名詞 literate:

1. a person who can read and write
   同義詞：literate person

形容詞 literate:

1. able to read and write
2. versed in literature; dealing with literature
3. knowledgeable and educated in one or several fields

1. The old man has to ask a literate to read the letter his son write him.
   這位老人得找個(gè)能識(shí)字的人來(lái)讀兒子來(lái)的信。
2. Though nearly twenty he was barely literate.
   他都快二十了，還是睜眼瞎子。
3. Every literate person should read this book.
   凡有文化的人都該一讀此書(shū)。

lit.er.ate

adj.（形容詞）

Able to read and write.
識(shí)字的：會(huì)讀寫(xiě)的
Knowledgeable or educated in several fields or a particular field.
有學(xué)問(wèn)的：有知識(shí)的或在幾個(gè)或某一特定領(lǐng)域內(nèi)受過(guò)教育的
Familiar with literature; literary.
精通文學(xué)的；文學(xué)的
Well-written; polished:
寫(xiě)得好的；優(yōu)美的：
例句：
a literate essay.
一篇優(yōu)美的散文

n.（名詞）
One who can read and write.
識(shí)字的人：會(huì)讀和寫(xiě)的人
A well-informed, educated person.
受過(guò)教育的博學(xué)的人

來(lái)源：
Middle English litterate
中古英語(yǔ) litterate
from Latin litter3tus
源自 拉丁語(yǔ) litter3tus
from littera [letter] * see letter
源自 littera [字母] *參見(jiàn) letter

【引伸】
lit.erately
adv.（副詞）
lit.erateness
n.（名詞）
For most of its long history in English,literate has meant only .familiar with literature,. or more generally, .well-educated, learned.;it is only during the last hundred years that it has also come to refer to the basic ability to read and write.Its antonymilliterate has an equally broad range of meanings: anilliterate person may be incapable of reading a shopping list or perhaps may only be unable to grasp an allusion to Shakespeare or Keats.The termfunctional illiterate is often used to describe a person who can read or write to some degree, but below a minimum level required to function in even a limited social situation or job setting.More recently, the meanings of the wordsliteracy and illiteracy have been extended from their original connection with reading and literature to any body of knowledge. For example, .geographic illiterates. cannot identify the countries on a map,and .computer illiterates. are unable to use a word-processing system.None of these uses ofliteracy or illiteracy are incorrect, but it might be preferable to use another word in instances where the context does not make the meaning clear.
在英語(yǔ)悠久的歷史中，literate 大部分時(shí)期只表示.精通文學(xué)的.或更概括一些， 指.受過(guò)良好教育的，有學(xué)問(wèn)的.；僅僅是在上個(gè)世紀(jì)它才開(kāi)始表示讀和寫(xiě)的基本能力。它的反義詞illiterate 有著同樣廣泛的意義： 一個(gè)illereare 的人也許連張購(gòu)物單都不會(huì)讀， 或許只是不理解莎士比亞或濟(jì)慈的典故。functional illiterate 一詞用于描寫(xiě)一個(gè)具有一定程度的讀寫(xiě)能力， 但還不到甚至在一個(gè)有限的社會(huì)環(huán)境或工作環(huán)境中運(yùn)用語(yǔ)言所須的最低水平。最近，literacy 和 illiteracy 這兩詞的含義已經(jīng)從它們?cè)扰c閱讀和文學(xué)的聯(lián)系擴(kuò)展到與任何一種知識(shí)的聯(lián)系。 例如，一個(gè).地理盲.不會(huì)在地圖上尋找國(guó)家，而一個(gè).計(jì)算機(jī)盲.不會(huì)使用文字信息處理系統(tǒng)。literacy 和 illiteracy 的這些用法都是正確的， 但是當(dāng)上下文可能導(dǎo)致意義混淆時(shí)還是用其它詞更好一些