核心畫面

Something that keeps getting in your way — not dangerous, not a disaster, just a small thing that will not stop. A dripping tap, a fly in the room, a form you have to fill in again. The picture is of harm that is too small to fight but too repeated to ignore.

一件「不嚴重、但一直來煩你」的事。不是災難,不是危險——是水龍頭滴個不停、房間裡一隻飛來飛去的蒼蠅、明明填過又要再填更多收起一件「不嚴重、但一直來煩你」的事。不是災難,不是危險——是水龍頭滴個不停、房間裡一隻飛來飛去的蒼蠅、明明填過又要再填一次的表格。它的傷害小到不值得動怒,卻密到讓人無法忽略;那種「唉,又來了」的感覺,就是 nuisance 這個字站的位置。人也可以是 nuisance:不是壞人,是一直在你旁邊製造小麻煩的人。

Two branches

日常的小麻煩

這就是核心畫面本身:日常生活裡反覆騷擾你的人或事。

nuisance, annoyance · noun · B2

a person, thing, or situation that annoys you, gets in your way, or causes you small problems again and again.

討厭的人事物;麻煩

法律上的妨害

和核心是同一個畫面,只是換了場域:日常口語的「煩人」被法律接手,變成一個可以主張、可以求償的正式名目。

nuisance (legal term) · noun · B2

in law, the use of a place or a piece of property in a way that disturbs, annoys, or harms the people living near it or the public.

妨害;公共妨害

原始詞典資料3 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。

nuisancenoun/ˈnjuː.səns/

  • 1

    A minor annoyance or inconvenience.

    • The neighbor's dog barking throughout the night is a right nuisance - I'm going to complain.
    • What a nuisance to have to go now!
  • 2

    A person or thing causing annoyance or inconvenience.

    • You can be such a nuisance when you don't get your way.
    • With Vardy working tirelessly up front, chasing lost causes and generally making a nuisance of himself, Sevilla were never allowed to settle on a night when the atmosphere was electric inside the King Power Stadium.
  • 3

    lawAnything harmful or offensive to the community or to a member of it, for which a legal remedy exists.

    • a public nuisance

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。