喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture 'matter' as 'a thing on your plate' — some subject or situation that has landed in front of you and asks to be thought about, talked about, or dealt with. From that one image two big roads run: one road is about WHICH thing it is (an affair, a question, a situation — and dozens of fixed phrases that pin down what KIND of thing it is); the other road asks DOES this thing carry weight — does it count, does it change anything — which becomes the verb 'to matter' (to be important). A quite separate, older branch uses the same word for 'matter' as the physical stuff the universe is made of.

可以把 matter 想成「擺在你面前、等著處理的一件事」——某個落到你眼前、需要你去想、去談、去處理的主題或情況。…更多收起可以把 matter 想成「擺在你面前、等著處理的一件事」——某個落到你眼前、需要你去想、去談、去處理的主題或情況。從這個畫面分出兩條大路：一條問「這是哪一件事」（是事務、是問題、是情況，還有一大堆固定片語在框定它是「哪一類」的事）；另一條問「這件事有沒有份量」——它算不算數、會不會改變什麼，於是長出動詞 to matter（要緊、重要）。另外還有一條年代更早、走岔開的支線，用同一個字指「構成宇宙萬物的物質」。

原始詞典資料16 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。

Mattername

  • 1

    A surname.

matternoun/ˈmætə/

  • 1

    natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsMaterial; substance.

  • 2

    natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsMaterial; substance.

  • 3

    Material; substance.

    • vegetable matter
  • 4

    Material; substance.

    • He always took some reading matter with him on the plane.
  • 5

    human-sciencesphilosophysciencesMaterial; substance.

  • 6

    An affair, condition, or subject, especially one of concern or (especially when preceded by the) one that is problematic.

    • Something is the matter with him.
    • The diplomats met to discuss state matters.
  • 7

    An approximate amount or extent.

    • I stayed for a matter of months.
    • No small matter of British forces were commanded over sea the year before.
  • 8

    lawLegal services provided by a lawyer or firm to their client in relation to a particular issue.

    • Please find attached an invoice for three outstanding matters.
另外 4 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    obsoleteEssence; pith; embodiment.

    • He is the matter of virtue.
  • 10

    obsolete(The) inducing cause or reason, especially of anything disagreeable or distressing.

    • And this is the matter why interpreters upon that passage in Hosea will not consent it to be a true story, that the prophet took a harlot to wife.
  • 11

    datedmedicinesciencesPus.

  • 12

    Importance.

    • What matter if we unrewarded must strive, / If Wall Street and gamblers around it may thrive? / What matter if we doubly pay for our food / To support the monopolist kings of the road?

matterverb/ˈmætə/

  • 1

    To be important.

    • The only thing that matters to Jim is being rich.
    • Sorry for pouring ketchup on your clean white shirt! - Oh, don't worry, it does not matter.
  • 2

    regionalTo care about, to mind; to find important.

    • Besides, if it had been out of doors I had not mattered it so much; but with my own servant, in my own house, under my own roof […]
    • He matter'd not that, he said; coy maids made the fondest wives […].
  • 3

    archaicmedicinesciencesTo form pus or matter, as an abscess; to maturate.

    • Each slight sore mattereth.

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。