biography

/baɪˈɒɡrəfi/ (bre, ipa) · /baɪˈɑːɡrəfi/ (ame, ipa) · /bī-ˈä-grə-fē also bē-/ (ame, mw)

biography — 名詞

1. a book or article in which one author tells the true story of another real perso

1.名詞B1
釋義

傳記

由他人撰寫真實人物一生的書

a book or article in which one author tells the true story of another real person — describing their family, work, choices, and the events that shaped them.

例句

Viraj borrowed a biography of Marie Curie from the school library yesterday.

Viraj 昨天從學校圖書館借了一本居禮夫人的傳記。

pattern: a biography of [person]

The new biography of Steve Jobs was written by his close friend.

這本新出版的 Steve Jobs 傳記，是由他的摯友所寫的。

pattern: biography of X written by Y

同義詞
  • life story

    more informal; spoken use

  • memoir

    usually written by the subject themselves and covers selected memories, not a full life

  • profile

    much shorter than a biography, often a single magazine article

反義詞

文法句型

a biography of [person]

biography by [author]

用法筆記

Always written about a real person by someone else. Distinguish from sense 2 (the genre as a whole) and from 'autobiography' (the subject writes their own life).

常見錯誤

❌I am writing a biography about my own life.
✅I am writing an autobiography about my own life.
💡a biography is written by someone else; if you tell your own story, it's an autobiography.
❌She read the biography of her cat.
✅She read a biography of Albert Einstein.
💡biographies are about real human beings, not pets or objects.

2. the type of literature that tells the true life stories of real people, treated

2.名詞B2
釋義

傳記文學

以真實人物生平為題材的文類

the type of literature that tells the true life stories of real people, treated as a single category of books or studies.

例句

Imani teaches a university course on biography and travel writing.

Imani 在大學教一門關於傳記文學與旅行文學的課。

uncountable: no article, treated as a genre

The bookshop on Park Street has a large section devoted to biography.

Park Street 上那家書店有一大區專門陳列傳記文學。

uncountable use after 'devoted to'

同義詞
  • life writing

    academic term covering biography, memoir, and autobiography together

  • non-fiction

    much wider — includes science, history, travel writing, not only life stories

反義詞
  • fiction

    stories about made-up people and events

文法句型

[determiner] biography (as a category)

用法筆記

Uncountable in this sense — no article, no plural. Distinguish from sense 1 (a single book): you say 'I love biography' (the genre) but 'I read a biography of Picasso' (one book).

常見錯誤

❌She studies biographies as a genre.
✅She studies biography as a genre.
💡when referring to the whole category, use the uncountable singular form.