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公元前260年，赵括带兵出战。一直盲目自信、轻视秦军的他完全改变了廉颇的作战方案，死搬兵书上的理论，主动进攻秦军，结果数十万赵军全部被杀，丢掉了宝贵的生命。
This is from the Standard Course Book of HSK5, chapter 15.
What is the meaning of 死?
Baidu and Google literally translate this character (in this paragraph) as blindly, while me as searching some dictionaries I'd say that it means either something as very, totally, extremely, 非常 or probably something more offensive such as damned or damn.
What is your opinion?
I think "inflexibly" is a better choice than blindly.
死搬兵书上的理论 - Inflexibly apply(transport) the theory in the book on the art of war.
The opposite word is "活用" - apply (knowledge) flexibly.
What is the meaning of 死 in 死搬兵书上的理论?
死 means dead, a dead body, no motion anymore. In the Chinese language, there are many extended meanings from 死. For example, 死脑筋 (stubborn) and 死心眼 (inflexible).
死搬兵书上的理论 or 死搬书本 means to do it according to the textbook literally or word-by-word without understanding the principles of the theory.
It does not mean "very", "totally", and "extremely". As for "blindly" (瞎，盲目地), it may be close to 死 but not the same.
他死搬书本 (He operates according to the textbook without considering the current situation).
他瞎搬书本 (He operates according to the wrong textbook which is not about the current problem).
so I think 死 can sometimes be treated as "100% unchanged"
FYI， Malaysian Chinese has some unique way to use this word:
hope it helps
死 in this sentence mean is "just, only", "not clever"
