小词详解 | calibre

calibre 英 [ˈkælɪbə(r)] 美 [ˈkælɪbər]

• Focusing too much attention on elite universities may be ill-advised if much of their success is attributable to the calibre of students they attract.
  太过关注精英大学可能并不明智，如果它们的成功大部分应归于其吸引的学生自身的水平的话。
  ——《经济学人》
• Handgun caliber has been getting bigger over recent decades, even as murder rates have fallen.
  近几十年来，尽管谋杀率有所下降，但手枪口径却越来越大。
  ——《纽约时报》

• 他徒手掐死了卫兵，然后把卫兵口径为0.22英寸的步枪藏在了竹丛里。
  He throttled the guard with his bare hands and then secreted the guard's .22 calibre rifle in the bamboo thicket.

• 我们需要更多像你这样有才干的人来使行将倒闭的公司起死回生。
  We need more people of your calibre to pull the moribund company back from the brink.
• 她的教学质量很高。连最不感兴趣的学生都开始坐直了听讲。
  The calibre of her teaching is very high. Even the most apathetic students are beginning to sit up and listen.

It worked out in a thousand little conversations, all of which were of the same calibre.
这种气氛可以从无数次谈话中感觉出来。而且每次谈话都是大同小异。

• trait:  distinguishing quality or characteristic, typically one belonging to a person
• merit: the quality of being particularly good or worthy, especially so as to deserve praise or reward
• character: all the qualities and features that make a person, groups of people, and places different from others