■ elusive

这个形容词现在用得很多，它的词义，可以从中文的“花非花”、“偶尔露峥嵘”、“闪闪烁烁”、“出没无常”、“似有若无”、“可望而不可即”中体会细味。

• The answer existed. It was there. Hidden, elusive, but waiting to be found. (…) And Vincent Lord, after ten years' searching, believed he was close to that elusive answer.答案是有的。它就在那里，似在非在，但是的确在等待人家找到它。(…) 而文森·罗德经过十年的探索，相信自己快要找到这个若隐若现的答案了。
• Failures are more finely etched in our minds than triumphs, and success is an elusive, if not mythic, goal in our demanding society. (Hugh Drummond)失败比胜利更加细致地铭刻在我们的意识里面，而成功在我们这个苛刻的社会里则是一个捉摸不定甚至是虚幻的目标。
• Despite a massive effort, stability in Iraq remains elusive and the situation is deteriorating. (Bipartisan Iraq Study Group, Dec. 6, 2006)尽管进行了大规模的努力，伊拉克的稳定仍然可望而不可即，局势正在恶化。