科技英语写作中经常要表达“缺点”、“不足”这类意思,disadvantage、weakness 用的太多会使文章乏味,适当用downside 替代它们会取得很好的效果。
例如:
Portable devices has a downside/disadvantage/weakness that they are usually resource constrained.(手持设备有一个缺点,他们通常是资源受限的。)
The early downsides/advantages/weaknesses in bandwidth and delay of the Internet hindered its application.(Internet 早期在带宽、延迟方面的不足妨碍了它的应用。)
To overcome downsides/disadvantages/weaknesses of the protocol is the goal of our work at present.(克服协议的弱点是我们目前的工作目标。)
(例句原创)