
puzzle
词源
源自16世纪晚期,可能来自中古英语poselen(使困惑),与中古荷兰语peutelen(困惑)有关。
noun
❶ 指一种需要动脑筋解决的难题或游戏,如拼图、谜语等,通常用于娱乐或智力挑战。
“She spent the afternoon working on a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle.”
(她花了一下午时间拼一幅1000片的拼图。)
“The crossword puzzle in today's newspaper is quite challenging.”
(今天报纸上的填字游戏相当有难度。)
❶ 形容令人困惑或难以理解的事物或情况,需要仔细思考才能明白。
“His sudden disappearance remains a puzzle to everyone.”
(他的突然失踪对所有人来说仍是个谜。)
“The scientist tried to solve the puzzle of how the ancient structure was built.”
(科学家试图解开这座古代建筑如何建成的谜团。)
verb
❶ 使某人感到困惑或难以理解,通常因为事情复杂或不明确。
“The strange noise puzzled the neighbors all night.”
(奇怪的声响让邻居们整晚都感到困惑。)
“Her reaction puzzled me because it was completely unexpected.”
(她的反应让我困惑,因为这完全出乎意料。)
常见短语
puzzle out — 通过仔细思考或分析来理解或解决某个难题。
“It took me hours to puzzle out the meaning of this ancient text.”
(我花了几个小时才琢磨出这段古文字的含义。)
puzzle over — 长时间思考某个问题或难题,试图找到答案或理解它。
“The researchers puzzled over the unexpected results for weeks.”
(研究人员对这些意外结果苦思冥想了数周。)