光落在表面上(發亮、光澤)
這一組最貼近核心畫面:有一個夠光滑、夠乾淨的表面,光打上去被反回來。動詞說的是「它在亮」,名詞說的是「它亮亮的那個質感」。
verb · B2
To shine with a soft light, usually because a surface is smooth, clean, wet, or polished and is throwing light back.
發出柔光;亮得反光
One way to hold gleam: light falls on a smooth surface and comes softly back. Nothing here is making its own light. A clean floor, a polished car, a glass, a tooth, wet stone — the light hits it and returns, quietly, and often only from one angle and only for a moment. Move that picture onto a person's face and you get the short shine in the eyes when a feeling shows. Move it onto a dark situation and the same small light becomes the one good sign someone is holding on to.
Middle English glem, from Old English glǣm, from Proto-Germanic *glaimiz meaning brightness or splendour, and further back a root meaning to shine. The word has always been about the light itself.
gleam 來自中古英語 glem、古英語 glǣm,再往前是原始日耳曼語 *glaimiz,意思是「明亮、光采」,更早的詞根就是「發光」。也就是說,它從第一天起講的就是光本身;今天的每一種用法,都還帶著那一點光的畫面。
Wiktionary etymology_text supplied in this packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:645011538)
Four branches
光落在表面上(發亮、光澤)
這一組最貼近核心畫面:有一個夠光滑、夠乾淨的表面,光打上去被反回來。動詞說的是「它在亮」,名詞說的是「它亮亮的那個質感」。
verb · B2
To shine with a soft light, usually because a surface is smooth, clean, wet, or polished and is throwing light back.
發出柔光;亮得反光
暗處裡的一小點光
同樣是光,但重點從「表面」移到「暗」。周圍夠暗,那一小點光才被看見,所以它總是小的、淡的、一下子的。
noun · B2
A small, weak light, especially one that lasts only a short time, or one you see from far away or through something such as trees, mist, or a gap.
微光;一道光
臉上與眼裡閃過的情緒
把那個表面換成人的眼睛。情緒一來,眼睛就像被裡面的光打亮,別人看得見——這是同一個反光的畫面,只是反出來的是心情。
verb · B2
If someone's eyes or face gleam, they shine in a way that lets other people see what that person is feeling, such as excitement, amusement, pride, or anger.
(眼睛、臉)閃著…的神情
看不見的事情上的一點跡象
最後一步,把光搬到抽象的處境上。整件事是暗的,只有一個小小的亮點;那個亮點可能是希望,也可能是還沒做出來的一個念頭。
noun · C1
Used to say that something is only being planned or imagined by someone, and does not exist yet.
還只是某人腦中的一個構想
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。
gleamnoun詞源 1/ɡliːm/
An appearance of light, especially one which is indistinct or small, or short-lived.
An indistinct sign of something; a glimpse or hint.
A bright, but intermittent or short-lived, appearance of something.
A look of joy or liveliness on one's face.
obsoleteSometimes as hot gleam: a warm ray of sunlight; also, a period of warm weather, for instance, between showers of rain.
obsoleteBrightness or shininess; radiance, splendour.
gleamverb詞源 2/ɡliːm/
Chiefly in conjunction with an adverb: to cause (light) to shine.
To shine, especially in an indistinct or intermittent manner; to glisten, to glitter.
To be strongly but briefly apparent.
gleamverb詞源 3/ɡliːm/
obsoletefalconryhobbieshuntingOf a hawk or other bird of prey: to disgorge filth from its crop or gorge.
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。