mean简单

The fact that fires happened so often meant they couldn’t have been severe enough to kill most trees.

火灾发生得如此频繁，这意味着它们不可能严重到足以烧死大部分树木。

And just read a single poem. In his Oxford lectures, Seamus Heaney argued that a poem draws a picture of reality, a “glimpsed alternative” that sets up a contradiction with your own, in ways little and large. The negotiation, between you and it, is the heart of the matter. What does the poet see that you don’t? What does the difference mean? It could be one of the best conversations you ever have. Forget self-help books; reading is self-help in action.

再读一首诗就好。谢默斯·希尼在牛津的讲座中提出，一首诗描绘了一幅现实图景，即一种“瞥见的另一种可能”，它在大大小小的方面与你自己的现实形成矛盾。你与诗之间的协商才是问题的核心。诗人看到了什么你没看到的东西？这种差异意味着什么？这可能是你一生中最好的对话之一。忘掉那些自助类书籍吧；阅读本身就是付诸行动的自助。

Say your boss picks holes in your sales report, and you come away feeling like this means she thinks you’re a [poor] member of staff.

比如说，老板挑出了你销售报告中的毛病，而你事后觉得这意味着她认为你是个差劲的员工。

Or, two of your friends cancel your [planned] get-together at the pub and you interpret this as meaning they’re bored of you.

又或者，你的两个朋友取消了你们原定在酒吧的聚会，而你把这理解为他们厌倦你了。

The fact your boss took the time to give you [feedback] at all means they care enough to want to help you [improve].

你的老板居然肯花时间给你反馈，这本身就说明他们足够在意你，想帮助你进步。

This means that any sensitive business information could potentially be exposed to the world.

这意味着任何敏感的商业信息都可能暴露于世。

In The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth, the economic historian Benjamin Friedman argues that both inside and outside the U.S., lengthy periods of economic stagnation or decline have almost always left society more mean-spirited and less inclusive, and have usually stopped or reversed the advance of rights and freedoms.

经济史学家本杰明·弗里德曼在《经济增长的道德后果》一书中指出，无论在美国国内还是国外，长期的经济停滞或衰退几乎总会让社会变得更加刻薄、更不包容，而且通常会阻止甚至逆转权利与自由的进步。

What Washington does — or doesn’t do — to promote alternative energy may mean less and less at a time of a global shift in thought.

在全球观念转变之际，华盛顿在推广替代能源方面做什么——或不做什么——可能会变得越来越无关紧要。

Airlines have simply changed the time a [trip] is meant to take.

航空公司只是更改了一趟行程应耗费的时间。

Every time we fail at something, we can choose to look for the lesson we’re meant to learn.

每当我们在某件事上失败时，我们都可以选择去寻找我们应该吸取的教训。

Any fair-minded assessment of the dangers of the deal between Britain’s National Health Service (NHS) and DeepMind must start by acknowledging that both sides mean well.

对英国国民医疗服务体系（NHS）与DeepMind之间这项协议的危险性作出任何公允的评估，都必须首先承认双方本意都是好的。

is meant for the most loyal customers.

是专为最忠实的客户准备的。

These labels encourage style-conscious consumers to see clothes as disposable — meant to last only a wash or two, although they don’t advertise that — and to renew their wardrobe every few weeks.

这些品牌鼓励注重时尚的消费者把衣服看作一次性用品——只打算穿到洗一两次为止，尽管它们并不会这样宣传——并且每隔几周就更新一次衣橱。

This rule is meant to address the difficulty that students from impoverished or chaotic homes might have in completing their homework.

这项规定旨在解决来自贫困或混乱家庭的学生在完成作业时可能遇到的困难。