词汇精选：calamity的用法和辨析

一、详细释义：

n.

灾祸，灾难，祸患，不幸事件

例句：

Calamity is man's true touch stone.

灾难是吾人真正的试金石。

例句：

They have found comfort under calamity, and refuge and hope in affliction.

他们在不幸中找到了安慰，在苦难中找到了庇护和希望。

二、词义辨析：

disaster,calamity,catastrophe,misfortune

这些名词均表示“灾难”或“不幸”之意。disaster普通用词，指大破坏、痛苦或伤亡。calamity多指个人的不幸，比disaster严重，强调灾难引起的悲痛以及对于损失的感觉。catastrophe语气最强，指可怕的灾难，强调最终的结局。misfortune普通用词，多批较为严重的不幸，强调不幸多由外界因素所致。

三、参考例句：

Calamity is man's true touch stone.

灾难是吾人真正的试金石。

An optimist sees an opportunity in every calamity; a pessimist sees a calamity in every opportunity.

乐观者在每一场灾难中都看到希望，悲观者在每个希望中都看到灾难。

The attack on Pearl Harbor was a crushing calamity.

偷袭珍珠港（对美军来说）是一场毁灭性的灾难。

Even a greater natural calamity cannot daunt us.

再大的自然灾害也压不垮我们。

They have found comfort under calamity, and refuge and hope in affliction.

他们在不幸中找到了安慰，在苦难中找到了庇护和希望。

Calamity is the perfect glass wherein we truly see and know ourselves.

灾难是一面最好的镜子，从中可以真正照见自己和认识自我。（William D'Avenant/达万南特）

But even if the odds of calamity are small, why gamble?

虽然造成灾难的可能性很小，可是为什么要去冒险呢？

The earthquake was the worst calamity in the country's history.

这次地震是这个国家有史以来最严重的灾难。

For every 0.1 degree the earth's temperature rises, it's a calamity for the human race.

全球气温每升高零点一度，对人类来说都是灾难。

I prayed to the Lord to mitigate a calamity which seemed to me past the capacity of man to remedy.

我向上帝祈祷，祈求他减轻这场人力所不能补救的灾难。