喜樂美語

核心畫面

Hold one picture: a thin white cloud lifting off something hot. A bowl of , a pot with the lid just off, a road drying after rain. Two things are true at once — it is hot, and the heat has become visible. Everything the word does comes from that. Let the cloud stand for the method and you get steaming as cooking. Let the cloud go and keep only the heat and you get a steaming hot afternoon. Put the cloud over a person and you get someone so heated they might give off steam. And let a crowd move the way steam moves, all at once and fast, and you reach the British news word.

steaming 可以想成一團白色的熱氣，正從某個燙的東西上面升起來。一碗麵、剛掀開一角的鍋子、雨後正在乾的柏油路，…更多收起steaming 可以想成一團白色的熱氣，正從某個燙的東西上面升起來。一碗麵、剛掀開一角的鍋子、雨後正在乾的柏油路，都是這個畫面。它同時說了兩件事：很燙，而且那個燙看得見了。後面所有的用法都從這裡長出來。把那團熱氣當成一種做法，就是「蒸」。把白煙拿掉、只留下熱度，就是熱爆的午後。把熱氣放到人身上，就是氣到快冒煙的人。最後，讓一群人像蒸氣一樣一瞬間湧過去，就到了英國新聞裡的那個名詞。

From the word’s history

By surface analysis, steam + -ing — the -ing form of the verb, used as both an adjective and a noun.

依證據包的說明，這個字就是 steam 加上 -ing。它是動詞的 -ing 形，既能當形容詞，也能當名詞——這也解釋了為什麼同一個拼法會同時出現在「冒著熱氣的湯」和「蒸這種做法」裡。

Wiktionary entries supplied in the evidence packet (steaming, noun/adjective/verb: 'By surface analysis, steam + -ing').

Four branches

看得見的熱氣

這一組就是核心畫面本身，一個講狀態，一個講做法。

adjective · B1

Giving off steam — hot enough that you can see a thin white cloud rising from it.

冒著熱氣的

熱到極點

白煙不見了，只留下熱度：熱得像會冒煙，但其實沒有煙。

adjective · B1

Very hot. Used about weather, rooms and places where the heat feels heavy, often in the phrase steaming hot.

很熱的；熱得誇張

人身上的熱氣

把那壺燒開的水換成一個人：到了某個極端狀態，整個人像在冒煙。

adjective · B2

Very angry. Informal, and almost always said about a person: he was steaming.

火冒三丈的

像蒸氣一樣湧過去

這一條是理解上的連結，不是歷史考證：證據包沒有給這個名詞的詞源，所以只能當成幫助記憶的畫面。

noun · C1

In British English, a robbery in which a large group of young people rush through a public place such as a bus or a train, frighten the people there, and take their things.

（英國）集體搶劫

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。

steamingnoun/ˈstiː.mɪŋ/

  • 1

    The action of steam on something.

    • Steaming is fine for this fabric, as long as you keep the iron moving.
  • 2

    The method of cooking by immersion in steam.

    • Their favorite way to cook clams is steaming.
  • 3

    The act or process of seafaring under steam power.

    • Steaming was their preferred way to travel until airliners came along.
  • 4

    The raising of steam by a steam locomotive etc; the maintenance of a head of steam during operation; (metonymic) operation under load.

    • Two 4-4-0s were steaming through the scenic foothills, giving rides to tourists.
    • The response to firing is remarkable, and though the 280 lb. pressure seems more in the nature of a reserve for emergencies than a continuous working figure, even with the present-day apology for coal it seldom fell below 250 lb., and could always be brought up to blowing-off point with little difficulty. To this liveliness of steaming the thermic syphons are doubtless the chief contributory.
  • 5

    informalA form of robbery in which a large gang moves swiftly and violently through a bus or train.

steamingadj/ˈstiː.mɪŋ/

  • 1

    Giving off steam.

    • We were served with steaming bowls of soup.
  • 2

    Extremely hot

  • 3

    slangVery angry.

    • I was steaming when I heard about their betrayal.
  • 4

    slangExtremely drunk.

    • ‘Will it help or hinder if I tell you I was steaming that evening and remember nothing, full stop?’

這個拼法也被記錄為下列字的變化形：

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。