|
domesticate /dəˈmestɪkeɪt/ 基本释义 When people domesticate wild animals or plants, they bring them under control and use them to produce food or as pets. Many of the diseases Europeans had immunity to had originated in domesticated herd animals such as cows, pigs and sheep. In the Americas, people had also domesticated animals—alpacas, guinea pigs and llamas—but “unlike the ancestors of Eurasian farm animals, alpacas and llamas hadn’t lived in vast herds prior to domestication, limiting the opportunities for diseases to emerge and become endemic.”欧洲人免疫的许多疾病都源于牛、羊、猪等驯化的群居动物。在美洲，人们也曾驯化过一些动物，如羊驼、豚鼠和美洲驼。但“与欧亚所饲养的动物的祖先不同，羊驼和美洲驼在驯化之前的种群并不庞大，所以疾病发生并流行的机会有限。”单词domesticate里面的dom部分，来自希腊语domos, 意思是“房子，家”。由此还引申出一个词根domin，表示“统治，支配”，有当家做主的意思。所以，在英语里包含dom/domin的单词，多与此相关：
domain /dəˈmeɪn/ domineer /,dɒmɪ'nɪə/ v. 对某人发号施令，专横跋扈 在美剧《生活大爆炸》S4E3中，Amy和Sheldon玩自创的问答游戏，其一个问题中就用到了今天的单词：
Amy: In a world where rhinoceroses are domesticated pets, who wins the Second World War?Sheldon: Kenya rises to power on the export of rhinoceroses. A Central African power block is formed, colonizing North Africa and Europe. When war breaks out, no one can afford the luxury of a rhino. Kenya withers, Uganda triumphs.-在一个犀牛被当宠物养的世界中，谁将赢得第二次世界大战？-肯尼亚会因出口犀牛而崛起，在中非成为一个强大的政权并殖民统治北非和欧洲。战争爆发后，谁也负担不起养犀牛的这份奢侈，肯尼亚衰落，乌干达雄起。
|
