• n. 气候；风气；思潮；风土

来自PIE*klei,倾斜，词源同lean,incline.原指从赤道到两极的区域，地域，后指各不同区域 的气候。

climate

climate: [14] The notion underlying climate is of ‘sloping’ or ‘leaning’. It comes, via Old French climat or late Latin clīma (whence English clime [16]), from Greek klīma ‘sloping surface of the earth’, which came ultimately from the same source (the Indo-European base *kli-) as produced English lean. Greek geographers assigned the earth’s surface to various zones according to the angle which their ‘slope’ made with the rays of the sun (originally there were seven of these, ranging from 17 degrees of latitude North to 48 degrees, but later the system was elaborated so that each hemisphere was divided into 24 bands or ‘climates’ of latitude).

This was the sense in which the word passed into Latin, where it broadened out into simply ‘region’, and hence ‘weather associated with a particular area’.
=> ladder, lean

climate (n.)

late 14c., "horizontal zone of the earth," Scottish, from Old French climat "region, part of the earth," from Latin clima (genitive climatis) "region; slope of the Earth," from Greek klima "region, zone," literally "an inclination, slope," thus "slope of the Earth from equator to pole," from root of klinein "to slope, to lean" (see lean (v.)).

The angle of sun on the slope of the Earth's surface defined the zones assigned by early geographers. Early references in English, however, are in astrology works, as each of the seven (then) climates was held to be under the influence of one of the planets. Shift from "region" to "weather associated with a region" perhaps began in Middle English, certainly by c. 1600.

1. If climate changes continue, we will suffer the consequences.

如果气候变化继续下去，我们将自食其果。

来自柯林斯例句

2. In the present climate, owners are hanging on to old ships.

在目前的形势下，船东们都不愿淘汰掉旧船。

来自柯林斯例句

3. In this economic climate new ideas were few and far between.

在这种经济环境下，新想法极为罕见。

来自柯林斯例句

4. The famine turned the normal modulation of climate into disaster.

正常的气候变化因饥荒而成了灾难。

来自柯林斯例句

5. Roemer represented the best hope for a businesslike climate in Louisiana.

罗默最有希望给路易斯安那州带来务实高效之风。

来自柯林斯例句