日韩精品久久一区二区三区_亚洲色图p_亚洲综合在线最大成人_国产中出在线观看_日韩免费_亚洲综合在线一区

 





 
Feeble or febrile
[ 2006-11-03 10:46 ]

Dear Sir: I'm a college senior. English is my major. In a writing composition, I wrote this line: 'He was febrile and weak.' My writing professor changed it to 'He was feeble and weak'.

He did not explain why. I did not ask. I dared not ask. My professor is stern and severe. I am afraid of him. But I feel he should not have made the change. Feeble or febrile, what's the big deal?

Am I right?

PERPLEXED.

Dear PERPLEXED:
Your letter suggests you're adventurous with words. Your professor could have been more encouraging by explaining why he corrected your copy the way he did.

Your question suggests you do have some doubts over the words, febrile vs. feeble. Hence your professor might indeed have a legit point to make the change.

However, these are only conjectures. You did not provide me with sufficient context to judge. I don't know whether you've used the word "febrile" correctly, or incorrectly.

I have no intention to stand between you and your professor, be he stern or amiable, severe or friendly. There's a great lack of evidence, as it were, to allow me to make a judgment that's fair to either of you. Besides, even if I could determine that you are in fact right, or that your professor is wrong or vice versa, I don't intend to do it. I don't enjoy one-upmanship match-ups - I used to like it, but I no longer do. I'm interested only in finding answers.

You could've disregarded your fear of your teacher and asked directly for an answer. You could have been feeling the fear and still be asking for an answer. Note, I'm not questioning either you or your teacher. I am not questioning your fear - I choose to trust you to have a good reason to be "afraid of him". I am not questioning your teacher - I choose to trust he has a good reason to be "stern" and perhaps sometimes "severe" with his class. I believe the two of you could work it out. You can work out a relationship where you could ask a question despite your fear and in spite of his overbearing veneer (again trusting your description). I believe the two of you can do it. I believe you will.

What I intend to do here is to point out a difference between "febrile" and "feeble" so that you will be able to make up your own mind whether you used it correctly in your composition.

Febrile comes from the Latin word "febris", meaning "fever".

So there! Knowing its origin, you realize that "febrile" is best used in situations indicating a temporary physical ailment of fever. Don't have to take it literally, but you do need to be careful when you decide to use it more liberally.

Someone who is febrile (having a fever) and weak can be very different from someone who is feeble (lacking strength) and weak. The former can be full of nervous excitement in the head while being physically weak and helpless. The latter, well, could just be strength-less in the body by nature.

"He was febrile and weak", by the by, sounds good to me - I don't think many college seniors are capable of conjuring up a line like that. Most college seniors would not even know of this word, much less to be able to use it, such is the general state of English learning in this country.

However, the jury is still out on whether you've used that word correctly. Your professor could've changed "febrile" to "feeble" for one of two reasons - again, I am conjecturing. First, he thought you used the wrong word if you had not indicated in the rest of your composition a situation pertaining to the person possibly having a fever. Second, he tried to rein you in on the use of big words. He preferred that you use simple and modest words.

Either way, I think you've done a great exercise. Learn from it.

I've learned from it. Thank you, Perplex. You are my teacher.

 

About the author:
 

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: [email protected], or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

 
 
相關文章 Related Stories
 
         
 
 
 
 
 
         

 

 

 
 

48小時內最熱門

     

本頻道最新推薦

     
  如何翻譯“加強精神文明建設”
  What is a rotation player?
  Feeble or febrile
  如何翻譯“穩健的財政政策和貨幣政策”
  Endorse or support

論壇熱貼

     
  福娃英文名更改,為何事先不考慮好?
  C-E: 臺下諸葛亮 臺上豬一樣
  請教高人:關于社保方面的詞匯
  “流行金曲”大家評
  常用英語口語1000句
  婚禮上牧師的證言




主站蜘蛛池模板: 欧美网站在线看 | 久久久亚洲一区 | 亚洲精品午夜国产va久久成人 | 欧美非洲黑人性xxxx | 成人免费一区二区三区视频软件 | 久久午夜精品 | 亚洲精品国精品久久99热 | 中文字幕一区二区三区四区不卡 | 综合色在线| 色综合天天综一个色天天综合网 | 午夜神器18以下不能进免费观看 | 国产一区在线免费观看 | 国产午夜大片 | 久久久久在线观看 | 日本免费不卡一区二区 | 久久伦理中文字幕 | 欧美综合自拍亚洲综合图片区 | 欧美三级免费看 | 亚洲一区久欠无码A片 | 亚洲免费在线 | 天堂成人A片永久免费网站 奇米影视四色7777 | 成年美女黄的视频网站 | 久草在线免费新视频 | 亚洲偷 | 国产99久久精品一区二区 | 91热久久免费频精品黑人99 | 天天在线欧美精品免费看 | a成人| 欧美日韩精品一区二区三区视频 | 午夜激情视频 | 亚洲精品乱码久久久久久9色 | 国产目拍亚洲精品99久久精品 | 美乃雀中文字幕在线一区 | 99这里只有精品 | 国产精品色 | 26uuu在线观看 | 视频一区二区不卡 | 久久精品免费一区二区三 | 成人v| 日韩免费福利视频 | 国产成人精品永久免费视频 |