喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture school as a stack of floors. Little children start on the ground floor, and each year they climb. High school is the floor near the top — the last one inside school, with work or college waiting on the roof. High does not describe the building; it describes how far up the the students have come. Different countries draw the line between floors in different places, which is why the same two words can mean fourteen-year-olds in one country and twelve-year-olds in another.

可以想成學校是一棟有很多層的樓。小孩子從最底層開始，每一年往上爬一層。high school 就是靠近頂端的那一層—…更多收起可以想成學校是一棟有很多層的樓。小孩子從最底層開始，每一年往上爬一層。high school 就是靠近頂端的那一層——學校裡的最後一層，再上去就是工作或大學了。所以 high 講的不是建築物高，而是「已經爬到比較高的那一層」。不同國家把樓層的界線畫在不同高度，所以同樣兩個字，在有的地方指十四歲，在有的地方指十二歲。

From the word’s history

Recorded in Middle English as hyȝ scole, a school for higher study; by surface analysis high + school. The same build appears in German Hochschule and Dutch hogeschool.

來源說中古英語有 hyȝ scole（比較高階的學校）這個說法，拆開就是 high ＋ school。德文的 Hochschule、荷蘭文的 hogeschool 是同一種造字方式。這條線索剛好對上上面那個畫面：high 指的是學習的層級比較高，而不是校舍蓋得高。

Wiktionary entry for high school, supplied in packet (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1137827563:46897)

Two branches

學制上的一層

直接用核心畫面：指樓梯上靠近頂端的那一層，只是各地把界線畫在不同高度。

noun · A2

In the United States and Canada, the school young people go to from about the age of 14 or 15 until they are 18. It is the last stage of school before they start work or go to college.

高中（美加）

校名裡的用法

同樣是那一層樓的意思，只是被固定進某一間學校的名字裡，不再是一般說法。

noun · A2

In Britain, these words are used inside the names of some schools for students aged about 11 to 18, as in Leytonstone High School for Girls.

（英國校名裡的）中學

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。

high schoolnoun/ˈhaɪ.skul/

  • 1

    educationAn institution which provides all or part of secondary education.

  • 2

    A secondary school.

  • 3

    A secondary education school, consisting of junior high school and senior high school (grades 7-12)

  • 4

    historicalA secondary education school for years 1-4 (now junior high school)

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。