atmosphere

• n. 氣氛；大氣；空氣

詞根atmo, 大氣，蒸氣。sphere, 球體。

atmosphere

atmosphere: [17] Etymologically, atmosphere means ‘ball of vapour’. It was coined as modern Latin atmosphaera from Greek atmós ‘vapour’ (related to áein ‘blow’, ultimate source of English air) and sphaira ‘sphere’. Its original application was not, as we would now understand it, to the envelope of air encompassing the Earth, but to a mass of gas exhaled from and thus surrounding a planet; indeed, in the first record of the word’s use in English, in 1638, it was applied to the Moon, which of course is now known to have no atmosphere. The denotation of the word moved forward with the development of meteorological knowledge.
=> air, sphere

atmosphere (n.)

1630s, atmosphaera (modern form from 1670s), from Modern Latin atmosphaera, from atmo-, comb. form of Greek atmos "vapor, steam" + spharia "sphere" (see sphere). Greek atmos is from PIE *awet-mo-, from root *wet- (1) "to blow" (also "to inspire, spiritually arouse;" see wood (adj.)). First used in English in connection with the Moon, which, as it turns out, practically doesn't have one.

It is observed in the solary eclipses, that there is sometimes a great trepidation about the body of the moon, from which we may likewise argue an atmosphaera, since we cannot well conceive what so probable a cause there should be of such an appearance as this, Quod radii solares a vaporibus lunam ambitntibus fuerint intercisi, that the sun-beams were broken and refracted by the vapours that encompassed the moon. [Rev. John Wilkins, "Discovery of New World or Discourse tending to prove that it probable there may be another World in the Moon," 1638]

Figurative sense of "surrounding influence, mental or moral environment" is c. 1800.

1. He sets the atmosphere and shapes the scenes pleasingly.

他把氣氛和場麵調動得輕鬆愉快。

來自柯林斯例句

2. At least this second meeting had helped to thaw the atmosphere.

這第二次會議至少起到了緩和氣氛的作用。

來自柯林斯例句

3. There's still an atmosphere of great hostility and tension in the city.

強烈的敵對和緊張氣氛依然籠罩著這座城市。

來自柯林斯例句

4. The house projects an atmosphere of calm and order.

這棟房子透著一種寧靜和整齊感。

來自柯林斯例句

5. The Partial Test-Ban Treaty bans nuclear testing in the atmosphere.

《部分禁止核試驗條約》禁止在大氣層中進行核試驗。

來自柯林斯例句