核心畫面

Someone sits down and a small dog climbs straight up into the space across their legs. It is light, it is quiet, and it has no interest in being anywhere else — it stays exactly where the person puts it, for as long as the person sits there. Hold on to that stillness, because it is what the word carries when it is used about a human being: a place given by someone else, and no wish to leave it.

可以想成這樣一張圖:有人一坐下來,一隻小狗立刻爬上他大腿上那塊地方。牠很輕、很安靜,也完全不想去別的地方——人坐多久更多收起可以想成這樣一張圖:有人一坐下來,一隻小狗立刻爬上他大腿上那塊地方。牠很輕、很安靜,也完全不想去別的地方——人坐多久,牠就待多久,位置是別人決定的。記住那份安靜不動的樣子,因為這個詞拿來講人的時候,帶的就是這個:位子是別人給的,而且一點也不想離開。

Two branches

真的那隻小狗

畫面的原版:一隻小到能坐進大腿上那塊地方的狗。

noun · B1

A small pet dog, light enough and calm enough to spend hours sitting on its owner's lap.

小型寵物狗

被搬到人身上的那隻狗

同一隻狗換成人:主人變成上司、組織或有權力的一方。

noun · C1

Someone who does whatever a more powerful person or group tells them to do and never argues back. Calling a person this shows that you do not respect them for it.

唯命是從的人