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SAT TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- Akili Interactive, a startup, plans to seek regulatory approval for a video game designed to stimulate an area of the brain implicated in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.
一家名为 Akili Interactive 的创业公司,计划让一款设计用来刺激与注意力缺陷多动症有关的大脑区域的电子游戏获得监管部门批准。
——《经济学人》 - All recent South Korean presidents have ended their terms in ignominy, disgraced by scandals that often implicate their children as well.
最近几任韩国总统都不体面地结束了自己的任期,其子女也常卷进令他们颜面尽失的丑闻。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] show (someone) to be involved in a crime
[动词] 表明(某人)参与犯罪
深入解读
Implicate 一词源自拉丁语 implicare (牵涉、缠绕、纠缠),15世纪早期进入英语后原指“用寓言故事来表达(真相)”,对应今义“暗指、意味着、必然包含有……的意思”,强调通过所说的话间接地传达某个意思,比如:
- 他软弱无力的抗议暗示他曾受当局的谴责。
His pale protest implicated censure by the authorities. - 那位娴静的年轻女士说咖啡会让她睡不着,暗示她不想喝咖啡。
By saying that coffee would keep her awake, the demure young lady implicated that she didn't want any.
之所以需要间接表达,无非是想“间接影响”,这也可以用 implicate 来表达,比如:
- 玛丽原本坚决不来。但这一消息间接影响了她的决定。
Mary was adamant that she would not come. But this news implicated her decision.
等到了18世纪末, implicate 进一步发展出现在的主要含义“牵涉、涉及(某人)”或者说“使某人牵连其中”,常用表达为 implicate sb in sth ,多指牵涉某种不光彩的事或者罪行,比如:
- 他们有证据表明他涉嫌剽窃吗?
Have they any evidence to implicate him in the plagiarism? - 作为一个严肃审慎的人,他尽力避免说出任何会进一步牵连他的事情。
As a sedate, sober man, he tried to avoid saying anything that would implicate him further.
一旦“与某罪行有牵连”,也就意味着“对某坏事负有责任”,这两者都可以用习惯表达 be implicated in sth 表示,比如:
- 一些高级官员受到这一裙带关系丑闻的牵连。
Senior officials were implicated in the scandal of nepotism.
如果表达说的是 implicate sth in/as sth ,而非 implicate sb ,意思则略有不同,指“表明或意指……是某种不好事物的起因”,比如:
- 这些结果说明卫生条件差是这种偶发病爆发的一个原因。
The results implicate poor hygiene as one cause of the outbreak of the sporadic disease.
另外 implicate 也可以用作名词表示“暗含的论断、包含的事物”,这与同样作名词表示“含意、暗指”和“牵连、牵涉”的 implication 有所不同,比如:
- 那个温顺的女孩总是遵守道德生活中一系列的暗含结论。
The docile girl always abides by a series of implicates from the moral life.
名著用例
He's implicated in this and is probably explaining to the Yankees at this very minute.
他与此事有牵连,说不定这会儿正受北方佬审问呢。
出自美国作家玛格丽特·米切尔(Margaret Mitchell)创作的长篇小说《飘》(Gone with the Wind)。该小说在1937年获得普利策奖,是玛格丽特·米切尔在世时出版的唯一一部作品。不但它成为美国史上最为畅销的小说之一,而且由这部小说所改编的同名电影《乱世佳人》也成为影史上不朽的经典。
同近义词
- incriminate: make (someone) appear guilty of a crime or wrongdoing
- embroil: involve (someone) deeply in an argument, conflict, or difficult situation
- enmesh: cause to become entangled in something