Mundane
“Mundane” 形容那些平凡、普通、甚至有些枯燥乏味的事物。它也可以指与精神或神圣世界相对的“世俗”世界。
- “I’m tired of the mundane tasks of cleaning and cooking every day.” (我厌倦了每天打扫和做饭这些平淡乏味的家务活。)
- “He escaped his mundane life by reading adventure novels.” (他通过阅读冒险小说来逃避他那平淡无奇的生活。)
- “The philosopher was more interested in spiritual questions than in mundane affairs.” (这位哲学家对精神问题比对世俗事务更感兴趣。)
源自拉丁语 “mundanus”,意为“世界的”,由 “mundus” (世界) 演化而来。
无标准现代英语词缀。
在宗教和哲学讨论中,“mundane” 常与 “spiritual” (精神的) 或 “transcendent” (超然的) 相对。在现代生活中,它常被用来抱怨职场中的重复性劳动。
- 副词: mundanely
- 名词: mundanity 或 mundaneness
联想 “monday” (周一)。周一通常是平凡、枯燥的工作日的开始,所以 “mundane” 就是“平凡乏味的”。
“Arthur’s job was very mundane; he spent eight hours a day entering numbers into a computer. But in his mind, he was a brave explorer traveling through space. His imagination made his mundane existence feel like a grand adventure.” (亚瑟的工作非常枯燥;他每天花八小时把数字输入电脑。但在他的脑海里,他是一个在太空旅行的勇敢探险家。他的想象力让他平淡的生活感觉像是一场伟大的冒险。)