在表达“意味”时,口语中mean最常用,在写作中为了避免mean的过多使用,在“意味”不是特别直接、明显时可以用imply、suggest(隐含)替代mean。例如:
In the Internet, delivery from the same source to the same destination doesn’t mean/imply/suggest that through the same route.(在Internet 上,同一个源到同一个宿的传输并不意味同一个路径的传输。)
Geoffrey Hinton received the Noble Prize in physics this year. That means/implies/suggests there is some connection between deep learning and physics. Indeed, in the early days of artificial neural networks, Hinton created Boltzmann machines based on statistical mechanics of physics.(辛顿获得今年的诺贝尔物理学奖,这意味着深度学习与物理学的某种联系。确实,在人工神经网络发展早期,辛顿基于物理学的统计力学发明了波尔兹曼机。)
Users’ requirements for data security mean that data cannot delivered over public channels without encryption.(用户对数据安全的需求意味着数据不能在公开信道上不加密传输。)
这一句“意味”比较明显,用imply或suggest 是不妥的。
其实“意味”的表达可以很丰富,例如show/demonstrate implicitly 也是类似的意思。(注意implicitly 和imply是同根词。)
(例句原创)