核心畫面
One way to hold it: a line drawn between two things that were being lumped together, so that from now on they are not treated as the same. The line does two jobs at once — it separates, and it makes whatever stands on one side of it visible. That second job is where the 'excellent, special' meanings come from: something has been marked off from the rest of the crowd.
可以想成：兩樣東西本來被混在一起看，有人在中間劃下一條線，說「這兩個不一樣，不能當成同一件事」。這條線同時做了兩件事…更多收起
可以想成：兩樣東西本來被混在一起看，有人在中間劃下一條線，說「這兩個不一樣，不能當成同一件事」。這條線同時做了兩件事——它把東西分開，也讓被分出來的那一個變得顯眼。後面「卓越、殊榮、優等」的意思就是從第二件事長出來的：某個人或某件作品被從一堆裡標了出來。原始詞典資料4 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。
distinctionnoun/dɪˈstɪŋkʃən/
- 1
That which distinguishes; a single occurrence of a determining factor or feature, the fact of being divided; separation, discrimination.
- The proper course for me, gentlemen of the jury, is to deal first with the earliest charges that have been falsely brought against me, and with my earliest accursers; and then with the later ones. I make this distinction because […]
- 2
The act of distinguishing, discriminating; discrimination.
- There is a distinction to be made between resting and slacking.
- We must always make a distinction that right versus wrong is different from legal and illegal.
- 3
A feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.
- Gedeon Van Rompay had the dubious distinction of being the only Site employee personally hired by Edwin Falkirk, former All Sections Chief and perennial piece of human trash. Lillian had found it easy not to hold this against the man, but only because there were so many other odious things about him to choose from. He was misogynist, he was chauvinistic, he was boorish, he was violent. Just about the only metric on which she rated Van Rompay higher than Falkirk was transphobia; the big man made no distinction between varieties of womanhood, feeling superior to all of them equally.
- 4
A feature that causes someone or something to stand out from others of its type.
- She had the distinction of meeting the Queen.
- Mother[…]considered that the exclusiveness of Peter's circle was due not to its distinction, but to the fact that it was an inner Babylon of prodigality and whoredom, from which every Kensingtonian held aloof, except on the conventional tip-and-run excursions in pursuit of shopping, tea and theatres.
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。