Faustian bargain

名词 n.
中文释义
英 /ˈfaʊstɪən ˈbɑːɡən/|/-ɡɪn/    美 /ˈfaʊstiən ˈbɑːɹɡən/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. An agreement in which a person abandons his or her spiritual values or moral principles in order to obtain knowledge, wealth or other benefits. idiomatic
    — The university’s abandonment of its founding value of academic freedom in exchange for the corporation’s large financial contribution was a Faustian bargain.
  2. A deal in which one focuses on present gain without considering the long-term consequences. idiomatic
    — It has been remarked that all technology is a Faustian bargain: one obtains conveniences and sometimes luxuries, but in exchange one gets an increased potential for catastrophe.

词形变化

Faustian bargains plural

词汇关系

相关词
sell one's soul

词源

From the medieval legend of Faust, who made a contract with the Devil, exchanging his soul for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures. The story first appeared in print in an anonymously written chapbook, Historia von D. Johann Fausten (1587), which purported to contain tales about the life of the German alchemist and magician Johann Georg Faust (c. 1466 or 1480 – c. 1541). It was particularly popularized by two plays, Christopher Marlowe’s The Tragicall History of D. Faustus (first published 1604) and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s Faust (published 1808 and 1832).
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