喜樂美語

核心畫面

Picture heat touching a surface and stopping there. The shirt keeps its shape, the wall stays standing, the leaf is still a leaf — but the colour has changed to brown or black. That shallow, colour-changing burn is the whole word. Everything else scorch does is that same picture moved somewhere new: onto skin, onto a field of grass, onto a road left behind by something very fast, or onto a person hit by very sharp words.

可以想成：熱碰到表面，然後就停在那裡。襯衫形狀還在，牆還立著，葉子還是葉子——變的只有顏色，轉褐或轉黑。這種「只燒到…更多收起可以想成：熱碰到表面，然後就停在那裡。襯衫形狀還在，牆還立著，葉子還是葉子——變的只有顏色，轉褐或轉黑。這種「只燒到表層、留下顏色」的畫面就是這個字的全部。其他用法都是同一張畫面換個地方放：放到皮膚上、放到一片草地上、放到某個東西飛快跑過的路面上，或者放到被尖銳言語掃到的人身上。

From the word’s history

From Middle English scorchen (to make dry, to parch), perhaps related to Old Norse skorpna (to shrivel up). The old idea of being dried and shrivelled by heat sits neatly under the modern picture of a surface that browns without burning away.

來自中古英語 scorchen（弄乾、烤乾），可能跟古諾斯語 skorpna（縮乾、皺起來）有關。這個「被熱抽乾、縮起來」的老意思，剛好墊在今天的畫面底下：表面變褐變脆，但東西沒有燒掉。

Wiktionary entries for scorch, supplied in this packet as etymology_text (source_ref kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:793353461 and 793360212)

Four branches

燒到表面：變色、留痕

核心畫面本身，包含動作、結果的痕跡，以及燒到皮膚的情形。

verb · B2

To burn the surface of something so that it turns brown or black but is not burned through. It can also be used the other way round: if cloth or paper scorches, its surface burns and changes colour.

（表面）燒焦、烤焦

被熱抽乾：植物焦黃

同樣是表面變褐，但這次沒有火，是熱和乾風把水分抽走。

verb · B2

If strong heat or wind scorches plants, it dries them out and damages them, so that the leaves turn brown.

（烈日、乾風）曬枯、烤焦

快到像會燒起來

把焦痕的畫面搬到路面上：跑得快到彷彿會把地面磨出焦痕。

verb · C1

To travel extremely fast, usually in a vehicle. It is always followed by a word such as along, down, past or out of.

飛快地衝過去

話像火一樣燙人

熱從實體換成語氣：被批評的人像被燒了一下。

verb · C1

To attack a person, a group, or a piece of work with very harsh words.

猛烈抨擊；把人罵到體無完膚

原始詞典資料10 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。

scorchnoun/skɔːtʃ/

  • 1

    A slight or surface burn.

  • 2

    A discolouration caused by heat.

  • 3

    biologybotanymedicineBrown discoloration on the leaves of plants caused by heat, lack of water or by fungi.

scorchverb/skɔːtʃ/

  • 1

    To burn the surface of something so as to discolour it

  • 2

    To wither, parch or destroy something by heat or fire, especially to make land or buildings unusable to an enemy

    • Lashed by mad rage, and scorched by brutal fires.
  • 3

    (To cause) to become scorched or singed

  • 4

    To move at high speed (so as to leave scorch marks on the ground, physically or figuratively).

    • Men on cycles, lean-faced, unkempt, scorched along every country lane, shouting of unhoped deliverance, shouting to gaunt, staring figures of despair.
    • England delivered an impressive statement of intent in the Rugby World Cup opener by scorching to a 69-7 victory against the United States in front of a record crowd of 42,723 in Sunderland.
  • 5

    To burn; to destroy by, or as by, fire.

    • Power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
    • the fire that scorches me to death
  • 6

    To attack with bitter sarcasm or virulence.

  • 7

    datedTo ride a bicycle furiously on a public highway.

    • I may not scorch on thee again—thou'rt pinched, my silent steed!

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。