Unit03-AMBI-female

公众号：分享给你我生活

欢迎大家关注公众号“分享给你我生活”，我会将自己的考研历程分享到公众号中。

AMBI means “on both sides” or “around”; ambi- comes from Latin. Most of us are either right-handed or left-handed, but ambidextrous people can use their right and left hand equally well.

AMBI 的意思是“两边（on both sides）”或“周围（around）”；AMBI- 词根来自拉丁语。我们大多数人要么是右撇子，要么是左撇子，但是双手灵巧（ambidextrous）的人可以同样好地使用他们的左右手。

ambiguous  (1) Doubtful or uncertain especially from being obscure or indistinct. (2) Unclear in meaning because of being understandable in more than one way.

模棱两可的

（1）怀疑的活不确定的，尤指由于模糊或不清楚（注意，obscure、indistinct 都是 ambiguous 的近义词）

（2）意思不清楚，因为可以用多种方式理解（有点像语文中所说的“双关”）

• Successful politicians are good at giving ambiguous answers to questions on difficult issues.

成功的政治家善于对棘手问题给出模棱两可的答案。（注意这里“棘手”的翻译）

Ambiguous comes from the Latin verb ambigere, “to be undecided.” When we say someone's eyes are an ambiguous color, we mean we cannot decide which color they are—blue or green?

Ambiguous 源自拉丁语动词 ambigere，意思是“待定（to be undecided）”。当我们说某人的眼睛处于模棱两可的（ambiguous）的颜色时，我们的意思是我们不能清楚地分辨出他们的眼睛到底是什么颜色——蓝色或绿色？

The ambiguity of the Mona Lisa's smile makes us wonder what she's thinking about. An ambiguous order is one that can be taken in at least two ways; on the other hand, the order “Shut up!”may be rude but at least it's unambiguous.

蒙娜丽莎（Mona Lisa）模棱两可（ambiguity）的微笑让我们疑惑她在想什么。模棱两可的命令（an ambiguous order）通常可以有至少两种方式去完成（因为命令有歧义，参考 ambiguous 第二个意思）；另一方面，命令“闭嘴！（Shut up！）”或许很粗鲁，但至少是毫不含糊的（unambiguous）。

总结：

Ambiguous

名词：ambiguity

反义词：unambiguous

近义词：undecided、obscure、indistinct

短语：right-handed 右撇子 left-handed 左撇子 difficult issues 棘手问题

ambient：Existing or present on all sides.

• The ambient lighting in the restaurant was low, and there was a bright candle at each table.

餐厅的环境光线很暗，每张桌子上都有一支明亮的蜡烛。

Ambient light is the light that fills an area or surrounds something that's being viewed, like a television screen or a painting.

环境光（ambient light）是指充满一个区域或围绕着正在观看的东西的光，比如电视屏幕或一幅画。

Scientists sometimes refer to the ambient temperature, the temperature of the surrounding air.

科学家有时会提到环境温度（ambient temperature），即周围空气的温度。

“Ambient music” is the term used today for “atmospheric” background music usually intended for relaxation or meditation. The candlelit restaurant in the example sentence is probably trying for a romantic ambience, or “atmosphere.”

“环境音乐”是今天用于“气氛”背景音乐的术语，通常用于放松或冥想。例句中的烛光餐厅可能是为了营造一种浪漫的环境（ambience），或者说“氛围”。

总结：

Ambient

名词：ambience

同义词：atmosphere

联想生词：relaxation、meditation（冥想）

短语：intend for（为了）

ambivalent  (1) Holding opposite feelings and attitudes at the same time toward someone or something. (2) Continually wavering between opposites or alternative courses of action.

矛盾的

（1）对某人或某事同时持有相反的感情和态度

（2）不断地在对立或其他行动方案之间摇摆不定

• He was ambivalent about the trip: he badly wanted to travel but hated to miss the summer activities at home.

他对这次旅行很矛盾：他非常想去旅行，但又不想错过家里的夏季活动。【语法点：badly 等类似副词修饰动词】

Ambivalent is a fairly new word, less than a hundred years old, and, not surprisingly, it was first used by psychologists.

Ambivalent 是一个相当新的单词（注意副词 fairly 的用法，与 badly 一样，表示“very much”），还不到一百年的历史，毫不奇怪，它最早被心理学家使用。

Since being ambivalent means simply having mixed feelings about some question or issue, some of us spend most of our lives in a state of ambivalence.

因为矛盾（being ambivalent）意味着对某个问题有着复杂的感情，我们中的一些人一生中的大部分时间都处于矛盾状态（in a state of ambivalence）。

We might feel ambivalence about accepting a high-paying job that requires us to work long hours, about lending money to someone we like but don't know well—or about ordering a Tutti-Frutti Chocolate Banana Sundae El Supremo after we've been starving on a strict diet for weeks.

我们可能会对接收一份需要长时间工作的高薪工作感到矛盾，对借钱给我们喜欢但不太了解的人也会感到矛盾，或者在严格节食数周后，对是否点一份巧克力香蕉圣代冰淇淋（Tutti-Frutti Chocolate Banana Sundae El Supremo）而感到矛盾。

ambit：The range or limit covered by something (such as a law).

• The treatment of farm animals generally falls outside the ambit of animal- cruelty laws in the U.S.

对动物农场的治疗通常不在美国虐待动物法的范围内。

Ambit is a rather formal term, often used by lawyers, as in, “With this new legislation, tobacco now falls within the ambit of FDA regulation.” It almost always refers to something abstract rather than an actual physical range.

Ambit 是一个相当正式的术语，经常被律师使用，如“根据这项新的立法，烟草现在属于FDA法规的范围。”它几乎总是指抽象的东西，而不是实际的物理范围。

So, for example, an immigrant might live completely within the ambit of her immigrant community until she started college, where she might find herself in a much broader social ambit.

因此，举例来说，移民可以完全生活在她的移民社区的范围内，直到她开始上大学，在大学里她可能会发现自己处于一个更广泛的社会环境（in a much broader social ambit）。

Most of the Latin American colonies were established by Spain, but in the 19th century, as the U.S. became stronger and Spain became weaker, they began to enter the ambit of U.S. power.

拉丁美洲的殖民地大多是由西班牙建立的，但在19世纪，随着美国的强大和西班牙的衰弱，它们开始进入美国的势力范围。

总结：

进入……的势力范围：enter the ambit of xxx power

处于更广泛的社会环境：in a much broader social ambit

语法点1:badly 等类似副词修饰动词

文中出现地方：He was ambivalent about the trip: he badly wanted to travel but hated to miss the summer activities at home.

Badly 在这里用作程度副词，相当于 very much，重在修饰动词概念。例如，If you want or need something badly, you want or need it very much.

Badly 最常修饰的动词，是 want 和 need 。此外，一些表达人的“欲望、好恶”之类的动词，也可使用 badly 进行修饰。

Why does he need this money so badly? （欲望）他为什么这么急着要这点儿钱？

I wished to get your help badly. 我非常想得到你的帮助。

但 badly 本意是"in a severe and harmful way"（严重地），例如：She was badly affected by the events in her childhood. 童年时的一些事严重地影响了她。

记一个短语：badly off，表示"having little money and few of the things you need to live"（生活困难的；穷困的），例如：They're not badly off but they don't have much money to spare. 他们并不穷困，只是闲钱不多而已。