garbage

将“garbage”分解为两部分：“garb”部分联想到“garage”（车库），想象一个杂乱无章的车库充满了“垃圾”，这样可以帮助记忆“garbage”的意思是垃圾、废物。

garbage 垃圾

原义为禽类内脏。词源不详，可能来自PIE*sker, 切，撕，词源同shear, carve.

garbage (n.)

"refuse, filth," 1580s; earlier "giblets, refuse of a fowl, waste parts of an animal (head, feet, etc.) used for human food" (early 15c., in early use also gabage, garbish, garbidge ), of unknown origin; OED says probably from Anglo-French "like many other words found in early cookery books." In its sense of "waste material, refuse" it has been influenced by and partly confused with garble (q.v.) in its older sense of "remove refuse material from spices;" Middle English had the derived noun garbelage but it is attested only as the action of removing the refuse, not the material itself.

Perhaps the English word originally is from a derivative of Old French garbe/jarbe "sheaf of wheat, bundle of sheaves," though the sense connection is difficult. This word is from Proto-Germanic *garba- (cognates: Dutch garf, German garbe "sheaf"), from PIE *ghrebh- (1) "to seize, reach" (see grab (v.)).

"In modern American usage garbage is generally restricted to mean kitchen and vegetable wastes" [Craigie]. Used figuratively for "worthless, offensive stuff" from 1590s. Garbage can is from 1901. Garbage collector "trash man" is from 1872; Australian shortening garbo attested from 1953. Garbology "study of waste as a social science" is by 1976; garbologist is from 1965.

1. A bomb planted in a garbage can exploded early today.

今天早些时候，安放在垃圾箱里的一枚炸弹爆炸了。

2. Jeez, what garbage!

天哪，这是什么破烂儿！

3. Furious government officials branded her story "garbage".

大发雷霆的政府官员称她的报道为“胡说八道”。

4. Personally, I think that's a load of garbage!

我个人认为这纯粹是一堆垃圾！

5. Children scavenge through garbage.

孩子们翻捡垃圾。

【waste, debris, rubbish, litter, garbage, junk】
这组词都有“废物，垃圾”的意思，其区别是：
waste: 普通用词，概念广泛，指任何被丢弃的东西。
debris: 着重指分解、分裂或破坏后剩下的碎片，也指零散的普通废品。
rubbish: 普通用词，指任何成堆的、破损的、用过的或无用的东西，尤指弃掉的垃圾堆。也可作引申用。
litter: 是四下乱丢物品的总称，尤指散落于地，有碍观瞻的废物。
garbage: 主要指有机废料，包括厨房的剩菜剩饭或不能再用的食物。也可作引申用。
junk: 指回收的旧汽车或大型机器，也指毫无实用价值，或破烂物体，但不指垃圾。