electricity

英 [,?lek'tr?s?t?; ,el-; ,i?l-] 美[?'l?k'tr?s?ti]

CET4TEM4考研CET6中頻詞常用詞匯

electricity 電，電能

來自詞根electro, 電。

electricity: electricity: [17] The earliest manifestation of electricity was that produced by rubbing amber, and hence the name, based on ēlectrum, Latin for ‘amber’ (which in turn derives from Greek ēlektron). The first evidence of this in a Latin text is in William Gilbert’s De magnete 1600, but by the middle of the century we find the word being used in English treatises, notably Sir Thomas Browne’s Pseudodoxia epidemica 1646. (At this early stage, of course, it referred only to the ability of rubbed amber, etc to attract light bodies, the only property of electricity then known about; it was not until later that the full range of other electrical phenomena came to be included under the term.)
electricity (n.): 1640s (Browne, from Gilbert's Modern Latin), from electric (q.v.) + -ity. Originally in reference to friction.
Electricity seems destined to play a most important part in the arts and industries. The question of its economical application to some purposes is still unsettled, but experiment has already proved that it will propel a street car better than a gas jet and give more light than a horse. [Ambrose Bierce, "The Cynic's Word Book," 1906]

1. It will produce electricity more cheaply than a nuclear plant.: 它的發電成本要比核電站低。

2. It should also look into the possibilities of wind-generated electricity.: 還會對風力發電的可能性進行研究。

3. The cost of electricity from coal-fired stations is expected to fall.: 用煤作燃料的火力發電站的成本有望降低。

4. Some barbecues can be plugged into a household electricity supply.: 有一些燒烤爐能直接插到家用電源上。

5. The building had been trashed and its electricity supply cut.: 那棟樓遭到打砸，電被切斷。