词：cornerstone

场景：养了个不速之客“二娃”后 ahh...多么痛的领悟

例句：Forming good habits patiently in the very beginning and sticking to it under all circumstances is a cornerstone of bringing up children thus living an easier life.

词：cornerstone (noun)

英英释义：the basic part of something, on which everything depends

“cornerstone”本意是建筑中的“基石”，cornerstone 常被用作比喻事情的基础。当我们想表示“the fundamental/basic part of something”的时候，就可以用到更形象简洁的 cornerstone。

    婚姻的基础是什么呢？许多人可能会说是信任、爱和互相尊重，这时我们就可以说：

1. Trust, love, and mutual respect are cornerstones of marriage.

    我们常说“Honesty is the best policy”，其实说的也就是诚实的重要性，我们可以用 cornerstone 把它改写为：

2. Honesty is the cornerstone of all success, without which nothing would last.

  《经济学人》在一篇特别报道中讨论了“开会”，第一段是这样写的：

3. What do corporate leaders do all day? Much of their time is spent in meetings. No wonder: meetings are, among other things, the cornerstone of teams, which in turn are the basic building blocks of corporate existence.

这段话说明了会议的重要性，同时我们也可以学到 cornerstone 的一个同义表达 “building block”，它的本意是“积木”，也常被用来表示“基础材料”。

除了 building block，和 cornerstone 类似的常见表达还有 foundation, bedrock等，掌握了 cornerstone 后可以查一查这些同义词的用法。