SAT高频词汇1--conjure

Conjure在16年五月北美卷中的科学类篇章Moonwalking with Einstein: The Art and Science of Remembering Everything 中出现过一次，句子如下：

Why would mental athletes be conjuring images in their mind's eye when they were trying to learn three-digital numbers?

在可汗学院diagnostic quiz 中的一篇社会学篇章Why Don't You Want to Sing and Dance in Public? 中也出现过，句子如下：

Picture two birthday parties: one for 4 year olds, and one for 14 year olds. The former conjureskids bellowing "Happy Birthday" and putting their left feet in during the "Hockey Pockey" ; the second conjures slump-shouldered teens huddled in corners furtively glancing at each other--even as loud music blares in the background.

从这两个句子可以猜出，conjure差不多是能够“召唤出某种画面”的意思，即联想，使想起，使呈现于脑际。同义词：evoke。通常搭配：conjure up

再来看conjure的另外两个意思：

1. to do clever tricks such as making things seem to appear or disappear as if by magic 变魔术，变戏法

例句： Her grandfather taught her to conjure. 他祖父教她变魔术。

2. to make sb/sth appear by using special magic words. 用咒语使...出现

词组：conjure sth from/ out of sth 使意外出现

例： He conjured a delicious meal out of a few leftovers.

补充：

conjuring n./adj. 变魔术，变戏法 eg. a conjuring trick 魔术

conjuror n. 魔术师，变戏法的人

词源：

conjure来自拉丁语，由con (共同)和 jure (发誓，诅咒) 构成，字面意思就是一起发誓，密谋之意(conspire)，衍生出发誓请求，恳求之意。

13世纪开始，conjure逐渐产生一种魔幻含义，意为用咒语召唤鬼神。人们认为，巫师或魔法师通过念咒的方式召集鬼魂，其实就是与鬼密谋，以发誓诅咒的方式请求鬼神的协助，所以conjure一词产生了“念咒语召唤鬼神”的意思。在日常场景中，conjure还可表示“凭空变出，想象出”的含义。词根jure表示发誓，构成了许多法律术语，如jury (陪审团)。