核心畫面

Think of something that the usual damage simply never reached. Time passed, and the things that normally change a place or a person — building work, crowds, money, attention — either stayed away or arrived and made no mark. So the word praises by naming an absence: nothing was added, nothing was taken, it is still what it was. There is often a quiet sense of luck in it, and sometimes of something worth protecting.

可以想成一樣東西,那些本來會把它弄壞的力量剛好沒有碰到它。時間過去了,通常會改變一個地方或一個人的東西——工程、人潮更多收起可以想成一樣東西,那些本來會把它弄壞的力量剛好沒有碰到它。時間過去了,通常會改變一個地方或一個人的東西——工程、人潮、金錢、關注——不是沒來,就是來了卻沒留下痕跡。所以這個字是用「沒有發生什麼」來稱讚:沒有被加上什麼,也沒有被拿走什麼,它還是原來的樣子。裡面常帶著一點慶幸,有時候還帶著一份想把它保住的心情。

From the word’s history

Wiktionary gives unspoiled as un- plus spoiled. The whole meaning sits in that negative prefix: it names what did not happen, and English spoil covers both damaging a place and indulging a person, which is why the one word reaches both.

Wiktionary 記載 unspoiled 由 un-(沒有)加上 spoiled 組成。整個意思就住在那個否定的字首裡:它講的是「沒有發生的事」。而英文的 spoil 同時可以是「弄壞一個地方」和「寵壞一個人」,所以同一個字才伸得到兩邊。

Wiktionary etymology tree supplied in evidence packet (kaikki:3f6f69a190036ae4:1374197050:3882)

Two branches

地方:沒有被開發、破壞

沒碰到它的是工程、道路、招牌和人潮,所以這個地方還維持著很久以前的樣子。

adjective · C1

Used about a place that is still beautiful because it has stayed much the same for a long time, with few new buildings, roads or crowds to change it.

未被破壞的;保有原貌的

人:沒有被名利改變

同一個畫面換成人:這次沒碰到他的是錢、名氣和關注。spoil 本來就有「寵壞小孩」這條路,所以這個用法不是比喻,而是走另一半的字義。

adjective · C1

Used about a person who has not changed for the worse because of what has happened to them — money, fame or success has not made them proud, demanding or hard to be with.

沒有被名利改變的;沒被寵壞的