draconian

[drə'konɪən]

GRE低频词

draconian 德拉古式的，严酷的

来自古希腊首位立法者Draco，他将以前口口相传的法规以法典的形式加以明确并执行。但同时，由于这部法律过于严酷，即便微小的罪行也会被处以死刑，因此衍生词义严酷的。其字面意思为眼睛锐利的，词源同dragon. 比较同时期中国的商鞅变法。

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.: 尽管有严厉的遏制措施,人口还是在全面增长.

2. In U.S. S . R collectivization was imposed 1930 by draconian Methods: Which met bitter peasants'resistance.: 1930年苏联采取严厉的办法推行集体化时遭到农民的强烈抵制.

3. Let us keep at our efforts to abolish the draconian ISA.: 让我们继续斗争以废除残酷的内安法令.

4. But Superfund's draconian liability rules offend any common - sense notion of justice.: 但超巨额基金所规定的严厉措施是同尽人皆知的公正观念相违背的.

5. The government has introduced a draconian regulation intended to gag the press.: 政府推出了一条旨在箝制新闻界言论的苛刻法例.