喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture a hand going up in a crowded room, a head tipping towards the door, two shoulders rising and dropping. Nobody has said a word, yet everyone watching understands: over here, let's go, I don't know. A gesture is a movement that carries meaning across to another person the way a sentence does — it needs a body to make it and eyes to receive it. That silent movement-with-a-message can be held as the picture inside the word, and it stretches easily: any action done so that someone will read it works the same way, even when no hand moves.

可以想成擁擠的房間裡舉起的一隻手、朝門口偏一下的頭、聳起又放下的兩邊肩膀。沒有人說話，但看到的人都懂：這裡、走吧、我…更多收起可以想成擁擠的房間裡舉起的一隻手、朝門口偏一下的頭、聳起又放下的兩邊肩膀。沒有人說話，但看到的人都懂：這裡、走吧、我不知道。gesture 就是一個像句子一樣把意思送到別人那裡的動作——要有身體做出來，也要有眼睛接住。這個「不出聲卻帶著訊息的動作」可以拿來當作它的畫面；而且這個畫面很容易往外延伸：任何做出來讓別人讀的舉動，運作方式都一樣，就算手完全沒動。

原始詞典資料8 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。

gesturenoun/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/

  • 1

    A motion of the limbs or body, especially one made to emphasize speech.

    • The middle-finger gesture is really a nonverbal swear.
    • Grace was in all her steps, heaven in her eye, / In every gesture dignity and love.
  • 2

    An act or a remark that serves as a formality or as a sign of attitude.

    • We took flowers as a gesture of sympathy.
    • But, with a gesture, she put a period to this dalliance—one shouldn't palter so on an empty stomach, she might almost have said.
  • 3

    computingengineeringgraphical-user-interfaceA motion made with a pointing device, or on a touchscreen, that is recognised by the system as a command.

    • This Web browser can be controlled with mouse gestures.
  • 4

    obsoleteThe manner of carrying the body; position of the body or limbs; posture.

    • Accubation, or lying down at meals, was a gesture used by very many nations.

gestureverb/ˈd͡ʒɛs.t͡ʃə/

  • 1

    To make a gesture or gestures.

    • My dad told me never to gesture with my hands when I talk.
    • Never gesture at someone using your middle finger: it may be perceived as an insult.
  • 2

    To express (something) by a gesture or gestures.

    • He gestured his disgust.
  • 3

    To accompany or illustrate with gesture or action.

    • It is not orderly read, nor gestured as beseemeth.
  • 4

    To express or signal (to someone) by a gesture or gestures (to do something, go somewhere, etc).

    • […] she sweepingly gestured him to the pillory — a chair upon the platform, facing the school. Here he suffered for the unusual term of an hour, with many jocular and cunning eyes constantly upon him; and, when he was released at noon, horrid shouts […]
    • “Then what can you do?” she snapped. “I was told you were the best. Was that an idle boast?” He sighed and gestured her to sit down. “My lady, I—” “Countess,” she said sharply.

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。