Pursue

1. 这是个什么词？   

词：pursue   

英英释义：seek to attain or accomplish (a goal) over a long period   

例句：After celebrating the Chinese New Year, people have returned to work and started to pursue new goals.   

2. 为什么选这个词？   

“pursue”是动词，它有多个意思，比如“追逐（罪犯）”和“从事（某一职业）”。我们今天要学的是它作“追求”的意思。它可以组成很多地道的搭配，比如 pursue a goal/aim/objective, pursue a dream, pursue love/truth/success/growth 等。这些搭配在口语和写作中都可以使用，包括托福雅思考试。       

下面通过几个例句来掌握 pursue 作“追求”的用法。   

春节过后开工，很多人都会开始向新的目标冲击，我们就可以说：   

After celebrating the Chinese New Year, people have returned to work and started to pursue new goals.   

很多有出息的年轻人放弃了家乡安逸的工作来到大城市追逐他们的梦想，就可以说：   

Many ambitious young people give up cushy jobs in their hometowns and relocate to big cities to pursue their dreams.   

《经济学人》在一篇关于英国老牌汽车公司 Morgan Motor Company 的文章中用到了 pursue：   

The company, still owned by the family that founded it in 1909, does not pursue the relentless growth that other carmakers crave.   

类似地，如果想表达“一些小而美的应用更多关心的是用户体验，而不是迅速增长”，我们就可以说：   

Some apps are more concerned about ensuring optimal user experience than pursuing relentless growth.   

另一篇写石油公司 ExxonMobil（埃克森美孚）的《经济学人》文章中也用到了 pursue growth 这一搭配：   

No firm embodies this strategy better than ExxonMobil, the giant that rivals admire and green activists love to hate. As our briefing explains, it plans to pump 25% more oil and gas in 2025 than in 2017. If the rest of the industry pursues even modest growth, the consequence for the climate could be disastrous.

最后，我们顺便来学习一下 pursue 的名词形式 pursuit。如果你知道美国经典电影《当幸福来敲门》（The Pursuit of Happyness），熟悉美国《独立宣言》中的经典表达“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness”，那你应该不会忘记 pursuit。前面的例句也可以用 pursue 的名词形式 pursuit 来稍作改写：

Many ambitious young people give up cushy jobs in their hometowns and relocate to big cities  in pursuit of their dreams.       

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？       

1）翻译下面的句子：       

人们不应该以牺牲他人为代价来追求自己的幸福。   

People should not pursue their own happiness at the expense of others.

（参考翻译：People should not pursue their own happiness at the expense of others.）   

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。       

例子：    欧洲难民

场景：

The gulf between sentiment and action is as wide as the Mediterranean itself. On May 13th the European Commission issued its plan for dealing with immigration, including the multitude who take to boats on the shores of north Africa in the hope of reaching asylum on European Union soil or, more likely, of being plucked from the waves by a passing vessel. The report’s authors clearly lament the shameful drowning of thousands of migrants, left to their fate because of cuts in marine patrols that were deemed to be picking up too many people. Nevertheless, the commission’s ideas on what to do fall lamentably short. A nut to crush a sledge hammer War in the Middle East, oppression in Africa and the ubiquitous human desire for a better life: all have played their part in causing a surge of migration into the EU. The fighting in Syria alone has crammed 4m fugitives into refugee camps in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan. People try to pursue the goal of drying up the tide, but it proves hard. Not all of these people can find anew life in Europe.