词根学习6：carn；cred；fid；curr/curs；ped

26『CARN』

CARN comes from a Latin word meaning "flesh" or "meat." Carnation originally meant "the color of flesh," which was once the only color of the flower we call the carnation. In Christian countries, Lent is the period when the faithful traditionally give up something they love, often meat. The days leading up to Lent are known as the carnival season.

CARN来自拉丁语，意为“肉”。康乃馨最初的意思是“肉的颜色”，这曾经是我们称之为康乃馨的花的唯一颜色。在基督教国家，大斋节是信徒依据传统放弃他们喜爱东西的时期，通常是肉。大斋节之前的日子被称为狂欢节。

carnage   [ˈkɑːrnɪdʒ]

n.大屠杀

Great destruction of life (as in a battle); slaughter.

生命的巨大破坏(如在战斗中);屠宰

Countries around the world appealed to all sides of the conflict to stop the carnage of the war in Bosnia.

世界各国呼吁冲突各方停止波斯尼亚战争的大屠杀。

This word was taken over straight from French (a Latin-based language), and has mostly referred to large-scale killing in wartime. But carnage needn't refer only to slaughter on the battlefield. With tens of thousands of people dying each year in automobile accidents, it's appropriate to speak of carnage on the nation's highways. And those concerned about the effects of the violence we see constantly on TV and movie screens may refer to that as carnage as well.

这个词直接从法语(一种基于拉丁语的语言)中被取代，主要指战时的大规模杀戮。但屠杀不必只指战场上的屠杀。由于每年有数以万计的人死于车祸，因此谈论美国高速公路上的大屠杀是恰当的。那些担心我们在电视和电影屏幕上经常看到的暴力行为的影响的人可能也会将其称为大屠杀。

carnal   [ˈkɑːrnl]

Adj.(正式用语)<律>肉欲的,肉体的,性欲的;淫荡的;耽于感官之乐的;非精神的,世俗的,尘世的

Having to do with bodily pleasures.

与身体愉悦有关的。

The news stories about students on Spring Break tend to focus on the carnal pleasures associated with the annual ritual.

关于春假学生的新闻报道往往集中在与一年一度的仪式相关的身体享受上。

In Christianity in past centuries, carnal was often used as the opposite of spiritual, describing what are sometimes called "the pleasures of the flesh." Thus, gluttony-the consumption of excessive food and drink-was a deadly carnal sin, whereas the holiest monks and hermits might eat hardly anything and never touch wine. Today carnal has a somewhat old-fashioned sound; when we use it, we generally mean simply "sexual."

在过去的几个世纪里，在基督教中，肉体经常被用作精神的反面，用来描述有时被称为“肉体的快乐”。因此，暴食——过量食用食物和饮料是一种致命的肉体罪，而最神圣的僧侣和隐士可能几乎不吃任何东西，也从不碰酒。今天，肉欲有点过时；当我们使用它时，我们通常只指“性”。

incarnate   [ɪnˈkɑːrnət , ˈɪnkɑːrneɪt]

adj.人体化的;化身的;拟人化的

vt.将(概念或品质)具体化;使人格化;拟人化

Given bodily or actual form; especially, having human body.

身体的或实际的；特别是具有人体的。

For the rest of his life, he would regard his childhood nanny as goodness incarnate.

在他的余生中，他会把童年的保姆视为善良的化身。

reincarnation   [ˌriːɪnkɑːrˈneɪʃn]

n.转世说;(灵魂的)转世化身,化身

(1) Rebirth in new bodies or forms of life. (2) Someone who has been born again with a new body after death.

(1) 在新的身体或生命形式中重生。(2) 一个在死后以新身体重生的人。

Even as a child he struck everyone as a reincarnation of his grandfather, not in his features but in his manner and personality.

即使在他还是个孩子的时候，他给每个人的印象都是他祖父的转世，不是因为他的容貌，而是因为他的举止和性格。

27『CRED』

CRED comes from credere, the Latin verb meaning "to believe" or "to entrust." We have a good credit rating when institutions trust in our ability to repay a loan, and we carry credentials so that others will believe that we are who we say we are.

CRED来源于credere，这个拉丁语动词的意思是“相信”或“委托”。当机构信任我们偿还贷款的能力时，我们的信用评级就很好，而且我们持有证书，这样别人就会相信我们就是我们所说的人。

credence   [ˈkriːdns]

n.可信性;真实性;信任;信念

Mental acceptance of something as true or real; belief.

对真实事物的心理接受；相信

He scoffed and said no one still gives any credence to the story of the Loch Ness monster.

他嘲笑道，没有人相信尼斯湖水怪的故事。

Credence is close in meaning to belief, but there are differences. Unlike belief, credence is seldom used in connection with faith in a religion or philosophy. Instead credence is often used in reference to reports, rumors, and opinions. And, unlike belief, it tends to be used with the words give, lack, lend, and gain. So a new piece of evidence may lend credence to the alibi of a criminal suspect. Claims that a political candidate can become the next President gain credence only after the candidate wins a few primaries. And although stories about Elvis sightings persist, they lack credence for most people.

信念(credence)在意义上接近于belief，但也有不同之处。与belief不同，credence很少与宗教或哲学信仰联系在一起。相反，credence经常被用来指报道、谣言和观点。而且，与belief不同，它往往与给予、缺乏、借出和获得等词连用。因此，新的证据可能为犯罪嫌疑人的不在场证明提供了证据(credence)。只有在候选人赢得几次初选后，政治候选人才能成为下一任总统的说法才获得信任(credence)。尽管有关猫王目击事件的报道仍然存在，但大多数人都不相信(credence)。

credible   [ˈkredəbl]

adj.可信的;可靠的;(因看似可能成功而)可接受的

(1) Able to be believed; reasonable to trust or believe. (2) Good enough to be effective.

(1) 能够被相信的；有理由相信。(2) 好到足以发挥作用。

Because of her past criminal record, the defense lawyers knew she wouldn't be a credible witness.

由于她过去的犯罪记录，辩护律师知道她不会是一个可信的证人。

Credible evidence is evidence that's likely to be believed. A credible plan is one that might actually work, and a credible excuse is one your parents might actually believe. And just as credible means "believable," the noun credibility means "believability." But we no longer use incredible to mean the literal opposite of credible, just as we no longer use unbelievable as the literal opposite of believable. 

可信的证据是很可能被相信的证据。一个可信的计划是一个实际可行的计划，而可信的借口是你父母可能会相信的。正如可信意味着“可信”一样，名词可信度意味着“可信度”。但我们不再用不可思议来表示可信的反义词，就像我们不再用难以置信来表示可信的反义词一样。

credulity   [krɪˈduːləti]

n.轻信

Readiness and willingness to believe on the basis of little evidence.

准备好并愿意在证据不足的基础上相信。

Thrillers and action movies only succeed if they don't strain our credulity too much.

惊悚片和动作片只有在不让我们过于轻信的情况下才会成功。

A particularly far-fetched story may be said to strain credulity, stretch credulity, put demands on our credulity, or make claims on our credulity. The related adjective is credulous. F. Scott Fitzgerald once defined advertising as "making dubious promises to a credulous public."

一个特别牵强的故事可以说是扭曲了轻信，拉伸了轻信，对我们的轻信提出了要求，或者对我们的可信度提出了要求。相关的形容词是轻信的。菲兹拉杰德曾将广告定义为“向轻信的公众做出可疑的承诺”。

credo   [ˈkriːdoʊ]

n.信条

(1) A statement of the basic beliefs of a religious faith. (2) A set of guiding principles or beliefs.

(1) 宗教信仰的基本信仰的陈述。(2) 一套指导原则或信念。

She claims she made her money on Wall Street just by following the old credo "Buy low, sell high."

她声称，她在华尔街赚钱，只是遵循“低买高卖”的老信条

Credo comes straight from the Latin word meaning "I believe," and is the first word of many religious credos, or creeds, such as the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed. But the word can be applied to any guiding principle or set of principles.

信条直接来自拉丁语，意思是“我相信”，是许多宗教信条或信条的第一个词，如使徒信条和尼西亚信条。但这个词可以用于任何指导原则或一套原则。

28『FID』

FID comes from fides, the Latin word for "faith" or "trust." Fidelity is another word for "faithfulness." Confidence is having faith in someone or something. An infidel is someone who lacks a particular kind of religious faith. And the once-popular dog's name Fido is Latin for "I trust."

FID来自fides，拉丁语中“信仰”或“信任”的意思。Fidelity是“忠诚”的另一个词。信心是对某人或某物的信任。异教徒是指缺乏某种宗教信仰的人。曾经流行的狗名Fido是拉丁语“我信任”的意思。

affidavit   [ˌæfəˈdeɪvɪt]

v.宣誓书;附誓书面证词

A sworn statement made in writing.

书面宣誓声明。

The whole family had signed affidavits stating that they believed the will to be valid.

全家人都签署了宣誓书，表示他们相信遗嘱是有效的。

In Latin, affidavit means "he (she) has sworn an oath," and an affidavit is always a sworn written document. If it contains a lie, the person making it may be prosecuted. Affidavits are often used in court when it isn't possible for someone to appear in person. Police officers must usually file an affidavit with a judge to get a search warrant. Affidavits (unlike similar signed statements called depositions) are usually made without an opposing lawyer being present and able to ask questions.

在拉丁语中，宣誓书的意思是“他(她)已经宣誓”，而宣誓书始终是一份宣誓的书面文件。如果它包含谎言，那么制造者可能会被起诉。当某人无法亲自出庭时，法庭上通常使用宣誓书。警察通常必须向法官提交宣誓书，以获得搜查令。宣誓书(不像类似的签字声明，称为证词)通常在没有对方律师在场且能够提问的情况下作出。

diffident   [ˈdɪfɪdənt]

adj.缺乏自信的;胆怯的;羞怯的

Lacking confidence; timid, cautious.

缺乏信心的；胆小、谨慎。

He always found it a struggle to get his most diffident students to speak in front of the class.

他总是觉得让最缺乏自信的学生在课堂上发言很困难。

Diffident means lacking faith in oneself-in other words, the opposite of confident. Distrust in your abilities or opinions usually makes you hesitate to speak or act. Patients who feel diffident around their doctors, for example, don't dare ask them many questions. A helpful friend tries to instill confidence in place of diffidence.

Diffident意味着对自己缺乏信心，换句话说，与自信相反。对自己的能力或观点的不信任通常会让你在说话或行动上犹豫不决。例如，在医生身边感到胆怯的患者不敢问他们很多问题。一个乐于助人的朋友试图用自信来代替胆怯。

fiduciary   [fɪˈdjuːʃəri]

adj.基于信用的;信托的;信用的;(尤指)受委托的，受信托的

n.(尤指财产)受信托人(或公司)

(1) Having to do with a confidence or trust. (2) Held in trust for another.

(1) 与信心或信任有关。(2) 为他人托管。

Pension-fund managers have a fiduciary responsibility to invest the pension's funds for the sole benefit of those who will receive the pensions.

养老基金经理有信托责任将养老金的资金投资于那些将领取养老金的人的唯一利益。

A fiduciary relationship is one in which one person places faith in another. Stockbrokers and real-estate agents have fiduciary duties to their clients, which means they must act in their clients’ best financial interests. Members of a company's board of directors have a fiduciary responsibility to protect the financial interests of the company's shareholders. There are legal requirements for those with fiduciary responsibility, and they can be sued for breach of fiduciary duty if they fail.

信托关系是一个人信任另一个人的关系。股票经纪人和房地产经纪人对客户负有信托责任，这意味着他们必须以客户的最佳财务利益为出发点。公司董事会成员负有保护公司股东财务利益的信托责任。对负有信托责任的人有法律要求，如果他们未能履行信托责任，他们可能会被起诉。

perfidy   [ˈpɜːrfədi]

n.背信;背叛

Faithlessness, disloyalty, or treachery.

忠诚、不忠或背信弃义。

While working for the CIA he was lured into becoming a double agent, and it seems he paid a high price for his perfidy.

在中情局工作期间，他被引诱成为双重间谍，似乎他为自己的背信弃义付出了高昂的代价。

29『CURR/CURS』

CURR/CURS comes from currere, the Latin verb meaning "to run." Although words based on this root don't tend to suggest speed, the sense of movement remains. Current, for instance, refers to running water in a stream or river, or electrons running through a wire, and an excursion is a trip from one place to another.

CURR/CURS来源于currere，一个拉丁语动词，意思是“奔跑”。虽然基于这个词根的单词不倾向于暗示速度，但运动的感觉仍然存在。例如，电流指的是溪流或河流中的流水，或是穿过电线的电子，而短途旅行就是从一个地方到另一个地方的旅行。

concurrent   [kənˈkɜːrənt]

adj.同时发生的;并存的;同意的，一致的;协调的;合作的;共同(或同时)起作用的;<律>有相等权力的，同时(实施)的;<数>共点的，会合的

n.共存物;同时发生的事情;竞争者

Happening or operating at the same time.

同时发生或运行的。

The killer was sentenced to serve three concurrent life terms in prison.

凶手被判处三个同时终身监禁。

Things that are concurrent usually not only happen at the same time but also are similar to each other. So, for example, multitasking computers are capable of performing concurrent tasks. When we take more than one medication at a time, we run the risks involved with concurrent drug use. And at any multiplex theater several movies are running concurrently.

concurrent的事情通常不仅同时发生，而且彼此相似。例如，多任务计算机能够执行并发任务。当我们一次服用超过一种药物时，我们会面临同时使用药物的风险。在任何一家多功能影院，都有几部电影同时上映。

cursory   [ˈkɜːrsəri]

adj.粗略的;仓促的

Hastily and often carelessly done.

草率地，经常不小心地做。

Having spent the weekend going to parties, she had only given the chapter a cursory reading before class on Monday.

在周末去参加派对后，她只在周一上课前粗略阅读了这一章。

Unlike the other words in this section, cursory always implies speed. But it also stresses a lack of attention to detail. Cursory observations are generally shallow or superficial because of their speed. And when citizens complain about a cursory police investigation of a crime, they're distressed by its lack of thoroughness, not its speed.

与本节中的其他单词不同，粗略总是意味着速度。但它也强调了缺乏对细节的关注。由于速度的原因，粗略的观察通常是肤浅的。当市民抱怨警方对犯罪的草率调查时，他们会为其缺乏彻底性而不是速度而感到苦恼。

discursive   [dɪsˈkɜːrsɪv]

adj.东拉西扯的;离题的;不着边际的

Passing from one topic to another.

从一个话题转到另一个话题。

Some days he allowed himself to write long discursive essays in his diary instead of his usual simple reporting of the day’s events.

有些日子，他允许自己在日记中写长篇随笔，而不是像往常一样简单地报道当天的事件。

The Latin verb discurrere meant "to run about," and from this word We get our word discursive, which often means rambling about over a wide range of topics. A discursive writing style generally isn't encouraged by writing teachers. But some of the great 19th-century writers, such as Charles Lamb and Thomas de Quincy, show that the discursive essay, especially when gracefully written and somewhat personal in tone, can be a pleasure to read. And the man often called the inventor of the essay, the great Michel de Montaigne, might touch on dozens of different topics in the course of a long discursive essay.

拉丁语动词discurrere的意思是“到处跑”，从这个词我们得到了discursive一词，它通常意味着在广泛的话题上漫无边际。写作老师通常不鼓励采用话语式写作风格。但一些19世纪的伟大作家，如查尔斯·兰姆和托马斯·德·昆西，表明一篇散文，尤其是在文笔优美、语气有点个人化的情况下，读起来会很愉快。这位经常被称为散文发明者的，伟大的米歇尔·德·蒙田，在一篇长篇大论的文章中可能会触及数十个不同的话题。

precursor   [priˈkɜːrsər]

n.前身;先驱;先锋

One that goes before and indicates the coming of another.

先行的人，预示着另一个人的到来。

Scientists are trying to identify special geological activity that may be a precursor to an earthquake, which will help them predict the quake's size, time, and location.

科学家们正在试图确定可能是地震前兆的特殊地质活动，这将有助于他们预测地震的规模、时间和地点。

With its prefix pre-, meaning "before," a precursor is literally a "forerunner," and in fact forerunner first appeared as the translation of the Latin praecursor. But the two words function a little differently today. A forerunner may simply come before another thing, but a precursor generally paves the way for something. So, for example, the Office of Strategic Services in World War II was the immediate precursor of today's Central Intelligence Agency, while the blues music of the 1930s and 1940s was only one of the precursors of the rock and roll of today.

前缀pre-，意思是“之前”，precursor字面意思是“先行者”，事实上precursors最初是作为拉丁语praecursor的翻译出现的。但今天这两个词的功能有点不同。forerunner可能只是先于另一件事，但precursor通常会为某件事铺平道路。例如，第二次世界大战中的战略服务办公室是当今中央情报局的前身，而20世纪30年代和40年代的蓝调音乐只是当今摇滚乐的前身之一。

30『PED』

PED comes from the Latin word for "foot." A pedal is pushed by the foot; a pedicure is a treatment of the feet, toes, and toenails; and a pedestal is what a statue stands on-in a sense, its foot.

PED来自拉丁语单词“foot”。踏板由脚推动；修脚是对脚、脚趾和脚趾甲的治疗；从某种意义上说，基座就是雕像的脚。

quadruped   [ˈkwɑːdruped]

n.四足动物

adj.有四足的；四足动物的

An animal having four feet.

有四只脚的动物。

She always tells her friends that their farm has five kinds of quadrupeds: sheep, goats, cows, horses, and pigs.

她总是告诉她的朋友，他们的农场有五种四足动物：绵羊、山羊、奶牛、马和猪。

pedigree   [ˈpedɪɡriː]

n.动物血统记录;动物纯种系谱;家谱;门第;世系;起源

adj.优良品种的;纯种的

The line of ancestors of a person or animal.

人或动物的祖先。

She talks a lot about her pedigree, but never mentions that a couple of her uncles spent time in prison.

她谈论了很多她的血统，但从未提及她的几个叔叔在监狱里度过的时光。

impediment   [ɪmˈpedɪmənt]

n.阻碍;障碍;妨碍;口吃;结巴

Something that interferes with movement or progress.

妨碍运动或进步的东西。

Her poorly developed verbal ability was the most serious impediment to her advancement.

她发展不良的语言能力是她进步的最严重障碍。

Impediment comes from a Latin verb that meant "to interfere with" or "to get in the way of progress," as if by tripping up the feet of someone walking. In English, impediment still suggests an obstruction or obstacle along a path; for example, a lack of adequate roads and bridges would be called an impediment to economic development. Impediments usually get in the way of something we want. So we may speak of an impediment to communication, marriage, or progress-but something that slows the progress of aging, disease, or decay is rarely called an impediment.

阻碍来自拉丁语动词，意思是“干扰”或“阻碍进步”，好像绊倒了行走的人的脚。在英语中，障碍仍然表示道路上的障碍；例如，缺乏足够的道路和桥梁将被称为经济发展的障碍。障碍通常会阻碍我们想要的东西。因此，我们可能会谈到沟通、婚姻或进步的障碍，但减缓衰老、疾病或衰退进程的东西很少被称为障碍。

pedestrian   [pəˈdestriən]

n.行人;步行者

adj.行人使用的;行人的;缺乏想象的;乏味的;无趣的

Commonplace, ordinary, or unimaginative.

平凡的、平凡的或缺乏想象力的。

While politicians endlessly discussed the great issues facing Russia, the Russians worried about such pedestrian concerns as finding enough food, shelter, and clothing.

当政客们没完没了地讨论俄罗斯面临的重大问题时，俄罗斯人却担心诸如寻找足够的食物、住所和衣服等行人的担忧。

Most of us know pedestrian as a noun meaning someone who travels on foot. But the adjective sense of pedestrian as defined here is actually its original meaning. To be pedestrian was to be drab or dull, as if plodding along on foot rather than speeding on horseback or by coach. Pedestrian is often used to describe a colorless or lifeless writing style, but it can also describe politicians, public tastes, personal qualities, or possessions. In comparison with the elaborate stage shows put on by today's rock artists, for instance, most of the stage presentations of 1960s rock stars seem pedestrian.

我们大多数人都知道步行者是一个名词，意思是徒步旅行的人。但这里定义的形容词“行人”实际上是它的本意。步行是单调乏味的，就好像是在步行，而不是在马背上或乘马车超速行驶。pedestrian常用来描述一种无色或无生气的写作风格，但它也可以描述政治家、公众品味、个人品质或财产。例如，与当今摇滚艺术家精心制作的舞台表演相比，20世纪60年代摇滚明星的舞台表演大多显得乏味。