But the electoral successes of Donald Trump and the campaign to yank Britain out of the European Union (EU) have shaken the dismal science. 但特朗普当选和英国脱欧运动动摇了这门沉闷的科学。 ——《经济学人》
Comets are icy leftovers from the anarchic birth of the solar system that occasionally are yanked by the forces of gravity toward the sun. 彗星是太阳系在混乱状态下诞生时留下的冰冷残余物,有时会被引力猛拉向太阳。 ——《纽约时报》
基本释义 [verb] pull with a jerk [动词] 猛拉 深入解读 看到 yank 一词时很容易联想起许多与之结尾相同的单词,除了常见的 bank, rank, tank, thank, blank 外,还有前不久小站(微信公众号:田间小站)在熟词僻义栏目中推过的 plank 。 具体来说, yank 源自苏格兰语,1822年进入英语后即用来表示“猛拉、使劲拉、猛拽”,常作非正式用语使用,主要指突然使用很大的力气猛力拖拽,既可以作及物动词也可以作不及物动词使用,比如:
他绊到了电线,一下子把插头拽了出来。然后他站起来走了,没有注意到他所造成的附带损害。 He tripped over the cord and yanked the plug out. Then he got up and walked away, oblivious of the collateral damage he had caused.
用作名词时, yank 相应表示“突然的猛拉、使劲的一拉”,比如:
门外有一块铜牌,上面用拉丁字母列着各位牙科医生的名字。他使劲一拉门想把它打开。 There was a brass plaque outside the door listing the various dentists' names rendered in the Latin alphabet. He gave the door a yank to open it.
Someone yanked Harry up by the hair, dragged him a short way, pushed him down into a sitting position, then started binding him back-to-back with other people. 有人猛扯哈利的头发把他拉起来,拽着他走了一小段路,又把他一推坐到地上,然后开始把他跟别人背靠背绑在一起。
出自英国作家J·K·罗琳的奇幻小说《哈利·波特》系列的第七本《哈利·波特与死亡圣器》(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows)。 同近义词
jerk: a quick, sharp, sudden movement
tug: a hard or sudden pull
twitch: cause to move in a specified direction by giving a sharp pull