A touchstone is the thing you measure other things against — the standard you keep coming back to when you want to judge whether something is any good, or true, or genuine. 'Fairness is the touchstone of a good law.' 'For many readers, that novel remains the touchstone.' It takes 'of' or 'for'.

A touchstonetouchstone is the thing you measure other things against是你拿來衡量其他東西的那個基準 — the standard you keep coming back to when you want to judge whether something is any good, or true, or genuine.——當你想判斷某個東西好不好、真不真、是不是貨真價實時，一直會拿來對照的那個標準。 'Fairness is the touchstone of a good law.'『Fairness is the touchstone of a good law公平是一部好法律的touchstone。』 'For many readers, that novel remains the touchstone.'『For many readers, that novel remains the touchstone對很多讀者來說，那部小說一直是touchstone。』 It takes 'of' or 'for'.它後面會接'of'或'for'。

The word feels serious and a little literary; you meet it in essays, reviews and speeches rather than in chat.

The word feels serious and a little literary這個字給人的感覺很嚴肅，也帶點文學味; you meet it in essays, reviews and speeches rather than in chat.；你會在論說文、書評、演講裡遇到它，而不是在聊天裡。

What makes it different from plain 'standard' or 'test' is that a touchstone is usually one concrete example rather than a rule — a particular performance, a particular case — and applying it is quick and revealing, one contact and you know.

What makes it different from plain 'standard' or 'test'它跟單純的'standard'或'test'不一樣的地方 is that a touchstone is usually one concrete example rather than a rule在於touchstone通常是一個具體的例子，而不是一條規則 — a particular performance, a particular case ——某一場特定的表演、某一個特定的案例—— and applying it is quick and revealing, one contact and you know.而且用起來很快、很有說服力，一碰就知道。

Originally it was a real object: a piece of dark stone that jewellers rubbed gold against, because the colour of the streak left behind told them how pure the gold was. Everything the figurative word means is already in that: a fast test, honest, hard to fake.

Originally it was a real object這個字原本指的是一個真實的物品 : a piece of dark stone that jewellers rubbed gold against：一塊深色的石頭，珠寶商會拿黃金在上面摩擦, because the colour of the streak left behind told them how pure the gold was.，因為留下來的痕跡顏色能告訴他們黃金有多純。 Everything the figurative word means is already in that這個比喻用法的所有意思，其實都已經在那個畫面裡了 : a fast test, honest, hard to fake.：快速的檢驗、誠實、難以造假。