小词详解 | trample

trample 英 [ˈtræmpl] 美 [ˈtræmpl]

CET6 TOEFL TEM8 GRE

外刊例句

• In 2009, a few months after Mr Siebel had launched a new startup, he was trampled by an elephant while on safari in Tanzania.
  2009年，西贝尔先生又创立一家新的创业公司，几个月后他去坦桑尼亚游猎，期间遭一头大象踩踏。
  ——《经济学人》

• Minorities trampled on by the democratic process have recourse to the courts; the recourse is called constitutional law.
  被民主程序践踏的少数派可以向法庭求助；其依据就是宪法。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] tread on and crush
[动词] 踩踏并压碎

深入解读

Trample 一词源自小站前不久推送过小词 tramp + 派生后缀 -le 构成，含义比 tramp 的“重步行走”更进一步，主要表示“踩碎、踩伤、践踏”，多指人或动物踩在人或物上使之受伤、粉碎或死亡，比如：

• 他被一匹脱缰的马踩死了，该马原本拴在一棵树上。
  He was trampled to death by a runaway horse which was tethered to a tree.
• 勿踏花草！
  Don't trample on the flowers!

除了实实在在的人或物以外， trample 还可以用来引申指“践踏、摧残”人权、价值观、心灵、尊严等，强调故意无视或者当其不重要，比如：

• 恰在这时，无视法律的伐木工人们正在毁坏雨林，践踏土著居民的权利。
  Right on cue, loggers who flout the law are destroying rain forests and trampling on the rights of natives.

最后值得注意区分的是， 动词短语 walk (all) over sb 常容易误以为与 trample 同义，实则表示“苛刻对待”某人或“轻而易举地打败某人”，比如：

• 那个低声下气的女孩对他总是逆来顺受。
  The abject girl will always let him walk all over her.
• 他们可能是头号种子，但我们决心不让他们横扫我们。
  They might be the number one seed, but we're determined not to let them walk all over us.

权威用例

美国为了维护自身的国际霸权，奉行单边主义，践踏以联合国宪章宗旨和原则为核心的国际秩序和国际体系。
In order to maintain its hegemony over the world, the United States pursued unilateralism and trampled on the international order and international system with the purposes and principles of the UN Charter as its core.

出自《2019年美国侵犯人权报告》（The Record of Human Rights Violations in the United States in 2019）。

同近义词

• tread: press down or crush with the feet
• stamp: crush, flatten, or remove with a heavy blow from one's foot
• squash: crush or squeeze (something) with force so that it becomes flat, soft, or out of shape

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