【新書推薦】

生活中我們經常會有靈光閃現的時刻，突然會想到某個主意。今天我們就來學習學習在英語裡如何表達“想到（a thought or idea comes into our mind）”。

1）We'll start with the verb strike. If a thought or idea strikes you, it suddenly comes into your mind（突然想到）:

That was when the thought struck him. （就在那時，我突然有了這個想法。）

Like other verbs with this meaning, 'strike' is often used in the structure 'It struck someone that…':

It struck me that Dan might not be the best person for the job. （我突然覺得，丹可能不是這份工作的最佳人選。）

2）Another very common way of saying this is the phrasal verb occur to（突然想到）. Again, the structure that we often use is 'It occurred to someone that…':

It occurred to me that we could invite Sophia. （我突然想到，我們可以邀請索菲亞。）

Interestingly, we often use 'occur to' in negative phrases to describe thoughts and ideas that we didn't have or we failed to have at a particular time（occur to可以用在否定句中，表示在過去某個時候沒有想到）:

I felt so bad – it never occurred to me that she would be upset. （我很難過——我從未想過她會很傷心。）

It didn't occur to me to leave the keys under the mat. （我當時沒想到可以把鑰匙放到墊子底下。）

3）A number of idioms also convey this meaning. One such expression is cross your mind. If something crosses your mind, you think of it（想起）:

I didn't actually leave, but the thought certainly crossed my mind. （我其實並沒有走，但是我肯定有過要走的念頭。）

Like 'strike' and 'occur to', this idiom often takes the form 'It … that':

It crossed my mind that he might not want to come. （我曾想，他也許並不想來。）

Again, this idiom is also often used in negative phrases（cross one's mind也用於否定句中）:

It didn't cross my mind that she might lie to me. （我未曾想過，她會對我撒謊。）

It never once crossed my mind to tell her. （我從未想過要告訴她。）

4）Two other 'mind' idioms are spring to mind and come to mind. Thoughts and images that spring to mind or come to mind come quickly into your mind（很快想到）:

When I think of David Bowie, that's the track that immediately springs to mind. （當我想到David Bowie時，馬上就想到了線索。）

She asked me if I had any suggestions, but nothing came to mind. （她問我有何建議，而我卻腦子一片空白。）

5）Finally, people sometimes say that a thought or image flashes across/ through their mind, meaning that it suddenly enters their mind. This is often used of a frightening or worrying idea or image（因害怕或擔心腦子裡閃現）:

Scenes from the accident flashed across my mind. （我腦子裡老出現事故的場景。）

It flashed through my mind that I might not see him again. （我突然一想，可能再也見不到他了。）