核心畫面

One way to picture it: the light of awareness is off. In the strongest case the whole person is dark — knocked out, not awake. In everyday use only one small window is dark: the thing is happening, but the person doing it cannot see it.

「察覺的那盞燈」沒有亮。最強的一種是整個人都暗下來——被打昏、失去意識,什麼都不知道。日常用法則是只有一扇小窗是暗的更多收起「察覺的那盞燈」沒有亮。最強的一種是整個人都暗下來——被打昏、失去意識,什麼都不知道。日常用法則是只有一扇小窗是暗的:事情照常在發生、動作照常做出來,只是做的那個人自己看不見。所以理解 unconscious- 的關鍵不是「沒發生」,而是「發生了,但當事人沒察覺」;照不到的範圍有多大,就決定了它是哪一個意思。

From the word’s history

From un- ('not') + consciously; conscious goes back to Latin conscius ('knowing, aware'), from com- + scīre ('to know'). So the word is literally 'in a not-knowing way' — the negation is of knowing, not of doing.

結構很直白:un-(不)+ consciously(有意識地)。conscious 來自拉丁文 conscius(知情的、有所覺察的),是 com-(共同)加 scīre(知道)。所以整個字字面上就是「以不知道的方式」——被否定掉的是「知道」,不是「做」。這正好對上核心畫面:動作還在,只是察覺不見了。

Wiktionary, 'unconsciously' (un- + consciously; conscious ← Latin conscius, from com- + scīre)

Two branches

整個人的燈熄了

這是核心畫面最徹底的版本:不是某件事沒察覺,而是整個人都不在線上。

while unconscious · r · C2

In a way that shows you cannot see, move, or feel as usual, because you are not awake and do not know what is happening around you.

失去意識地

燈只暗了一小塊

跟上面同一盞燈,只是暗掉的範圍縮小了:人是清醒的,只有「自我察覺」這一塊沒亮。這是日常英文裡最常見的 unconsciously。

without realizing (inner feeling) · r · C2

Without noticing that you have a feeling, wish, or thought; it lives in you, but you do not see it yourself.

下意識地

原始詞典資料1 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。

unconsciouslyadv/ˌʌnˈkɑnʃəsli/

  • 1

    In an unconscious manner; unknowingly

    • Emily had thought she was accustomed to consider Lorraine attached to another; but that vague hope which lingers so unconsciously in the human heart, or not so much hope as uncertainty, that had as yet given no tangible shape to her rival, had ill prepared her to find that rival in her own familiar companion.

資料來源:英文維基詞典 English WiktionaryCC BY-SA 4.0)。 原文照列,未經改寫。