Merriam-Webster's Vocabulary Builder 词根笔记（7）GRAV
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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
GRAV comes from the Latin word meaning “heavy, weighty, serious.” Gravity is, of course, what makes things heavy, and without it there wouldn't be any life on earth, since nothing would stay on earth at all. This doesn't stop us from yelling in outrage when the familiar laws of gravity cause something to drop to the floor and break.
GRAV来自拉丁词，意思是“重，沉重，严重”。Gravity（重力）当然是使事情变得沉重的事情，没有它，地球上就不会有任何生命，因为根本没有任何东西能待在地球。 当熟悉的万有引力定律让某物落到地板摔碎时，这并不能阻止我们愤怒地大喊大叫。
1.grave/greɪv/
(1) Requiring serious thought or concern. (2) Serious and formal in appearance or manner. (1)严重的；重大的；严峻的 (2)严肃的；表情沉重的
We realized that the situation was grave and that the slightest incident could spark all-out war.
我们意识到局势严峻，最轻微的事件可能引发全面战争。
Gravity has a familiar physical meaning but also a nonphysical meaning—basically “seriousness.” Thus, something grave possesses gravity. You can refer to the gravity of a person's manner, though public figures today seem to have a lot less gravity than they used to have. Or you can talk about a grave situation, as in the example sentence. But even though Shakespeare makes a pun on grave when a dying character talks about being buried the next day (“Ask for me tomorrow and you shall find me a grave man”), the word meaning “hole for burying a body” isn't actually related.
Gravity（重力)具有熟悉的物理意义，但也有非物理意义——基本上是来表示“严肃性”。因此，严肃或严重的东西具有gravity。 你可以用来表示一个人的态度举止的严肃性（gravity），尽管今天的公众人物似乎比以前少了些庄重（gravity）。 或者你可以谈论一个严重（grave）的情况，就像在例句中那样。 但即使莎士比亚在当一个垂死的角色说自己将在明天被埋葬时对grave做了个双关（“明天你来找我，你就会发现我是一grave man【一是指在坟墓中的人，二是指严肃的人】”），但grave与“埋葬尸体的洞”的意思实际上并不相关。
2.gravitas/ˈɡrævɪtæs/
Great or very dignified seriousness.庄严;严肃;睿智
The head of the committee never failed to carry herself with the gravitas she felt was appropriate to her office.
委员会的负责人向来带有符合她官职的庄严。
This word comes to us straight from Latin. Among the Romans, gravitas was thought to be essential to the character and functions of any adult (male) in authority. Even the head of a household or a low-level official would strive for this important quality. We use gravitas today to identify the same solemn dignity in men and women, but it seems to come easier in those who are over 60, slow-moving—and a bit overweight.
这个词直接来自拉丁文。 在罗马人中，gravitas被认为是对任何掌权的成年人（男性）的性格和功能至关重要。 即使是一家之主或一个低级官员也会努力争取这个重要的素质。 今天我们用gravitas来确定男性和女性同样庄重的尊严，但似乎比较易于形容对于60岁以上，行动缓慢并且有点超重的人。
3.gravitate/ˈɡrævəteɪt, ˈɡrævɪteɪt/
To move or be drawn toward something, especially by natural tendency or as if by an invisible force.被吸引到；受吸引而参加
On hot evenings, the town's social life gravitated toward the lakefront, where you could stroll the long piers eating ice cream or dance at the old Casino.
在炎热的夜晚，小镇的社交生活被吸引到湖畔，在那里你可以边吃冰淇淋边漫步在长码头或在旧赌场跳舞。
To gravitate is to respond, almost unconsciously, to a force that works like gravity to draw things steadily to it as if by their own weight. Thus, young people gravitate toward a role model, moths gravitate to a flame, a conversation might gravitate toward politics, and everyone at a party often gravitates to the bar.
To gravitate就是几乎无意识地对一个像万有引力那样的力量作出反应，以便像通过自己的重量一样稳定地吸引物体。 因此，年轻人gravitate toward（倾向于） 榜样，飞蛾gravitate to （会被吸引到）火焰中，谈话可能会gravitate toward（谈到）政治中去，而派对上的每个人都会gravitates to（被吸引到）酒吧。
4.aggravate/ˈæɡrəveɪt/
(1) To make (an injury, problem, etc.) more serious or severe. (2) To annoy or bother. (1)加重；使恶化；加剧 (2)激怒；使恼火
She went back to the soccer team before the knee was completely healed, which naturally aggravated the injury.
她在膝盖完全愈合之前回到足球队，这自然加重了伤势。
Since the grav- root means basically “weighty or serious,” the original meaning of aggravate was “to make more serious.” A bad relationship with your parents can be aggravated by marrying someone who nobody likes, for example, or a touchy trade relationship between two countries can be aggravated by their inability to agree on climate-change issues. Depression can be aggravated by insomnia—and insomnia can be aggravated by depression. But when most people use aggravate today, they employ its “annoy” sense, as in “What really aggravates my dad is having to listen to that TV all day long.”
由于grav词根基本上意味着“weighty or serious”，因此aggravate的原始含义是“to make more serious”。举几个例子，与父母的不良关系可能会因为与一个父母不喜欢的人结婚而aggravate（加剧），两国之间敏感的贸易关系可能因其无法就气候变化问题达成一致而aggravate（加剧）。 失眠会aggravate（加重）抑郁——抑郁又会aggravate（加重）失眠。 但是，当大多数人今天使用aggravate时，他们会使用“烦恼”的感觉，例如“真正aggravate（激怒）我爸爸的是不得不整天收听那台电视机。”