核心畫面

Picture a short ladder of seriousness with three rungs, numbered from the top down. Something has already happened — a burn, a crime — and the job is to say how bad it is by pointing at a rung. First-degree is the rung you name first; second-degree is one step below it. The words never stand alone: they are pinned to the front of the thing being , so what gets a number is the burn or the charge, not the person.

可以想成一把只有三格的刻度尺,由重到輕編號。事情已經發生了——燒燙傷、或是一件案子——接下來要做的,是指出它落在哪一更多收起可以想成一把只有三格的刻度尺,由重到輕編號。事情已經發生了——燒燙傷、或是一件案子——接下來要做的,是指出它落在哪一格。first-degree 是先被點到的那一格,second-degree 就在它下面一階。要注意這兩個字不能單獨站著:它們一定貼在被評級的東西前面。所以被編號的是「傷」或「罪名」,不是人。也因為是刻度,second 不等於「不嚴重」,只是「不是最上面那一格」。

Two branches

刻度尺量在皮膚上

同一把刻度尺,這次量的是傷到多深。

adjective · B2

Used about a burn to say it is the middle level: deeper and more painful than a first-degree burn, with blisters on the skin, but not the most serious kind.

二度(燒燙傷)

刻度尺量在罪名上

同一把刻度尺,換成量一件罪有多重;美國法律用它來決定刑度。

adjective · C1

Put in front of the name of a crime to say that it counts as a less serious level of that crime than the worst level, often because the person did not plan it beforehand.

二級(罪名)