absorb/assimilate/digest/imbibe/incorporate/ingest  

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These words, all relatively formal, indicate the taking in of one thing by another.

 这组词全部以正式的方式表示一个物体吸收另一个物体. 

Absorb is slightly more informal than the others and has, perhaps, the widest range of uses. In its most restricted sense, it suggests the taking in or soaking up specifically of liquids: the ink absorbed by the blotter. In more general uses, it may imply the thoroughness of the action: not merely to read the chapter, but to absorb its meaning. Or it may stress the complete disappearance of the thing taken in within the encompassing medium: once-lovely countryside absorbed by urban sprawl. 

Absorb与本组中其他词相比显得稍微非正式一点,但Absorb的使用范围可以说是最广的.如果非要严格区分,Absorb通常特指对液体的吸收,比如:The ink absorbed by the blotter(墨水被吸墨纸吸收了).在更广泛的用法中,Absorb通常会暗示吸收动作的完整性和彻底性与深刻性,比如:Not merely to read the chapter, but to absorb its meaning(不要泛泛的阅读,而且要吸收文章的内涵).有时,Absorb也会强调一个物体因为被包围它的媒介吸收而彻底的消失,例如:Once-lovely countryside absorbed by urban sprawl(不断扩张的城市彻底吞噬了曾经可爱的乡村). 

Ingest refers literally to the action of taking into the mouth, as food or drugs, for later absorption by the body. Figuratively it designates any taking in, and suggests the receptivity necessary for such a process: too tired to ingest even one more idea from the complicated philosophical essay he was reading. 

 从字面意义上看,Ingest表示通过嘴摄入的动作,比如摄入食物和药物然后再由身体吸收.Ingest可以象征性的指示任何意义上的吸收过程,并且表明该吸收过程的可感知性.例如,Too tired to ingest even one more idea from the complicated philosophical essay he was reading(他太累了,不能再从他正在阅读的烧脑的哲学论文中获取到什么了).

To digest is to alter food chemically in the digestive tract so that it can be absorbed into the bloodstream. In other uses, digest is like absorb in stressing thoroughness, but is even more emphatic. [You may completely absorb a stirring play in one evening, but you will be months digesting it.] 

Digest是指通过消化道以化学方式分解食物以便食物中的营养成分能被血液吸收.从另一方说,Digest与Absorb类似,强调吸收的彻底性和完整性,但是Digest强调的程度更深.[You may completely absorb a stirring play in one evening, but you will be months digesting it(用一晚上时间看完的激动人心的节目,需要用一个月的时间来彻底的消化领会).] 

Assimilate is even more emphatic about the thoroughness of the taking in than either absorb or digest ?in both its specific physiological and general uses. Physiologically, food is first digested, then absorbed by the bloodstream, and then assimilated bit by bit in each cell the blood passes. In more general uses, assimilate, unlike previous words, often implies a third agent beside the absorber and the absorbed ?an agent that directs this process: the architect who assimilates his building to its environment. The process, furthermore, often implies the complete transformation of the absorbed into the absorbing medium. Assimilate also suggests a much slower process than digest and certainly than absorb, which can be nearly instantaneous: It would take the city generations to assimilate the newcomers into the patterns of a strange life. 

Assimilate比absorb和digest更加强调吸收的彻底性和完整性,但通常用法中,三者都特指生理上的吸收.从生理上说,食物先要经过消化(digest),然后才能被血液吸收(absorbed),进而再被经由血液传递的细胞一点一点的吸收(Assimilate).更常规用法中,与其他两个单词(digest,absorb)不同,assimilate通常暗示在吸收者和被吸收者之间存在第三方物体,该第三方物体指导吸收着吸收被吸收者之间的吸收进程.例如:The architect who assimilates his building to its environment(将自己的建筑融入环境的建筑师).上述的吸收进程通常意味被吸收的物体已经完全被吸收媒介吸收了.Assimilate指示的吸收过程通常比digest慢,当然也是比absorb慢了(译注:digest也比absorb慢),absorb表示的吸收可以说是瞬间完成的. 比如:It would take the city generations to assimilate the newcomers into the patterns of a strange life(新来者需要经过好几代人后,才会被这座城市奇怪的生活方式所同化).

Incorporate is the only word here that does not have a specific use pertaining to the taking in of liquids or of food, meaning literally “to embody.” It compares to that aspect of assimilate which stresses the loss of separate identity for the absorbed quantity: incorporating your proposals into a new system that will satisfy everyone. It is unlike assimilate in lacking that word’s suggestion of necessarily careful, time-consuming thoroughness.

这组词汇中,Incorporate(合并)是唯一一个不是特指对液体和食物的吸收或消化,从字面上说,Incorporate是指合并(译注:就是将别的物体并入自己体内).相对于assimilate来说,Incorporate强调被合并了的对象丧失了其独立的存在性(译注:个体成为整体的一部分后,个体消失).例如:Incorporating your proposals into a new system that will satisfy everyone(将你的建议并入新系统中会使大家都受益).assimilate从字面上来说,缺乏Incorporate所暗示的合并进程中的小心谨慎,以及彻底合并(Incorporate)进程的完成是需要消耗时间的.

Imbibe, while capable of uses comparable to those for assimilate, is mainly rooted still to its specific use for the taking in of liquids. Even this use, and certainly any others, now sound slightly archaic and excessively formal: Do you imbibe alcoholic beverages? 

Imbibe,与assimilate相比还有一个可用的用法,其主要的初始用法还是特指对液体的吸收.即便是这种用法,当然包括Imbibe的所有其他用法听起来都感觉有一点古老和过时,并且感觉太过正式.比如:Do you imbibe alcoholic beverages(您饮用含酒精的饮料吗)? 

SEE: EAT.
ANTONYMS: disgorge, disperse, dissipate, eject, emit, exude.

参见 EAT.该组词汇反义词:disgorge, disperse, dissipate, eject, emit, exude.