poison 的音标为 UK: /ˈpɔɪzn/，US: /ˈpɔɪzn/，基本含义是能导致生命危险的物质或行为。作为名词时，它既指具体的“毒药”（如 Some mushrooms contain a deadly poison. 有些蘑菇含有致命毒素 ），也可比喻“有害的事物”（如 Welfare was a poison. 福利是一种毒药 ）。作为动词时，表示“毒害”或“破坏”，例如 The wicked queen poisoned Snow White. 邪恶的皇后给白雪公主下了毒 。

用法示例

表示具体毒物：The post-mortem revealed traces of poison in his stomach. 验尸发现他胃中有微量毒物 。

比喻危害：Some believe this level of compensation is essentially a poison pill to put off any rival bidders. 有人认为这种补偿本质上是阻止竞标的“毒丸策略” 。

口语中代指酒：It's my round. What's your poison? 这次我请客，你想喝什么（酒）？

固定搭配：One man's meat is another man's poison. 萝卜青菜，各有所爱 。

常见短语搭配

poison gas 毒气：Poison gas blew off and endangered the lives of hundreds of persons. 毒气泄漏危及数百人生命 。

poison ivy/oak 毒葛/毒栎：We walked through poison oak and got scratched by thorns. 我们穿过毒栎，被荆棘划伤 。

poison-pen letter 匿名诽谤信：Someone in the village is writing poison-pen letters to his family. 村里有人给他家寄匿名诽谤信 。

pick/choose your poison （在不理想选项中）做出选择：Hiring a carpenter is expensive and doing it yourself is slow. Pick your poison. 请木工贵，自己做又慢，你选吧 。

从致命毒素到比喻性的“精神毒害”，poison 的用法跨越了字面与隐喻。下次听到 “What's your poison?” 时，别担心，对方只是在问你想喝什么酒——语言的魅力正在于这种“危险”的双关。