now: [OE] Now is the English member of a widespread family of words denoting ‘present time’ that are traceable back to Indo-European *nu- or *nū- (a relative of the ancestor of new). Others include Greek nun, Latin nunc, Sanskrit nū, Czech nyní, and, among the Germanic languages, German nun and Dutch, Swedish, and Danish nu. (French maintenant ‘now’, incidentally, originally meant literally ‘holding in the hand’, and developed its present sense via ‘at hand’ and ‘soon’.)
now (adv.)
Old English nu "now, at present, immediately; now that," also used as an interjection and as an introductory word; common Germanic (Old Norse nu, Dutch nu, Old Frisian nu, German nun, Gothic nu "now"), from PIE *nu "now" (cognates: Sanskrit and Avestan nu, Old Persian nuram, Hittite nuwa, Greek nu, nun, Latin nunc, Old Church Slavonic nyne, Lithuanian nu, Old Irish nu-). Perhaps originally "newly, recently," and related to the root of new.
Often merely emphatic; non-temporal usage (as in Now, then) was in Old English. The adjective meaning "up to date" first recorded 1967, but the word was used also as an adjective in Middle English with the sense "current" from late 14c. Now and then "occasionally" is from 1530s; now or never attested from 1550s.
双语例句
1. Husband and wife are now taxed separately on their incomes.
现在夫妻双方分别按各自的收入纳税。
来自柯林斯例句
2. A journalist all his life, he's now brought out a book.
他当了一辈子新闻记者，如今已出了一本书。
来自柯林斯例句
3. He will now face a disciplinary hearing for having an affair.
他因有外遇而要面临纪律听证会的裁决。
来自柯林斯例句
4. The crowds had been soaked and were now nicely drying out.
这群人都浑身湿透，现在谢天谢地快晾干了。
来自柯林斯例句
5. Shirley's brother is now a consultant heart surgeon in Sweden.
