If you think so, you're not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession.
出自-2014年6月阅读原文
Although Kodak anticipated the inevitable rise of digital photography, its corporate（企业的） culture was too rooted in the successes of the past for it to make the clean break necessary to fully embrace the future.
出自-2013年6月阅读原文
They are deeply stuck in their glorious past
出自-2013年6月阅读原文
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N-SING
过去；往昔
The past is the time before the present, and the things that have happened.
例句
In the past, about a third of the babies born to women with diabetes were lost...
过去，患有糖尿病的女性生下的孩子中约有1/3夭折了。
He should learn from the mistakes of the past. We have been here before...
他应该从过去的错误中吸取教训。我们有过同样的经历。
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N-COUNT
经历；过去之事
Your past consists of all the things that you have done or that have happened to you.
例句
...revelations about his past.
曝光他的过去
...Germany's recent past.
德国不久前的过去
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ADJ
过去的；以前的
Past events and things happened or existed before the present time.
例句
I knew from past experience that alternative therapies could help...
根据过去的经验，我知道替代疗法可能有用。
...a return to the turbulence of past centuries...
回到过去几个世纪的动荡状态
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ADJ
刚过去的
You use past to talk about a period of time that has just finished. For example, if you talk about the past five years, you mean the period of five years that has just finished.
例句
Most shops have remained closed for the past three days.
过去3天大多数商店一直都没有营业。
...the momentous events of the past few days.
过去几天的重大事件
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ADJ
过去了的；结束了的
If a situation is past, it has ended and no longer exists.
例句
Many economists believe the worst of the economic downturn is past.
很多经济学家认为经济衰退最糟糕的时期已经过去了。
...images from years long past...
很多年以前的形象
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ADJ
（动词）过去时的
In grammar, the past tenses of a verb are the ones used to talk about things that happened at some time before the present. The simple past tense uses the past form of a verb, which for regular verbs ends in '-ed', as in 'They walked back to the car'.
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PREP
（钟点）过（…分）
You use past when you are stating a time which is thirty minutes or less after a particular hour. For example, if it is twenty past six, it is twenty minutes after six o'clock.
例句
It's ten past eleven...
现在是11点过10分。
I arrived at half past ten.
我10点半到的。
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PREP
在…之后；晚于
If it is past a particular time, it is later than that time.
例句
It was past midnight...
午夜已过。
It's past your bedtime.
你的就寝时间已经过了。
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PREP
经过
If you go past someone or something, you go near them and keep moving, so that they are then behind you.
例句
I dashed past him and out of the door...
我从他身边跑过，夺门而出。
A steady procession of people filed past the coffin...
人们排成一队，一个接一个地从灵柩旁走过。
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PREP
越过
If you look or point past a person or thing, you look or point at something behind them.
例句
She stared past Christine at the bed.
她的目光越过克里斯蒂娜盯着床。
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PREP
在…的另一侧
If something is past a place, it is on the other side of it.
例句
Go north on I-15 to the exit just past Barstow...
沿着15号州际公路一直向北，一过巴斯托就从出口驶出。
Just past the Barlby roundabout there's temporary traffic lights.
在刚过巴尔比环岛的地方，有一个临时红绿灯。
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PREP
超过，超出（某一点或阶段）
If someone or something is past a particular point or stage, they are no longer at that point or stage.
例句
He was well past retirement age...
他早过了退休年龄。
They felt that, at 69 or so, Mr Peters was past his prime.
他们觉得69岁左右的彼得斯先生已经风光不再了。
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PREP
再也无法
If you are past doing something, you are no longer able to do it. For example, if you are past caring, you do not care about something any more because so many bad things have happened to you.
例句
She was past caring about anything by then and just wanted the pain to end...
那时，她已经什么都不在乎了，只盼着疼痛能够止住。
Often by the time they do accept the truth they are past being able to put words to feelings.
往往等他们真正接受事实时，他们已无法用语言形容自己的感情了。
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PHRASE
（某人做某事）并不令人意外
If you say that you would not put it past someone to do something bad, you mean that you would not be surprised if they did it because you think their character is bad.
例句
You know what she's like. I wouldn't put it past her to call the police and say I stole them.
你知道她是个什么样的人。要是她打电话报警说我偷了它们，一点儿也不奇怪。