1. 这是个什么词？

词：mold

英英释义：to influence the way someone's character or attitudes develop

例句：Many parents hope to mold their children into hard-working and curious minds.

2. 为什么选这个词？

“mold”可以作名词也可以作动词，作名词的意思是“模具”“类型”。它作动词的本意是“用模具塑造”，可以引申为“影响”“塑造”，和我们之前学过的 shape 异曲同工。我们今天学习它作动词的引申义，可以把它和我们熟悉和学过的 influence, impact, shape, sway 放在一起记。 需要注意的是这个词的美式和英式拼写有别，mold 是美式写法，英式写法是 mould。下面我们通过几个例子来掌握它。

这个商学院的使命是将学生培养/塑造成商业精明、有分析头脑的经理人，我们可以说：

The mission of the business school is to mold students into business-savvy and analytical managers.

这句中的 mold something/somebody into something 是一个常用的搭配，来自动词本意“用模具塑造”。再比如，很多家长希望能将孩子教育/塑造成勤奋、有好奇心的人，就可以说：

Many parents hope to mold their children into hard-working and curious minds.

就如同学校的建筑会影响学生的学习，办公室也会影响在里面工作的人们，可以说：

Just as school buildings influence how students learn, so offices mold the people who work in them.

《经济学人》一篇关于印巴关系的文章用到了 mold：

Mr Azhar himself has at various times been detained, before being quietly released to mould more jihadists.

有一期《经济学人》在 Special report 分析穆斯林在西方世界的发展，其中也用到了 mold：

This report will explore how Muslim identity has been moulded by external and internal pressures since the mass migration to the West began in the 1950s.

在同样的 Special report 板块中，另一篇文章中又一次出现了 mold：

Foreign organisations, Western governments and jihadists have all sought to speak for and mould Islam in the West, but the more established the faith becomes there, the less truck it wants with any of them.

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？

1）翻译下面的句子：

特朗普惯于通过推特发表言论影响民意。

Trump is accustomed to molding the public through twitter.

造句

Standard office wear mold people into sober and respectable figures.

（参考翻译：Trump is used to molding public opinion through tweets. 或 Trump is used to using tweets to mold public opinion. ）