20190428 hindsight

1. 这是个什么词？

词：hindsight   

英英释义：the ability to understand a situation only after it has happened   

例句：With hindsight, I should have double-checked the procedure and made sure all was going well.   

2. 为什么选这个词？

“hindsight”是不可数名词，意思是“后见之明”。它的用法比较简单，一般用 in hindsight 或 with hindsight，意思就是“事后想来，......”。当我们想表达遗憾的时候，就可以用它。下面通过几个例子来掌握这个词。

事后想来，我应该在最终做决策前咨询律师，就可以说：

With hindsight, I should have consulted a lawyer before making the final decision.   

这句中的“With hindsight, I should have done”是个非常好用的句型，当我们想表达“早知道”的时候，就可以用它，再比如：

With hindsight, I should have double-checked the procedure and made sure all was going well.   

With hindsight, the leadership should have been more careful with the venture capital funds.   

Justin 最近在一篇英文随笔的开篇就用到了 in hindsight 这个表达：

'See, I told you so' or some variation of this saying is repeated often in our daily lives. We say it in hindsight to show our prescience or intelligence, or merely to gain a sense of superiority and pride.   

《经济学人》在一篇关于刚果埃博拉问题的文章中用到了 with hindsight：

With hindsight health workers recognise that they should have done more to involve local people.   

《经济学人》在一篇探讨老龄化和社会经济发展关系的文章中也用到了 with hindsight：

In hindsight, the demographic boom that coincided with industrialisation in rich countries may have had an underappreciated benefit: it created a big constituency in favour of embracing new technologies and the opportunities they provided.     

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？

1）翻译下面的句子：早知道我应该对她更多一点耐心。

With hindsight, I should have been a bit more patient with her.

（参考翻译：With hindsight, I should have been a bit more patient with her. ）   

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：事后想来，我不应该买比特币

场景：With hindsight, I should have not bought bitcoin.