draconian

[dr?'kon??n]

GRE低頻詞

draconian 德拉古式的，嚴酷的

來自古希臘首位立法者Draco，他將以前口口相傳的法規以法典的形式加以明確并執行。但同時，由于這部法律過于嚴酷，即便微小的罪行也會被處以死刑，因此衍生詞義嚴酷的。其字面意思為眼睛銳利的，詞源同dragon. 比較同時期中國的商鞅變法。

draconian: draconian: [18] Draconian ‘excessively harsh’ is a monument to the severe code of laws drawn up in 621 BC by the Athenian statesman Draco. Its purpose was to banish inequities in the system which were leading at the time to rumblings and threats of rebellion among the common people, and to an extent it succeeded, but all it is now remembered for is its almost pathological harshness: the most trivial infraction was punished with death. When taxed with his laws’ severity, Draco is said to have replied ‘Small crimes deserve death, and for great crimes I know of no penalty severer’.
draconian (adj.): 1876 (earlier Draconic, implied from 1640s), from Draco, Greek statesman who laid down a code of laws for Athens 621 B.C.E. that mandated death as punishment for minor crimes. His name seems to mean literally "sharp-sighted" (see dragon).

1. There has been an overall growth in population, despite some draconian efforts to contain it.: 盡管有嚴厲的遏制措施,人口還是在全面增長.

2. In U.S. S . R collectivization was imposed 1930 by draconian Methods: Which met bitter peasants'resistance.: 1930年蘇聯采取嚴厲的辦法推行集體化時遭到農民的強烈抵制.

3. Let us keep at our efforts to abolish the draconian ISA.: 讓我們繼續斗爭以廢除殘酷的內安法令.

4. But Superfund's draconian liability rules offend any common - sense notion of justice.: 但超巨額基金所規定的嚴厲措施是同盡人皆知的公正觀念相違背的.

5. The government has introduced a draconian regulation intended to gag the press.: 政府推出了一條旨在箝制新聞界言論的苛刻法例.