Inferno
“Inferno” 意为“地狱般的大火”。
- 猛烈大火:形容火势极大且极具破坏力。
- 地狱/惨境:在文学中指地狱;在日常用语中指极其混乱、痛苦或闷热的环境。
- “The building was quickly engulfed in a raging inferno.” (大楼迅速被熊熊大火吞噬。)
- “Firefighters fought for hours to contain the forest inferno.” (消防员奋战数小时以控制森林大火。)
- “The battlefield was a literal inferno of smoke and steel.” (战场简直是一个充斥着浓烟与钢铁的地狱。)
- 词根:源自意大利语 inferno,最终追溯到拉丁语 infernum,意为“下方的(世界)”。
- 词根:infer- (下方的,如 inferior)。
- 后缀:-no (名词后缀)。
这个词最著名的来源是但丁(Dante)的《神曲》(The Divine Comedy)第一部分《地狱篇》(Inferno)。在现代英语中,它几乎成了“灾难性大火”的代名词。1974年的经典灾难片《火烧摩天楼》(The Towering Inferno)也加深了这一词义在流行文化中的印象。
- 复数形式: infernos 或 infernoes
联想 inferior (低下的)。“Inferno” 是“低下的世界”,即地狱。地狱里满是火焰,所以它被用来形容“大火”。
“The warehouse caught fire in the middle of the night, turning the industrial park into a terrifying inferno. People could see the orange glow from miles away. Fortunately, everyone escaped before the heat became unbearable, but the building was reduced to ashes by dawn.” (仓库在半夜起火,将工业园变成了一个可怕的地狱。几英里外都能看到橘红色的火光。幸运的是,在热度变得无法忍受之前,所有人都逃了出来,但到黎明时,大楼已化为灰烬。)