villain是什么意思,villain怎么用

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villain

TEM8


📰 外刊例句

Venture capitalists, he concluded, resembled classic villains : “alternately cowardly, greedy, sneaky and overbearing”. 风险投资家就像典型的恶棍,他总结道:“时而懦弱,时而贪婪,时而卑鄙,时而霸道” 。

—— 《经济学人》

—— 《纽约时报》


📖 基本释义

[noun] (in a film, novel, or play) a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot
[名词] (电影、小说或戏剧中)其邪恶行为或动机对情节很重要的角色


💡 深入解读

Villain 一词源自拉丁语villa(乡间别墅,农场),先后经中古拉丁语villanus(农场工人)以及古法语和英国法语vilain(农民、平民、粗野的人、乡巴佬)进入英语后,原先也是用来表示“乡巴佬、粗汉”,即卑贱的或出生低微的乡下人。而从社会地位的卑贱出发, villain 逐渐转向人品的卑贱,也就是用来表示“恶棍、流氓”,主要指完全沉溺于犯罪、邪恶和卑鄙中的人,为了得到自己想要的东西而蓄意违法或伤害他人,

比如:

一伙形形色色的流氓坏蛋

a menagerie of villains

the heroes and villains of the 20th century20世纪的英雄豪杰与罪魁祸首

Some villains robbed the widow of all her savings.有几个恶棍劫走了寡妇的所有积蓄。

这个概念到了1822年后,开始用来表示小说、戏剧、电影等中的“反派角色、反面人物”,也就是故事情节中与英雄对立的角色,其邪恶行为或动机对情节很重要,比如:漫威十大反派

Top 10 Marvel villains

Industrialized nations are the real environmental villains.此外, villain 还可以用来喻指“元凶、祸首、症结”,即对造成特定问题、弊病、伤害、损害等负有责任的人或事物,以及用本义指“剧中反面人物”的习语 villain of the piece 戏谑表示“首恶、头号问题”,比如:工业化国家是破坏环境的真正元凶。

Nicolette’s the villain of the piece, since she’s the person who started all this trouble.尼科莱特是罪魁祸首,所有乱子都是她引起的。


📚 名著用例

He loved to make advances to women, to have them succumb to his charms, not because he was a cold-blooded, dark, scheming villain , but because his inborn desire urged him to that as a chief delight. 他喜欢追女人,喜欢她们拜倒在他的魅力之下,这并不是因为他是个冷酷无情,心地阴暗,诡计多端的恶棍,而是因为他天生的欲望驱使着他这么做,这是他的主要乐趣。

— 出自《美国现实主义作家西奥多·德莱赛(Theodore Dreiser)创作的长篇小说《嘉莉妹妹》( Sister Carrie )。参见: 名著下载 | 嘉莉妹妹(Sister Carrie)》


🔍 同近义词

  • bandit: a robber or outlaw belonging to a gang and typically operating in an isolated or lawless area
  • criminal: a person who has committed a crime
  • outlaw: a person who has broken the law, especially one who remains at large or is a fugitive
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