曹老师：

“strain”一词本就不陌生，近期由于德尔塔变异毒株迅速蔓延，它更是频繁出现在各大外刊新闻中。我们先看上周两则来自BBC新闻的标题。

当前疫情十分严峻，医护人员每天处于高压工作环境当中。这里，“strain”一词显然用到的是其常见义项“压力”，相当于“stress”，“under huge strain”意为“处于重压之下，十分紧张”。

第二则新闻标题中的“dominant strain”还能理解成“主要压力”吗？答案显然是否定的。这里“dominant strain”对应“Delta variant”，即德尔塔病毒变种。

下面，我们来看看Oxford和Collins词典上的相关释义：

除了掌握上述意思外，关于“strain”一词还建议掌握：

(1)[c, u]an injury to a part of your body, such as a muscle, that is caused by using it too much or by twisting it劳损，拉伤，扭伤；

muscle strain肌肉劳损

a calf/groin/leg strain 腿肚子/腹股沟/腿部拉伤（题外话，真希望字母哥这次只是腹股沟拉伤吧）

(2)[c, usually sing.]a particular tendency in the character of a person or group, or a quality in their manner个性特点，性格倾向

He had a definite strain of snobbery in him.他这个人明显有一股势利小人的气味。

(3)[c, usually pl.](formal)the sound of music being played or sung乐曲，曲调，旋律；

She could hear the strains of Mozart through the window.

她能听见窗户里飘出的莫扎特的旋律。

(4)~(sth)(for sth)/~(sth)(to do sth)to make an effort to do sth, using all your mental or physical strength尽力，竭力，使劲

I strained my ears(=listened very hard) to catch what they were saying.

我竖起耳朵去听他们在说些什么。

People were straining to see what was going on.

人们翘首企足看发生了什么事。

【真题链接】

(1) Each of these manifestations of growth carried its own peculiar problems in its wake. For example, a high growth rate placed great strains on the existing structures of governance, of administration, and above all of socialization. (2021 Part C)

【译文】这些增长的每一种表现都伴随着其自身的特殊问题。例如，高增长率给现有的治理结构、行政结构、尤其是社会化结构带来了巨大压力。

(2) For H&M to offer a $5.95 knit miniskirt in all its 2,300-plus stores around the world, it must rely on low-wage overseas labor, order in volumes that strain natural resources, and use massive amounts of harmful chemicals. (2013 Text1)

【译文】以H&M为例，要想在全球2300多家门店里出售一款5.95美元的针织迷你裙，它就必须依赖廉价的海外劳动力、令自然资源不堪重负地大批量订购原材料以及大量使用有害化学物质。

(3) In fact, instead of straining muscles to build them, as exercise does, laughter apparently accomplishes the opposite. (2011 完型)

【译文】事实上，与其它通过拉伸来强健肌肉的锻炼不同，笑显然取得了相反的效果。

(4) Not everyone experiences the kinds of severe chronic stresses Alvarez describes. But most women today are coping with a lot of obligations, with few breaks, and feeling the strain. (2008 Text1)

【译文】并不是每个人都承受着阿德琳·阿尔瓦雷兹描述的这种巨大的长期性压力。但如今大多数女性都担负着许多责任，几乎没有放松的时候，因此感到焦虑。

【形近词辨析】

(1) The infrastructure required to make a physical newspaper-printing presses, delivery trucks—isn’t just expensive; it’s excessive at a time when online-only competitors don’t have the same set of financial constraints. (2016 Text4)

【译文】出版实体报纸所需要的基础设施—印刷机、运送卡车—不仅仅昂贵；而且在这样一个时代——只在网上发行的竞争对手们没有同样的财务限制——显得多余。

(2) A lack of formal education, however, doesn’t constrain the ability of the developing world’s workforce to substantially improve productivity for the foreseeable future. On the contrary, constraints on improving productivity explain why education isn’t developing more quickly there than it is. (2009 Text3)

【译文】然而，在可预见的未来，正规教育的缺失并不会限制大幅度提高发展中国家工人生产率的能力。相反，对于提高生产率的制约因素正好解释了在贫困国家里教育发展不快的原因。

(3) In musical expression, he did not feel restrained by the weight of convention. (2014 Part C)

【译文】在用音乐表达时，贝多芬从不会被常规的权威束缚。

(4) Ralph Waldo Emerson and other Transcendentalist philosophers thought schooling and rigorous book learning put unnatural restraints on children. (2004 Text4)

【译文】拉尔夫•沃尔多•爱默生和其他一些先验主义哲学家认为，学校教育和僵化的书本学习会遏制孩子们的天性。

好了，今天的单词就说到这了。