喜樂美語

核心畫面

One way to hold this word: something is in a liquid, spread so thin that you cannot see it at all. The liquid cools, or the water dries away, and the hidden stuff starts to gather. Slowly it comes together into small solid pieces with flat faces that you can point at, pick up and count. Nothing new arrived — what was already there simply took a shape.

crystallize 的核心畫面可以想成：某樣東西溶在液體裡，散得很開，眼睛完全看不到。溫度慢慢降下來，或者水漸漸…更多收起crystallize 的核心畫面可以想成：某樣東西溶在液體裡，散得很開，眼睛完全看不到。溫度慢慢降下來，或者水漸漸乾掉。原本藏著的東西開始聚攏，最後長成一顆一顆有稜有角的固體，你可以指著它、拿起來、數它有幾顆。沒有東西是新來的——本來就在那裡的東西，只是終於有了形狀。這個「從看不見到有形狀」的畫面，正好也能拿來講腦袋裡的念頭，和廚房裡乾在水果上的那層糖。

From the word’s history

From crystal + -ize, literally 'to turn into crystal'. Crystal itself goes back to Ancient Greek κρύσταλλος, ice or clear stone; the double l keeps the Latin crystallus spelling.

crystallize 是 crystal（結晶、水晶）加上 -ize（使變成…），字面就是「使變成結晶」。crystal 更早來自希臘文 κρύσταλλος，原指冰或像冰一樣透明的石頭；中間兩個 l 是跟著拉丁文 crystallus 的拼法留下來的。所以核心畫面本來就寫在字的組成裡。

Wiktionary 'crystallize' etymology (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1052784122:26330), supplied in this packet

Three branches

真的長出結晶

這一支就是核心畫面本身，發生在看得見摸得到的世界裡。

verb · B2

If a liquid crystallizes, or if you crystallize it, small hard pieces with flat sides — crystals — slowly form in it, usually as it cools down or as the water dries away.

結晶；使結晶

想法在腦中成形

把同一個畫面搬進腦袋：念頭本來像溶在水裡一樣散開、指不出來，某個時刻聚攏成一個清楚的形狀。這是用畫面來理解，不是說這個意思在歷史上比較晚才長出來。

verb · C1

If an idea, plan, or feeling crystallizes, it stops being vague and becomes clear and definite in your mind; if something crystallizes your thoughts, it helps them take that clear shape.

（想法）明朗、成形

裹上一層糖結晶

這一支其實一步都沒離開核心畫面：乾在水果表面的那層糖，真的就是細小的結晶，只是場景從實驗室換到廚房。

verb · C1

To cook fruit, ginger, or flower petals slowly in sugar syrup and then dry them, so that a coat of sugar crystals forms on the outside and the food keeps for a long time.

糖漬；裹上糖霜

原始詞典資料5 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。

crystallizeverb/ˈkɹɪstəlaɪz/

  • 1

    chemistrynatural-sciencesphysical-sciencesTo make something form into crystals.

    • I crystallized the copper sulfate by slowly cooling a saturated solution.
  • 2

    To assume a crystalline form.

    • The copper sulphate crystallized from solution.
  • 3

    To give a definite or precise form to (something).

    • After some thought, I crystallized my ideas for the paper.
    • Two events from the past week help crystallize this strange, contradictory moment for the U.S. economy.
  • 4

    To take a definite form.

    • My ideas crystallized overnight.
    • The situation did crystallize, if painfully, under the stars, and by morning each knew what he must confess.
  • 5

    To coat something with crystals, especially with sugar.

    • We crystallized the fruit by coating in sugar.

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。