firm单词巧记（轻松记单词61signsignal）

sign signal symbol symptom indication indicator

sign

An event, action or fact that shows that something exists, is happening or may happen in the future.

It's a sure sign of economic recovery.

Give me a sign that you love me.

signal

an event, action or fact that shows that something exists, is happening or may happen in the futur

意思与sign一样

不过signal常用以指采取行动的暗号、信号，sign不用于此

如项庄舞剑，意在沛公，最后没动手，是因为项羽没给signal

symbol

a person,object or event that represents a more general quality or situation

象征

The dove is a univeral symbol of peace.

鸽子象征和平，

symptom

A change in your body or mind that shows that you are not healthy a sign that something exists especially something bad.

症状，

The rise in inflation was just one symptom of the poor state of the economy.

通胀上升只不过是经济不景气的一个症状而已

如掉头发、没食欲是化疗的症状

symptomes of chemotherapy: loss of hair and loss of appetite.

indicator

(Rather formal) A sign that shows you what something is like or how a situation is changing

The stock market is one kind of the economic indicators.

股票市场是一个经济指示灯

economic indicators

经济指标

indication

(Rather formal) A remark or sign that shows that something is happening or what somebody is thinking of feeling.标示、象征、迹象、显示

实际上本词与预兆相差比较远，和sign相重合的意思更多是标示、迹象

give me a sign 给我提示

They gave no indication of how the work should be done. They took the architectural drawings away and left a mess.

indication的内含意思是indicate，表明，所以通常是某人说话表明，或有明确的事情，而sign则是发生的事

就如当一个人安排别人做事情时有明确的indication，他才能按你的意思做，若只是个sign，可能别人理解错误 ，而导致好心办坏事。

indication of speed

【predict the future】

They still thought the psychohistory might be useful. It was right to let Seldon go. Because impreisonment would cause resentment and despair , which would not help him either to develop his ideas further or make him eager to help them. But at the same time, they needed to keep an eye on him to bring him in when he developed his science and he wouldn't help their opponents.

他们一致认为心理历史学可能会有用。【might指可能性时，可能性比may较低，50%以下】

让Seldon离开是对的，因为让他入狱可能会导致 仇恨和绝望，这些无法让他进一步发展他的想法或让他想要帮助他们。但同时，他们要监视他，以便当他发展出他的科学，他不会帮助他们的对手。

On the other hand, they could kill him if he decided to help their enemies.It would be better if no one had him than if the wrong person did.

如果他决定帮他们的敌人时，他们可能杀了他。没有人能得到他总好过错误 的人得到他。

Demerzel said,"It would be safer to assume the man is - or might be - important. We lose only a little time and nothing more if we find that we have concerned ourselves with a nonentity. We may lose a Galaxy of we find we have ignored someone of great importance."

Demerzel说：“这样会比较有保障，我们假设他是，或者可能是重要的。如果我们发现我们关注的只是一个无足轻重的人，我们只是牺牲了一点时间，如果他是一个非常重要的人，而我们忽视了他，那失去的可是一个银河系啊。”

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