“mean”作动词除了“意思是”外，还常用来表示“意味着”“产生......的结果”。想表达“A 事件意味着/导致某种情况”时，就可以想到使用 mean，这也是外刊中常见的用法。这个意思看似简单，但很多英语学习者可能并没有掌握。我们来通过几个例句掌握这个用法。

A meager salary means that the family has to choose between paying rent and buying groceries.

The pouring rain means that the football match will be canceled.  

从以上例句可以看出，mean 后面常接从句。它也可以直接接名词短语或者动名词。比如

A promotion doesn't necessarily mean a pay raise. (mean 后直接接名词）

His new job at a consulting firm will mean traveling all over the country.（mean 后接动名词，注意这种用法出现频率较低）     

需要注意的是，“mean”作“意味着”“产生...的结果”时没有进行时。也就是说，不会说“something is meaning...”，只会说“something means that/doing something...”。

He argues that his firm’s unusually high level of integration of its various businesses and technology means it can produce more efficiently than its peers.

But the rest of Asia may be harder to crack. For one thing, a warm climate in several countries means that UNIQLO cannot rely on its cold-weather products as a main driver of sales.    

翻译：经济非常不景气，这意味着大量公司不得不采取裁员。

大家目前水平可能写出的句子：The bad economy means that a large amount of companies have to fire their employees.

高级一些的版本：The troubled economy means that many companies will resort to layoffs.

这两个版本的最大区别在于“nominalization”即名词化。水平一般的同学，在写作的时候习惯用动词 companies have to fire their employees，但是在写作当中，名词化现象比较多，区别于动词比较多的口语表达 many companies will resort to layoffs。