| 知识 | Proscribe, to forbid, is commonly used for medical, religious, or legal prohibitions. A doctor proscribes a food, drug, or activity that might prove harmful to the patient. The church proscribes, or announces a proscription against, such activities as may harm its parishioners. The law proscribes behavior detrimental to the public welfare. Generally, one might concede, proscribed activities are the most pleasant ones—as Alexander Woolcott once remarked, if something is pleasurable, it’s sure to be either immoral, illegal, or fattening. |
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| 拓展 | The derivation is the prefix pro-, before, plus scribo, scriptus, to write. In ancient Roman times, a man’s name was written on a public bulletin board if he had committed some crime for which his property or life was to be forfeited; Roman citizens in good standing would thereby know to avoid him. In a similar sense, the doctor writes down those foods or activities that are likely to commit crimes against the patient’s health—in that way the patient knows to avoid them. |
| 《》 | ways of writing |
| 出处 | Word Power Made Easy SESSION 22 |
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