一日一词:寓意MORAL

自现象级英语

MORAL

1. 英英释义:a practical lesson about what to do or how to behave, which you learn from a story or from something that happens to you 

例句:The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that children should not lie.

2. 为什么选这个词? 

“moral”可以是形容词可以是名词。它作名词时除了表示“道德”(一般用复数 morals,比如“公德”就是 public morals)外,还有一个好用、地道的意思--“寓意、教训”。当我们想表达“从某个故事、案例、经历中学到某某东西”时,就可以用 moral 替换 message 和 lesson。这个词尤其适用于写作中的举例论证,我们在描述完一个例子之后,将例子和观点作关联时就可以使用 moral。来看几个例子。 

教育小孩子的一种常见方式是给他们阅读各种寓言故事,然后在最后教给他们一个道理。比如《狼来了》的故事就是要告诉小朋友不应该撒谎。我们就可以说: 

The lesson of The Boy Who Cried Wolf  is that children should not lie.

或 

The message of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that children should not lie.

我们可以把里面的 lesson 和 message 换成 moral: 

The moral of The Boy Who Cried Wolf is that children should not lie.

再比如,深圳特区成功的例子说明了一个城市要想持续发展好必须要不断引入高素质人才,就可以说: 

The moral of Shenzhen's boom is that talent is essential for a city's continuous economic success.

William Zinsser 在 On Writing Well 中教年轻作家写作,他经常会先讲一个故事,然后再说明里面的道理。比如这个句子: 

One moral of this story is that you should always collect more material than you will use.

不难发现,moral 的用法非常简单。我们只要掌握 The moral of this story/case/experience is that... 这个句式就足够了。 

3. 怎样学会使用这个词? 

1)翻译下面的句子: 

我们从这个 TED 演讲中可以学到的是,要想获得成功,得学会先帮助别人。 (重点:演讲talk,要想成功放在主句前头,先first, 先助人pay it forward)

The moral of the TED talk is that to succeed we should learn to help others first. 

The moral of the TED talk is that to succeed we should learn to pay it forward.

造句:

例1:The moral of the recent Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash is that all problems should be solved before the takeoff. 飞机失事的教训是起飞前应确保零问题

例2:There is a clear moral to housewives' shopping sprees: worldly possessions bring them full satisfaction. 主妇们的购物癖源于拥有带来的满足感

例3:The moral of the job interview is that attitude should be prized over expertise. 这次招聘的教训在于态度重于专长。(结合prize 的每日一词) 

个人拓展:

countable noun usually singular

搭配:moral of

a clear moral to sth

draw clears morals from sth.

句型:The moral of this story/case/experience is that

背诵

moral, lesson, message

public morals 公德./ private morals (plural)

The moral of the story is that honesty is always the best policy.

Don't take the moral high ground. 不要用道德来给我上纲上线

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