喜樂美語

核心畫面

You can think of it as a thin line running through a body — a channel with something flowing or held inside it, branching out and showing on the surface.

一條細細的管線在某個「身體」裡走。它本身是有厚度的通道，裡面裝著、流著東西；它會分岔、會延伸，而且常常在表面看得見—…更多收起一條細細的管線在某個「身體」裡走。它本身是有厚度的通道，裡面裝著、流著東西；它會分岔、會延伸，而且常常在表面看得見——你手背上浮起的那條藍線，就是最原始的那張圖。從這裡出發，只要是「在一大片東西裡穿行的細長線條，而且那條線裡藏著別的東西」，英文都可能用 vein。

From the word’s history

From Latin vēna, a blood-vessel — the anatomical channel; the extended uses in English all copy that shape onto other bodies (a leaf, a rock, a piece of writing).

來自拉丁文 vēna（血管），原本就是解剖學上的那條管子。英文後來的用法都是把這個形狀「借」到別的身體上——葉子的身體、石頭的身體、一篇文章的身體，裡面都可以有 vein。

Wiktionary: vein — from Middle English veine, from Anglo-Norman veine, from Latin vēna ("a blood-vessel; vein"), of uncertain origin.

Three branches

活體裡的輸送管

最貼近核心畫面的一群：真實生物體內那條把東西運回去的細管。

blood vessel · noun · C1

One of the tubes that carry blood to your heart from other parts of your body.

靜脈

固體裡的線與層

從「活的管子」跨到「不會動的東西」：沒有東西在流了，但那條細長、穿行、跟周圍材質不同的線還在，而且線裡確實藏著別的物質。

line in cheese or stone · noun · C1

One of the thin lines on a piece of cheese or on some kinds of stone.

紋路

抽象事物裡的一條走向

最後一步跨到看不見的東西上：一段文字、一個人身上，也可以有一條貫穿的線。

style or manner · noun · C1

A particular style of speaking or writing about something, used especially in the phrase in a ... vein.

風格

原始詞典資料10 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。

veinnoun/veɪn/

  • 1

    anatomymedicinesciencesA blood vessel that transports blood from the capillaries back to the heart.

    • The nurse hovered her vein finder to locate the veins in the patient's body.
    • An vncouth paine torments my grieued ſoule, And death arreſts the organe of my voyce. Who entring at the breach thy ſword hath made, Sackes euery vaine and artier of my heart, […]
  • 2

    The entrails of a shrimp.

  • 3

    biologybotanynatural-sciencesIn leaves, a thickened portion of the leaf containing the vascular bundle.

  • 4

    biologynatural-scienceszoologyThe nervure of an insect’s wing.

  • 5

    A stripe or streak of a different colour or composition in materials such as wood, cheese, marble or other rocks.

  • 6

    geographygeologynatural-sciencesA sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock.

    • They general­ly occur in the earth in what are called veins, and are seldom found in the pure metallic state, but generally in combination with some other substance, in which state they are call­ed ores.
  • 7

    A topic of discussion; a train of association, thoughts, emotions, etc.

    • in the same vein
    • He[…]is able to open new scenes, and discover a vein of true and noble thinking.
  • 8

    A style, tendency, or quality.

    • The play is in a satirical vein.
    • certain discoursing wits which are of the same veins
另外 1 個記錄的用法
  • 9

    A fissure, cleft, or cavity, as in the earth or other substance.

    • down to the veins of earth
    • I took another Prism therefore which was free from Veins

veinverb/veɪn/

  • 1

    To mark with veins or a vein-like pattern.

    • […] as he ceased from that wild imprecation, a faint flash of lightning veined the remote horizon, and a low clap of thunder rumbled afar off, echoing among the hills […]
    • “We brought out our maps of the region and showed him the old routes and trails veining the whole of it. […]”

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。