bleak

• adj. 阴冷的；荒凉的，无遮蔽的；黯淡的，无希望的；冷酷的；单调的

词源同bleach, 漂白，指苍白的，暗淡的。

1. offering little or no hope;

"the future looked black"

"prospects were bleak"

"Life in the Aran Islands has always been bleak and difficult"- J.M.Synge

"took a dim view of things"

2. providing no shelter or sustenance;

"bare rocky hills"

"barren lands"

"the bleak treeless regions of the high Andes"

"the desolate surface of the moon"

"a stark landscape"

3. unpleasantly cold and damp;

"bleak winds of the North Atlantic"

bleak

bleak: [16] Bleak originally meant ‘pale’, and comes ultimately from an Indo-European base *bhleg-, possible source of black and a variant of *phleg-, which produced Greek phlégein ‘burn’ and Latin flagrāre ‘burn’ (whence English conflagration and flagrant; flame, fulminate, and refulgent are also closely related).

From *bhlegcame the prehistoric Germanic adjective *blaikos ‘white’, from which Old English got blāc ‘pale’ (the sense relationship, as with the possibly related blaze, is between ‘burning’, ‘shining brightly’, ‘white’, and ‘pale’). This survived until the 15th century in southern English dialects as bloke, and until the 16th century in the North as blake.

Its disappearance was no doubt hastened by its resemblance to black, both formally and semantically, since both ‘pale’ and ‘dark’ carry implications of colourlessness. Blake did however persist in Northern dialects until modern times in the sense ‘yellow’. Meanwhile, around the middle of the 16th century bleak had begun to put in an appearance, borrowed from a close relative of bloke/blake, Old Norse bleikr ‘shining, white’.

The modern sense ‘bare’ is recorded from very early on. A derivative of the Germanic base *blaikwas the verb *blaikjōn, source of Old English blǣcan ‘whiten’, the ancestor of modern English bleach (which may be related to blight). And a nasalized version of the stem may have produced blink [14].
=> bleach, blight, blink, conflagration, flagrant, flame, fulminate

bleak (adj.)

c. 1300, "pale," from Old Norse bleikr "pale, whitish, blond," from Proto-Germanic *blaika- "shining, white," from PIE root *bhel- (1) "to shine, flash, burn" (see bleach (v.)). Later "bare, windswept" (1530s). Sense of "cheerless" is c. 1719 figurative extension. The same Germanic root produced Old English blac "pale," but this died out, probably from confusion with blæc "black;" however bleak persisted, with a sense of "bare" as well as "pale."

But don't bother asking for evidence that justifies this bleak view.

出自-2016年6月阅读原文

Young Americans already face a bleak labor market that cannot instill (注入) confidence about having children.

出自-2013年12月阅读原文

Partly this is a result of how bleak the academic job market is, but there's also a rising awareness of career options that Ph

出自-2013年12月阅读原文

David Graddol concludes that monoglot English graduates face a bleak economic future as qualified multilingual youngsters from other countries are proving to have a competitive advantage over their British counterparts in global companies and organizations.

出自-2017年考研翻译原文

After Pickwick, Dickens plunged into a bleaker world.

出自-2017年考研阅读原文

a bleak outlook/prospect

暗淡的前景 / 前途

牛津词典

The future looks bleak for the fishing industry.

渔业前景暗淡。

牛津词典

The medical prognosis was bleak.

医疗预后不良。

牛津词典

a bleak winter's day

一个阴冷的冬日

牛津词典

a bleak landscape/hillside/moor

荒芜的景色 / 山坡 / 野地

牛津词典

bleak concrete housing

索然乏味的混凝土住宅群

牛津词典

‘There seems no hope, ’ she said bleakly.

“好像没希望了。”她黯然地说。

牛津词典

bleakly lit corridors

光线很暗的走廊

牛津词典

...bleak inner-city streets.

凄清的旧城区街道

柯林斯高阶英语词典

The weather can be quite bleak on the coast.

沿海地区的天气会非常阴冷。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

His face was bleak...

他脸色阴郁。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

Alberg gave him a bleak stare.

阿尔伯格沮丧地凝视着他。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

The island's pretty bleak.

这座岛屿一片荒凉。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

Many predicted a bleak future.

很多人都预测前景暗淡。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

The immediate outlook remains bleak...

近期前景依然暗淡。

柯林斯高阶英语词典

I glimpsed a bleak future.

我隐约感到前途黯淡.

《简明英汉词典》

The public omens were bleak.

公开的征兆是掩盖不住的.

辞典例句

The future of this firm will be very bleak indeed if we keep losing money.

要是我们继续亏本的话,这家公司的前途会非常黯淡.

期刊摘选

With some kind of spirited sense he seemed to envisage a bleak, horrible void.

他用某种精神的感官,似乎窥见了某种荒凉 、 可怖的空虚.

辞典例句

I don't like the bleak winters in Moscow.

我不喜欢莫斯科的严冬.

辞典例句

They showed me into a bleak waiting room.

他们引我来到一间阴冷的会客室.

《简明英汉词典》

The animation of Chinese art, but few people cares about the future is bleak.

而中国人创作的动漫, 却少有人问津,未来也是暗淡无光.

期刊摘选

The report paints an unnecessarily bleak picture of the town.

这份报道把这个镇子描绘得过于惨淡.

《简明英汉词典》

The company's prospects look pretty bleak.

这家公司的前景异常暗淡.

《简明英汉词典》

The bleak outlook stems from a confluence of factors.

暗淡的前景是一系列因素合力所致.

期刊摘选

My hallucinations, coupled with my physical problems, made my prognosis still very bleak.

意识上的幻觉和生理上的病疾使我的病情预断非常的渺茫.

期刊摘选

The bleak breeze blights the bright blue blossom.

寒冷的微风把鲜蓝色的花丛吹得枯萎了!

期刊摘选

The future is not all bleak.

未来并非一片灰暗.

期刊摘选