每日单词：anchor

anchor  /ˈæŋkər/

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 基本释义 

An anchor is a heavy hooked object that is dropped from a boat into the water at the end of a chain in order to make the boat stay in one place.

n. 锚

 外刊例句 

Captain Delano raised his spy glass and looked closely at the strange ship coming slowly in. He was surprised that there was no flag. A ship usually showed its flag when entering a harbor where another ship lay at anchor.

德拉诺船长举起望远镜，仔细地看着那艘缓缓驶来的怪异船只。他很惊讶这艘船没有国旗，船只通常在进入另一艘船停泊的港口时会展示其旗帜。

 追根溯源 

单词anchor与angle（角度）同源，都来源于拉丁语angulus（角度，弯曲），最常见的含义是“锚（máo）”。

锚是船停泊时所用的器具，用铁制成。一端有两个或两个以上带倒钩的爪儿，另一端用铁链连在船上，抛到水底或岸边，用来稳定船舶。

需要注意的是，单词anchor有物理和精神两层含义。

物理层面的含义就是停靠船舶时所用的“锚，支柱”，而精神层面的含义则表示“精神支柱，顶梁柱”。例如：

The anchor was attached to a length of rope. 

锚系在一段缆绳上。

Letters from home were an anchor to him when he worked abroad.

他在国外工作时，家书是他的精神支柱。

类似的单词还有pillar，物理含义表示“柱子，桥墩”，而精神层面的含义则表示“精神支柱，顶梁柱”。例如：

John put on his harness and attached it to a pillar. 

约翰戴上了安全带，并把它系在了一根柱子上。

The electronics industry is the newly-rising pillar industry. 

电子工业是新崛起的支柱产业。

 真题例句 

Unlike the original form used in early pendulum clocks, the anchor escapement permitted the pendulum to travel in a very small arc. Moreover, this invention allowed the use of a long pendulum which could beat once a second and thus led to the development of a new floor-standing case design, which became known as the grandfather clock.

与早期钟摆钟使用的原始形式不同，锚擒纵机构允许钟摆在一个非常小的弧度内活动。此外，这一发明允许使用一种可以每秒摆动一次的长摆，从而导致了一种新的落地式表壳设计的发展，这就是后来被称为大摆钟的设计。

《雅思阅读：A Chronicle of Timekeeping》

 上期复习 

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