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生活中我们经常会有灵光闪现的时刻，突然会想到某个主意。今天我们就来学习学习在英语里如何表达“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. （就在那时，我突然有了这个想法。）

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. （我突然觉得，丹可能不是这份工作的最佳人选。）

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，我们可以邀请索菲亚。）

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，表示在过去某个时候没有想到）:

I felt so bad – it never occurred to me that she would be upset. （我很难过——我从未想过她会很伤心。）

It didn't occur to me to leave the keys under the mat. （我当时没想到可以把钥匙放到垫子底下。）

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. （我其实并没有走，但是我肯定有过要走的念头。）

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，他也许并不想来。）

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

It didn't cross my mind that she might lie to me. （我未曾想过，她会对我撒谎。）

It never once crossed my mind to tell her. （我从未想过要告诉她。）

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. （当我想到David Bowie时，马上就想到了线索。）

She asked me if I had any suggestions, but nothing came to mind. （她问我有何建议，而我却脑子一片空白。）

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（因害怕或担心脑子里闪现）:

Scenes from the accident flashed across my mind. （我脑子里老出现事故的场景。）

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