Invidious
“Invidious” 是一个形容词，意为“惹人反感的”、“招人嫉妒的”或“不公平的”。它常用来描述某种比较、区别或决定，这类事物容易引起他人的不快或愤怒，尤其是因为它显得有偏见或带有冒犯性。
- “It would be invidious to single out any one person for praise when the whole team worked so hard.” (当整个团队都如此努力时，单独挑选出某一个人来表扬会显得厚此薄彼，容易招致不满。)
- “The teacher avoided making invidious comparisons between her students.” (老师避免在学生之间进行那种惹人反感的比较。)
- “Some people find the task of selecting winners an invidious responsibility.” (有些人觉得挑选获胜者的任务是一项吃力不讨好的责任。)
- 词根:
vid(看，来自拉丁语 videre)。 - 关联词:
envy(嫉妒) 也源自同一个根。 - 派生: vision (视野), evidence (证据)。
- 前缀:
in-(针对/向内)。 - 后缀:
-ous(形容词后缀，表示“充满……的”)。
在社交和职场礼仪中，“avoiding invidious situations” 是管理者的重要课题。这个词强调的是那种由于分配不均或评价不公而导致的心理负面效应。
- 副词: invidiously (招怨地，反感地)
- 名词: invidiousness (易惹人反感)
联系 envy (嫉妒)。如果一件事做完后让别人产生 “envy” 并感到不公，这件事就是 “invidious”。
“The manager faced an invidious task: he had to choose only one employee for the annual bonus, even though everyone had exceeded their targets. He knew that whatever he decided, someone would feel slighted, so he eventually decided to split the bonus equally to avoid any hard feelings.” (经理面临着一项吃力不讨好的任务：他必须在所有人都超额完成目标的情况下，只选择一名员工发放年度奖金。他知道无论他怎么决定，都会有人感到被轻视，所以他最终决定平分奖金，以避免产生任何芥蒂。)