今天我们继续连载《厚朴GRE词汇笔记》之0010，请同学们先看题：
Melinda' s political beliefs were a matter of _____________: she held true only to those positions that served her own best interest.
A.naiveté
B.pretentiousness
C.expediency
D.desperation
E.selflessness
(点击空白处查看参考答案)
▼
C
这道题的一个难点是对“a matter of …………”这种表达的准确理解，这个词组看起来容易，其实比较难，市面上的大多数英汉词典都没有说清楚。它的意思是“（实质）只不过是…………的事情”。
💡例句1：
Learning to ride a bicycle is a matter of practice.
学习骑自行车（的实质）就是多练。
💡例句2：
His success was just a matter of being in the right place at the right time.
他的成功不过是做到了“在正确的时间处于正确的地点”这件事。
💡例句3：
It's only a matter of time before/until we catch him.
我们要抓到他不过是时间/早晚的事了。
然后我们才可以得到这样的印象：
Melinda' s political beliefs were a matter of _____________: she held true only to those positions that served her own best interest.
Melinda的政治信念的（实质）不过是________ ：她只忠于那些对她自己最有利的立场。
所以可以推知空里面一定是填一个表示负面意思的词，于是可以排除掉desperation（这个词因为美剧《绝望主妇》的流行而成了大多数学生都认识的一个单词）和selflessness，剩下naiveté、pretentiousness、expediency。Naive是“天真的”意思，pretentious是“炫耀的，矫饰的”，只有expediency的意思和题目中的“best interest”有关，所以应该选expediency。
expedient adj.权宜之计的；应急的；不得已而为之的 （有时不太道德）
helpful or useful in a particular situation, but sometimes not morally acceptable
💡例句：
When things go wrong it is expedient to say it was a management failure.
当事情出错时，说原因是管理方面的失败造成的，是一种很容易想到的、很方便拿来当借口的说法。
这道题中需要同学们重点识记的几个单词是：
naive adj. 轻信的;天真的;幼稚的
too willing to believe that someone is telling the truth, that people's intentions in general are good, or that life is simple and fair. People are often naive because they are young and/or have not had much experience of life
pretentious adj. （尤指在文学艺术方面）炫耀的，矫饰的，自以为是的
trying to appear or sound more important or clever than you are, especially in matters of art and literature
💡例句：
The novel deals with grand themes, but is never heavy or pretentious.
这部小说探讨的是重大主题，但决不沉闷也不矫饰。
最后附上补完整之后的句子（英汉对照）：
Melinda' s political beliefs were a matter of expediency: she held true only to those positions that served her own best interest.
Melinda这个人的政治信念(的实质)不过是“权宜之计主义”：只有那些对她最有利的立场，她才会坚持。
好了，今天这一期的《厚朴GRE词汇笔记》就讲到这里了，同学们下次见。
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