- 1（聲音）平板、毫無起伏、聽不出情緒的
A toneless voice is flat. It gives away nothing — no anger, no sadness, no interest, no rise and fall at the end of sentences. Everything comes out on one level.
A toneless voice is flatA toneless voice是平板的聲音。It gives away nothing它什麼都不透露——no anger, no sadness, no interest, no rise and fall at the end of sentences沒有生氣、沒有難過、沒有興趣，句尾也沒有起伏。Everything comes out on one level所有東西都用同一個平面說出來。
Writers use the word a great deal, and almost always to tell you something is wrong: a person answers 'toneless' after bad news, or after they have been asked the same question fifty times, or because they are hiding what they feel. It is a colder word than 'flat' and a much colder word than 'quiet'.
Writers use the word a great deal作家大量使用這個字，and almost always to tell you something is wrong而且幾乎都是在告訴你哪裡不對勁：a person answers 'toneless' after bad news一個人在聽到壞消息後'toneless'地回答，or after they have been asked the same question fifty times或是在同一個問題被問了五十次之後，or because they are hiding what they feel或是因為他在隱藏自己的感受。It is a colder word than 'flat'它比'flat'還要冷，and a much colder word than 'quiet'比'quiet'更冷上許多。
Note that toneless is not about volume. Someone can speak toneless and loud. It is about the shape of the voice, not its size.
Note that toneless is not about volume要注意toneless跟音量無關。Someone can speak toneless and loud一個人可以說話又toneless又大聲。It is about the shape of the voice它講的是聲音的形狀，not its size不是聲音的大小。
The word can stretch to other things — a toneless grey, a toneless room — meaning without colour or life, but that is rare and literary; nine times out of ten you will meet it attached to a voice or to the way something is said.
The word can stretch to other things這個字也可以延伸到其他事物上——a toneless grey, a toneless room像a toneless grey(死氣沉沉的灰)、a toneless room(死氣沉沉的房間)——meaning without colour or life意思是沒有色彩或生氣，but that is rare and literary不過這種用法少見、偏文學性；nine times out of ten you will meet it attached to a voice or to the way something is said十次裡有九次，你遇到它時都是黏在聲音，或說話方式上。
The adverb 'tonelessly' is just as common: 'she said it tonelessly'.
The adverb 'tonelessly' is just as common副詞'tonelessly'同樣常見：'she said it tonelessly''she said it tonelessly'(她面無表情地說出那句話)。
core核心畫面
組成tone（語調、聲音的高低起伏）+ -less（沒有）— without tone. The -less ending goes back to Old English -lēas, related to 'loose': cut free of something, so, lacking it.
原始詞典資料3 筆記錄
以下是外部詞典記錄的用法，摘錄並精簡格式，我們還沒有寫成教學內容。上面的說明才是我們自己寫的；有些用法可能上面已經講過了。
tonelessadj
- 1
Lacking tone or expression.
- And sure enough she had settled down at once, so that in less than two months it seemed to Stephen that Miss Puddleton must always have been at Morton, must always have been sitting at the large walnut table, must always have been saying in that dry, toneless voice with the Oxford accent: ‘You’ve forgotten something, Stephen,’ […]
- The Cumshewa totem poles were dark and colourless, the wood toneless from pouring rain.
- 2
Lacking vitality; listless; lifeless.
- 3
human-scienceslinguisticssciencesLacking tone or pitch, have the neutral tone.
摘錄自 英文維基詞典 English Wiktionary，已精簡格式；依 CC BY-SA 4.0 授權使用，改動後的內容同樣以此授權提供。