1. 认识这个词(基础篇)
词:count
英英释义:to be important or valuable
例句:How you learn it counts more than how much you learn.
2. 体会这个词 (进阶篇)
“count”最常见的动词意思是“数数”,但也可作不及物动词,表示“什么什么重要”。很多时候当我们想用到形容词“important”时,就可以用更简洁的动词“count”。这个用法可能是《经济学人》的记者和编辑最喜欢使用的几十个小词之一,在口语中也是极其高频的表达。
我们常说“细节非常重要”,就可以说 Details count. “第一印象很重要”,可以说 First impressions count. 比如想要表达“财富观比拥有的财富本身更重要”时,我们可以说:
What counts the most is not how rich you are, but how you treat wealth.
这个 “What counts the most is not X, but Y.” 就是一个超高频句式,口语和写作中都可以用得到。在《极简欧洲史》(The Shortest History of Europe)中,作者提到“民主”的定义时就引用了下面这段话:
When it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility, what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses.
“count”的这层意思还有一个孪生词:“matter”。两个词可以完美同义替换,上面例句中的“count”也都可以用“matter”来替换,比如:
How you learn it matters more than how much you learn.
这段话也体现了“每日一词”的初衷:学习那些最值得学习的词,把这些词学透。
3. 从认识到会用(作业)
1)翻译下面的句子:
重要的不是发生了什么事,而是你如何应对这件事。
(参考翻译:How you respond to it counts/matters more than what happened.)
2)结合自己的生活、学习、工作、兴趣等,想象在什么语境下会用到这个表达。先简要描述这个场景,再造句。
场景1:找工作面试经验,实际能力比学位更重要:After several day’s job interviews, she gradually realized what counts the most is not your academic degree, but your practical abilities.
或者:She gradually realized that your practical abilities counts/matters more than your academic degree.
场景2:早起做了什么比早起的时间更重要:What would you do in the morning counts more than when would you get up.
场景3:丰富的人生经历比年龄更重要。
What counts the most is not your increasing age, but your productive life experience.
电影“Darkest Hour” 至暗时刻 中结尾处有这样一句话:
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal. It is the courage to continue that counts.”
——by Winston Churchill
成功非终点,失败也非末日,最重要的是继续前进的勇气。 ———温斯顿 丘吉尔