alarming
英英释义:making you feel worried or frightened
例句:It is alarming that students spend so much time learning without actually learning something.
2. 为什么选这个词?
“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,我们可以一起掌握。
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,就可以说:
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。比如,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.
类似地,亚马逊热带雨林消失的速度让人担忧,可以说:
The Amazon rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate.
另外,alarming 的副词形式 alarmingly 也很常见。比如,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.
《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。
3. 怎样学会使用这个词?
1)翻译下面的句子:
美国的自杀率在过去几年有所上升,这尤其令人担忧。
The US has seen an alarming increase in suicide in 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.The forest is disappearing at alarming speed.
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