n. 观众；读者；接见；听众
1. 表示“听众”、“观众”,是集合名词,用作主语时,其谓语可用单数或复数。如:
The audience is [are]listening attentively. 听众都在聚精会神地听着。
The audience was [were] enjoying every minute of the performance. 观众对演出非常欣赏。
有时由于语义的需要,分别用单数或复数更合适。如:
The audience was enormous. 观众人很多。
The audience are requested to be in their seats by 8:00. 观众要在八点前都入座。
2. 形容听众人数之多或少,通常用 large, small, crowded, thin等形容词修饰audience。如:
There was a large audience of young people at the pop concert. 流行音乐演奏会上有大量青年听众。
Her lecture had a crowded audience. 她的演讲挤满了听众。
The speaker had a small but attentive audience. 这位演讲者的听众不多,但很专心。
要在那么多观众面前唱歌她感到很紧张。
正:She felt nervous at having to sing before so large an audience [such a large audience].
误:She felt nervous at having to sing before so many audience.
3. audience 虽为集合名词,但有时可用复数形式。如:
The audiences were enormous. 听众特别多。
He addressed audiences all over the country. 他向全国各地的听众作地演讲。
4. audience 有时可表示“读者”。如:
That book has a large audience. 那本书有广大的读者。
1. My audience certainly isn't the proverbial man in the street.
我的观众当然不是街上的平头百姓。
2. The offending comment was in fact a heckle from an audience member.
这番冒犯性的话实际上是一名观众的诘难。
3. They would always come out and warm up the audience.
他们总是会出来调动观众情绪。
4. Say's writings reached a wide audience during his lifetime.
在塞伊有生之年，他的作品拥有大量的读者。
5. After the show, the audience deserts the Blackpool streets.
演出结束后，观众从布莱克浦的大街上消失了踪迹。
6. Weber is challenging his audience to question their own beliefs.
韦伯正要求观众们反思质疑各自的信仰。