小词详解 | limpid

limpid 英 [ˈlɪmpɪd] 美 [ˈlɪmpɪd]

SAT GRE

外刊例句

• Standing out as a book writer today requires more than a bright idea and limpid prose.
  如今要从众多作家中脱颖而出，文如泉涌妙笔生花还远远不够。
  ——《经济学人》

• Davis’s eyes, limpid and expressive, flash from wariness to sorrow, then back.
  戴维斯的眼睛清澈而富有表情，从警惕迅速转为悲伤，然后闪回。
  ——《纽约时报》

基本释义

[adjective] (of a liquid) free of anything that darkens; completely clear
[形容词] （指液体）没有任何使之变暗的东西；完全透明的

深入解读

Limpid 是一个与小站两年前推送过的 opaque 含义相反的单词，该词于17世纪经法语 limpide 或者直接由拉丁语 limpidus （清澈的、透明的）进入英语，也是用来表示“清澈的、透明的”，常作书面用语使用，主要指水等液体完全透明的，没有任何使之变暗的东西，具有纯水般的柔和清澈，比如：

• 她靠在栏杆上探出身去，向下凝视清澈的水面。
  She leaned out over the rail/railing, peering down into the limpid water.

从这个概念出发， limpid 既可以引申指人的眼睛“清澈的、明亮的、明净的”，也更常用来喻指演讲、写作、音乐等“清晰顺畅的”，即表达清晰易于理解或者优美动听，比如：

• 那双明亮的蓝色大眼睛信赖地注视着她。
  The huge limpid blue eyes gazed trustfully at her.

• 他认为这一富有说服力的演讲堪称典范，简洁流畅，清新自然。
  He thought the eloquent speech a model of its kind, limpid and unaffected.

权威用例

近年来，我走遍了黄河上中下游9省区。无论是黄河长江“母亲河”，还是碧波荡漾的青海湖、逶迤磅礴的雅鲁藏布江；无论是南水北调的世纪工程，还是塞罕坝林场的“绿色地图”；无论是云南大象北上南归，还是藏羚羊繁衍迁徙……这些都昭示着，人不负青山，青山定不负人。
Over the past few years, I have visited all nine provinces or autonomous regions on the upper, middle and lower streams of the Yellow River. From the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, two "mother rivers" of the Chinese nation, to the limpid Qinghai Lake and the mighty Yarlung Zangbo River; from the South-North Water Diversion, known as a project of the century, to the Saihanba forest, shown as a patch of green on the map; from the northward trek and homecoming of elephants in Yunnan Province, to the migration and return of Tibetan antelopes -- all these remind us that "If we do not fail Nature, Nature shall never fail us".

出自习主席2022年新年贺词。

同近义词

• clear: (of a substance) transparent; unclouded

• transparent: (of a material or article) allowing light to pass through so that objects behind can be distinctly seen

• translucent: (of a substance) allowing light, but not detailed shapes, to pass through; semitransparent

往期回顾