1. N-UNCOUNT Life is the quality which people, animals, and plants have when they are not dead, and which objects and substances do not have. 生命

...a baby's first minutes of life. …嬰兒生命的頭幾分鐘。

Amnesty International opposes the death penalty as a violation of the right to life. 大赦國際組織反對死刑，因其侵犯生存權(quán)。

2. N-UNCOUNT You can use life to refer to things or groups of things which are alive. 生物; 生命

Is there life on Mars?

火星上有生命嗎？

3. N-COUNT If you refer to someone's life, you mean their state of being alive, especially when there is a risk or danger of them dying. 生存; 性命

Your life is in danger. 你有生命危險(xiǎn)。

A nurse began to try to save his life. 一名護(hù)士開始設(shè)法搶救他。

4. N-COUNT Someone's life is the period of time during which they are alive. 一生

He spent the last fourteen years of his life in retirement. 他生命的最后14年退休在家。

5. N-COUNT You can use life to refer to a period of someone's life when they are in a particular situation or job. 人生階段; 生涯

Interior designers spend their working lives keeping up to date with the latest trends. 室內(nèi)設(shè)計(jì)者們把他們的職業(yè)生涯都花在追趕最新潮流上。

6. N-COUNT You can use life to refer to particular activities which people regularly do during their lives. 生活

My personal life has had to take second place to my career. 我的個(gè)人生活不得不放在我的事業(yè)之后。

7. N-UNCOUNT You can use life to refer to the things that people do and experience that are characteristic of a particular place, group, or activity. (特定的) 生活

How did you adjust to college life?

你是怎么適應(yīng)大學(xué)生活的？

He abhors the wheeling-and-dealing associated with conventional political life. 他憎惡傳統(tǒng)政治生活中的爾虞我詐。

8. N-UNCOUNT A person, place, book, or film that is full of life gives an impression of excitement, energy, or cheerfulness. 活力[表贊許]

The town itself was full of life and character. 這座城鎮(zhèn)本身就充滿了活力和個(gè)性。

9. N-UNCOUNT If someone is sentenced to life, they are sentenced to stay in prison for the rest of their life or for a very long time. 終身監(jiān)禁[非正式]

He could get life in prison, if convicted. 他會(huì)遭終身監(jiān)禁，如果罪名成立的話。

10. N-COUNT The life of something such as a machine, organization, or project is the period of time that it lasts for. (機(jī)器、組織或項(xiàng)目的) 壽命

The repairs did not increase the value or the life of the equipment. 這些修理沒有提高設(shè)備的價(jià)值，也沒有延長它的壽命。

11. PHRASE If you bring something to life or if it comes to life, it becomes interesting or exciting. 帶來生機(jī); 使變得生動(dòng)

The cold, hard cruelty of two young men is vividly brought to life in this true story. 兩個(gè)年輕人的冷漠和殘忍在這個(gè)真實(shí)的故事里被生動(dòng)地表現(xiàn)了出來。

12. PHRASE If you say that someone is fighting for their life, you mean that they are in a very serious condition and may die as a result of an accident or illness. 掙扎在死亡線上[journalism]

...a horrifying robbery that left a man fighting for his life. …一場恐怖的搶劫，導(dǎo)致一人生命垂危。

13. PHRASE For life means for the rest of a person's life. 終身

He was jailed for life in 1966 for the murder of three policemen. 1966年，由于殺害了3名警察他被終身監(jiān)禁。

She may have been scarred for life. 她可能已受到終身難以愈合的創(chuàng)傷。

14. PHRASE If someone takes another person's life, they kill them. If someone takes their own life, they kill themselves. 殺死某人[正式]

Before execution, he admitted to taking the lives of at least 35 more women. 在赴死刑前，他承認(rèn)了還殺死過另外至少35名婦女。

15. PHRASE You can use expressions such as to come to life, to spring to life, and to roar into life to indicate that a machine or vehicle suddenly starts working or moving. (機(jī)器或車輛) 突然開動(dòng)[文學(xué)性]

To his great relief the engine came to life. 讓他松一口氣的是，引擎發(fā)動(dòng)起來了。

16. a matter of life and death→see death