devil

词源记忆法

英语单词devil（魔鬼）的真正历史比所传devil乃do-evil（作恶）之缩略的古老传说要复杂得多。《旧约全书》中的Satan（撒旦）实际上是devil的前身，它的意思是adversary（敌手），即“上帝和人类的敌手”。当希伯来文的《旧约全书》被译成希腊文时，译者将撒旦翻译成了diabolos一词，而diabolos在希腊文中原义是“诽谤者”，是圣经的影响才使它获得我们今天熟悉的词义“魔鬼”或“恶魔”的。=与devil词义接近的单词demon（恶魔）同样源自希腊语。它源自希腊单词daimon，本意是“半神、守护神、邪神”。在希腊文的《圣经》中，用daimon来表示“异教神灵、不洁神灵”。因此，英语单词demon泛指各种恶魔，而devil原本专指撒旦，后来才泛指恶魔。=devil：['dev(ə)l]n.魔鬼，撒旦，恶棍，淘气鬼vt.虐待，折磨。

习语积累

习语 n. be a devil (BrE) （用以鼓励）别怕，勇敢点 people say Be a devil! to encourage sb to do sth that they are not sure about doing Go on, be a devil, buy both of them. 来，怕什么，两个都买了吧！ better the devil you know (than the devil you don't) (saying) 熟悉的魔鬼比不熟悉的魔鬼好；不要嫌熟悉的环境不好，换个不熟悉的环境可能更糟 used to say that it is easier and wiser to stay in a bad situation that you know and can deal with rather than change to a new situation which may be much worse between the devil and the deep blue sea 进退维谷；左右为难 in a difficult situation where there are two equally unpleasant or unacceptable choices the devil (old-fashioned) 非常困难；令人非常不快 very difficult or unpleasant These berries are the devil to pick because they're so small. 这些浆果太小了，很难摘。 the devil looks after his own (saying) 坏人多好运；坏蛋自有鬼照顾；恶人自有恶人帮 bad people often seem to have good luck the devil makes work for idle hands (saying) 人闲生是非 people who do not have enough to do often start to do wrong She blamed the crimes on the local jobless teenagers. ‘The devil makes work for idle hands,’ she would say. 她认为那些违法行为是当地的无业青少年所为，总是说：“人一闲，惹麻烦”。 a devil of a job/time (old-fashioned) 费力（或令人讨厌）的事；难熬（或令人不快）的日子 a very difficult or unpleasant job or time I've had a devil of a job finding you. 我费了九牛二虎之力才找到你。 go to the devil! (old-fashioned, informal) 滚开；见鬼去；去你的 used, in an unfriendly way, to tell sb to go away like the devil (old-fashioned, informal) 拼命；卖力；飞快 very hard, fast, etc. We ran like the devil. 我们跑得飞快。 speak/talk of the devil (informal) 说到某人，某人就到 people say speak/talk of the devil when sb they have been talking about appears unexpectedly Well, speak of the devil─here's Alice now! 嗬，说曹操，曹操就到——瞧，艾丽斯这不来啦！ what, where, who,

词根词缀

词根 vil= base 卑劣 devil n. 魔鬼 de 加强 + vil 卑劣 → 卑劣到极点 → 魔鬼 deviltry n. 恶行 de 加强 + vil 卑劣 + try → 卑劣的行为 → 恶行 evil n. 邪恶 e 加强 + vil 卑劣 → 十分卑劣 → 邪恶 revile v. 辱骂 re 一再 + vil 卑劣 + e → 一再做卑劣的事 → 辱骂〔别人〕 vile adj. 卑鄙的 vilify v. 诽谤 vil 卑劣 + ify 使… → 使别人成为卑劣的人 → 诽谤 villain n. 坏蛋，恶棍 vill〔= vil〕卑劣 + ain 表人 → 坏蛋，恶棍