/ˈpruːdnt/六级托福考研专八
【单词释义】
ADJ.Someone who is prudent is sensible and careful.明智的；谨慎的；慎重的；精明的
【影视例句】
“Aprudentmeasure, ” said Grand Maester Pycelle, his chain of office clinking as he nodded.“明智之举。”派席尔国师点头，学士颈链随之晃动。（来自A Song of Ice and Fire）
【记忆方法】
❶先从羽毛说起。
plume：作名词用可以表示“羽毛；大羽”，也可以表示“（战士头盔等的）羽饰”，如名词词组：six-plumed bird of paradise 六翎天堂鸟（头冠上有6根漂亮羽毛）。
plumage：看到plume或许会想到plumage，它们长得很像，plumage的意思是“（鸟的）全身羽毛”，如例句：He stroked the phoenix’s beautiful scarlet and gold plumage. 他抚摸着凤凰美丽的金色和红色羽毛。
pluck：看到plume和plumage或许会想到pluck，既然有羽毛就有可能被拔掉羽毛，这三个单词都是plu开头，意思都和“羽毛”相关。pluck作动词用可以表示“拔掉，退去（死禽的毛）”，如例句：So laying eggs all your life and then getting plucked, stuffed and roasted is good enough for you, isn’t it? 所以你一生都在下蛋，然后被拔毛，填料，烘烤，这样够好了吧？这例句来自电影《小鸡快跑》。
preen：这个单词同样以p字母开头，意思也和“羽毛”相关。它最开始的意思应该是“（用喙）整理羽毛”，也可以表示“刻意打扮，精心修饰（并自我欣赏）”之意，如例句：Then she waddled out onto a grassy bank and stood there, preening her feathers. 最后，她摇摇摆摆地上到一处长满青草的岸边，站在那里，用嘴梳理自己的羽毛。
primp：看到preen或许会想到primp，它们都是以pr字母开头，意思都和“打扮”相关，大概因为鸟有羽毛，人有头发吧。primp的中文意思是“精心打扮”，现在我们来看看primp的英文意思“to make yourself look attractive by arranging your hair, putting on make-up, etc.”，果然与头发相关。primp的用法举个例子：The girls spent hoursprimpingin front of the mirror.
prune：鸟有羽毛，人有毛发，植物有枝丫，所以植物也需要打扮。prune作动词用可以表示“修剪树枝；修整”之意，如例句：He spends so much time pruning and weeding and planting and watering. 他花了很多时间修剪、除草、种植和浇水。
上面这几个单词不只是存在于GRE考试的变态题目中，在日常生活中还算比较常见。《红楼梦》有个叫贾芸的角色，他的生存能力很强，应该仅次于刘姥姥。
贾芸伶俐乖觉会来事，为了进贾府这个公司上班，他既可以认比他小几岁的宝玉作父亲，也可以送王熙凤冰片麝香对她百般奉承讨好。贾芸的眼睛、耳朵和大脑会时刻留意身边发生的事情，小说第二十六回作者借贾芸的眼睛描写了一番贾宝玉住的地方怡红院，我们来看看The Story of the Stone对这段的部分翻译，里面用到了preen和plumage两个单词：
【英文译文】Our narrative now follows Jia Yun and Trinket(坠儿) along the winding pathway to the House of Green Delights(怡红院). Soon they were at the courtyard gate and Jia Yun waited outside while she went in to announce his arrival. She returned presently(不久；马上) to lead him inside.
There were a few scattered(分散的；零散的) rocks in the courtyard and some clumps of jade-green plantain(大蕉；车前草). Two storks(鹳（有送子的寓意）) stood in the shadow of a pine-tree, preening themselves with their long bills(鸟嘴；喙). The gallery surrounding the courtyard was hung with cages of unusual design in which perched or fluttered a wide variety of birds, some of them gay-plumaged(鲜艳羽毛的) exotic ones. Above the steps was a little five-frame penthouse(顶层豪华公寓；阁楼套房) building with a glimpse of delicately-carved partitions visible through the open doorway, above which a horizontal board hung, inscribed with the words
JOYS AND GREEN DELIGHTS（怡红快绿）
‘So that’s why it’s called “The House of Green Delights”‘ Jia Yun told himself. ‘The name is taken from the inscription(题辞；铭刻；碑文).’
【小说原文】这里贾芸随着坠儿，逶迤来至怡红院中。坠儿先进去回明了，然后方领贾芸进去。贾芸看时，只见院内略略有几点山石，种着芭蕉，那边有两只仙鹤在松树下剔翎。一溜回廊上吊着各色笼子，笼着仙禽异鸟。上面小小五间抱厦，一色雕镂新鲜花样隔扇，上面悬着一个匾额，四个大字，题道是“怡红快绿”。贾芸想道：“怪道叫‘怡红院’，原来匾上是恁样四个字。”
❷“爱惜羽毛”是个成语？
爱惜羽毛是成语，羽毛比喻人的声望，成语意思是“比喻为珍惜自己的名声，行事十分谨慎”。西汉刘向的《说苑·杂言》、迅哥儿的《华盖集·并非闲话（三）》、和老舍的《四世同堂》都用到过这个成语。
由这个成语可以想到prudent，prude，prudish，prudery这四个单词。这个脑回路是这样的：plume，plumage，pluck，preen，primp→羽毛→爱惜羽毛→谨慎→与“谨慎”相关的四个单词prudent，prude，prudish，prudery。
prudent：形容词prudent的意思是“明智的；谨慎的；慎重的；精明的”，如例句：China will keep implementing positive fiscal policy and prudent monetary policy this year. 今年中国将继续实施积极的财政政策和稳健的货币政策。prudent的反义词是imprudent。
prude：这个单词的意思是“正经过度的人；对性问题大惊小怪者；谈性色变者”，如下面这个例句来自《绝望主妇》：Is that how you see me—as some sort of prude who just lays there like a cold fish? I love sex. 你就是这样看我的吗？像死鱼那样态度冷漠躺在床上一动不动？我喜欢做爱。
prudish：这个是prude的形容词，意思是“（在性问题上）大惊小怪的，过分正经的；谈性色变的”。
prudery：这个名词的意思是“（在性问题上的）大惊小怪，过分正经；谈性色变”。
❸读名著记单词。
《红楼梦》第二十二回，元妃（贾府四春之首，也就是宝玉的大姐姐）差太监送来一个灯谜让大家猜，还命小姐们各作一个灯谜送进宫中让自己猜。到了晚上，元妃让太监去贾府公布她认为对的灯谜谜底，结果是有些灯谜元妃猜对了，有些猜错了，但大家都胡乱说元妃猜对了，大概就是因为她是元妃吧。我们来看看The Story of the Stone对这段的部分翻译，霍克斯在译文中加入了自己的理解，里面用到了prudent这个单词：
【英文译文】Towards evening the eunuch(太监) returned and reported what the Imperial Concubine(元妃) had had to say about the results:
‘Her Grace’s own riddle was correctly guessed by everyone except Miss Ying(迎春，宝玉的堂姐) and Master Huan(贾环，宝玉同父异母的弟弟). Her Grace has thought of answers to all the riddles sent her by the young ladies and gentlemen, but she does not know whether or not they are correct.’
He showed them the answers written down. Some were right and some were wrong, but even those whose riddles had been incorrectly answered deemed it prudent to pretend that the answers they had received were the right ones.
【小说原文】太监去了，至晚出来传谕：“前娘娘所制，俱已猜着，惟二小姐与三爷猜的不是。小姐们作的也都猜了，不知是否。”说着，也将写的拿出来。也有猜着的，也有猜不着的，都胡乱说猜着了。
❹相关单词表。
prudent/ˈpruːdnt/ ADJ. 明智的；谨慎的；慎重的；精明的
plume/pluːm/NOUN羽毛；大羽
plume/pluːm/NOUN（战士头盔等的）羽饰
plumage/ˈpluːmɪdʒ /NOUN（鸟的）全身羽毛
pluck/plʌk/VERB拔掉，退去（死禽的毛）
preen/priːn/VERB（用喙）整理羽毛
preen/priːn/VERB刻意打扮，精心修饰
primp/prɪmp /VERB精心打扮
prune/pruːn/ VERB修剪树枝；修整
prudent/ˈpruːdnt/ ADJ. 明智的；谨慎的；慎重的；精明的
prude/pruːd/NOUN正经过度的人；对性问题大惊小怪者；谈性色变者
prudish/ˈpruːdɪʃ /ADJ.（在性问题上）大惊小怪的，过分正经的；谈性色变的
prudery/ˈpruːdəri /NOUN（在性问题上的）大惊小怪，过分正经；谈性色变
例句：本公众号文章所有例句大部分来自牛津高阶词典，韦氏词典，柯林斯词典，剑桥词典，新闻CGTN NEWS，文学作品Gone With the Wind，A Song ofIce andFire，Wuthering Heights，《红楼梦》（人民文学出版社）以及英译本《红楼梦》TheStoryoftheStone（大卫·霍克斯及女婿闵福德二人合译）等等以及一些电影电视剧如Friends的台词, 纪录片Planet Earth等等，可能还有一些不知来源的网络影视例句。
图片：文森特·梵高Vincent van Gogh |选词：参考书籍《GRE词汇精选》以及《GRE核心词汇考法精析》
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