2019-01-17 commonplace

1. 这是什么词？

词：commonplace

英英释义：happening often or often seen or experienced and so not considered to be special

例句：Spelling errors are commonplace in Donald Trump’s tweets.

2. 为什么选这个词？

“commonplace”既是名词也是形容词，今天我们学习它作形容词表示“平常的” “不足为奇的”用法。我们可以用它来替换 not special，usual，在口语和写作中都很实用。

美国总统特朗普的推特中常有拼写错误，我们就可以说：

Spelling errors are commonplace in Donald Trump’s tweets.

这句还可以用我们刚刚学过的 prone 来改写：

Donald Trump’s tweets are prone to spelling errors.

我们在描述某个流行的现象时就可以用到 commonplace。比如在中国移动支付系统已经非常普遍，我们就可以说：

Mobile payment systems are already commonplace across China.

《经济学人》在一篇特别报道中就用到了 commonplace：

Households with just one child have become commonplace in Europe and the more prosperous parts of Asia, including China. That means each child has more time, money and energy invested in it, but misses out on the hustle and bustle of a larger household.

除了可以从这句话中学习 commonplace 的用法，我们还可以学习 “xx has become commonplace. That means…”这种简单实用表达结构，在雅思托福等考试中可以使用。

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？

1）使用《牛津英语搭配词典》查“commonplace”，了解它作为形容词时的常用搭配。

2）翻译下面的句子：

去国外度假已经变得越来越平常。

Foreign vacations have become increasingly commonplace.

Holidaying abroad has become increasingly commonplace.

（参考翻译：Foreign vacations have become increasingly commonplace. 或 Holidaying abroad has become increasingly commonplace.)

3）结合自己的生活、学习、工作、兴趣等，想象在什么语境下会用到这个表达。先简要描述这个场景，再造句。

例子：金融

场景 ：Interest, in many people’s minds, is a reward for deferring gratification. That’s one reason why low interest rates are widely perceived as unjust. There is no absolutely necessary reason inherent in the nature of manor things why the rate of interest in terms of any commodity standard should be positive rather than negative. When the Bank of Japan began charging financial institutions for adding to their reserves at the central bank, its negative-rate policy was harshly criticized for unsettling thrifty households, jeopardizing bank profitability and killing growth with monetary voodoo. Behind this fear and criticism was perhaps a gut conviction that negative rates upended the natural order of things. Why should people pay to save money they had already earned? Earlier cuts below zero in Switzerland, Denmark, Sweden and the euro area were scarcely more popular. But these monetary innovations would have struck some earlier economic thinkers as entirely commonplace.