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考研 CET6 IELTS TEM8
外刊例句
- In essence it is a shared, trusted, public ledger that everyone can inspect, but which no single user controls.
本质上它是一个共享的、可信的公共账目，每个人都可以查看它，但它不受单个用户的控制。
——《经济学人》 - Time is of the essence when you are having a heart attack, and while most hospitals today are much quicker than they were a decade ago, some are faster than others.
心脏病发作时，时间至关重要。尽管现今大多数医院的行动都比十年前快得多，但其中有些医院还是比其他医院更胜一筹。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] the intrinsic nature or indispensable quality of something, especially something abstract, that determines its character
[名词] （尤指某个抽象）事物的决定其特色的内在本质或不可或缺的特质
深入解读
Essence 是一个在化妆品上面常见的单词，用来指从花草等植物中或其他物质中提取出来的“香精、精油、香料、香泽”，比如香草香精（vanilla essence）。
该词源自拉丁语 essentia （存在、本质），14世纪末进入英语后最初指“三位一体（圣父、圣子及圣灵合为上帝）的本体”。等到了17世纪中期开始发展出现在的基本含义指“本质、实质、要素、精髓”，尤指某个抽象事物的决定其特色的内在本质或不可或缺的特质，就好比花草体内的香精决定了其各自独特的气味那般，比如：
- 他的画描绘出了法国的神韵。但他到伦敦小画廊兜售自己的画作，结果却以大败告终。
His paintings captured the essence of France. But his attempts to peddle his paintings around London's tiny gallery scene ended in a fiasco.
从这个概念出发，英语中既常用 in essence 这个正式习语表示“本质上、实质上”，即从根本上来讲，不考虑周边细节，比如：
- 从本质上说，广告的意图是以公开的信息传达隐含之意。
In essence, advertisements attempt to project a latent meaning behind an overt message.
也常用 be of the essence 这个正式习语表示“极其重要、必不可少”，比如：
- 由于时间至关重要，他强制性地推行了改革。
He railroaded the reforms through because time was of the essence.
名著用例
Could there be finer symptoms? Is not general incivility the very essence of love?
这还不能算是尽心尽意吗？宁可为了一个人而得罪大家，这难道不是恋爱场上最可贵的地方？
出自19世纪英国小说家简·奥斯丁（Jane Austen）的代表作《傲慢与偏见》（Pride and Prejudice）。
同近义词
- crux: the decisive or most important point at issue
- kernel: the central or most important part of something
- quintessence: the aspect of something regarded as the intrinsic and central constituent of its character
