小词详解 | surrogate

surrogate 英 [ˈsʌrəɡət] 美 [ˈsɜːrəɡət]

SAT TEM8 GRE

外刊例句

• Emission-free synthetic fuels rely on lots of hydrogen and carbon monoxide to produce surrogate hydrocarbons, so their development hinges on low-cost supplies of those two gases.
  无排放合成燃料依赖大量氢气和一氧化碳来生产烃类替代品，因此其发展取决于这两种气体的低成本供应。
  ——《经济学人》
• Seventy-nine embryos survived in the lab, apparently healthy enough to transfer into the uteruses of surrogate monkey mothers.
  其中有七十九个胚胎在实验室中存活下来，看起来足够健康，可移植到代孕母猴的子宫内。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[noun] a substitute, especially a person deputizing for another in a specific role or office
[名词] 替代物，尤指在某一特定角色或职位上替代另一人的人

深入解读

Surrogate 是本周比较热门的一个单词，源自拉丁语 surrogare/subrogare （替代），其基本含义是作名词表示“替代物、代用品”，比如：

• 他们被劝服，认识到了和平的好处。但他们认为武器控制不应该用来替代和平。
  They have been persuaded of the merits of peace. But they believed that arms control should not be made into a surrogate for peace.
• 对某些酷爱读书的人来说，读游记可以替代真正的旅行。
  For some avid readers, reading travel books is a surrogate for actual travel.

不过， surrogate 通常更多的是用来指在某一特定角色或职位上替代另一人的“替代者、代理人”，不仅在社会意义上，也包括在心理意义上，比如：

• 在某种意义上，他把他精明的叔父看成是自己父亲的替身。
  He saw in his shrewd uncle, in some sense, a surrogate of his father.
• 总统代理人被暗杀使国家骤然陷入战争状态。
  The assassination of the surrogate of the President precipitated the country into war.

用作形容词时， surrogate 自然表示“替代的、代用的、代理的”，比如：

• 在她心目中，那个机敏而又多才多艺的才子仿佛是能替代父亲角色的人。
  She saw the nimble and versatile wit as a sort of surrogate father.
• 因为她自己没有孩子，所以她就把朋友身高体壮的儿子当成了自己的孩子。
  Because she had no children of her own, her friend's hefty son became a kind of surrogate child to her.

等到了1972年， surrogate 则开始用在动物领域表示“代孕动物”，并于1978年开始用在人身上表示“代孕母亲”，同 surrogate mother ，也可以作形容词表示“代孕的”，比如：

• 她已经同意为她富有的姐姐代孕了。
  She has agreed to act as a surrogate mother for her affluent sister.

而其衍生词 surrogacy 则相应表示“代孕”这个行为或状态，比如：

• 她对卷入这种代孕丑闻有顾忌。
  She demurred from being involved in such surrogacy scandals.

名著用例

I suspected the dementor attack might have awoken her to the dangers of having you as a surrogate son.
我怀疑摄魂怪的袭击可能会提醒她意识到收养你是件危险的事情。

出自英国作家J·K·罗琳的奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第五本《哈利·波特与凤凰社》（Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix）。《哈利·波特与凤凰社》讲述在又一个暑假中，哈利·波特被困在女贞路4号，遭到摄魂怪的突然袭击之后发生的事情。

同近义词

• substitute: a person or thing acting or serving in place of another
• proxy: the authority to represent someone else, especially in voting
• deputy: a person whose immediate superior is a senior figure within an organization and who is empowered to act as a substitute for this superior

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