本文经授权转载自微信公众号:田间小站
SAT TEM8 GRE
外刊例句
- That arrangement suited many workers, who preferred the stability of permanent employment to the alternative of flitting between short-term contracts, which they would also find difficult to organise.
这种安排对许多工人来说很合适,他们更喜欢长期就业的稳定性,而不是辗转在短期合同之间。工人要把各种短期工作安排好也并非易事。
——《经济学人》 - Patients might flit their eyes back and forth, following a therapist's finger or stare at bursts of light on alternating sides of a screen.
患者可能会跟着治疗师的手指来回摆动眼睛,或者盯着屏幕两侧交替的闪光。
——《纽约时报》
基本释义
[verb] move swiftly and lightly
[动词] 迅速轻快地移动
深入解读
Flit 是一个与小站(微信公众号:田间小站)推送过的 Flirt 十分形近的单词,可以一并联想记忆。
该词常用搭配 flit from A to B 或 flit between A and B 表示“掠过、飞过、闪过”或“轻快地从一处到另一处”,强调迅速轻快地移动,既包括在两地间来回穿梭且不作长时间停留,也可以指鸟、蝙蝠等飞来飞去,很快从一个地方飞到另一个地方,以及引申指表情、念头等在脸上或脑海里一闪而过,比如:
- 岁月飞逝。
Time flitted by. - 他频繁跳槽。
He flits from one job to another. - 他脸上掠过一丝惊慌。
A look of panic flitted across his face.
在苏格兰方言中, flit 还被用来表示“迁移、迁居、搬家”,比如:
- 我父母每次迁居,我都得换学校。
I had to change schools every time my parents flitted.
而在英式口语中, flit 则可用作名词表示为躲债而暗中“迁移、迁居、搬家”,比如小站曾在 熟词僻义 | moonlight 是瞒着老板偷偷做什么? 中提到过的:
- 晚上/半夜潜逃
do a moonlight/midnight flit
名著用例
In these lengthened vigils, his brain often reeled, and visions seemed to flit before him; perhaps seen doubtfully, and by a faint light of their own, in the remote dimness of the chamber, or more vividly and close beside him, within the looking-glass.
在长夜不眠的祈祷之中,他的头脑时常晕眩,似乎有许多幻象在他眼前飞舞;这些幻象有时在内室的昏暗中自身发着微光,看着似有似无,有时则出现在镜子之中,近在咫尺,显得更清晰些。
出自美国浪漫主义作家纳撒尼尔·霍桑(Nathaniel Hawthorne)于1850年出版的长篇小说《红字》(The Scarlet Letter: A Romance)。
同近义词
- flitter: move quickly in an apparently random or purposeless manner
- flicker: make small, quick movements; flutter rapidly
- flutter: (of a bird or other winged creature) fly unsteadily or hover by flapping the wings quickly and lightly