Unit 58

nigh / night / knight

nigh adj. 近的 (close in time or place) / nī/

• When the time to leave drew nigh, we said our goodbyes and wished each other well.

adv. 几乎 (almost or nearly) / naɪ/

• The math problems that our teacher assigned us were nigh impossible to solve.

night adj. 夜间的 (happening at night) / nīt/

• When we lived in Auckland we used to enjoy dining on street food at the night markets.

knight n. 骑士 (a soldier in the past who had a high social rank and who usually fought while riding a horse and wearing armor) / naɪt/

• The knight's armor was so heavy that it took two men to lift it over his head when he returned from the battlefield.

epidemic / endemic / pandemic

epidemic adj. 流行的，传染的 (excessively prevalent; contagious) /ˌɛpəˈdɛmɪk/

• The last Ebola epidemic was so deadly that it killed an estimated 11,300 people.

endemic adj. 地方性的，流行的 (prevalent in or limited to a particular locality, region, or people) / enˈdemik/

• Uganda is one of the world's best locations for bird watchers because it hosts a great number of endemic species that are rarely seen beyond its borders.

pandemic adj. 大范围流行的 (occurring over a wide geographic area and affecting an exceptionally high proportion of the population) / panˈdemik/

• The 2015-2016 Zika pandemic was most pronounced in Brazil, but it affected tropical regions throughout the Caribbean and the southern United States.

underplay / downplay / interplay / foreplay

underplay v. 轻描淡写，低估 (to make (something) seem less important than it actually is) /ˌəndərˈplā/

• After Nancy slipped and fell in front of her classmates, she tried to underplay her embarrassment by laughing about it with them.

downplay v. 轻描淡写 (to make (something) seem smaller or less important) /ˈdaʊnˌpleɪ/

• Natasha tried to downplay the importance of her role in the crime, but she was still held as an accessory.

interplay v. 互相作用 (the ways in which two or more things, groups, etc., affect each other when they happen or exist together) /ˈɪn(t)ərˌpleɪ/

• Italian artist Caravaggio often exploited the interplay between dark and light elements, a technique called "chiaroscuro," to highlight compositional elements in his paintings.

foreplay n. 前戏 (activity between partners before having sex) /ˈfɔrˌpleɪ/

• Flirtation often takes the form of verbal foreplay, titillating its proponents with words in place of physical contact.