behest n. /bɪˈhest/

A command or instruction, especially one given by someone in authority or of importance. 命令；要求；指令（尤指上级、权威人士或重要人物提出的）

Etymology 词源

源自古英语 “behæst”，由前缀 “be-”（表加强语气）和词根 “hæst”（意为 “承诺、约定”）构成。

最初含义为 “承诺”，后逐渐演变为 “基于承诺的要求”，最终固定为 “权威下达的命令或指令”，14 世纪进入英语通用词汇。

Collocations 固定搭配

at the behest of sb/ at sb's behest 应某人的要求 / 命令

Examples 例句

e.g. The project was launched at the behest of the government.

该项目是应政府的要求启动的。

New York Times

The word behest has appeared in 201 articles on NYTimes.com in the past year, including on Nov. 1 in “What if A.I. Is Actually Good for Hollywood?” by Devin Gordon:

过去一年里，“behest” 一词在《纽约时报》网站的 201 篇文章中出现过，其中包括 11 月 1 日德文・戈登撰写的《若人工智能其实对好莱坞有益呢？》一文：

I spoke with more than two dozen people across the industry for this article and discovered that while there's no shortage of A.I. optimists in the movie industry, they're often reluctant to share that sentiment out loud for fear of seeming to side with the machines, or appearing too sanguine about a technology that everyone agrees will cost some people their jobs. There were also a couple of occasions when an eager early adopter scheduled an interview, only to cancel at the last minute at the behest of skittish corporate overseers.

为撰写本文，我采访了影视行业的二十余人，发现尽管业内不乏人工智能的乐观派，但他们往往不愿公开表达这一观点 —— 一来担心被视为偏袒机器，二来也怕对这项公认会导致部分人失业的技术表现得过于乐观。还有好几次，一些积极的早期使用者原本约好了采访，却在最后一刻遵照顾虑重重的公司管理层的要求取消了行程。