一方法就使残害黑人的意志。
结合自身情况,近期孩子刚上小学各种不适应,作为家长使出浑身解数进行心理建设,避免孩子被巨量的家庭作业吓到(此处“巨量”为虚构):
I have done everything I could to prevent my kid from being crippled by the enormous amount of homework.