tale

noun

1. （尤指充满惊险的）故事；历险记
   a story created using the imagination, especially one that is full of action and adventure
   1. Dickens' ‘A Tale of Two Cities’
      狄更斯的《双城记》
   2. a fairy/moral/romantic, etc. tale
      童话、寓言、爱情故事等
2. （精彩但不一定完全真实的）讲述，叙述
   an exciting spoken description of an event, which may not be completely true
   1. I love listening to his tales of life at sea.
      我喜欢听他讲述他的海上生活。
   2. I've heard tales of people seeing ghosts in that house.
      我听说有人在那栋房子里见到过鬼。
   3. The team's tale of woe continued on Saturday (= they lost another match) .
      上星期六这支队又遭败绩。
   4. Her experiences provide a cautionary tale (= a warning) for us all.
      她的经历成了我们大家的前车之鉴。

1. N-COUNT; N-IN-NAMES (常包含魔法或惊险内容的)传说，故事
   A tale is a story, often involving magic or exciting events.
   1. ...a collection of stories, poems and folk tales...
      由短篇故事、诗歌和传说汇成的作品集
   2. Episodes 1 and 2 of Tales of the City will be shown together on Tuesday.
      《城市故事》的第一、二集将于星期二两集连播。
2. N-COUNT (对真人真事精彩的或夸张的)描述，讲述
   You can refer to an interesting, exciting, or dramatic account of a real event as a tale .
   1. The media have been filled with tales of horror and loss resulting from Monday's earthquake.
      媒体上尽是星期一发生的地震所带来的恐惧和损失的报道。
   2. ...a property analyst, full of cheery tales about soaring share prices and new capital pouring into property companies.
      总是兴高采烈地描述着股票价格飙升和新资本源源不断注入房地产公司的房地产分析师
3. See also: fairy tale old wives’ tale tall tale
4. PHRASE 大难不死;逃过劫难;幸免于难
   If you survive a dangerous or frightening experience and so are able to tell people about it afterwards, you can say that you lived to tell the tale .
   1. You lived to tell the tale this time but who knows how far you can push your luck.
      你这次算是逃过了一劫，不过谁知道你的运气还会持续多久呢？
5. See also: I hesitated, not wanting to tell tales about my colleague. tell-tale

1. Her tale has a consciously youthful tone and storyline, combined with a sly humour.
   她的故事有意采用富于青春气息的笔调和情节，同时还带些调侃。
2. The author extracts the maximum from every carefully-crafted scene in this witty tale.
   作者从这个妙趣横生的故事的每一个精心构思的情节中都摘录了尽可能多的内容。
3. He told his boss a tale about his mother being at death's door
   他向老板谎称自己的母亲病危。
4. He described it as an extraordinarily tangled and complicated tale
   他说那是一个非常曲折复杂的故事。
5. Each tale has the timeless quality of fable.
   每个故事都有其永恒的寓意。
6. She was like a princess in a fairy tale.
   她就像童话里的公主。
7. a tale of life in the fast lane.
   快节奏生活的故事
8. He carefully recounts the tale, the microscopic details of those crucial minutes.
   他详细地讲述了事情的经过和在那关键的几分钟里所发生的微小细节。
9. The following tale will clearly illustrate this point.
   接下来的故事将清楚地阐明这一点。
10. She related her tale of living rough.
    她讲述了自己艰苦谋生的故事。
11. It is a tale which has often been retold within West Indian literature.
    这是西印度群岛文学中广为流传的故事。
12. Roy told his sorrowful tale with simple words anybody could understand.
    罗伊用简单的、人人都能理解的语言讲述了他那个伤感的故事。
13. Episodes 1 and 2 of Tales of the City will be shown together on Tuesday.
    《城市故事》的第一、二集将于星期二两集连播。
14. The media have been filled with tales of horror and loss resulting from Monday's earthquake.
    媒体上尽是星期一发生的地震所带来的恐惧和损失的报道。
15. You lived to tell the tale this time but who knows how far you can push your luck.
    你这次算是逃过了一劫，不过谁知道你的运气还会持续多久呢？
16. I hesitated, not wanting to tell tales about my colleague.
    我犹豫了，不想说同事的坏话。
17. Following the futuristic The Handmaid's Tale, Margaret Atwood's seventh novel, Cat's Eye, returns to more familiar territory
    写完了具有未来色彩的《女仆的故事》之后，玛格丽特·阿特伍德的第七部小说《猫眼》回归到了人们较熟悉的题材上。
18. Her story is the touching tale of a wife who stood by the husband she loved
    她的经历是一个妻子坚定地支持她深爱着的丈夫的感人故事。
19. Few Europeans who had ventured beyond the Himalayas had returned to tell the tale.
    少数几个冒险翻越了喜马拉雅山的欧洲人回来后讲述了这个故事。
20. Jan Roberts weaves a compelling tale which traps a young woman in a world run by the Mafia.
    简·罗伯茨编了一个引人入胜的故事，诱骗一位年轻女性进入了黑手党的地盘。
21. He listened to my tale of woe
    他听我诉说悲伤的故事。
22. It's a tragic tale.
    这是一个凄惨的故事。
23. A good tale is none the worse for being twice told.;
    好戏不厌百回看。
24. A long tale gives a child fidgets.
    太长的故事会使小孩子烦躁不安。
25. According to the tale, the tears of shark-people can be turned into pearls.
    传说中鲛人泪可以化为珍珠。
26. Do you expect me to credit that absurd tale?
    你以为我会相信那个荒诞的故事吗？
27. This article first relates a plain unvarnished tale.
    这篇文章首先讲述了一个朴实无华的故事。
28. I gave up my epic and wrote this little tale instead.
    我放弃了写叙事诗，而写了这个小故事。
29. What were the subtexts of this venerable tale?
    这部古老的童话所暗含的意义是什么呢？

  fiction fable novel romance story tale【导航词义：故事】

  fiction n. 小说

〔辨析〕指人物与情节均为虚构的文学作品。

  fable n. 寓言故事

〔辨析〕指篇幅短小、旨在道德教化的传统故事，尤指动物寓言故事。

  novel n. 小说

〔辨析〕指长篇小说。

  romance n. 爱情故事；传奇故事

〔辨析〕特指这两类小说，作后者解时尤指旧时创作或以古代为背景的传奇故事。

  story n. 故事，小说

〔辨析〕指意在娱乐大众的叙事性文学作品，其内容可能是真实的，也可能是虚构的。

  tale n. 故事

〔辨析〕指虚构的惊险刺激的故事。

n.

an old wives' tale

• 不经之谈；不科学的陈腐思想
  an old idea or belief that has been proved not to be scientific

live, etc. to tell the tale

• 幸免于难之后向人讲述真实经历
  to survive a difficult or dangerous experience so that you can tell others what really happened

noun

1. a trivial lie
   1. he told a fib about eating his spinach
   2. how can I stop my child from telling stories?

   Synonym:    fibstorytarradiddletaradiddle

2. a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events
   1. his narrative was interesting
   2. Disney's stories entertain adults as well as children

   Synonym:    narrativenarrationstory