Gleam, Glimmer, Glint, Glitter, Shimmer等词的辨析

Flash, Flicker, Gleam, Glimmer, Glint, Glitter, Glisten, Glister, Glow, Shimmer, Sparkle, Twinkle及其它同类词的辨析

1. dazzle: If a very bright light dazzles you, it

stops you from seeing properly for a short time.

例：a deer dazzled by the headlights

Dazzle是"刺眼、晃眼"的意思，特别当光线照得人短时间看

不清物体时使用，与下文其他的"刺眼"选手颇有区别。

2. flash: to shine suddenly and brightly for a short

time, or to make something shine in this way; If a

light flashes or if you flash a light, it shines with a

sudden bright light, especially as quick, regular

flashes of light.

例：Lightning flashed overhead.

Flash是快速地发出强光，意为"闪光"，是闪光一族的普通

意义，后文还有多个闪光词汇。

3. flicker: to burn or shine with an unsteady light

that goes on and off quickly; If a light or flame

flickers, it shines unsteadily.

例：The overhead lights flickered momentarily.

Flicker也是闪光，但是与flash闪得不同。Flash是闪出强

光，闪一下马上消失，再接着闪出强光，比如打雷之前的闪电就是典型的flash；flicker也是"闪光门"高手，可是它只能闪出不

太强的光，并且极不稳定，闪光时忽明忽暗，译为"闪烁、摇曳"，这个词很浪漫，总令人想到Casablanca中迷人的汽车旅馆和那对恋人一起试过的那个long, hot summer's night.

4. glare: to shine with a very strong bright light

which hurts your eyes; If the sun or a light glares, it

shines with a very bright light which is difficult to

look at;

例：The sun glared down on us.

这个已经不是闪光门弟子了，这是发出非常耀眼的光芒，让

眼睛产生不适，且不适效果大大高于dazzle，有可能出现较长时间的失明。比如氧焊时，如果不戴眼罩看了那种强烈的白光后，好一会儿看不见东西，那就是一种glaring light, 比dazzling

light历害多了。

5. gleam: to shine softly [= glimmer]; If an object or a

surface gleams, it reflects light because it is shiny

and clean.

例：His teeth gleamed under his moustache；

Blue-white moonlight gleamed through the window,

throwing the shadows of the bars across the floor.

淡蓝色的月光透过窗户照进房来，窗条的影子斜斜地映在地板上。 Gleam是"发出微光"，其微弱程度与下文要提及的glimmer相同，似乎在写作中二者完全可以互换使用，不过“柯林斯”字典

告诉我们，glimmer的光有点unsteady，类似于flicker。gleam 是稳定的光线，不会晃动。

6. glimmer: If something glimmers, it produces or

reflects a faint, gentle, often unsteady light; to shine

with a light that is not very bright [= gleam]: a weak,

glimmering light

朗文字典认为glimmer等于gleam，但是柯林斯和牛津皆认为glimmer含有unsteady之意，是to shine with a faint

unsteady light，因此一定要与gleam区别开来。glimmer与flicker相近，也有“光线晃动”之意，但是没有flicker那么"

摇曳"得历害：

A beam of gleaming light 一道微弱的光线

A beam of glimmering light 一束昏暗、摇曳的光线

7. glint: if a shiny surface glints, it gives out small

flashes of light [= sparkle]; If something glints, it

produces or reflects a quick flash of light. (WRITTEN);

= glisten; to produce small bright flashes of light:

例：