每日单词：sluggish

sluggish /'slʌgɪʃ/

IELTS丨TOEFL丨专八

基本释义

sluggish: You can describe something as sluggish if it moves, works, or reacts much slower than you would like or is normal.

adj.行动迟缓的；懒惰的；萧条的

外刊例句

Africa has a young and fast-growing population. The median age is 19.5; by 2035 it will be adding more people of working age to the global population than everywhere else put together. A long, sluggish recovery would make it harder for the largest-ever generation of young Africans to find jobs, heaping pressure on ageing leaders.

非洲的人口年轻且快速增长，平均年龄为19.5岁；到2035年，劳动年龄人口的增加将超过其他任何地方的总和。 一个漫长而缓慢的复苏将使非洲历史上规模最大的一代年轻人更难找到工作，给老龄化的领导人带来压力。

——《经济学人》

追根溯源

15世纪的时候，单词slug表示 'lazy person 懒汉', 17世纪的时候，slug又表示'shell-less land snail 没有壳的陆地蜗牛' 。

所以，在现代英语里，slug的意思是“鼻涕虫，动作迟缓的人”。sluggard的意思是“游手好闲的人，懒鬼”。

因为-ish是非常典型的形容词后缀，所以sluggish就有了“迟缓的，萧条的”之意，既可以描述生物的动作，又可以描述经济增长趋势。

名著引用

If I were the president of a university I should establish a compulsory course in 'How to Use Your Eyes.' The professor would try to show his pupils how they could add joy to their lives by really seeing what passes unnoticed before them. He would try to awake their dormant and sluggish faculties.

假如我是个大学校长，我要开设一门必修课程，名字是“怎样使用你的眼睛”。教授们将向他的学生讲授，怎样通过真正观看那些从他们面前过去而未被注意的事物，给他们的生活增添乐趣，这将唤醒他们沉睡而迟缓的天赋。

——海伦·凯勒《假如给我三天光明》