英英释义:a balance between two opposing things, that you are willing to accept in order to achieve something.
例句:Deciding which modules to display in the Phenomenal English WeChat menu is a matter of trade-off.
“trade-off”(也可以写成 'tradeoff“)是个可数名词,意思是“权衡”“折中”,也可以根据语境接地气地翻译成“鱼与熊掌不可兼得”。它是来自动词短语 'trade off',是个非常高频、好用的地道单词,可以在口语和写作中替换“balance”。
搭配:a trade-off between A and B
Life is full oftrade-offs. You cannot have your cake and eat it too.(“You cannot have your cake and eat it too.”是口语中比较常见的英文谚语,表示“鱼与熊掌不可兼得”,可以和“trade-off”一起记忆。)
使用“trade-off”时,最常见的表达句式是“a trade-off between A and B”。比如,对很多制造商来说,他们必须在质和量之间有所权衡,就可以说:
For many manufactures, it is a trade-off between quality and quantity.
原文:There must be a trade-off between quality and quantity for many manufacturers.
最新一期《经济学人》中一篇关于英国脱欧的文章中有这么一句:
But leaving the EU inevitably involves difficulttrade-offs. (“difficult trade-offs”在这里指英国一旦脱欧,就不得不面对政治和经济的权衡。)
3. 从认识到会用(作业)
1)翻译下面的句子:
这个决定是权衡效率和成本后的结果。
The decision is the trade-off between efficiency and cost.
原句是a trade-off
场景:很多人在无法权衡到底是要时间还是要钱。
Many people are making difficult decisions about a trade-off between time and money.