小词详解 | thrive

thrive 英 [θraɪv] 美 [θraɪv]

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外刊例句

• Can Huawei thrive despite American sanctions?
  受到美国制裁的华为还能蓬勃发展吗？
  ——《经济学人》

• Most countries offer few opportunities for female soccer players, but Norway has a thriving women’s professional league, and the U.S. a burgeoning co-ed youth soccer movement.
  大部分国家的女足队员比赛机会不多，但挪威有蓬勃的女足职业联盟，而美国的青年男女混合足球运动正快速发展。
  ——《时代周刊》

基本释义

[verb] (of a child, animal, or plant) grow or develop well or vigorously
[动词] （指儿童、动物或植物）生长或发育良好或旺盛

深入解读

Thrive 一词源自古北欧语 thrīfa （抓住），后经古北欧语 thrīfask 进入英语，即用来表示儿童、动物、植物等“茁壮成长、茂盛生长”，也就是良好或旺盛地生长或发育，比如：

• 这些动物很难驯化。它们圈养起来很少会肥壮。
  These animals are very hard to domesticate. They rarely thrive in captivity.

从这个概念出发，常用 thrive 引申指市场、社区、商业、产业等“繁荣、蓬勃发展、兴旺发达”，常意味着在上下文语境中给定的条件或情况下取得显著的成功，比如：

• 战前那些年，他的生意很兴隆。他很快就靠贩私积累了一大笔财富。
  His business thrived in the years before the war. He soon amassed a huge fortune from bootlegging.

因而 thrive on sth 这个短语动词还进一步用来表示“以某事为乐、因某事而有成”，尤指对某个他人不喜欢的事情或他人觉得困难的局面，可以享受其中或者出色应对，比如：

• 她那令人怀念的已故丈夫是那种苦干有成的人。
  Her late lamented husband was the sort of person who thrived on hard work.

权威用例

明天的中国，希望寄予青年。青年兴则国家兴，中国发展要靠广大青年挺膺担当。
Going forward, China will be a country that has great expectations of its younger generation. A nation will prosper only when its young people thrive. For China to develop further, our young people must step forward and take on their responsibilities.

出自习主席2023年新年贺词。

同近义词

• prosper: flourish physically; grow strong and healthy

• burgeon: begin to grow or increase rapidly; flourish

• flourish: (of a person, animal, or other living organism) grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way, especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment

往期回顾