1. 这是什么词？
词：instrumental
英英释义：involved in an important way in making something happen
例句：Details are instrumental in achieving success.
2. 为什么选这个词？
“instrumental”来自名词 “instrument”（乐器），除了表示与乐器演奏有关的意思外，它还常用来表示“有帮助的” “起作用的”。我们很多时候都可以用它来替换 helpful，play an important role 等表达。
我们常说“细节决定成败”，说的是细节的重要性，我们可以用 instrumental 把它表述为：
Details are intrumental in achieving success.
当别人对我们有所帮助，我们在写邮件和卡片的时候就可以用上 instrumental。比如流行小说 Crazy Rich Asians 的作者在书尾鸣谢部分就用到了 instrumental：
In your inimitable and wonderful ways, you have each been instrumental in helping me bring this book to life.
《经济学人》在一篇保护穿山甲（pangolin）的文章中也用到了 instrumental：
In China, for example, Jackie Chan, a film star who was instrumental in bringing about that country’s recent ban on the sale of elephant ivory, has thrown his weight behind the pangolin.
3. 怎样学会使用这个词？
1）使用《牛津英语搭配词典》查“instrumental”，了解它作为形容词时的常用搭配。
2）翻译下面的句子：
教育改变了我的命运。
Education has been highly instrumental in transforming my life.
（参考翻译：Education has been highly instrumental in transforming my life. 或者 Education is an instrumental tool in shaping my destiny. ）
3）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： 保险行业周边
场景 ：Rockers are no different from the rest of us: they, too, need to work for longer to maintain a decent standard of living in retirement. Previous generations could rely on record sales and royalties to fund their pensions,but digital disruption has largely closed off such revenues, so the performers have to get back on the road. That involves new financial risks. Rock stars have always been risky assets; one study suggests that they are 1.7 times as likely to die as others of the same age. Now that revenues from concerts have become so much more important, the potential losses to tour organizers have ballooned. That applies all the more if the performers are a bunch of 70-year-olds who may not always have treated their bodies as temples. This is where financiers come in. To insure against the risk that their performers might not show up proves highly instrumental to concert organizers and others who depend on mature rockers for their income. It has been seen that in this market “non-appearance products” grow as musicians get older. Film studios takeout similar cover for mature stars.
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