“at large”可跟“大的”没什么关系，千万别理解错啦！

英语当中有许多与介词相关的短语，而它们的意思可能与看上去的词义相去甚远。今天我们就来学习其中一个 at large。

01 “在逃”

at large从字面上来看，好像是与“大”有点关系，但是实际上并无太大关联。剑桥字典上对于它的定义是：“Roaming freely, as of a criminal who has not been caught；uncaptured”，即“（罪犯）未被捕的，在逃的”。

e.g. 

1. Mladic was a Bosnian Serb general during the Balkan wars of the1990s, and the highest-ranking Yugoslav war crimes suspect still at large.

姆拉迪奇是90年代的巴尔干战争中的波斯尼亚塞族将军，也是仍然在逃的南斯拉夫战争罪行的最高嫌疑人。

2. The mountain lion that killed the hiker was still at large.

那头咬死登山者的山狮尚未被捕获。

02 “整体而言”

at large 还可以指“从整体上来说，普遍，相当于as a whole 或 in general。只不过前者一般置于句尾，而后两者放在句首句尾都可。

e.g. 

It is my duty to express the deep sense I entertain of this new proof of confidence from my fellow_citizens at large.

我有责任来表达我对同胞们普遍寄于我的信心这一最新证明的深深情感。

The country at large is hoping for great changes.

这个国家普遍来说都希望有大变化。

03 与“at”相关的其他词组

at length详尽地 = in great detail

e.g. I studied American modernism in college, so I can speak about Eliot's poetry at length.

我在大学学习了美国现代主义文学，所以我可以详细地谈谈艾略特的诗歌。

at hand在手边的；即将要发生的 =within reach；be about to occur

e.g. Instead of worrying about things that has not happened yet, let's give a thorough consideration to the issues at hand.

与其担忧那些尚未发生的事儿，还不如好好考虑一下我们手边的事情呢。

ok, that's all for today's sharing.

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