snowball
snowball — 名詞
1. a round mass made by pressing loose snow tightly together with your hands, used
雪球
用手捏緊的雪團，用來丟擲玩耍
a round mass made by pressing loose snow tightly together with your hands, used for play or for throwing at other people in a game
Yan pressed the fresh snow into a hard snowball and threw it at the fence.
Yan 將剛下的雪捏成堅硬的雪球，朝圍欄丟過去。
snowball as a direct object of 'press' and 'throw'
A snowball hit Rohan on the shoulder as he walked across the schoolyard.
Rohan 走過校園時，一顆雪球打中了他的肩膀。
snowball as subject of 'hit'
The children rolled a giant snowball down the hill until it broke apart.
孩子們把一個巨大的雪球滾下山坡，直到它碎裂開來。
Making a snowball is much easier when the snow is wet and sticky.
當雪又濕又黏的時候，做雪球就容易多了。
Ada caught the snowball that Beatriz threw toward her and tossed it back.
Ada 接住了 Beatriz 朝她丟來的雪球，然後又扔了回去。
文法句型
a + snowball
plural: snowballs
用法筆記
The noun is countable: you can have one snowball or several snowballs. Usually associated with children's winter play.
snowball — 動詞
1. if a situation, problem, activity, or rumour starts small but quickly becomes mu
急速膨脹
情況或問題快速擴大、變得嚴重
if a situation, problem, activity, or rumour starts small but quickly becomes much larger, more serious, or more widespread
What began as a friendly debate about music quickly snowballed into a loud argument.
原本只是一場關於音樂的友誼辯論，很快就演變成激烈的爭吵。
snowball + into + noun phrase
The company's debt snowballed after it borrowed more money to cover earlier losses.
這家公司的債務急速膨脹，因為它借了更多錢來償還先前的虧損。
Rumours about the mayor's spending habits snowballed across the whole town within a week.
關於市長花錢習慣的謠言，一個星期內就迅速傳遍了整個小鎮。
Without rain for months, the drought continued to snowball, affecting farms all over the region.
好幾個月沒下雨，乾旱問題持續惡化，影響了該地區的所有農場。
A small misunderstanding between the two departments snowballed into a company-wide problem.
兩個部門之間的一個小誤會，最後演變成全公司的大問題。
文法句型
snowball + into + noun phrase
snowball + from + noun phrase
用法筆記
Frequently used with 'into' to describe the result of the growth. Subject is usually an abstract noun (rumour, problem, argument, debt, conflict). Does not take a direct object.
常見錯誤
2. in a winter game, to hit a person by throwing a ball of packed snow at them
丟雪球
互相丟擲雪球玩耍
in a winter game, to hit a person by throwing a ball of packed snow at them
The younger kids snowballed each other until their teacher told them to stop.
年紀較小的孩子們互相丟雪球，直到老師叫他們停下來。
reciprocal: snowballed each other
Cyrus got snowballed by a group of classmates as soon as he stepped outside.
Cyrus 一走到外面，就被一群同學用雪球砸了。
passive: got snowballed
A few teenagers were snowballing cars that drove slowly along the icy road.
有幾個青少年朝著在結冰路上緩慢行駛的汽車丟雪球。
Femi apologised after he accidentally snowballed a neighbour who was clearing her path.
Femi 不小心用雪球砸到一位正在清理門前步道的鄰居，隨後向她道歉。
- pelt
more general; to throw things at someone repeatedly, not limited to snow
文法句型
snowball + someone
get snowballed
用法筆記
Unlike verb sense 1 (GROW QUICKLY), this sense always involves literal snow. Often used in the past continuous or passive. The subject is typically a person or group of people.