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考研 CET4 IELTS TOEFL TEM4 TEM8
外刊例句
- Rather than peddle brand-new virtual products, Miniwiz derives value from physically repurposing old rubbish.
“小智研发”不销售新颖的虚拟产品,而是从对垃圾的实物改造中获利。
——《经济学人》 - Some scientists are beginning to look seriously at just what benefits patients may derive from spirituality.
有些科学家开始认真研究病人从心灵学上能获得哪些益处。
——《时代周刊》
基本释义
[verb] obtain something from (a specified source)
[动词] 从(某个特定的来源)获得某物
深入解读
Derive 是一个比熟词 drive 多一个字母,但又比单词 deprive (剥夺)少一个字母的单词。该词源自拉丁语 derivare (从源头引出或排出水流),14世纪末经古法语 deriver (流出、倒出;衍生、起源)进入英语后,主要用来表示从某个特定的来源“取得、获得、得到、形成”某物,常用搭配 derive sth from sth 作正式用语使用,多意味着由先前以另一形式存在的事物衍生而出,也可以指主动地从某处获得或取得乐趣、利益、知识、安慰等抽象事物,比如:
- 在阴冷的冬日里,他从拉小提琴中获得了极大的乐趣。
He derived great pleasure from playing the violin in the bleak winter.
将这个概念用在化学领域时,则是指从……中“提取”,也就是在实际上或理论上从母体物质获得某个化学物质,比如:
- 这种最有效的药物是从鱼油中提炼出来的。
The most potent drug is derived from fish oil.
等到了16世纪中期, derive 开始用短语动词 derive from sth 或 be derived from sth 表示“起源于、来自、从……衍生出”,主要指某个词以某个(通常是另一种语言的)特定词作为词根或词源,这个表达后来也被用来泛指其他事物来自或起源于某个特定的来源,比如:
- 英语的 ample 一词源自拉丁语中的 amplus 。
The English word "ample" derives from the Latin word "amplus". - 她是个适应力强的女孩。她的坚强源自于她的父母和姐妹们。
She is a resilient girl. Her strength is derived from her parents and her sisters.
而到了17世纪之后, derive 开始进一步用在语言学上表示“追溯或说明……的起源或来由”,比如:
名著用例
For the rest, she suffered much from depression of spirits, and took slow walks to recover them, in which she carried her grandfather's telescope and her grandmother's hourglass — the latter because of a peculiar pleasure she derived from watching a material representation of time's gradual glide away.
剩余时间里,尤苔莎心情忧郁,十分消沉,便手持外公的望远镜和外婆的沙漏,漫步荒原,消愁解闷。她带上沙漏,是因为它以物质的形式反映时光逐渐流逝,望着沙漏,她获得一种奇特的愉悦。
出自英国小说家托马斯·哈代(Thomas Hardy)的长篇小说《还乡》(The Return of the Native)。
同近义词
- glean: extract (information) from various sources
- exploit: make full use of and derive benefit from (a resource)
- extract: derive (an idea or the evidence for it) from a body of information