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TEM8 GMAT GRE
外刊例句
- Some people may seem obsessed with greed and avarice, but our intrinsic motivations are deeper than that.
有些人可能看似沉迷于贪婪和贪得无厌,但我们的内在动机不止于此。
——《经济学人》 - The entrepreneur is obsessed with both technologies—not just as foot fashion.
这位企业家痴迷于这两种技术,可不只是为了用来装饰鞋子。
——《经济学人》
基本释义
[verb] preoccupy or fill the mind of (someone) continually and to a troubling extent
[动词] 持续且令人不安地占据或填满(某人)的思想
深入解读
从词源上来看, obsess 一词源自拉丁语 obsidere (字面义“坐在……的对面”,引申指“密切关注;围攻、占领;停留、保留、居留”)的过去分词 obsessus ,最早于16世纪进入英语后起初用来表示“围困”。不过这一含义现已不再流行。
但从这个概念出发,等到了16世纪30年代后, obsess 开始引申出现在的主要含义指幻想、定见等“迷住、使着迷、使痴迷、使迷恋、使心神不宁”,常用被动语态并作贬义词使用,多指如围困那般持续且令人不安地过度占据或填满某人的思想,以至于不能再思考任何其他事物。比如:
- 财迷心窍
be obsessed by money - 猜疑使他心神不宁。
Suspicion obsessed him. - 那个大美女让他神魂颠倒。
He's completely obsessed with the knockout.
进而还常用搭配 obsess about/over sth 表示“唠叨、挂牵、念念不忘”某个事物,也就是超过必要或合理的范围而不停地谈论或担心某件事,尤其是因此而惹恼了他人。比如:
- 我看你该歇歇了,别没完没了地唠叨传统圣诞菜肴。
I think you should try to stop obsessing about traditional Christmas fare.
名著用例
Harry took a deep breath and asked the question that had been obsessing him for a month.
哈利深深吸了口气,问出了最近一个月来一直困扰着他的那个问题。
出自英国作家J·K·罗琳的奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第五本《哈利·波特与凤凰社》(Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix)。
同近义词
- preoccupy: (of a matter or subject) dominate or engross the mind of (someone) to the exclusion of other thoughts
- possess: (of an emotion, idea, etc.) dominate the mind of
- haunt: be persistently and disturbingly present in (the mind)