詞：variant
英英釋義：something that is slightly different from the usual form of something
例句：Meituan, Pinduoduo, and similar products are simply a number of variants of the same idea.
2. 為什么選這個(gè)詞？
“variant”是可數(shù)名詞，意思是“變體、變種”。雖然這個(gè)詞最常出現(xiàn)在科學(xué)類(lèi)文章中，很多其他主題的文章中也可以碰到。當(dāng)我們想表示一個(gè)事物和另一個(gè)事物本質(zhì)上是一樣的，但略有差異，就可以說(shuō) A is a variant of B。我們還可以在給別人介紹一個(gè)比較新的事物或概念時(shí)使用 variant，便于對(duì)方聯(lián)想和理解。variant 后面接介詞 of 或 on，意思一樣。這個(gè)詞可以體現(xiàn)使用者對(duì)英文詞匯的掌握程度，在口語(yǔ)和寫(xiě)作中都可以使用。我們來(lái)看幾個(gè)例子。
color 是 colour 的一種變體，我們就可以說(shuō)：
"Color" is a variant of "colour".
或
"Color" is a spelling variant of "colour".
微軟有 Word 文字處理器，Apple 有 Pages，它們都是文字處理器，就可以說(shuō)：
Pages, an app by Apple, is a variant of/on Word, a widely used word processor by Microsoft.
好幾年前就有拼團(tuán)這個(gè)概念了，現(xiàn)在很火的拼多多和一些類(lèi)似的拼團(tuán)產(chǎn)品本質(zhì)上其實(shí)是一樣的，我們就可以說(shuō)：
Meituan, Pinduoduo, and similar products are simply a number of variants of the same idea.
一些撲克游戲大致規(guī)則差不多，但還是會(huì)有些細(xì)微差別。比如同樣是“升級(jí)”游戲，有的人會(huì)將 2 作為常主，有的人不把 2 作為常主，但除此之外并沒(méi)有太大的差別，我們就可以說(shuō)：
This card game is just a variant on Shengji.
來(lái)讀讀下面這段《經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)人》，選自分析新西蘭槍擊案的文章：
Yet he was part of something much bigger. The names and slogans scrawled on his weapons were familiar to extreme white nationalists all around the world—but hardly anyone else. His ranting internet manifesto, “The Great Replacement”, repeated a staple far-right conspiracy theory: that non-white and Muslim immigrants in Western countries are invaders, ushered in by scheming elites to replace ethnic-European populations. Variants of that once-fringe idea are now common, not just in social-media posts by anonymous wackos but in the speeches of elected politicians from Hungary to Iowa.
最后一句中的 once-fringe 意思是“一度非主流的、曾經(jīng)邊緣化的”。簡(jiǎn)單來(lái)說(shuō)，variants of that once-fringe idea 就可以理解成是 similar ideas。
3. 怎樣學(xué)會(huì)使用這個(gè)詞？
1）翻譯下面的句子：
市場(chǎng)上有很多種可樂(lè)，都是可口可樂(lè)的變種。
（參考翻譯：There are many colas on the market, all variants on the original drink. 或 There are many colas on the market, all variants of the original Coca Cola drink. ）
2.Buy one and get one free is a variant of 50% discount.
