1Be able to.

他们能跑快。

我能听到脚步声。

他买不起它。

1. 1.1 Be able to through acquired knowledge or skill.
   （通过所掌握的知识或技能）能够
   I can speak Italian

   我能说意大利语。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • His greatest skill is that he can cook a meal of four dishes and a soup in less than half an hour in the field.
   • I don't know anyone who can paint like me.
   • Not only can he not read music, he cannot read at all.
   • I've been playing football since I could walk.
   • You just know that as soon as he can speak, he's going to be asked what he thinks of Joe being his father.
   • While she could play a few instruments and sing quite well, his daughter had no interest whatsoever in being a musician.
   • At times like these I wish I could drive.
   • All you need to do is bring the child up in a group of other humans who can speak.
   • They let me work for them because they need people who can speak lots of languages.
   • He has great skills, can punch, has good hand-speed and he fought exceptionally well.
   • My belief is that voice recognition software is now so good that anyone can blog if they can speak.
   • Why does Paul use a translator to communicate with a man whose language he can speak?
   • I was raised around horses and could ride before I could walk.
   • All the performers can dance, so what I was really observing was their personalities.
2. 1.2 Have the opportunity or possibility to.
   有机会；有可能
   there are many ways vacationers can take money abroad

   度假者有很多方法能把钱带到国外。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • In 1886, postcards gained the full authorization of the Congress of the Universal Postal Union and could be sent internationally.
   • Do you have a file on him I could take a look at?
   • It means parents can save money by booking their annual holiday just outside the peak season.
   • Instead, they can vote by phone, internet or drop their postal ballots off in person.
   • Byng is excited by the new opportunities publishing can enjoy through the internet.
   • I feel safer to know that my three older children can call me or I can call them on the mobile phone.
   • The grant is not ring-fenced, so the money can be spent any way the council chooses.
   • Now I don't have too big a problem with all this as I can choose to read as much or as little as I want too.
   • If that's true for you, then take a look at the wide variety of accessories you can choose from.
   • She can even check the timetable on her mobile phone to find out if Darren's bus has left on time.
   • You can choose a book from the full list on the library website and drop into your local library to borrow a copy.
   • There are a number of practical considerations governing the kind of tree we can choose.
   • The fund can be used for any purpose determined by the Secretary of the Treasury.
   • Always opt for four individual shots if possible so that you can choose the best of the four.
   • You can usually choose the date for your operation, which is very rarely cancelled.
   • Well, maybe it isn't fair that one very rich man can use his money to buy any player his club chooses.
   • Buyers can choose to take part for one day and visit the exhibition the next day, or for both days.
   • You have a right to be offended by that, and if you are you can choose not to buy the records.
   • Participants can choose to do one, two or three peaks depending upon how far they want to walk.
   • You simply get to choose a smaller portion of any of the main courses, or you can choose to share a main course.
   • We also need your name and a phone number so we can contact you as you might be needed to be a witness.
   • I am not on the phone but anyone interested can write to me at the address below.
   • Breakfast could be eaten in the shade of the pines on the promontory while watching fishing boats putter across the waves.
3. 1.3with negative or in questions Used to express doubt or surprise about the possibility of something's being the case.
   可能，会（用以表示对某种可能的怀疑或吃惊）
   he can't have finished

   他不可能完成了。

   where can she have gone?

   她可能去哪呢？

   Example sentencesExamples

   • What could be more perverse than playing hard to get when looking for the one we can really open up to?
   • How misguided can you be to choose to eat your lunch in a place that has always been noted for pigeons?
   • Now, if a telephone company can't even sort out their own phone lines, how can they sort out mine?
   • How many Japanese mobile phone owners can want to know about North London happenings?
   • Surely he cannot be serious as to the farming out of such a serious subject as the future of the environment
   • Who but the most resentful can seriously doubt that he, too, belongs on that list?
   • If this was the pinnacle of what the the tour can offer, what can the lower reaches be like?
   • Players like that are few and far between and can we really afford to lose another of our goalscorers?
   • Where could she be?
   • What can Blackburn offer these areas that their existing councils fail to provide?
   • If you live in New York City, you can't have missed the foundation's first set of ads.
   • How in that case, can the sky simply open and pour upon a whole big city hour after hour after hour of rain?
4. 1.4 Used to indicate that something is typically the case.
   会（用来表示某物的通常情况）
   antique clocks can seem out of place in modern homes

   在现代家庭里老式钟会显得格格不入。

   he could be very moody

   他会喜怒无常。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Scotland have got some really useful forwards who can pose a threat to any side.
   • Inscriptions in public places can also indicate the social status of the artist.
   • Even November in Florida could be hot, and that day was no exception.
   • When group thinking manifests itself in the form of group knowledge, then it can be a good thing.
   • In the early days after the birth, it can be useful to set aside some time to rest when the baby sleeps.
   • Just as easily as she could be annoying, she could turn around and be cute the next second.
   • A little adrenaline can be useful but stress is generally not healthy or helpful.
   • Previous research has already indicated that vitamin C can do harm as well as good.
   • Make sure that the hole you put it into is wet as those little roots can dry out very fast.
   • I think some knowledge can be highly destructive, and all too often in this game, it is.
   • A rugby career only lasts so long, but friends you make can be useful in later life.
   • In just six weeks he has learned that the internet can be an extremely useful tool for research.

2Be permitted to.

如果你想用电话的话，你可以用。

依照法律，没人可以在该场所饮酒。

3Used to ask someone to do something.

你能打开窗户吗？

你不能让我一个人待着吗？

1. 3.1 Used to make a suggestion or offer.
   可以（用来表示建议或提议）
   we can have another drink if you like

   如果你愿意，我们可以再来一杯。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • We could eat out somewhere and get to know each other if you want.
   • I can go a lot slower if you want.
   • You can try calling him if you want to.
   • We could have another go if you like?
   • Once again, can I reiterate my offer to Mrs Fell to go through any problems she has.
   • ‘We could stay another week,’ Trent suggested.
   • Michael said he could take me and Christie home.

1A cylindrical metal container.

一桶油漆。

1. 1.1 A small steel or aluminum container in which food or drink is hermetically sealed for storage over long periods.
   罐头，听
   soup cans

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Householders will not be expected to sort their aluminium and steel cans or different colours of glass.
   • Aluminum foil, beer and soft drink cans, paint tubes, and containers for home products are all made of aluminum alloys.
   • The litter, plastic bags, food wrappers and cold drink and beer cans in front of the post office are still there.
   • All facilities consist of four banks where the public can deposit glass bottles and jars as well as aluminium drink cans for recycling.
   • Organic soups come in all different packaging - steel cans, aseptic cartons, glass jars and dried-soup cups.
   • Epoxy-based coatings are frequently used as internal lacquer coatings of cans and storage vessels in the food industry.
   • This bag will take clean cardboard, drink cans, food cans, tetra pak, plastic bottles, newspapers, magazines and other paper.
   • Glass bottles and jars and aluminium drink cans should not be sent to landfill.
   • Beer bottles, soft drink cans, confetti, paper, food and other unmentionables coated the floor in a thick layer of debris.
   • Green, clear and brown glass, steel food cans and aluminium cans may be recycled at this venue.
   • Recycling centre users are reminded that the facility is only to be used for glass and aluminium drink cans.
   • The waste matter for the blue bin includes papers, magazines, cardboard, food tins, aluminium drink cans, milk cartons and plastic bottles.
   • Each eligible household is given a black box to put in newspapers, magazines, glass bottles, steel and aluminium cans, textiles and foil to be recycled.
   • There are many recycling sites on supermarket car parks where you can recycle paper, steel cans, aluminium cans, clothes, and glass.
   • Similarly, beer and soft drink cans, booze bottles and empty jars can all be recycled.
   • A bottle bank for all types of glass and a can bank for food tins and aluminium drink cans is situated beside the Industrial Units on Church Road.
   • It is made entirely of aluminum beer and soda cans, their labels badly bleached over the years by the intense Texas sun.
   • Cut open the loops on plastic binding which holds beer and soft drinks cans together so wildlife cannot get tangled up in them
   • Empty bottles, cans and food containers are just chucked in the bushes and along the pavements, and while Belle Vue Gardens are being revamped the litter is thrown in there.
   • The relocating of the Bring Centre seems to have had the desired effect as much greater use is now being made of the containers to dispose of drink and food cans and clear brown and green glass.

   Synonyms

   tin, canister
2. 1.2 The quantity of food or drink held by a can.
   一听所装的（食物或饮料）量
   he drank two cans of beer

   喝两听贮陈啤酒。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • I remember the steel cabinet in our basement that my mother kept stocked with cans of food.
   • When we arrived at the house, John took a good few pink tablets and drank whiskey and cans of cider.
   • Cole rummaged around in the drawer to find a spoon and peered under the sink to find the dry food and cans of food.
   • We very rarely have aluminium cans at home and probably the only time we would have any would be if we bought cans of drink whilst out for the day.
   • Fill a basket with a water bottle, hair-holding accessories and cans of a high-energy drink.
   • The visitors went through 1,880 filled rolls, 700 cans of soft drinks and more than 1,000 cups of tea or coffee.
   • He strained his eyes in the poor light, trying to read the labels on the cans of food - bake beans, canned spaghetti, baby corn, pumpkin soup and beetroot.
   • Slamming and reopening the cupboards below the sink several times, he finally produced a large bag of dog food and several cans of soft puppy food.
   • A long-time friend of Mark said he drank up to 20 cans of lager a day and had a tempestuous relationship with Claire.
   • I suppose you could invite a gang of male friends around, drink cans of lager, turn it up loud and all bounce around in a huddle - but that stopped being my idea of fun quite a while ago.
   • I wonder if I should go buy some extra cans of tinned food?
   • The 122,000 cans of food collected by the teams were then donated to the Greater Vancouver Food Bank Society.
   • The crazy guy, on a dare, drank five cans of Coke in under ten minutes.
   • When the chatty, high-energy nurse went to Haiti for the first time four years ago, she took boxes of medicine, cans of food and piles of clothes.
   • It was not just the larger stores who experienced an upsurge in sales as town centre shops became a hive of activity with people stocking up on everything from cans of cold drinks to fans.
   • Once inside the premises he drank two cans and three bottles of beer, worth £11.92 in all.
   • Mr Barton said he and Mr Whitelock, who had been friends since they were 12, had drunk cans of lager and alcopops earlier that evening in a field behind Mr Whitelock's house.
   • Apart from the damage that drinks dispensing machines are doing to school pupils' teeth, cans of sugary drinks are also adding to their daily calorie intake, resulting in obesity.
   • Last night I did consume quite a few cans of soft drink.
   • I ran to my fridge and grabbed about four cans of food and a water bottle.

2the canNorth American informal Prison.

3the canNorth American informal The toilet.

4cansNorth American vulgar slang A woman's breasts.

1Preserve (food) in a can.

2North American informal Dismiss (someone) from their job.

他因升职一事与人发生口角，被解雇了。

1. 2.1 Reject (something) as inadequate.
   拒绝接受；摈弃；放弃
   the editorial team was so disappointed that they canned the project

   编辑组对这些照片非常失望，放弃了这个方案。

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Mr Boman said although the June quarter was traditionally slower than the March quarter, the sales slowdown could result in some projects being canned.
   • A $3.5-million cleanup project was canned in May 2000 for feasibility problems.
   • However, six months after commencement of my portion of the project, my industry sponsors canned their end of the deal.