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小词详解 | topple

田间小站 田间小站 2022-09-30

topple 英 [ˈtɒpl] 美 [ˈtɑːpl]
IELTS TEM8 GMAT GRE

外刊例句

  • JD.com has adopted an expensive “asset-heavy” business model akin to Amazon’s in America. Thus far, its vast investments in warehouses, logistics and couriers have not come anywhere near toppling Alibaba.
    京东采取了成本很高的“重资产”商业模式,与美国的亚马逊类似。到目前为止,京东在仓储、物流和快递方面的庞大投资还远不足以掀翻阿里巴巴。
    ——《经济学人》
  • I was a boy when the Taliban were toppled in 2001, growing up here as new life was injected into the ruins of a capital that had been deeply scarred by civil war.
    塔利班政权在2001年被推翻时,我还是个孩子。我在这里成长的过程中,饱受内战创伤的首都废墟也被注入了新生。
    ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[verb] overbalance or become unsteady and fall slowly
[动词] 失去平衡或变得不稳定而缓慢倒下


深入解读

看到 topple 一词,小站的老铁们难免会联想起小站(微信公众号:田间小站)之前推送过的与之结尾相同的 cripple, grapple, supple 等来。而即便是对其不熟悉的小伙伴,也很容易猜到该词源自熟词 top ,由 top + 反复后缀 -le 构成。

Topple 最早于16世纪40年代出现在英语,最初本用来表示“翻滚、滚动”,等到了16世纪80年代开始发展为现在的基本含义指“(使)倒塌、倒下”,主要指(使)物体失去平衡或稳定而缓慢地落下,比如:

  • 那个男人经过时蹭了她一下,使她从凳子上摔了下来。然后他醉醺醺地踉跄着走出了酒吧。他喝了两杯就醉了。
    The man brushed past, toppling her from her stool. Then he 
    lurched drunkenly out of the pub. Two drinks muddled him.
  • 那个身体灵活的女孩失去平衡,往后趔趄了一下,撞到栏杆摔倒了。
    The
    supple girl lost her balance, staggered back against the rail and toppled over.

不过平时看国际新闻时遇到更多的可能是 topple 从这个概念引申出来的含义指“推翻、颠覆、打倒”某个政权或某个领导人等,也就是迫使其失去权力或权威,尤其是非民选的政府或领导人,比如:

  • 他们精心策划了一个推翻总统的阴谋。
    They
    contrived a plot to topple the President.

权威用例
我们经过北伐战争、土地革命战争、抗日战争、解放战争,以武装的革命反对武装的反革命,推翻帝国主义、封建主义、官僚资本主义三座大山,建立了人民当家作主的中华人民共和国,实现了民族独立、人民解放。
Through the Northern Expedition, the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression, and the War of Liberation, we fought armed counter-revolution with armed revolution, toppling the three mountains of imperialism, feudalism, and bureaucrat-capitalism and establishing the People's Republic of China, which made the people masters of the country.
出自习总书记在庆祝中国共产党成立100周年大会上的讲话。

同近义词

  • tumble: (typically of a person) fall suddenly, clumsily, or headlong
  • overturn: tip (something) over so that it is on its side or upside down
  • tip: overbalance or cause to overbalance so as to fall or turn over

往期回顾
小词详解 | supersede
译海纵横 | 《扫黑风暴》为什么这么火?
小词详解 | reconcile

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