核心畫面

Picture a phone ringing and nobody rushing to it. Something stands between the ring and the conversation: a screen with a name on it, a machine recording a voice, or the phone company itself. Every use of the word is that gap — the call arrives, but a filter decides whether it turns into talking. What changes from one use to the next is only who or what is holding the filter.

可以想成這樣一張圖:電話響了,沒有人衝過去接。在「鈴聲」和「講話」之間,多了一道關卡。那道關卡可能是螢幕上的名字,可更多收起可以想成這樣一張圖:電話響了,沒有人衝過去接。在「鈴聲」和「講話」之間,多了一道關卡。那道關卡可能是螢幕上的名字,可能是正在錄音的答錄機,也可能是電信公司的線路。這個詞的每一個用法都是這道關卡——電話有打進來,但要不要變成一場對話,先被篩過一次。三個意思差的只是:篩的人是誰。

Two branches

你自己篩

關卡握在你手上:你先看、先聽,再決定要不要出現。

noun · B2

Letting an answering machine take your calls so that you can hear who is speaking, and then picking up only the ones you actually want to take.

讓答錄機先接再決定

請電信公司幫你擋

同一道關卡,但被移到線路上,而且要花錢買。

noun · B2

An extra service you can pay your telephone company for, which stops calls from certain people or certain numbers from reaching your phone at all.

來電封鎖服務