核心畫面

Picture a space with nobody in it and a sign saying it is free to be taken: an empty desk waiting for a new colleague, a hotel room with the key still on the hook. The word names the gap itself. English then turns the same gap — a face with nobody home behind the eyes.

可以想成:一個沒有人的位置,上面掛著「可以進來」的牌子——等著新同事的空桌、鑰匙還掛在架上的旅館房間。這個字指的就是更多收起可以想成:一個沒有人的位置,上面掛著「可以進來」的牌子——等著新同事的空桌、鑰匙還掛在架上的旅館房間。這個字指的就是那個空著的格子本身。接著英文把同樣的空搬到人的臉上:眼神裡沒有人在,也是一種 vacancy。

From the picture

眼神裡的空

把空著的房間搬到人的表情上:眼睛看著前方,可是裡面沒有人在——像一間亮著燈卻沒住人的屋子。

blank look · noun · C1

a lack of interest or thought, shown in someone's face or eyes.

茫然;空洞

Also in this word

open job · noun · C1

A job that no one is doing, which is free for someone to take.

職缺;空缺

free room · noun · C1

a room in a hotel or building that is free for someone to stay in.

空房

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。

vacancynoun/ˈveɪkənsi/

  • 1

    An unoccupied position or job.

    • Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
  • 2

    An available room in a hotel; guest house, etc.

  • 3

    Empty space.

    • The following account of Cavendish is from one of our most accomplished chemists, who communicated it orally to Mr. Tomlinson, from whom I received it. “When I was a very young man—a new Fellow of the Royal Society—I always looked upon it as a great honour to be noticed by Cavendish, and so did the other young members of the society. We used to dine at the Crown and Anchor, and Cavendish often dined with us. He came slouching in, one hand behind his back, and taking off his hat (which by the bye he always hung up on one particular peg), he sat down without taking notice of anybody. If you attempted to draw him into conversation he always fought shy. Dr. Wollaston’s directions I found to succeed best. He said, ‘the way to talk to Cavendish is never to look at him, but to talk as it were into vacancy, and then it is not unlikely but you may set him going!’”
    • Sky was set above earth, land ringed with sea, / Chaos retired to its own vacancy ….
  • 4

    A blank mind, unoccupied with thought.

    • ...—who has not looked back to the past with that passion of hopelessness, which deems that life can never more be what it has been,—with a consciousness that the dearer emotions are exhausted, while in their place have arisen but vacancy and weariness?
  • 5

    Lack of intelligence or understanding.

  • 6

    natural-sciencesphysical-sciencesphysicsA defect in a crystal caused by the absence of an atom in a lattice

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