小词详解 | constituent
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外刊例句
What accounts for the changing constituents of each income bracket?
是什么引起了各个收入档次人群的变化?
——《经济学人》We have a president who promised that a balanced constituent assembly would work on a constitution that everyone agrees on.
我们这个总统曾经许诺,会让一个各方势力均衡的立宪议会来起草一部每个人都认可的宪法。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] a member of a constituency
[名词] 选区内的选民
深入解读
Constituent 一词源自拉丁语 constituere (使站立、设立、固定、放置、建立、整齐;形成新事物;决心),进入英语时原指“任命或选举代表的人”,现在则主要表示某个选区(constituency)的“选民或选举人”,比如:
这位参议员工作努力,总是跟本区选民交谈,听取他们的难处。
The MP worked hard, always talking to his constituents and listening to their problems.
这个含义用作形容词时则表示“任命的、选举的”或“有宪法制定或修改权的、有组阁权的”,比如:
任命机构
a constituent body立宪会议
a constituent assembly
由于任命或选举代表之后,这些代表们往往会组成一个议事机构,所以 constituent 后来就产生了“组成”这个概念,作名词时表示“成分、构成要素”,强调指某一整体不可缺少的部分或成分,而作形容词时则表示“组成的、构成的”,比如:
咖啡因是茶、咖啡之类饮品中的活性成分。
Caffeine is the active constituent of drinks such as tea and coffee.把公司按组成部分分割后分别出售的计划
a plan to split the company into its constituent parts and sell them separately
另外值得注意的是, constituent 还在语法中表示“成分、结构成分”,比如:
直接成分
an immediate constituent
权威用例
在2016年开始的全国县乡两级人民代表大会换届选举中,登记选民10亿多人,直接选举产生近250万名县乡两级人民代表大会代表。
In the elections of deputies to the people's congresses at county and township levels beginning in 2016, more than 1 billion constituents cast votes for nearly 2.5 million deputies.
同近义词
voter: a person who votes or has the right to vote at an election
elector: a person who has the right to vote in an election
electorate: all the people in a country or area who are entitled to vote in an election
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