關鍵字彙：
bristle up/ chagrin/ choleric/ churlish/ fume/ glum/ infuriate/ irascible/ ire/ irritable/ morose/ nettle/ peevish/ petulant/ pique/ provoke/ resentment/ rouse/ spleen/ sulky/ sullen/ surly/ tantrum/ touchy/ wrath
1. 英文中有好些字表示「易怒的」或「暴躁的」，例如：irritable、petulant 、irascible、touchy、peevish、choleric、surly和churlish。其中，surly還暗示著粗魯和不友善，常給人一臉凶相的感覺。此外，生氣固然不好，但有些情況和人是可以被諒解的，例如人對於連日壞天氣所顯示的煩躁和小孩、病人等的易怒等。但有些生氣卻很莫名其妙，churlish所暗示的就屬這種，這個字也比較常用在具有文學意味的語句中：
•The nasty weather made us all irritable.
•The feverish patient was petulant and restless.
•His irascible temper frightened his friends.
•Even petty things made Peter irascible.
•Do not discuss this phase of the problem as she is very touchy about it.
•The peevish child makes everyone in the family unhappy.
•Gentle and considerate as he was, David might sometimes offend his choleric friend Tom.
•Because of his surly temper, many people avoided his company.
•Dismayed by his churlish manners at the party, the girls vowed never to invite him again.
2. 「悶悶不樂的」或「生悶氣的」可用sulky、sullen、morose或glum。其中，glum是較不正式的用字：
•Being spoiled, the children became sulky when they could not have their own way.
•The child stalked out in sullen silence after being reprimanded.
•He was shunned because of his morose temper.
•When we first meet Hamlet, we find him morose and depressed.
•"You look very glum. What's up?" "I've just lost my money."
3. 「激怒」可用provoke、infuriate、rouse或nettle：
•The mayor's sarcastic answer provoked an outburst of rage among the city councilmen.
•The student's rudeness infuriated his teacher.
•Anyone will be roused to anger by his sarcastic remarks.
•Don't let him nettle you again with his sarcastic remarks.
•The audience nettled the speaker with rude questions.
•The poet was nettled by his critics.
4. 在文學的情境中，可用ire和wrath表示名詞「生氣」：
•She buried her ire and remained silent.
•Ancients believed that gods who were displeased could vent their wrath on humans.
5. 因為感覺受到侮辱等所引起的生氣可用resentment或pique。或許pique更強調自尊心的受傷：
•He showed resentment at what he considered an unwarranted insult.
•She showed her pique by her refusal to appear with the other contestants at the end of the contest.
6. 表示突然而失控的氣憤，也就是「暴怒」，可用spleen或tantrum。tantrum尤其用來指小孩：
•The dog is innocent; don't vent your spleen on it.
•The boy learned that he could have almost anything if he went into tantrums.
7. 形容一種由於未能如願或失敗而導致的不悅情緒，也就是「懊惱」，用chagrin：
•His refusal to go with us filled us with chagrin.
8. 生氣到「毛髮直豎」，也就是「怒髮衝冠」，用bristle up；氣到（頭上等）「冒煙」，用fume：
•His hair bristled up with anger.
•She bristled up at the remark.
•She was fuming with annoyance because the books had not arrived.
•He fumed at the delay.
•"Was he angry?" "Yes, he was really fuming."
•Why is he always fuming about trifles?
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