本文经授权转载自微信公众号:田间小站
TOEFL SAT TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- And Wang Xin of Nankai University, in Tianjin, China, thinks he has one. It relies on the reaction of soil bacteria to molecules secreted by plant roots.
天津南开大学的王鑫认为自己已经找到了解决之道。他的方法依据的是土壤细菌对作物根系分泌物的反应。
——《经济学人》 - Every night, about two to three hours before you conk out, your brain starts to secrete melatonin in response to darkness.
每天晚上在你睡着前两三个小时,你的大脑便对黑暗做出反应,开始分泌褪黑素。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] (of a cell, gland, or organ) produce and discharge (a substance)
[动词] (指细胞、腺体或器官)产生和排出(物质)
深入解读
Secrete 同小站之前推的 retort, fret, peer, loom, faction, swallow 等一样,也是个同形异义词。其基本含义之一“分泌”逆构自名词 secretion (分泌;分泌物),主要表示“(动植物或其器官、细胞等)分泌”,比如:
- 唾液是由嘴中或嘴部周围的腺体分泌的一种液体。
Saliva is a liquid secreted by glands in or near the mouth.
而 secrete 的另外一个基本含义“隐藏、藏匿”则是源自与之形似的熟词 secret (秘密、机密;秘密的、保密的),多用于形容将小物件存放在看不见或不为人所知的地方,比如:
- 一小瓶白兰地藏在他的皮箱内衬中。
A brandy miniature was secreted in the lining of his case. - 她鬼鬼祟祟地往身后扫了一眼,然后把枪藏在了竹丛里。
With a furtive glance over her shoulder, she secreted the gun in the bamboo thicket.
名著用例
The search succeeds. In the bedroll of Musa the old bearer: a silver spittoon. Wrapped in his puny bundle of clothes: gold coins, a silver samovar. Secreted under his charpoy bed: a missing tea-service.
搜查获得了成功。在老仆人穆萨的铺盖卷里找到了银痰盂,金币和一个银茶炊包在他那个小衣服包里,一套丢失的茶具藏在他的吊床底下。
出自印裔英国作家萨尔曼·鲁西迪(Salman Rushdie,又译萨尔曼·拉什迪)在1981年出版的长篇小说《午夜之子》(Midnight's Children)。《午夜之子》被视为萨尔曼·鲁西迪的代表作,获得当年的布克奖(Booker Prize),并且在2008年被评为“布克奖40周年最佳作品”。
同近义词
- ooze: (of a fluid) slowly trickle or seep out of something; flow in a very gradual way
- excrete: (of a living organism or cell) separate and expel as waste (a substance, especially a product of metabolism)
- emit: produce and discharge (something, especially gas or radiation)