喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture someone who was managing fine until things came at them too fast — a question they did not expect, a person hurrying them, a room full of eyes. Nothing is broken and nobody is in danger. What has gone is order. Their thoughts scatter, their hands move faster than their thinking, and small things start going wrong: the wrong word, the wrong drawer, the step they were about to take, now lost. Every use of fluster is a view of that same shaken-up minute — doing it to someone, falling into it yourself, or sitting inside it.

可以想成一個人本來好好的，直到事情來得太快——一個沒預料到的問題、有人在旁邊催、一屋子的眼睛看過來。沒有東西壞掉，也…更多收起可以想成一個人本來好好的，直到事情來得太快——一個沒預料到的問題、有人在旁邊催、一屋子的眼睛看過來。沒有東西壞掉，也沒有危險。不見的是秩序。他的念頭散開了，手比腦子快，小事開始出錯：講錯一個字、開錯一個抽屜、本來要做的下一步忽然想不起來。fluster 的每一種用法，看的都是同一分鐘：你把別人弄成那樣、你自己掉進去、或者你正待在裡面。

From the word’s history

The verb is probably from a Scandinavian source; compare Icelandic flaustra, to bustle, and flaustr, a bustle or a hurry. The noun comes from the verb.

這個動詞的來源可能是北歐語系：冰島語 flaustra 是「手忙腳亂地做事」，flaustr 是「一陣匆忙」。名詞則是從動詞來的。可以想成這個字從一開始講的就是「太趕、太亂」，而不是害怕。

Wiktionary entry for fluster, etymology_text supplied in this evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:709410663)

Two branches

被催、被打斷而亂掉

這一群直接就是核心畫面本身：外面的匆忙進到人裡面，把秩序打散。差別只在鏡頭放在誰身上——弄亂別人的人、亂掉的那個人，還是那個狀態。

verb · C1

To make someone nervous and mixed up, usually by hurrying them, watching them, or breaking into what they are doing, so that their thoughts scatter and they stop doing things well.

使慌亂

因為心動或被誇而語塞

散掉的方式一模一樣，只是推力從外面搬到了裡面。沒有人在催，是一個微笑、一句稱讚、一屋子忽然轉過來的注意力，就足以把話打結、把臉弄熱。

verb · C1

To make someone go shy and hot-faced so that they cannot speak smoothly, especially because they like the person, or because the attention is suddenly on them.

使害羞語塞

原始詞典資料13 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。

flusterverb/ˈflʌstə/

  • 1

    To throw (someone) into a state of confusion or panic; to befuddle, to confuse.

    • The aged housekeeper was no less flustered and hurried in obeying the numerous and contradictory commands of her mistress, […]
    • Weel, Sam'l, I d'na want to fluster ye, but she's been ower lang wi' Lisbeth Fargus no to hae learnt her ways.
  • 2

    To make emotionally overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.

  • 3

    To make emotionally overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.

  • 4

    datedTo make (someone) feel flushed and hot through drinking alcoholic beverages; also, to make (someone) slightly drunk or tipsy.

    • Three lads of Cypres, noble ſvvelling ſpirits, / That hold their honour, in a vvary diſtance, / The very Elements of this vvarlike Iſle, / Haue I tonight fluſtred vvith flovving cups, / And the vvatch too: novv mongſt this flocke of drunkards, / I am to put our Caſsio in ſome action, / That may offend the Iſle; […]
    • His practice of flustering himself daily with claret was hardly considered as a fault by his contemporaries.
  • 5

    To be agitated and confused; to bustle.

    • He seemed to fluster when speaking in front of many people.
    • [H]e broke out upon Mrs. Sumfit: "Now, then, mother!" which caused her to fluster guiltily, […]
  • 6

    To become overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.

  • 7

    To become overwhelmed or visibly embarrassed, especially in a sexual or romantic context.

  • 8

    dialectalTo catch attention; to be showy or splendid.

另外 2 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    obsoleteTo boast or brag noisily; to bluster, to swagger.

    • And the Apoſtle [Paul] ſeems here moſt peculiarly to have directed this Encomium of the Gospel, as a Defiance to the Philoſophers of his Time, the Fluſtring Vain-glorious Greeks, vvho pretended ſo much to magnify, and even Adore the VViſdom they profeſſed, […]
  • 10

    obsoleteOf a seed: to produce a shoot quickly.

flusternoun/ˈflʌstə/

  • 1

    A state of agitation or confusion; a flutter.

    • Good-morrovv, Madam; hovv do you do to-day? you ſeem to be in a little fluſter.
    • I wouldna wonder but ye're richt, Leeby; for Chirsty would be in an oncommon fluster if she thocht the lad's mither was likely to hear 'at her best chair was torn.
  • 2

    obsoleteA state of slight drunkenness or tipsiness; also, the excitement caused by this state.

    • It is certainly a very agreeable change, when we see a glass raise a lifeless conversation into all the pleasures of wit and good humour. But when Caska adds to his natural impudence the fluster of a bottle, that which fools call fire when he was sober, all men abhor as outrage when he is drunk.
  • 3

    obsoleteShowiness, splendour.

    • Yet to vvork he fell, not omitting firſt to Sum himſelf up in the vvhole vvardrobe of his Function; […] as to the end that being huff'd up in all his Eccleſiaſtical fluſter, he might appear more formidable, and in the pride of his Heart and Habit, out-boniface an Humble Moderator.
    • Let no preſent fluſter of Fortune, or flovv of Riches, either tranſport the Man himſelf vvith Confidence, or the Fools about him vvith Admiration, till vve ſee that it makes him better and vviſer than he vvas before, […]

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。