每日一词 137 | prowess

1. 这是什么词？

词：prowess

英英释义：great ability or skill

例句：Zhuge Liang was widely acclaimed for his intellectual and military prowess.

2. 为什么选这个词？

“prowess”是个不可数名词，意思是“高超的技艺” “深厚的造诣”，当我们想表达某人擅长某事时就可以用到它。

比如我们常戏称俄罗斯是“战斗民族”，很大程度上是因为俄罗斯人以英勇善战而著名。这时除了用“be good at”表达这个意思，我们还可以说：

The Russians are famed for their prowess in battle. （“their prowess in battle”就是指在战斗这一方面很厉害）

prowess 也经常和形容词搭配使用，表示在某一方面有杰出的才能，比如“语言天赋”就可以说成“language/linguistic prowess”，“善于讲价”就可以用到“bargaining prowess”。

诸葛亮以智力、军事才能超群而闻名，我们就可以说：

Zhuge Liang was widely acclaimed for his intellectual and military prowess.（“intellectual and military prowess”就表示“在智力和军事上有杰出的才能）

《经济学人》中也经常用到 prowess，比如在提到中国的南通市时写到：

Nantong, a city about 150km north of Shanghai, demonstrates both China's prowess in infrastructure and what seems to be a newfound restraint.

提到丘吉尔时写到：

Over-confident of his prowess as a strategist, he made serious mistakes during the second world war, too.

3. 怎样学会使用这个词？

1）使用《牛津英语搭配词典》查“prowess”；

2）翻译下面的句子：

他是个让人羡慕的学霸。

His exam-acing prowess is the envy of his peers.

（参考翻译：His academic/exam-acing prowess is the envy of his peers. 或者 He is the envy of his cohorts by demonstrating his prowess in exams.）

3）造句：The young student from Zhejiang Province showed great prowess at playing the piano.