2018-11-15 panacea


词:panacea


英英释义:something that people think will make everything better and solve all their problems


例句:There is no panacea for America's immigrant problems.


2. 为什么选这个词?


“panacea”是名词,注意它的发音是/ˌpanəˈsiːə/,重音在后面。


“panacea”的意思是“解决某些问题的万灵丹、灵丹妙药”,我们可以用它来替换“a perfect solution”。不管是四六级考研作文,还是托福、雅思、GRE 作文,涉及到“问题”时,都可以用到这个词。


从这个单词的英文释义和例句中,可以观察到三点:


1)panacea 是可数名词,但一般使用单数形式;


2)panacea 后面常接的表示“问题”的名词,而且常用复数形式,比如 problems/ills;


3)panacea 前面一般会和 no/not/never 这样表示否定的词连用。


下面我们通过几个例子来体会“panacea”的用法。


很多问题复杂、棘手,没有完美的解决方案,比如美国的移民问题、日本的人口问题、中国的环境问题等。我们可以使用“There is no panacea for X problems”的句式来表达“x问题没有完美的解决方案”:


There is no panacea for America's immigrant problems.


There is no panacea for Japan's population problems.


There is no panacea for China's environment problems.


《经济学人》中经常可以看到 “panacea”。因为《经济学人》不仅仅是报道新闻,它还会深入分析问题,并且提出解决方案。比如在关于非洲科技创新的文章中,就出现了 panacea:


Yet there is also reason to hope that even if technology is not a panacea, it can still help reduce some of the costs and frictions of doing business in Africa.


比如一篇讨论全球气候变化应对方案的文章中,也出现了 panacea:


Taxes on carbon, though not a universal panacea for the problems of climate change, would be a reform in the right direction, too.


我们还可以从这个句子中提炼出一个好用的句式:


X(某个解决方案), though not a universal panacea for the problems of Y, would be a reform/change/step in the right direction.


当我们想表示“某个解决方案虽然不够完美,但是也能奏效”时,就可以直接套用上面这个句型。


比如,想要表达“虽然鼓励乘坐公共交通出行并不能解决全部的交通拥堵问题,但政府仍旧应该鼓励”,就可以写成:


Encouraging residents to use more public transportation, though not a universal panacea for the problems of traffic jam, would be a change/step in the right direction.


基础比较好的朋友,可以在掌握了 panacea 之后,了解一下它的同义词 cure-all。


3. 怎样学会使用这个词?


1)翻译下面的句子:

Many CEOs hope to find a panacea for all the company's problems.

很多 CEO 希望能够找到解决企业所有问题的万能药。


(参考翻译:Many CEOs hope they can find the panacea for all the company's problems. 或者 Many CEOs wish they could find the panacea for all corporate ills. )


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。


场景: 人人网

造句: Renren Inc, regarded by many as China's Facebook, will dispose all assets in its social networking service(SNS) business for a cash consideration of $20 million, the company announced on Wednesday. The asset sale transaction, though not a universal panacea for the problems of Renren's future business, would be a good step in the right direction for the next phrase of growth.

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