Soaked with water — so wet that the thing has gone heavy, soft, and unpleasant. This is the key point: 'sodden' is not just 'wet'.

Soaked with water被水浸透，so wet that the thing has gone heavy, soft, and unpleasant濕到東西變得又重又軟、讓人不舒服。This is the key point這是重點：'sodden' is not just 'wet'「sodden」不只是「wet」而已。

A shirt in the rain is wet; a shirt you find at the bottom of the garden three days later, dripping and shapeless, is sodden. The water has gone all the way in and changed the thing.

A shirt in the rain淋到雨的襯衫 is wet是wet（濕的）；a shirt you find at the bottom of the garden three days later, dripping and shapeless三天後在花園角落發現、滴著水又走樣的襯衫，is sodden才是sodden。The water has gone all the way in水已經完全滲進去了，and changed the thing把東西整個改變了。

We say sodden ground (after days of rain, your shoe sinks), sodden clothes, sodden bread, a sodden field. It always sounds bad — nobody says 'sodden' about something they are happy about.

We say英文會說 sodden groundsodden ground（濕透的地面） (after days of rain, your shoe sinks)（下了好幾天雨，鞋子一踩就陷進去）, sodden clothessodden clothes（濕透的衣服）, sodden breadsodden bread（濕爛的麵包）, a sodden fielda sodden field（濕透的田地）。It always sounds bad這個字聽起來總是負面的——nobody says 'sodden' about something they are happy about沒有人會用「sodden」來形容自己開心的事。

There is a second use for people: 'sodden' means dulled and slow, usually from drinking too much. 'A drink-sodden old man', 'his brain was sodden with whisky.' Same picture — something has soaked in and made him heavy and useless.

for people用在人身上時 there is a second use還有第二種用法：'sodden' means dulled and slow「sodden」指反應遲鈍、昏沉，usually from drinking too much通常是喝酒喝太多造成的。'A drink-sodden old man'「A drink-sodden old man」被酒泡糊塗的老頭，'his brain was sodden with whisky.'「his brain was sodden with whisky.」他的腦子被威士忌泡糊了。Same picture畫面是一樣的——something has soaked in and made him heavy and useless有東西滲進去了，讓他變得又沉又沒用。

This word is more common in writing and in British English than in daily American speech; a Taiwanese student will meet it in novels and news reports about floods more often than in conversation.

in writing and in British English在書面語和英式英文裡 this word is more common這個字更常出現 than in daily American speech比在美式日常口語裡。a Taiwanese student will meet it台灣學生會遇到它 in novels and news reports about floods在小說和關於水災的新聞報導裡 more often than in conversation比在對話裡更常見。