替人辦事的單位
核心：一個「替別人去執行某類動作」的組織，不論是民間仲介還是政府部門。
government agency · noun · B1
An organization or government department that does one special job.
機構 / 署
核心畫面
You can picture agency through its root 'agent' — the one who acts, who does. An agency is the body that does something on others' behalf: a set-up of people whose whole reason to exist is to carry out one kind of action — arranging trips, running a public task, or simply being the hand through which something gets done.
可以想成：agency 的根是 agent（行動者、去做事的人）。所謂 agency，就是「替別人去做某件事的那個單…更多收起
可以想成：agency 的根是 agent（行動者、去做事的人）。所謂 agency，就是「替別人去做某件事的那個單位」——一群人聚在一起，存在的全部理由就是去執行某一類動作：幫人安排旅行、替政府辦一件公事，或單純就是「事情藉著它的手才辦成」的那隻手。From the word’s history
agency comes from Latin 'agere' = to do, act (same root as 'agent', 'act'); an agency is literally a place/body of doing-on-behalf.
agency 來自拉丁文 agere（做、行動），跟 agent（行動者）、act（行動）同源；agency 字面上就是「替人做事的單位」。
Online Etymology Dictionary (etymonline.com), 'agency' / 'agent' < Latin agere 'to do'
Two branches
經由…促成
從「替人做事的單位」抽薄成抽象的「做事的力量／媒介」：事情是經由某人的行動才促成的。
by/through the agency of · noun · B1
Used in the formal phrase 'by/through the agency of' to say something happened because of someone's help or action.
經由（某人）促成
原始詞典資料6 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，原文照列，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
agencynoun/ˈeɪ.d͡ʒən.si/
- 1
The capacity, condition, or state of acting or of exerting power.
- A few advances there are in the following papers tending to assert the superintendence and agency of Providence in the natural world.
- Because structure in this argument means institutions— pregiven norms, values, beliefs, and practices— it is open-textured, incomplete, cannot guarantee its own applications, therefore, all behavior is action, has agency (Garfinkel 1964; Strauss et al. 1963).
- 2
human-sciencesphilosophypsychologyThe capacity of individuals to act independently and to make their own free choices.
- moral agency
- individual agency
- 3
A medium through which power is exerted or an end is achieved.
- 4
The office or function of an agent; also, the relationship between a principal and that person's agent.
- authority of agency
- 5
An establishment engaged in doing business for another; also, the place of business or the district of such an agency.
- As an employment agency you have a responsibility to supply work to the individual agency worker, as well as a service to the client.
- 6
A department or other administrative unit of a government; also, the office or headquarters of, or the district administered by, such unit of government.
- Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
- Central Intelligence Agency
資料來源：英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary（CC BY-SA 4.0）。 原文照列，未經改寫。