Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder 词根笔记（6）PROB
获取更多内容，关注微信公众号"Progressing"。
学习指南：
1.每篇文章介绍一个词根及四个含有词根的单词
2.单词的详细内容包括音标、定义、例句及解释
PROB comes from the Latin words for “prove or proof” and “honesty or integrity.” A probe, whether it's a little object for testing electrical circuits or a spacecraft headed for Mars, is basically something that's looking for evidence or proof. And probable originally described something that wasn't certain but might be “provable.”
PROB来自拉丁语中的“证实或证明”和“诚实或正直”。探测器（probe），无论是测试电路的小物件还是用于勘测火星的航天器，基本上是寻找证据或证明的东西。 probable 最初用来描述某物是不确定，但可能是“可证明的”。
1.approbation/ˌæprəˈbeɪʃən/
A formal or official act of approving; praise, usually given with pleasure or enthusiasm.赞许;赞同;认可;批准
The senate signaled its approbation of the new plan by voting for it unanimously.
通过一致通过的投票，参议院将及可能通过新计划。
Approbation is a noun form of approve, but approbation is usually stronger than mere approval. An official commendation for bravery is an example of approbation; getting reelected to office by a wide marginindicates public approbation; and the social approbation received by a star quarterback in high school usually makes all the pain worthwhile.
Approbation是approve的一种名词形式，但approbation通常比单纯的approval更强。对英勇行为的的官方表彰是approbation的一个例子; 获得大比分连任官职就表示公众的approbation; 而在高中获得明星四分卫的social approbation通常会让所有的痛苦都值得（四分卫指的是美式足球)。
2.probate /ˈproʊˌbeıt/
The process of proving in court that the will of someone who has died is valid, and of administering the estate of a dead person.遗嘱检验；遗嘱认证
When her father died, she thought she would be able to avoid probate, but she wasn't that lucky.
当她的父亲去世时，她认为她能够避免遗嘱认证，但她并不那么幸运。
Ever since people have written wills, those wills have had to be proven genuine by a judge. Without a probate process, greedy acquaintances or relatives could write up a fake will stating that all the person's wealth belonged to them. To establish a will as genuine, it must generally be witnessed and stamped by someone officially licensed to do so (though wills have sometimes been approved even when they were just written on a piece of scrap paper, with no witnesses). Today we use probate more broadly to mean everything that's handled in probate court, a special court that oversees the handling of estates (the money and property left when someone dies), making sure that everyone eventually receives what is properly theirs.
人们写了遗嘱以后，这些遗嘱必须由法官证明是真的。 如果没有遗嘱认证程序，贪婪的熟人或亲戚可能会写出一个伪造的遗嘱，并谎称所有的财产属于他们。 为了确定遗嘱是真实的，通常必须由经官方许可的人亲眼目睹并盖章（尽管遗愿书有时会被批准，即使它们只是写在一张废纸上，没有证人）。 今天，我们更广泛地使用的遗嘱认定是指在遗嘱审判法庭处理的所有事情。遗嘱审判法庭是一个监督遗产处理（人死后留下的金钱和财产）的特别法庭，确保每个人最终都能得到正确的遗产。
3.probity/ˈprəʊbəti, ˈprəʊbɪti/
Absolute honesty and uprightness.正直；耿直；诚实
Her unquestioned probity helped win her the respect of her fellow judges.
她毋庸置疑的正直帮助她赢得了她的同胞法官的尊重。
Probity is a quality the public generally hopes for in its elected officials but doesn't always get. Bankers, for example, have traditionally been careful to project an air of probity, even though banking scandals and bailouts have made this harder than ever. An aura of probity surrounds such public figures as Warren Buffett and Bill Moyers, men to whom many Americans would entrust their children and their finances.
Probity（诚实， 正直）是公众普遍希望选举出的官员拥有的素质，但并不总是称心如意。 例如，银行家一直想要呈现正直之风，尽管银行业丑闻和保释让这正直之风很难体现。正直的光环围绕着沃伦巴菲特和比尔莫耶斯这样的公众人物，许多美国人愿意将
自己的孩子和财务委托给他们。
4.reprobate/ˈreprəbeɪt/
A person of thoroughly bad character. 堕落者;放荡者;行为不检的人
His wife finally left him, claiming he was a reprobate who would disappear for weeks at a time, gambling and drinking away all his money.
他的妻子终于离开了他，声称他是一个堕落的人，他一次会消失数周，赌博和酗酒花掉了他所有的钱。
The related verb of reprobate is reprove, which originally, as the opposite of approve, meant “to condemn.” Thus, a reprobate, as the word was used in Biblical translations, was someone condemned to hell. But for many years reprobate has been said in a tone of joshing affection, usually to describe someone of doubtful morals but good humor. Shakespeare's great character Falstaff—a lazy, lying, boastful, sponging drunkard—is the model of a reprobate, but still everyone's favorite Shakespeare character.
reprobate的相关动词是reprove（谴责，责备），原本是approve的反义词，意思是“要谴责condemn”。因此，reprobate，曾在圣经翻译中被使用，是指被谴责下地狱的人。 但是，多年来，reprobate一直以一种开玩笑的语气说，通常用来形容一个有道德问题但有好的幽默感的人。 莎士比亚笔下的杰出人物福斯塔夫——一个懒惰，撒谎，自吹自擂的酒鬼 ——是一个reprobate的典范，但仍然是每个人最喜欢的莎士比亚角色。