這幾天斷斷續(xù)續(xù)看了幾篇篇幅較短的外刊文章，又匯集了一小批熟詞僻義，個個都相當(dāng)?shù)膃ye-opening:

1.?Farm?somebody/something out?

這個是最讓我震驚的用法 -- “farm” 不就是個意為“農(nóng)場”的名詞嗎？從沒想到它還可以是個動詞，而且還有兩重含義：

1)?to?send?work to other people instead of doing it yourself （相當(dāng)于中文里的“外包”)

e.g.?The processing will be farmed out to people in local villages.

2)?to send someone to a?different?place where they will be looked after – used to show?disapproval (就是把自己的孩子送到親戚朋友家代為照看)；比如在這個句子里：?At the age of 16 she was farmed out to family friends. 想到我小時候被父母送到姥姥家一直待到5歲的經(jīng)歷用英文說就可以用這個詞：I was farmed out to my grandma's house from birth till I was 5 years old.?

2. champion?

這個詞是在我讀到一篇介紹中國茶飲品牌進(jìn)軍美國市場的外刊文章的時候碰到的，原句是 “Her task is to champion the Chinese brand and tea-drinking habit in coffee-centric America." 顯然這句話里的champion并不是我原本熟知的”冠軍“的意思，而是一個動詞的用法。字典里查出來，champion做動詞的時候意思是：為…而斗爭；捍衛(wèi) to fight for or speak in support of a group of people or a belief. 那所以，”to champion the Chinese brand and tea-drinking habit“就是指”推廣中國的茶飲品牌和飲茶習(xí)慣“的意思。

3. float?

很熟悉的一個動詞，意思是”漂浮“。但是昨天讀到的一篇文章里面有一句話是這樣的：This week, a South Korean presidential adviser floated a citizens’ “divident” from AI businesses, sending the local stock market down by 5%, before backtracking. 這里面的float是整句話的謂語，而且顯然是用作及物動詞，所以還是靠查了字典才知道，to float sth.這個用法的意思是”提出，提請考慮（想法或計劃)” to suggest an idea or a plan for other people to consider。所以，以上那句話的意思應(yīng)該是“本周，一名韓國總統(tǒng)顧問提出向公民發(fā)放人工智能企業(yè)“分紅”的構(gòu)想，導(dǎo)致當(dāng)?shù)毓墒邢碌?%，隨后他收回了這一言論”

4. canon

這個詞我知道的意思好像也就是“加農(nóng)炮”還有就是一個已經(jīng)過時的產(chǎn)品品牌“佳能”相機(jī)。今天特意詳查了一下它其他的含義，結(jié)果不得了：

1)?a?standard, rule,or?principle, or set of these, that are believed by a group of people to be right and good 主流標(biāo)準(zhǔn)；正典

canon of:?Mapple thorpe’s pictures offended the canons of American good taste.

2）?a?list?of books or pieces of?music?that are officially?recognized?as being the work of a?certain?writer. 例如?the Shakespearean canon莎士比亞經(jīng)典 /?the literary canon文學(xué)經(jīng)典

3）a piece of music in which a?tune?is started by one?singer?or?instrument?and is?copied?by each of the others 卡農(nóng)曲

?5. discount?

這不就是消費(fèi)者熟知的“打折/折扣”嗎？最常用作名詞。但是其實(shí)它也是個動詞，比如在一下這句話里：Experts discounted the accuracy of the polls.

這句話里的"discount"意思是“認(rèn)為…不重要；對…不全信；低估” to think or say that sth. is not important or not true. 所以全句應(yīng)該理解為“專家們總是不太相信民調(diào)的準(zhǔn)確性”