小词详解 | imbue

imbue 英 [ɪmˈbjuː] 美 [ɪmˈbjuː]

TEM8 GRE

外刊例句

• Back in 1956, when academic researchers held their first gathering to discuss AI, they were looking for a way to imbue machines with human-like “general” intelligence, including complex reasoning.
  早在1956年学术研究人员举行首次人工智能研讨会时，他们就在寻找办法来赋予机器像人类那样的“一般”智能，包括复杂推理的能力。
  ——《经济学人》
• But while President Trump’s surprising victory has imbued him with an aura of political invincibility, the polls today put him in a far bigger predicament than the one he faced heading into Election Day in 2016.
  然而，尽管特朗普总统的意外胜利给他带来了政治上不可战胜的光环，但今天的民调却让他陷入了比2016年大选前更大的困境。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] inspire or permeate with (a feeling or quality)
[动词] 激发或充满（某种感觉或品质）

深入解读

Imbue 一词源自拉丁语 imbuere （使湿润、潮湿、浸湿、湿透），15世纪进入英语后作动词表示“使保持湿润”或“使浸泡、浸透”，比如：

• 诺娃试图用一件浸透血污的女裙来止血
  Nova tried to staunch the blood with a skirt imbued with blood.

不过这个含义发展到今天，更多的是用来引申指“使……充满、向……灌输或激发”某种强烈感情、想法或价值等，强调如浸透那般透彻深入，常用搭配 imbue sth/sb with sth ，比如：

• 她徐缓从容的声音里充满着一种不寻常的严肃语气。
  Her languid voice was imbued with an unusual seriousness.
• 那个酷爱读书的人满怀着寻求社会正义的愿望。
  The avid reader was imbued with a desire for social justice.

名著用例

They took it for granted that she was imbued with their own patriotic fervor and would have been shocked to know how slight an interest in the war she had.
她们那么热情地履行自己的义务，她们总以为思嘉也像她们自己那样沉浸在炽热的爱国情绪之中，如果发现她竟对战争没有什么兴趣，准会大吃一惊的。

出自美国作家玛格丽特·米切尔（Margaret Mitchell）创作的长篇小说《飘》（Gone with the Wind）。该小说在1937年获得普利策奖，是玛格丽特·米切尔在世时出版的唯一一部作品。不但它成为美国史上最为畅销的小说之一，而且由这部小说所改编的同名电影《乱世佳人》也成为影史上不朽的经典。

同近义词

• permeate: spread throughout (something); pervade
• saturate: fill (something or someone) with something until no more can be held or absorbed
• suffuse: gradually spread through or over

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