alarming adj.
释义:making you feel worried or frightened
“alarming”是形容词,意思是“令人担忧的、使人惊慌的”;它的名词形式是 alarm,本意是“警报、闹钟”。alarming 经常出现在新闻报道中,用来形容某个问题的严重性。和它同义的表达一般还有 worrying 和 disturbing。在 alarming, worrying, disturbing 后面加上 ly 就变成了它们的副词形式,同样常见。
例① 一种令人担忧的现象是,现在很多孩子在学习上花了很多时间,但其实并没有真正学到什么东西。
It is alarming that students spend so much time learning without actually learning something.
在写稀有物种、自然资源在以令人担忧的速度消失时还可以使用“at an alarming rate/speed”这个表达。
例② 中华鲟的数量越来越少,非常令人担忧,就可以说:
The Chinese sturgeon is disappearing at an alarming rate.
例③ 类似地,亚马逊热带雨林消失的速度让人担忧
The Amazon rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate.
例④ 在最新一期《经济学人》Leaders 板块中有一篇关于印度环境污染的文章,它的摘要中就出现了这个词:
Even by the standards of poor countries, India is alarmingly--and unnecessarily--filthy. It needs to clean up.
例⑤《经济学人》另一篇写土耳其 #MeToo 运动的文章中有这么一句话:
Domestic violence is alarmingly widespread in Turkey.
当我们想说某个现象很普遍,而这种普遍性令人担忧的时候就可以直接说 alarmingly widespread 了。
1. 翻译:美国的自杀率在过去几年有所上升,这尤其令人担忧。
It is alarming that suicide rate in America has been increasing over the past few years.
(参考翻译:The US has seen an alarming increase in suicide in the past few years. 或 It is particularly disturbing that suicide has been on the rise in America in the last few years. 或 It is particularly worrying that a growing number of Americans have taken their own lives over the past few years.)
2. 造句练习
场景: 中国白领的亚健康人数逐渐增多,令人堪忧。
造句: It is particularly alarming that white-collars suffering sub-health have been on the rise in China.
网友评论