characterize

英英释义：to be typical of a person, place, or thing

例句：Phenomenal English is characterized by its emphasis on using English.

我们常用名词/形容词“characteristic”表示“特征”/“典型的”，其实它的动词形式“characterize”也是个地道，可以让表达简洁优美的词。当我们想描述一个事物有某些特点时，就可以用到它。

“X具有Y特征”在英文中可以表达为“Y characterize(s) X”或者“X is characterized by Y”。这里的“characterize”也可以用“mark”完美同义替换。

1.William Zinsser 的文字朴实、简洁，就可以说：

Plain and concise language characterizes/marks William Zinsser's writing.

2.法国足球运动员姆巴佩的特点是速度快、射门精准，就可以这样介绍：

Speed and high shot accuracy characterize/mark the French footballer Kylian Mbappé.（足球运动员除了用 footballer 外，也可以用 soccer player。）

3.就全球来看，城市发展的一大特征是交通拥堵，就可以说：

Traffic congestion characterizes/marks urban  expansion worldwide.

4.《经济学人》的风格指南 The Economist Style Guide 序言中，开头部分有这么两句：

On only two scores can The Economist hope to outdo its rivals consistently. One is the quality  of its analysis; the other is the quality of its writing.

这段话强调了《经济学人》特别看重分析质量和写作质量，因此我们可以用“characterize”和“mark”把这段话改写，比如可以写成：

The Economist is characterized/marked by its  insightful analysis and high-quality prose.

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