leapfrog

1.24 leapfrog

英英释义：to suddenly become better, more advanced etc than people or organization that were previously better than you

“leapfrog”既可以作名词也可以作动词。作名词它的本意是“跳马游戏、跳山羊游戏”，动词本意就是跳山羊（分腿跳过）这个动作，也常常引申为“突然超越、窜至、一跃超过”。这种引申的用法在外刊中很常见，恰当使用 leapfrog 可以让我们的表达更形象、生动、准确，如果能在口语和写作中自如使用这个词，相信可以给别人留下深刻的印象。

例1：某人在公司里晋升速度很快，短短时间就从基层员工做到了高级职员，让人刮目相看，我们就可以说：

Within only a couple of years, she leapfrogged from an entry-level worker into a senior sales/engineering/marketing/product/PR/operations position.

Leapfrog from A to B

《经济学人》在一篇写非洲能源的文章中有这么一句：

But thanks to a happy combination of innovation and falling costs for renewable energy, Africa may now be able to leapfrog ahead not once but twice, skipping both polluting fossil fuels and, often, the electricity grid itself.

“Thanks to a happy combination of A and B, C may now be able to leapfrog ahead not once but twice, skipping both D and, often, E.” 这个句式在很多方面也适用于中国。比如当其它国家还主要使用信用卡和现金时，我们早早就开始享受移动支付的便利。中国的移动支付可以说是世界上最发达，也是应用范围最广的。我们就可以说：

China almost skipped credit card payment and leapfrogged straight into mobile payment.

近几年来中外媒体都会探讨“中国崛起”这个概念，比如几年前《经济学人》官网搞了一次在线辩论，主持人在开场白中的一句话中就用到了 leapfrog：

Boosters point to the soaring number of patents held by Chinese technology firms like Huawei and Lenovo, the number of Chinese PhDs in technical fields graduating each year and the success of internet firms like Alibaba and Tencent as evidence that China is leapfrogging to the forefront of global innovation.

“China is leapfrogging to the forefront of global innovation.”就是“中国一跃站到了世界创新的最前沿”。这句话写得很漂亮，leapfrog 强调了超越速度之快，让整句话变得画面感十足，非常值得直接背下来。

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？

1）翻译下面的句子：

David 超越了他的同班同学，只用两年半就拿到了本科学位。

David leapfrogged his classmates getting the bachelor’s degree in only two and half years.

（参考翻译：David leapfrogged his classmates and obtained his bachelor's degree within just two and a half years.）用and 连接两个意思

场景：过去的三十年，深圳从一个小渔村一跃成为了国际型大都城。

Over the past thirty years, Shenzhen leapfrogged from a small fishing village into an international metropolis.