喜樂美語
  1. 1nB2/ˈʃɔːrtɪdʒ/ · /ˈʃɔːtɪdʒ/短缺

    A gap between how much people need and how much is actually there.

    示範例句 · Example

    After a dry summer, our town faced a water shortage.

    逐字在一個乾燥的夏天之後，我們的城鎮面對了用水短缺。

    「shortage」講的是「需要的東西不夠」這種情況——水、食物、老師、書本都常用。固定句型是 a shortage of + 名詞（a shortage of water）。比 lack 更常指「大家需要、卻不夠」的公共／生活問題；shortfall 比較像「差多少」的數字；deficiency 常指身體或缺了某種成分。可以想成：架子上的東西比大家需要的還少。

    常見搭配

    • a shortage of something

      某物的短缺

      not enough of that thing

      There is a shortage of skilled workers in this area.

    • a water / food / housing shortage

      用水／糧食／住房短缺

      not enough water, food, or homes

      Parts of the island are suffering water shortages.

    • a severe / serious / acute shortage

      嚴重／急迫的短缺

      a very bad shortage

      The area has a severe shortage of doctors.

    • face a shortage

      面臨短缺

      to be likely to suffer from not having enough

      The camp may face a shortage of clean water.

    • cause / create a shortage

      造成／引起短缺

      to make a shortage happen

      The long dry season caused a shortage of vegetables.

    • ease a shortage

      紓解短缺

      to make a shortage less serious

      Building more homes will ease the housing shortage.

    • there is no shortage of

      一點都不缺；多得很

      there is plenty of; more than enough

      There is no shortage of volunteers for the school fair.

    • a staff / labour shortage

      人手／勞動力短缺

      not enough people to do the work

      The cafe closed early because of a staff shortage.

core核心畫面

Picture the gap between how much of something is needed and how much there actually is. The word does not mean 'a small amount' — it means the amount falls short of a need. That is why it always implies someone waiting: empty shelves, a hospital short of nurses, a country short of rain.

可以想成：「需要多少」和「實際有多少」之間的那個缺口。這個字的重點不是「數量少」，而是「不夠用」——所以它背後一定有人在等：空了的貨架、缺護理人員的醫院、久旱不雨的地區。同一個數量，在沒有需求的地方就不叫 shortage，這是理解它最關鍵的一點。

容易混在一起的字在訂閱裡。容易混在一起的字需要訂閱帳號。

同家族的字

複數 shortages

原始詞典資料1 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。

shortagenoun/ˈʃɔː(ɹ)tɪd͡ʒ/

  • 1

    A lack or deficiency; an insufficient amount.

    • The admirable smoothness of the riding also reflected the greatest credit on those who, despite the difficulties caused by the shortage of men and materials, have succeeded in maintaining the track in such first-class order.
    • The dawn of the oil age was fairly recent. Although the stuff was used to waterproof boats in the Middle East 6,000 years ago, extracting it in earnest began only in 1859 after an oil strike in Pennsylvania.[…]It was used to make kerosene, the main fuel for artificial lighting after overfishing led to a shortage of whale blubber.

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。