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SAT TEM4 IELTS TEM8
外刊例句
- Focusing too much attention on elite universities may be ill-advised if much of their success is attributable to the calibre of students they attract.
太过关注精英大学可能并不明智，如果它们的成功大部分应归于其吸引的学生自身的水平的话。
——《经济学人》 - Handgun caliber has been getting bigger over recent decades, even as murder rates have fallen.
近几十年来，尽管谋杀率有所下降，但手枪口径却越来越大。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[noun] the internal diameter or bore of a gun barrel
[名词] 枪炮管的内径或口径
深入解读
从上面的外刊例句不难发现， calibre 一词有两种拼法，其在美式英语中拼作 caliber 。该词词源存疑，常见说法认为其源自古阿拉伯语 qalib ，16世纪80年代经法语 calibre 进入英语，原指鞋楦（鞋的成型模具）的尺寸，后来用来表示各种铸造模具的尺寸。
待到火炮和火枪问世后，该词便用来表示今义指火炮的炮管和炮弹以及火枪的枪管和子弹的“口径、直径”，并进一步用来指各种筒、管、脉等的“内径”，比如：
- 他徒手掐死了卫兵，然后把卫兵口径为0.22英寸的步枪藏在了竹丛里。
He throttled the guard with his bare hands and then secreted the guard's .22 calibre rifle in the bamboo thicket.
从口径规格这个概念出发， calibre 现在多用来引申表示某个人的“能力、才干”以及某个事物“品质、质量、质地、水准”，尤指人突出的能力水平或事物良好的品质，比如：
- 我们需要更多像你这样有才干的人来使行将倒闭的公司起死回生。
We need more people of your calibre to pull the moribund company back from the brink. - 她的教学质量很高。连最不感兴趣的学生都开始坐直了听讲。
The calibre of her teaching is very high. Even the most apathetic students are beginning to sit up and listen.
名著用例
It worked out in a thousand little conversations, all of which were of the same calibre.
这种气氛可以从无数次谈话中感觉出来。而且每次谈话都是大同小异。
出自美国现实主义作家西奥多·德莱赛（Theodore Dreiser）创作的长篇小说《嘉莉妹妹》（Sister Carrie）。参见：名著下载 | 嘉莉妹妹（Sister Carrie）
同近义词
- trait: distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person
- merit: the quality of being particularly good or worthy, especially so as to deserve praise or reward
- character: all the qualities and features that make a person, groups of people, and places different from others
