20181215 alarming

1. 这是个什么词？

词：alarming

英英释义：making you feel worried or frightened

例句：It is alarming that students spend so much time learning without actually learning something.

2. 为什么选这个词？

“alarming”是形容词，意思是“令人担忧的、使人惊慌的”；它的名词形式是 alarm，本意是“警报、闹钟”。alarming 经常出现在新闻报道中，用来形容某个问题的严重性。和它同义的表达一般还有 worrying 和 disturbing。在 alarming, worrying, disturbing 后面加上 ly 就变成了它们的副词形式，同样常见，我们可以一起掌握。

一种令人担忧的现象是，现在很多孩子在学习上花了很多时间，但其实并没有真正学到什么东西，就可以说：

It is alarming that students spend so much time learning without actually learning something.

在写稀有物种、自然资源在以令人担忧的速度消失时还可以使用“at an alarming rate/speed”这个表达。比如，中华鲟的数量越来越少，非常令人担忧，就可以说：

The Chinese sturgeon is disappearing at an alarming rate.

类似地，亚马逊热带雨林消失的速度让人担忧，可以说：

The Amazon rainforest is disappearing at an alarming rate.

另外，alarming 的副词形式 alarmingly 也很常见。比如，在最新一期《经济学人》Leaders 板块中有一篇关于印度环境污染的文章，它的摘要中就出现了这个词：

Even by the standards of poor countries, India is alarmingly--and unnecessarily--filthy. It needs to clean up.

《经济学人》另一篇写土耳其 #MeToo 运动的文章中有这么一句话：

Domestic violence is alarmingly widespread in Turkey.

当我们想说某个现象很普遍，而这种普遍性令人担忧的时候就可以直接说 alarmingly widespread 了。

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？

1）翻译下面的句子：

美国的自杀率在过去几年有所上升，这尤其令人担忧。

The US has seen an alarming increase in suicide in the past few years.

（参考翻译：The US has seen an alarming increase in suicide in the past few years. 或 It is particularly disturbing that suicide has been on the rise in America in the last few years. 或 It is particularly worrying that a growing number of Americans have taken their own lives over the past few years.）

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： 中国儿童肥胖率在过去几年有所上升，这尤其令人担忧。

场景 ： The China has seen an alarming increase in childhood obesity rates in the past few years.