喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can picture talent as a gift you're born holding: an ability for something that comes easily, almost for free, without having to grind for it. From that one ability the word stretches outward — first to the people who carry such gifts, then loosely to attractive people, but the seed is always 'a natural ability you didn't have to earn.'

可以把 talent 想成你出生時就握在手裡的一份禮物：對某件事天生就上手、幾乎不費力、像白白得來的一種能力。從這一…更多收起可以把 talent 想成你出生時就握在手裡的一份禮物：對某件事天生就上手、幾乎不費力、像白白得來的一種能力。從這一份「天生的本事」往外伸：先指那些帶著這種天賦的人，再鬆鬆地指長得好看的人，但種子永遠是同一個——「不必去掙、生來就有的自然能力」。

From the word’s history

Talent originally meant a unit of weight and money in the ancient world (Greek 'talanton'). The modern 'natural ability' sense comes from the Parable of the Talents in the Bible (Matthew 25), where servants are given sums of money ('talents') to use well — the gift you're handed and expected to make grow. By around the 1400s English shifted the word from 'money entrusted to you' to 'a natural gift entrusted to you.'

talent 本來指古代的一種重量和貨幣單位(希臘語 talanton)。現代「天分」這個意思，是從《聖經·馬太福音》二十五章的「按才幹受託」比喻來的：主人把一筆筆銀子(talents)交給僕人去好好運用——那是交到你手上、要你拿去增長的一份東西。大約到了一四〇〇年代，英語就把這個字從「託付給你的錢」轉成了「託付給你的天賦」，核心畫面也就是「白白得來、要你善用的一份能力」。

Online Etymology Dictionary, 'talent' — sense of 'natural aptitude' from the Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14-30), via Greek talanton 'a unit of weight/money'. https://www.etymonline.com/word/talent

Three branches

天生的本事

這一家最貼著核心：一個人對某件事天生就擅長的能力本身。

natural ability · noun · B1

A natural ability to do something well, that you are born with or that comes easily to you.

天分

有天賦的人

從「能力」換成「帶著這能力的人」：把那份天賦長在誰身上，就拿那個字去指那些人——多半當作一個整體在講，例如公司裡的人才。

talented people · noun · B1

People who have a natural ability or skill, talked about as a group.

人才

養眼的人

再從「人才」鬆鬆地歪一步：英式口語裡半開玩笑地拿 talent 去指在場長得好看的人，把「值得欣賞的本事」偷換成「值得欣賞的外貌」——是個輕鬆、不太正經的用法。

attractive people (slang) · noun · B1

Attractive people, talked about as a group (a casual British use).

帥哥美女

原始詞典資料6 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。

Talentname

  • 1

    A city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States.

talentnoun/ˈtæl.ənt/

  • 1

    A marked natural ability or skill.

    • He has a real talent for drawing.
    • Feel awfully about Scott... I always knew he couldn't think—he never could—but he had a marvelous talent and the thing is to use it—not whine in public.
  • 2

    businesshobbieslifestylePeople of talent, viewed collectively; a talented person.

    • The director searched their talent pool to fill the new opening.
    • And all over Hollywood, suits are licking their chops at the prospect of more malleable actors. “She’s not going to talk back,” one top talent wrangler told me dryly.
  • 3

    slangOne, especially a woman, from a particular place or area, judged by their attractiveness.

    • Not much talent in this bar tonight—let's hit the clubs.
    • I went down to the beach front, of course, for that was the first thing that all Vaalies did: to look at the sea and to check the talent on the beach.
  • 4

    historicalA historical unit of weight and money used in ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Middle East, equal to about 30 to 60 kg in various times and places.

    • For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.
  • 5

    obsoleteA desire or inclination for something.

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。