词:-ridden
英英释义:full of something unpleasant or bad
例句:The movie is cliché-ridden and full of plot holes.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
“ridden”是个形容词,表示“充斥着…的”,它也常常被用作后缀使用让表达更加简洁。根据它的英英释义,我们知道 -ridden 的这种用法常常可以用来替换 full of something,to contain a lot of something。另外要注意它前面的名词一般是有负向含义的词,比如 debt/scandal/conflict/crime/superstition 等。
比如我们想吐槽一个电影毫无新意,到处都是陈词滥调和情节硬伤,就可以说:
The movie is cliché-ridden and full of plot holes.
我们可以用 -ridden 来介绍一个地方。比如《新概念英语》第四册第三课在吐槽一个糟糕的旅店时就用到了 -ridden:
Such inns as there were generally dirty and flea-ridden; the food simply local cheese accompanied by bread often twelve months old, all washed down with coarse wine.
flea-ridden 是说这个地方有许多的跳蚤。相应地,如果一个地方有很多蚊子/黑社会/骗子,我们就可以在 - ridden 前面加上名词 mosquito/mafia/fraud 就可以了。
-ridden 也常常用来描写糟糕的境况。比如《经济学人》在描写难民受灾的国家时写到:
Yet with many hailing from poor or conflict-ridden African nations such as Sierra Leone and Cameroon, refugee agencies point out that they have every right to seek asylum in Australia.
《经济学人》在写到阿根廷的时候也用到了 -ridden:
The country is not quite repeating its own crisis-ridden history. Argentina today has a reformist government largely intent on doing the right thing, rather than the populist administrations that blighted its recent past
3. 从认识到会用(作业)
1)翻译下面的句子: 这家债台高筑的公司开始把目光聚焦到海外业务。
(参考翻译:The debt-ridden firm is starting to shift its focus to overseas operations. )
2.The king tend to give up the crisis-ridden country .