当提及英语的灵活性时,短语动词变成名词或形容词是其中的表现之一。很多短语动词可以变成名词或形容词,常见的方式是直接去掉中间的空格或是在动词与副词或介词之间加破折号 hyphen “-”,例如:
black out→blackout n. 断电,停电
The storm caused a blackout of several hours.break down→breakdown n. 故障,损坏;破裂I had to call the breakdown recovery service when the electrics failed in my car.当我车里的电器出故障时,我不得不打电话给故障恢复中心。The breakdown in the talks happened because the two sides couldn’t agree on anything.start up→start-up n./adj. 启动,新兴公司;开办阶段的,启动时期的For now the only bright spots in the labor market are small businesses and high-tech start-ups.目前劳动力市场上唯一的亮点是小企业和新兴高科技公司。That is enough to pay the start-up costs for fourteen research projects.类似这样的还有很多很多,因此掌握了这个规则,我们在学习短语动词的时候,其实我们的词汇量是成倍地增加。
那么 back up 也可以变成 backup,其中 back up 是短语动词,backup 是名词,例如:True friends will always back up their friends in a fight, even if they know they will lose.真正的朋友在战斗中总是支持他们的朋友,即使他们知道他们会输。Back up all your files to the cloud so that you can access them from any device.将所有文件备份到云中,以便您可以从任何设备访问它们。Back up the truck so we can load the mattresses without walking so far.Kayla does a weekly backup of all her personal files to an external hard drive.If Plan A fails, don’t worry; we have a backup in place.
The convoy of marines was under attack, so they called for backup.
海军陆战队的护航队遭到攻击,所以他们请求支援。
2、作形容词,译为”备用的,额外的,次要的“等,例如:
The way he escaped was always his backup plan.
他要脱逃的通道是他的备用计画。
Many cyclists carry a spare tube with him as a backup plan in case they get a flat tire.