小词详解 | threshold

threshold 英 [ˈθreʃhəʊld] 美 [ˈθreʃhoʊld]

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外刊例句

• Even then, the threshold between free speech and incitement will be hard to define.
  但即便如此，自由言论和煽动性言论还是很难界定。
  ——《经济学人》

• And the Italian government made progress in shrinking the budget deficit, which had been 4 percent in 2011, to 2.3 percent last year. That is under the 3 percent threshold that eurozone members are supposed to stay below, but few do.
  并且，意大利政府在缩减预算赤字方面取得了进展，从2011年的4%降到了去年的2.3%。这低于欧元区成员国应保持在3%以下的门槛，但没有几个成员国做到这一点。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[noun] a strip of wood or stone forming the bottom of a doorway and crossed in entering a house or room
[名词] 门槛

深入解读

对于港剧迷来说，看到 threshold 这个单词，很容易联想起经典 TVB 港剧《创世纪》（At the Threshold of an Era）来，其片头的英文译名中就出现了这个单词。

该词本义比较简单，就是日常生活中随处可见的“门槛”，也可以指“门口”，比如站在门口犹豫不决（stand hesitating on the threshold）、迈过门槛（step across the threshold）。

从越过门槛才能进门这个概念出发， threshold 很自然地就被用来引申指“阈、界、起始点”，主要指发生或表现出某种反应、现象、结果或状况而必须超过的程度或强度，比如：

• 我没办法凭空变出几百万美元。我的收入才刚刚超过征税起点。
  I could not conjure up millions of dollars out of thin air. My earnings are just above the tax threshold.

• 那个贪吃的人容易感到厌倦，需要时常进行体力活动来刺激一下。
  That voracious eater has a low threshold of boredom and needs the constant stimulation of physical activity.

而习语 on the threshold of sth 则相应表示“在……的开始、在……的起点”，常意味着即将进入一个新且重要的时期或发展阶段，比如：

• 这个因监狱状况恶劣而臭名远扬的国家即将爆发内战。
  The country notorious for its appalling prison conditions is on the threshold of civil war.

演讲用例

But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds.
但是对于等候在正义之宫门口的心急如焚的人们，有些话我是必须说的。在争取合法地位的过程中，我们不要采取错误的做法。

出自美国牧师、社会运动者、人权主义者和非裔美国人民权运动领袖马丁·路德·金（Martin Luther King Jr.）于1963年8月28日在华盛顿林肯纪念堂发表的纪念性演讲《我有一个梦想》（I have a dream）。

同近义词

• brink: a point at which something, typically something unwelcome, is about to happen; the verge

• verge: an extreme limit beyond which something specified will happen

• limen: a threshold below which a stimulus is not perceived or is not distinguished from another