小词详解 | mire

mire 英 [ˈmaɪə(r)] 美 [ˈmaɪər]

SAT TEM8 GRE

外刊例句

• Israel itself is not only mired in conflict in the Palestinian territories, but riven by internal divisions between observant and secular Jews and between Jews and Arabs.
  以色列自身不但深陷在巴勒斯坦地区的冲突中，而且国内犹太教徒与非教徒、犹太人与阿拉伯人之间分歧严重。
  ——《经济学人》
• For the 26-year-old farmer whose family was mired in debt, it was cans of Red Bull.
  对那名家庭陷入债务困境的26岁农民来说，这是几罐红牛。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] involve someone or something in (a difficult situation)
[动词] 使某人或某事陷入（困境）

深入解读

Mire 一词源自北欧语 myrr （沼泽），现主要表示“泥潭、沼泽”或“淤泥、烂泥”，比如：

• 有两个人在泥潭中挣扎。
  Two men are floundering about in the mire.
• 在泥泞不堪的田间工作的累活
  the fatigue of working in the fields thick with mire

在中文里泥沼常用来喻指“困境”， mire 也不例外，比如：

• 陷入感情的泥淖之中不能自拔
  wallow in an emotional mire

当 mire 用作动词时，自然便是指“使陷入泥坑、使成为沼泽”或“使陷入困境、使受困扰”，比如：

• 融化的冰雪将使道路和田野变成一片泥沼。
  The thaw will mire roads and fields.
• 陷入负债的困境
  be mired in debt

另外， mire 还可以表示“使溅满污泥”，这一含义进一步引申则喻指“玷污”，比如：

• 孩子们弄得浑身尽是污泥。
  The children were mired from head to toe.
• 被弄得声名狼藉
  be mired with infamy

权威用例

国家积贫积弱、人民贫困如洗，是旧中国留给世人的深刻印象。
In the past, the world knew an old, weak China mired in poverty, its people living in dire misery.

出自《为人民谋幸福：新中国人权事业发展70年》（Seeking Happiness for People: 70 Years of Progress on Human Rights in China）白皮书。

同近义词

• entangle: involve (someone) in difficulties or complicated circumstances from which it is difficult to escape
• embroil: involve (someone) deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation
• enmesh: involve (someone) in a difficult situation from which it is hard to escape

往期回顾