本文经授权转载自微信公众号：田间小站
考研 CET6 TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- One reason they are powerhouses of evolution is that they oversee a relentless and prodigious slaughter, mutating as they do so.
它们之所以是进化的推进器，原因之一是它们主导着一场残酷的大规模屠杀，并在此过程中发生突变。
——《经济学人》 - Tens of thousands of elephants have been slaughtered for their ivory by the poachers, who have grown increasingly militarized and more ruthless.
偷猎者屠杀了数以万计的大象以获取象牙，这些偷猎者变得愈发军事化，也越来越残忍。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] the killing of animals for food
[名词] 宰杀动物用作食物
深入解读
Slaughter 一词源自古北欧语 slatr （屠杀、屠宰肉），其拼写同小站（微信公众号：田间小站）上周推送的 onslaught 一样，也可能是受现已过时的英语单词 slaught （屠杀）的影响而来。
自14世纪进入英语后， slaughter 本质上是一个屠夫专用术语表示“屠宰、宰杀”，多指大批宰杀动物以供食用，比如：
从这个概念出发， slaughter 常用来引申指“屠杀、杀戮”，多指在战争中像屠宰大批牲畜那样大规模残酷无情地杀死人或动物，比如：
- 古朴典雅的海滨村庄被毁，男人、女人和儿童惨遭杀戮。
Men, women and children were slaughtered and the quaint seaside village destroyed.
等到了16世纪30年代，上述这些名词含义也开始相应用作动词。而在口语中作动词时，则常用 slaughter 喻指在体育比赛等竞赛中“大比分击败、轻松击败、使惨败”，就像是将对手屠杀干净了那般，这个概念也可以用作名词，比如：
- 我们浪费了好几次得分机会，以1:10惨败给主队。
We squandered several good scoring chances and were slaughtered 10–1 by the home team. - 昨天的比赛绝对是场一边倒的比赛。
Yesterday's game was an absolute slaughter.
名著用例
Anyone who continues to resist, man, woman, or child, will be slaughtered, as will every member of their family.
任何要继续抵抗的人和他们的家人，无论是男是女还是小孩，都会被处死。
出自英国作家J·K·罗琳的奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第七本《哈利·波特与死亡圣器》（Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows）。
同近义词
- decimate: to kill large numbers of animals, plants or people in a particular area
- genocide: the deliberate killing of a large number of people from a particular nation or ethnic group with the aim of destroying that nation or group
- massacre: an indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of people
