英英釋義:existing everywhere or involving everyone
例句:The desire to look attractive is universal.
2. 體會這個詞 (進階篇)
我很都很熟悉“universe”是“宇宙”,其實它的形容詞形式“universal”也是個常見並且實用的好詞。當想表示某種情況非常普遍時,我們可能會立刻想到 common,popular,prevalent,其實在很多時候也可以用 universal。
比如我們常說“愛美之心,人皆有之”,就可以說成:
The desire to look attractive is universal.
或者
It’s a universal trait to want people to find you attractive.
當我們想表示“全民xx”這層意思時,就可以用到 universal。比如“全民醫保”就可以說成“universal health care”,“普世價值”可以是“universal values”。《經濟學人》曾在壹篇特別報道中評價美國是“the only large rich country without universal health care”。
universal 的副詞形式 universally 也很常見,當想強調普遍程度時就可以用到它。比如《傲慢與偏見》中的經典開篇第壹段中就用到了“universally acknowledged”:
It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.
根據這段話我們也可以提取常見句型 It is a universal truth that… 比如《經濟學人》中就出現過:
It is a universal truth of human nature that a dollar tomorrow is worth less to us than a dollar today.
1)使用《牛津英語搭配詞典》查“universal”,了解它作為形容詞時的常用搭配。
among
在… 中普遍:
These practices remain universal among the islanders.
翻譯下面的句子:
中國的全民教育取得了巨大的進步。
A tremendous progress has been made among the universal education in China.
(參考翻譯:China has made remarkable progress toward/towards universal literacy. 或者 China has made giant strides in universal access to education.)
3)結合自己的生活、學習、工作、興趣等,想象在什麽語境下會用到這個表達。先簡要描述這個場景,再造句。
場景: It is universally acknowledged that education anxiety is now prevalent among middle-class.