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| NOUN |
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| /laɪf/ |
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| 1 | C/U the period of time from someone’ s birth until their death 一生；终生；终身 |
| She devoted her life to helping others. 她为帮助他人而奉献出自己的一生。 |
| He had a long and happy life. 他一生长寿幸福。 |
| spend your life Don’ t spend your whole life worrying about money. 不要一辈子都在为钱操心。 |
| in (all) your life I have never been so disappointed in my life. 我从来没有如此失望过。 |
| all your life She’ s lived in California all her life. 她一生都住在加利福尼亚州。 |
| early life (=the time when you are a child) He spent his early life in Malaysia. 孩提时期；早年 |
| adult life (=the time when you are an adult) He lived most of his adult life in prison. 成年时期 |
| in later life (=towards the end of sb’ s life) It was in later life that he wrote some of his best poems. 晚年 |
| late in life (=at a time in your life that is later than usual) She got married late in life. 一生中较晚的时候 |
| for life (=continuing through your whole life) The accident left her scarred for life. 终生 |
| working life (=the part of your life when you work) She devoted most of her working life to publishing. 职业生涯 |
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| 2 | C usually singular your particular way of living and the experiences you have 生活方式；阅历 |
| His life revolves around his children. 他的生活就是围着孩子们转。 |
| It was an event that would change his life forever. 这是一个将永远改变他生活的事件。 |
| lead a happy/normal/interesting etc life I just want to be able to lead a normal life. 我只想能过正常的生活。 |
| a hard life (=a difficult life) She looks like someone who’ s had a very hard life. 艰苦的生活 |
| | 2a | C/U the events and experiences that are typical of a particular place or group of people （某种）生活 | | I had no idea what life with a baby would be like. 我不知道有孩子后生活会是什么样子。 | | city/village/prison/university etc life Escape from the bustle and noise of city life for a while. 暂时逃离都市生活的喧嚣与忙碌。 | | the life of sb The life of a film star is not always a glamorous one. 电影明星的生活并非总是光彩夺目的。 | | married life (=the time when you are married or the life that you have) How’ s married life suiting you? 婚姻生活 | |
| | 2b | U the events and experiences that happen to people in general 生活（总称） | | He’ s a person who really loves life. 他是一个真正热爱生活的人。 | | His mother has a great enthusiasm for life. 他母亲极其热爱生活。 | | see life (=experience a lot of different things) You really see life in my job. 见世面；经历世事 | |
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| 3 | C/U the state of being alive 生；活着 |
| He believed his life was in danger. 他觉得自己有生命危险。 |
| claim lives (=kill people) The disease is still claiming thousands of lives every year. 夺走生命 |
| risk your life They risk their lives to protect the people they love. 他们冒着生命危险保护他们所热爱的人民。 |
| put your/sb’ s life at risk They are putting lives at risk with their irresponsible behaviour. 他们不负责任的行为将众人的生命置于危险中。 |
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| 4 | U living things such as plants and animals 生物，活物（如动植物等） |
| We are now beginning to believe that there may be life on other planets. 我们现在开始相信其他行星上可能有生物。 |
| animal/plant/insect/bird life the great variety of bird life in the area 该地区品种繁多的鸟类 |
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| 5 | C the period of time during which something exists or continues （某事物的）存在期，维持期 |
| +of During the life of this government, unemployment has increased by 5%. 在该政府执政期间，失业率增加了5%。 |
| | 5a | the period of time during which something is still good enough to be used （某事物的）使用期，保质期，寿命 | | +of The average life of a television is about ten years. 电视机的平均寿命大约为10年。 | |
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| 6 | U the amount of activity or excitement in a place 生气；活力 |
| There’ s not much life in this village. 这个村庄没有多少生气。 |
| | 6a | interesting or exciting qualities 生动；有趣 | | There isn’ t much life in the earlier stories. 早期的故事不是太有趣。 | |
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| 7 | C in a game , one of a number of times that you can lose but still continue to play （游戏中）参加者的一次机会，命 |
| lose a life When you’ ve lost three lives, you’ re out. 失去3条命就出局。 |
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| 8 | U informal life imprisonment |
| get life You’ d expect him to get life for such a serious crime. 他犯了如此严重的罪行，你能料想到他会落得个无期徒刑。 |
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| - | bring sth to life
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| to make something exciting or interesting |
| 使某事物生动有趣 |
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| a book that brings the subject to life 一本把这个题目讲活的书 |
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| - | come to life
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| to start to be exciting or interesting |
| 开始变得生动有趣 |
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| a new TV series in which history really comes to life 一部真正生动地再现历史的新电视连续剧 |
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| - | from life
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| if you draw , paint etc from life , you use a real object or person as your subject instead of copying a photograph or picture |
| （绘画等）以实物（或真人）为对象，写生 |
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| - | get a life spoken
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| used for telling someone that they are boring |
| 别讨人厌 |
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| - | lay down your life literary
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| to die as a result of doing something good for other people |
| 牺牲；捐躯 |
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| - | the life and soul (of the party) informal
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| someone who is very lively at social events |
| （聚会中的）活跃人物，灵魂人物 |
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| - | life begins at forty humorous
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| people start to enjoy life when they reach the age of forty |
| 人到四十才开始享受生活 |
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| - | life goes on spoken
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| used for encouraging someone who has had a bad experience to continue to live their normal life |
| 生活还要继续（用于鼓励有过不愉快经历的人继续正常地生活） |
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| - | life’ s too short spoken
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| used for saying that you should not waste time doing things that are not important |
| 生命太短暂（用于表示不该浪费时间做无关紧要的事） |
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| - | lose your life
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| to die , especially in an accident or a war |
| （尤指在事故或战争中）死亡，丧生 |
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| Thousands lost their lives in the first day of fighting. 在第一天的战斗中有数千人丧生。 |
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| - | the man/woman in your life often humorous
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| your boyfriend , husband , girlfriend , or wife |
| 自己的男友（或丈夫）/女友（或妻子） |
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| an ideal gift for the woman in your life 送给自己女友的理想礼物 |
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| - | the next life
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| an existence after death |
| 下辈子；来生；来世 |
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| - | not for the life of me spoken
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| used for emphasizing that you cannot remember or understand something at all |
| （用于强调根本记不得或无法理解某事物）无论如何不能 |
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| I cannot for the life of me see why he married her. 我根本无法理解他为什么娶她。 |
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| - | not on your life spoken
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| used for telling someone that you will certainly not do something |
| 决不（做某事） |
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| - | of your life
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| used for emphasizing that something is the best , worst etc that you have ever experienced |
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| I had the fright of my life when I saw him there. 当我看到他在那儿时，我感到了一阵从未有过的恐惧。 |
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| - | put your life in sb’ s hands
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| to put yourself in a situation where someone else is responsible for what happens to you or for whether you live or die |
| 将自己的命运置于某人的手中 |
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| - | quality of life
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| how comfortable or enjoyable someone’ s life is |
| 生活质量 |
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| Clean drinking water has greatly improved the villagers’ quality of life. 干净的饮用水极大地提高了村民们的生活质量。 |
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| - | real life
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| real situations that real people experience , not the situations and events in stories, films etc |
| 现实生活 |
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| in real life We all know this would never happen in real life. 我们都知道这永远都不会在现实生活中发生。 |
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| - | risk/sacrifice life and limb
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| to be put or put yourself in physical danger |
| 冒着生命危险；拼着性命 |
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| He has risked life and limb to bring us these news reports. 他冒着生命危险把这些新闻报道带给我们。 |
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| - | save sb’ s life
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| to do something that prevents someone from dying |
| 挽救某人的生命 |
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| - | take sb’ s life
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| to kill someone |
| 夺去某人的生命 |
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| - | take your own life
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| to kill yourself deliberately |
| 自杀；寻短见 |
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| - | that’ s life
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| used for encouraging someone to accept that bad things happen to everyone , not just them |
| 生活就是如此（用于鼓励某人接受不愉快的事） |
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| - | this is the life spoken
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| something you say when you are enjoying yourself and not working |
| 这才叫生活呢（用于表示玩得很开心） |
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| - | the time of your life
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| a very enjoyable experience |
| 非常愉快的经历 |
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| The children were having the time of their lives. 孩子们过得非常开心。 |
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| - | true to life
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| showing how life really is |
| 符合现实的 |
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| Does it matter to audiences if the storyline isn’ t true to life? 如果故事情节不符合现实，观众会介意吗？ |
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| - | way of life
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| the way in which someone lives |
| 生活方式 |
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| There was a whole way of life in this country that he would never understand. 这个国家的整个生活方式都是他永远也无法理解的。 |
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| Metaphor | | | | | | Life is like a journey , and your experiences are like different parts of a journey. Dying is like travelling to another place. | | 生活就像是旅程（journey）， 各种经历有如旅程的不同阶段。死亡便有如到另一个地方去旅行。 | | The baby arrived just after midnight.婴儿在刚过午夜时降生。
He came into the world in 1703.他出生于1703年。
I set out to become a doctor, but it never worked out.我努力想当一名医生，但这个理想一直没有实现。
She went through life without ever knowing the truth.她生前一直都不知道真相。
It’ s all been an uphill struggle.这完全是场艰苦的奋斗。
We seem to be at a crossroads.我们好像是处在十字路口。
His life took an unexpected direction.他的生活出现了意想不到的转折。
He embarked on a new career.他开始了新事业。
You’ ve got to move on and forget about what’ s happened.你得继续生活下去，忘掉发生过的事。
Will they go the distance?他们能维持下去吗？
She’ s well on the way to recovery.她恢复得很快。
They’ re over the hill now.如今他们在走下坡路了。
His grandmother passed away/on last year.他的祖母去年去世了。
They remembered the departed in their prayers.他们在祈祷中缅怀死者。
| | Events in your life are like games, with people trying to win, or with things happening by chance. | | 生活中的事件有如体育活动（games）， 有努力要赢得比赛的人，也有偶然发生的事。 | | I’ m on a winning/losing streak.我这段时期连输/赢。
You win some, you lose some.有得必有失。
It’ s all been a race against time.这完全是在跟时间赛跑。
This is not a level playing field.这并不是公平竞争。
They’ re planning to drop out of the rat race.他们决定退出这场你死我活的竞争。
Is he in/out of the running?他有希望/没希望取胜吗？
The election will be a one-horse race.选举将只是走走过场而已。
They asked, but their parents wouldn’ t play ball.他们提了要求，但他们的父母并不配合。
This development has been on/in the cards for some time.这种发展势头可能已出现有一段时间了。
If you play your cards right, you shouldn’ t have any problems.你如果方法得当是不会有任何问题的。
The cards were stacked against us.手中的牌对我们很不利。
Then they played their trump card and we gave in.接着他们亮出王牌，我们便让步了。
We just had a lucky throw of the dice.我们只是运气不错。
All bets are off – nobody knows what will happen now.后果难料，现在没有人知道会发生什么事。
| | See also ->situation | | | |
| See also | | - frighten | | - matter 1 | |
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