喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture an open channel between two people: thoughts, feelings and news can travel from one end to the other. Communicative describes whether that channel is open. In everyday English it turns up most often in the negative — he wasn't very communicative — a polite way of saying someone is not saying much.

兩個人之間有一條通道開著：東西——想法、心情、消息——可以從這頭走到那頭。communicative 描述的就是「這…更多收起兩個人之間有一條通道開著：東西——想法、心情、消息——可以從這頭走到那頭。communicative 描述的就是「這條通道通不通」。用在人身上，通道開著就是願意講、講得出來；通道關著就是問三句答一句。有趣的是這個字在日常英文裡最常出現的地方是否定句：he wasn't very communicative this morning，意思是他今天早上不太說話——英文常用這種說法委婉地指出對方在迴避。

Two branches

願意開口的人

這一族把「通道開著」放在一個人身上：他肯講、也講得清楚，所以別人知道他在想什麼。

willing to talk · adjective · B2

Willing and able to talk to other people, so they can find out what you think or how you feel. It is often used in the negative, about someone who is saying very little.

健談的；願意開口的

語言教學裡的「溝通」

還是同一條通道，只是這裡把它當成一種可以測量、可以教的能力：不是你這個人肯不肯講，而是你在這個語言裡把意思送過去的本事有多好。

communicative (language skills) · adjective · B2

Relating to how well people can share meaning with each other in a language, especially a language they are learning. It goes in front of nouns like skills, competence, activities, and approach.

溝通（能力）的

原始詞典資料1 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。

communicativeadj/kəˈmjuː.nɪ.kə.tɪv/

  • 1

    Eager to communicate; talkative.

    • One of his attendants had found no little favour in the eyes of Alice, who expressed her suspicions that her mistress had some secret correspondence, for two reasons; first, to satisfy a naturally communicative temper—all common people are communicative: and secondly, in hopes of gaining such assistance as might ultimately gratify her own curiosity, now most uncomfortably excited.
    • But inside the aquarium, riotously colored saltwater fish, schools of silvery piranhas, and even one seemingly communicative manta ray allow visitors to dream of worlds beyond a war that has made the land where the oceanic sanctuary sits a battle zone.

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。