sour
meaning: If a relationship or someone's attitude sours, or if something sours it, it becomes unfriendly or unfavorable.
进阶篇:sour: 可以作形容词也可以作动词。作形容词, 它的常见意思是酸的, 馊的。作动词意思是恶化,使...变糟。从上面的英英解释中可以看出,sour既可以是及物动词也可以是不及物动词。不过在不及物动词中我们知道它更常作不及物动词。我们可以把 sour和之前学过的 compound 和 worsen 放在一起学习。《经济学人》在写某两个国家的关系恶化时,常常会用到 sour 这个词。下面通过几个例子来掌握这个词。
很多朋友关系是因为借钱而弄僵的,就可以说:
Many friendships sour over borrowed money.
在越南会谈之后,美国和朝鲜的关系再度恶化,可以说:
After the Vietnam talk, the relationship between the US and North Korea soured again.
印度和巴基斯坦在领土问题上的争议使得两国关系急转直下,我们就可以说:
The territorial dispute between India and Pakistan soured bilateral relations.
As our special report in this week's issue explains, superpower relations have soured.
The once-cordial relationship between Mr. Trump and Deutsche has soured.
Business confidence had soured and the housing market, so often a leading indicator of economic trouble, had sagged.
这句中的confidence 和 sour 这组搭配出现频率要远低于relationship/relations 和 sour 这组搭配
应用篇:
1) 翻译: 他和母亲的关系突然变得很僵。
His relationship with his mother soured all of a sudden.
2)造句:他们因为金钱方面意见不一致关系恶化。
Their relationship soured over financial disputes.