查看原文
其他

小词详解 | mire

田间小站 田间小站 2022-09-30

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
小词详解 | gag
好书推荐 | 英语口音的故事
小词详解 | plutocracy

您可能也对以下帖子感兴趣

文章有问题?点此查看未经处理的缓存