dictate

1. 认识这个词（基础篇）

词：dictate

英英释义：to influence something or make it necessary

例句： Why does society try to dictate how people should die?

2. 体会这个词 （进阶篇）

“dictate”作为动词可以表示“听写”，我们常说的“听写法”就是它的名词形式“dictation”。不过今天我们学习的是它的另外一个意思，dictate 作为动词还可以表示“决定” “支配” “控制”，在一些语境下我们可以用它替换 decide, control, influence 等词。

比如你想毕业后就周游世界，不过因为现实条件不允许，你不得不先工作几年。这时候就可以说：

As much as I want to travel around the world after graduation, my financial situation dictates that I have a job first.

我们常说“走社会主义政治发展道路，是由中国国情和历史条件决定的”，用英文就可以说成：

The reality dictates which route China should take.

当我们想表示受某种条件约束，有些事不得不做的时候就可以用 dictate。比如我们常说“养儿防老”，受这种文化印象，许多老人会认为儿子才是要肩负起自己养老生活的人。这时我们就可以说：

Chinese tradition dictates that sons are responsible for providing support and security for their aging parents.

《经济学人》在一篇讨论安乐死的文章中就用到了 dictate：

In a liberal democracy we don't try and dictate how people should live so why does society try to dictate how people should die?

3. 从认识到会用（作业）

1）翻译下面的句子：

社会礼节规定了我们在公众场合应该如何行事

The social code\etiquette dictates how we should behave in public.

（参考翻译：The social code/etiquette dictates how we should behave in public. ）

2）结合自己的生活、学习、工作、兴趣等，想象在什么语境下会用到这个表达。先简要描述这个场景，再造句。

场景：商业

造句： 

When retailers want to entice customers to buy a particular product, they typically offer it at a discount.According to a new study to be published in the Journal of Marketing, they are missing a trick. A team of researchers, led by Akshay Rao of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, looked at consumers’ attitudes to discounting. Shoppers, they found, much prefer getting something cheaper. The main reason is that most people are useless at fractions. Studies have shown other ways in which consumers’ innumeracy dictates that they will befuddled with double discounting by retailers.