crisis

A crisis (plural: "crises"; adjectival form: "critical") is any event or period that will lead, or may lead, to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affairs, especially when they occur abruptly, with little or no warning. More loosely, a crisis is a testing time or an emergency.

The alien invasion in War of the Worlds is a fictitious crisis.

The English word crisis was borrowed from the Latin, which in turn was borrowed from the Greek κρίσις krisis 'discrimination, decision, crisis'. The noun is derived from the verb κρίνω krinō, which means 'distinguish, choose, decide'.

In English, crisis was first used in a medical context, for the time in the development of a disease when a change indicates either recovery or death, that is, a turning-point. It was also used for a major change in the development of a disease. By the mid-seventeenth century, it took on the figurative meaning of a "vitally important or decisive stage in the progress of anything", especially a period of uncertainty or difficulty, without necessarily having the implication of a decision-point.

Crisis is often linked to the concept of psychological stress and used to suggest a frightening or fraught experience. In general, crisis is the situation of a "complex system" (family, economy, society. Note that simple systems do not enter crises. We can speak about a crisis of moral values, an economical or political crisis, but not a motor crisis) when the system functions poorly (the system still functions, but does not break down), an immediate decision is necessary to stop the further disintegration of the system, but the causes of the dysfunction are not immediately identified (the causes are so many, or unknown, that it is impossible to take a rational, informed decision to reverse the situation).

Crisis has several defining characteristics. Seeger, Sellnow, and Ulmer say that crises have four defining characteristics that are "specific, unexpected, and non-routine events or series of events that create high levels of uncertainty and threat or perceived threat to an organization's high priority goals."

六级/考研单词: plural, adjective, situate, affection, abrupt, alien, invade, discriminate, noun, derive, verb, uncertain, implicit, seldom, psychology, fright, motor, necessity, farther, disintegrate, rational, notify, reverse