eclipse 此字在日常生活中不太常用，卻是備考 IELTS/TOEFL 等英檢類聽力、閱讀的必通字。這是因為 IELTS/TOEFL 的聽力和閱讀素材包括天文地理等知識，意指「日／月蝕」的 eclipse 自然成為重要的高頻字彙。

考點 1    

最常考的意思是名詞的用法，指「日／月蝕」。

例如：A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and our planet, thus completely obscuring the suns light from reaching certain areas on Earth at a given time.，若了解此意，在閱讀速度上自然可提升不少。參照〈釋義A ▶ 例1〉

考點 2    

英檢中也會出現動詞的用法，意為「使失色」。

例如：The young boy was glad to have eclipsed his older brothers as the tallest child in the family, as he had always been the slowest to grow out of all of the children. ，其中 eclipsed 可能會考選出同義字，答案為 outshined。參照〈釋義D ▶ 例9〉

 釋義A    an occasion where a (celestial) body is obscured while passing into the shadow of other bodies or objects （進入）日／月蝕 

例1 ▶ A total solar eclipse occurs when the moon passes between the sun and our planet, thus completely obscuring the suns light from reaching certain areas on Earth at a given time.
當月球經過太陽和地球之間時，就會發生日全食，從而完全遮擋太陽光，使其無法在特定時間到達地球上的某些區域。

例2 ▶ Researchers advise that viewers of the solar eclipse must shield their eyes with special protective glasses, because directly viewing the sun is still harmful even if it is entirely covered by the moon.
研究人員建議，觀看日食的人必須戴上特殊的防護眼鏡來保護眼睛，因為即使太陽完全被月亮遮住，直視太陽仍然有害。

例3 ▶ Although the galaxy has been observed in the past, there have been certain details obscured in our study due to the lack of light caused by the eclipses of extraterrestrial objects in space that obstruct our view.
雖然過去曾觀察到該星系，但由於太空中外星體的日食導致光線不足，遮擋了我們的視線，因此我們的研究中有一些細節被掩蓋了。

 釋義B    a state in which something/someone becomes less important relative to other(s) rising in power, ability, or significance 被遮蔽、黯然失色 

例4 ▶ The returning champions brief celebration was thrown into eclipse by the entrance of a young athlete whose recent achievements broke numerous world records and skyrocketed him into stardom.
這位回歸冠軍的短暫慶祝活動因一位年輕運動員的入場而黯然失色，後者最近的成就打破了無數世界紀錄，並使他一躍成為明星。

例5 ▶ Although the old singer remained popular with his loyal fan base, his inevitable eclipse was expedited by a wave of young talents marketed through viral platforms in social media.
儘管這位老歌手仍然受到忠實歌迷的歡迎，但透過社交媒體上病毒式行銷推廣出的一群年輕人才，加速了他不可避免的黯然失色。

例6 ▶ It is natural that new TV shows released in todays market will have a rapid rise and eclipse, due to the exponentially increasing number of titles introduced to viewers every few days.
由於每隔幾天就會有大量新的電視節目推出，因此今天市場上推出的新電視節目往往會迅速崛起和衰微。

 eclipse 的動詞 (v.) 用法

 釋義C    to obscure the light from one (celestial) body to another 遮住......的光 

例7 ▶ Numerous celestial objects eclipsed our view of the incoming asteroid and interfered with calculations for which possible paths may be safe for the space shuttle to follow.
許多天體遮蔽了我們對接近的小行星的觀測，也干擾了去計算哪些可能路徑對太空梭來說是安全的。

例8 ▶ As the last rays of sunlight were slowly eclipsed by the moon, the city entered into a bewildering, temporary darkness.
隨著最後一絲陽光被月亮慢慢遮住，城市陷入了一種令人困惑的暫時黑暗。

 釋義D    to deprive something/someone of power, importance, or standing 使失色 

例9 ▶ The young boy was glad to have eclipsed his older brothers as the tallest child in the family, as he had always been the slowest to grow out of all of the children.
這個小男孩很高興超越他的哥哥們成為家裡最高的孩子，因為他一直是所有孩子中長得最慢的。

例10 ▶ While the death of the prominent author was a devastating blow to the literary world, the event was eclipsed by the shocking news of a failed terrorist attack at a plaza in London.
雖然這位知名作家的逝世對文學界來說是個嚴重的打擊，但這件事情因倫敦廣場恐怖襲擊失敗的驚人消息而顯得無足輕重了。

例11 ▶ Gaming consoles rose significantly in popularity throughout the pandemic, so no one was shocked when reports showed that MacBook sales numbers were eclipsed by those of the PS5.
在疫情期間，遊戲主機受歡迎的程度大幅提升，因此當報告顯示 PS5 的銷售數量超過了 MacBook 時，沒有人感到驚訝。

 釋義E    (literary) to block out light （文學）完全遮蔽光／亮 

例12 ▶ It was an ordinary day for the townspeople until a monstrous swarm of crows eclipsed the blue of the entire sky above them.
對於鎮民來說，那是個平凡的日子，直到一大群可怕的烏鴉群籠罩整片天空，將藍天完全遮蔽。

例13 ▶ The cave was hopelessly black, and the explorers limited light sources seems to be almost entirely eclipsed by the unending darkness before them.
洞穴中一片黑暗，探險家手中微弱的燈光似乎被前方無盡的黑暗所完全掩蓋。