小词详解 | vulnerable

vulnerable 英 [ˈvʌlnərəbl] 美 [ˈvʌlnərəbl]

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外刊例句

• At the height of the concern about the coming jobs apocalypse, in the late 2010s, the most vulnerable people were thought to be older, unskilled workers.
  人们对工作大灾难即将到来的担忧在2010年代末达到顶峰，当时认为年长的非技术工人最容易受影响。
  ——《经济学人》
• Security researchers say that while hackers have been posting lists of vulnerable websites, there does not appear to have been an increase in black market sales of sensitive data, like passwords.
  研究网络安全的人士称，尽管黑客发布过易受攻击的网站名单，但在黑市上出售像密码这样的敏感数据的活动似乎并没有增加。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[adjective] susceptible to physical or emotional attack or harm
[形容词] 易受身体或情绪攻击或伤害的

深入解读

Vulnerable 一词源自拉丁语 vulnus （伤），17世纪初进入英语后开始用来表示“脆弱的、易受伤的、易受……伤害的”，多指人因软弱缺乏保护而容易受到身体或情感上的伤害、影响或攻击等，比如：

• 一位娴静的年轻女士独自站在那里，看上去弱不禁风。
  A demure young lady looked very vulnerable standing there on her own.
• 许多十几岁的孩子既缺乏自信又不够懂事，所以感情上十分脆弱。这就是为什么那犟孩子用棍子狠狠地打他那睿智的老祖父，直到他趴在地上一动不动。
  Lacking self-confidence and maturity, many teenagers are left feeling very vulnerable. That's why the restive child whacked his sage old grandfather with a club until he lay prone without moving.

再进一步延伸， vulnerable 还可以分别用来表示“易患病的、易感染（某种疾病）的”以及“易受到武力攻击的、难以防御的”，比如：

• 她倚靠着她儿子的手臂缓慢行走。她的膝盖是其容易受伤的部位。
  She walked slowly, leaning on her son's arm. Her knee was her vulnerable spot.
• 现任总统最易受人诟病的是经济政策。现在通货膨胀问题已经到了极其严重的地步。
  It is on economic policy that the incumbent president is most vulnerable. Now the problem of inflation has reached epic proportions.

值得注意的是， vulnerable 与 venerable （德高望重的、令人尊重的、值得敬重的）较为形似，在听说读写时要注意区别。

影视用例

But you must wait until Voldemort is at his most vulnerable.

但你必须等到伏地魔最虚弱的时候。

出自2011年上映的魔幻冒险片《哈利·波特与死亡圣器（下）》（Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2）

同近义词

• exposed: in a vulnerable position or situation
• endangered: (of a species) seriously at risk of extinction