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SAT TEM8
外刊例句
- But consumer apathy has forced firms to rethink how they might woo customers.
但是，消费者的冷淡已经迫使企业重新思考该如何吸引客户。
——《经济学人》 - The tip-off is Beard, who’s endowed by his creator with precisely the vices — apathy, slothfulness, gluttony and hypocrisy — that afflict the society the book condemns, threatening to cook the human race in the heat-trapping gases released by its own arrogance.
这一点是通过比尔德暴露出来的，他的创造者在他身上添加的邪恶元素——冷漠、倦怠、贪吃、虚伪——准确地戳到了本书所控诉的这个社会的痛处，他威胁要用人类的狂妄所产生的温室气体把人类自己烤熟。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] lack of interest, enthusiasm, or concern
[名词] 缺乏兴趣、热情或关心
深入解读
Apathy 是一个与常见单词 empathy （同情、同感、共鸣）十分形似却又含义恰恰相反的单词，两者只差开头一两个字母不同。该词源自古希腊语 apathes （没有感觉的、没有痛苦的、没有经历过痛苦的），17世纪经法语 apathie （淡漠、冷漠、漠不关心；懈怠、懒惰）进入英语也是指“淡漠、冷漠、漠不关心”以及“无兴趣、懈怠”，也就是一种对任何事情都不感兴趣或不热心的状态，比如：
- 与过去形成鲜明对比的是，选民普遍态度冷淡。
In stark contrast to the past, there is widespread apathy among the electorate.
作形容词使用时，则可以用 apathy 的衍生词 apathetic 表示“淡漠的、冷漠的、漠不关心的、无动于衷的”以及“无兴趣的、懈怠的”，多指一种不负责任且应受责备的漠不关心，以及沉溺于关心、悲伤、绝望等某种特定的压抑情绪或身体疼痛而使人对其他情绪或疼痛麻木不仁或者说缺乏正常的人类兴趣，比如：
- 她是教书的材料。连最不感兴趣的学生都开始坐直了听讲。
She has a vocation for teaching. Even the most apathetic students are beginning to sit up and listen. - 疾病使该迎宾员冷漠，不愿见人。因此她生病后便给解除了许多责任。
The illness made the usher apathetic and unwilling to meet people. Therefore, after her illness she was divested of much of her responsibility.
名著用例
Their convict uniforms were dirty and foul with sweat, shackles clanked between their ankles when they moved tiredly, and there was an air of apathy and despair about them.
他们穿的囚服，因为有汗，又脏又臭。他们拖着疲倦的脚步走动时，脚镣发出哗啦哗的响声。这几个人都带着一种消沉、绝望的眼神。
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
- indifference: lack of interest, concern, or sympathy
- passivity: acceptance of what happens, without active response or resistance
- unconcern: a lack of worry or interest, especially when surprising or callous
