Basket Case──精神崩潰

** a person or thing too impaired to function（一個人或事物受損太多而無法運作）// persons with incomplete limbs（四肢不全的人）// hopeless（毫無希望）// mental breakdown（精神崩潰）

~~ 精神崩潰；完全無助；精神失常者；無力自理的人；無適應能力的人；無法運作；毫無希望；經濟狀況極差的國家（或機構）；經濟幾近癱瘓

~~ goner // gone case // hopeless case // bag of nerves // ball of nerves // nervous breakdown // out of kilter // tailspin // wreck // become useless // overwrought

!! A WWI soldier lost all four limbs in combat and had to be carried in a litter (stretcher), or a "basket."

（第一次世界大戰中一名士兵在戰鬥中失去了四肢，因此不得不用擔架或“籃子”來運送。）

This term was then transferred to describe an emotionally or mentally unstable person, and later to anything that failed to function.

（然後這個術語轉化為描述一個情緒或精神不穩定的人，後來描述任何不起作用的東西。）

>> A single middle-aged mother, caring for her two children's lives and education, and her sick parents, while facing pressure from her job and on-the-job training, in addition to the pressure from company layoffs and mortgages, has become a basket case.

（一個單身中年媽媽，為照顧兩個兒女生活及教育，還要關照病患的父母，加上自身的正職壓力和在職進修，以及面對公司裁員及供樓壓力，使她精神崩潰。）

>> John's wife, having been married for 20 years, died suddenly of a heart attack. He has become a basket case because he had been too dependent on her in the past.

（跟約翰結婚二十年的妻子，突然因心臟病離世。他已顯得完全無助，因過往實在太過依賴她。）

學勤進修教育中心英語專科導師 李啓文 教授