animate
animate — 形容詞
1. alive — used to describe people, animals, and other beings that breathe and grow
有生命的
活的；具有生命特徵的
alive — used to describe people, animals, and other beings that breathe and grow, as opposed to stones, machines, or anything without life. In some grammar studies, the word also marks nouns for living things (such as 'dog' or 'child') as a separate group from nouns for objects.
Bram sorted the museum cards into animate creatures and lifeless minerals.
Bram 把博物館的卡片分成有生命的生物與無生命的礦物兩類。
animate + noun, contrasted with lifeless
In some languages, animate nouns like 'dog' take a different ending from words for stones or chairs.
在某些語言裡，像「狗」這種指有生命事物的名詞，字尾會跟石頭、椅子等用語不一樣。
grammar context: animate nouns
The forest felt animate to Hiro: birds called, leaves shook, and small feet rushed past his boots.
在 Hiro 看來，整座森林彷彿是有生命的：鳥在叫、葉子搖晃，小腳掌從他靴邊跑過。
Children often treat their toys as if they were animate, talking to dolls during long car trips.
孩子常把玩具當成有生命的對象，在長途車程裡一路跟洋娃娃講話。
Doctors must distinguish animate tissue from material that has already died.
醫師必須分辨還有生命的組織與已經壞死的部分。
文法句型
animate + noun
be animate
用法筆記
Mostly used in formal, scientific, or grammatical writing; in everyday speech, 'living' or 'alive' is far more common. Often paired with an explicit contrast such as 'inanimate', 'lifeless', or 'plant'.
常見錯誤
animate — 動詞
1. to give the appearance of movement to a drawing, model, or computer image — for
製作動畫
讓圖畫或模型在影片中看起來會動
to give the appearance of movement to a drawing, model, or computer image — for example, by drawing many slightly different pictures shown in fast sequence, or by moving a 3D figure inside special software.
Studio Ghibli artists still animate many scenes by hand on paper before scanning them.
吉卜力工作室的畫師目前仍會先在紙上手繪許多畫面，再掃描進電腦做成動畫。
animate + scenes (hand-drawn)
Omar uses a free program on his laptop to animate short cartoons about his cat.
Omar 用筆電上的一套免費軟體，把自家貓咪做成短篇動畫。
animate + cartoons (software)
It took two weeks to animate a single dragon flying across the castle wall.
光是讓一條龍飛過城牆的那一幕做成動畫，就花了整整兩週。
The team animated the puppet by moving its head a tiny bit between every photo.
團隊一張張拍照，每張之間只把布偶的頭轉一點點，就這樣把它做成停格動畫。
Modern game studios animate characters using sensors strapped to real actors.
現代遊戲工作室會在真人演員身上裝感應器，再依數據把角色做成動畫。
文法句型
animate + noun (character/object/scene)
用法筆記
Object is almost always something visual: a character, object, scene, logo, or short clip. The related noun 'animation' and adjective 'animated' are far more common in everyday speech than the verb itself.
常見錯誤
2. to fill a person, group, place, or activity with visible energy and feeling, so
使活絡；激勵
讓人、地方或活動變得熱絡、有生氣
to fill a person, group, place, or activity with visible energy and feeling, so that it becomes lively, interesting, or strongly motivated.
A surprise question from a student animated the whole lecture hall within seconds.
一位學生提出的意外問題，幾秒內就讓整間演講廳熱絡了起來。
animate + place/event
Coach Lopez knew exactly how to animate a tired team before the second half.
Lopez 教練很清楚怎麼在下半場前讓疲憊的球隊重新燃起鬥志。
animate + group of people
Her speech was animated by a deep belief that small towns deserved better trains.
她的演講之所以充滿力量，是因為她深信小鎮也應該擁有更好的火車。
Bright paper lanterns and street music animated the quiet square on Saturday night.
鮮豔的紙燈籠和街頭音樂，讓星期六晚上原本安靜的廣場熱鬧了起來。
Reading the children's letters animated the old writer more than any prize ever had.
讀著孩子們寄來的信，比任何獎項都更能激勵這位老作家。
文法句型
animate + noun (person/place/discussion)
be animated by + noun
用法筆記
Frequently passive in the form 'be animated by + [belief, hope, anger]', describing what drives a person rather than what energises them physically. Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is about feeling and energy, not about making drawings move on screen.