喜樂美語
  1. 1世界級的、國際水準的

    World-class means as good as the best anywhere in the world. If a university, a hospital, an athlete, or an orchestra is world-class, it belongs in the top group globally — you could put it next to the famous ones and it would not look out of place.

    Notice that it says "among the best", not "the best". That is why it is so useful: it is a strong compliment that stays . A city can have world-class public transport without having the single best system on earth. Compare *world-beating*, which claims first place outright.

    It goes before a noun almost always — a world-class musician, world-class facilities — and it is at home in fairly formal or promotional writing: tourism , university websites, government plans, sports pages. Because it is used so freely in advertising, it has over the years; when a small local gym calls itself world-class, everyone understands that as enthusiasm, not measurement.

    One more thing. English speakers also use it jokingly for bad things that are extreme: "world-class stupidity", "a world-class liar". The pattern still means "top of the world at this" — it just happens to be something nobody wants to win.

    world-class 的意思是和世界上最好的一樣好。如果一所大學、一家醫院、一位運動員或一個樂團是 world-class，就表示它屬於全球頂尖的一群，可以和那些知名的擺在一起而不遜色。注意它說的是名列前茅，而不是第一。這也是它好用的地方：它是很有分量的稱讚，但不會誇張到說不通。一座城市可以有「world-class public transport」，卻不必是地球上獨一無二最好的系統。

    它幾乎都放在名詞前面，像「a world-class musician」、「world-class facilities」。比較常出現在正式或宣傳性的文字中，例如旅遊手冊、大學網站、政府計畫，或體育版面。因為廣告用得很多，這個詞的語氣已經比較溫和；小型健身房自稱 world-class，大家只會當作熱情，而不是實際的評量。英語使用者也會開玩笑地用在極端的壞事上，例如「world-class stupidity」（世界級的愚蠢）、「a world-class liar」（世界級的騙子）。這個句型的意思還是在這方面世界頂尖，只是拿第一的是大家都不想要的東西。

組成world + class, where class means a rank or level of quality (as in first-class, top-class). So: at the world's level of quality.

同家族的字

  • first-classsame use of class as a level of quality
  • middle-classsame class meaning a rank, here a social one
  • classyfrom the same class = high quality

原始詞典資料2 筆記錄

以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。

world-classadj/wɜː(ɹ)ldˈklæs/

  • 1

    Of a standard that ranks among the best in the world.

    • Chris Green remarks that this "world-class gateway to London and the UK still looks as good as new", [...].
  • 2

    informalExtraordinary in degree.

    • A world-class idiot
    • Both of you, prepare for a world-class punishment session when we get home!

摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。