not a thing

基本解释

Time is not a thing we have lost. It is not a thing we ever had. It is what we live in.
时间不是我们遗失的东西。时间不是我们曾拥有的东西。我们生活在时间之中。
Maybe it’s not a thing; maybe it is giving up the lack of discipline when it comes to your finances, or your health, or your Bible study.
可能不是一个具体的东西；也许你缺乏训练，缺乏财务上的训练，健康上的，或圣经学习上的训练，而这就是你要舍弃和改变的。
But morethan that; "utility" is not a thing or an entity; it is simply thename for a subjective evaluation in the mind of each individual.
而且不仅如此，“效用”不是一个东西或一个实体；它仅仅是一个名词，用来形容每个人头脑中的主观判断。

If a drafted man could not do either thing, then he must join the army or be shot as a deserter.
Well, innovation is a process, not a thing, with a company like ours.
对我们这样的公司来说，创新是过程而非结果。
斯坦福公开课 - 戴尔CEO-Michael.Dell谈创业和发展课程节选
De Man does not believe this. De Man thinks, on the contrary, that there is such a thing as literariness.
德曼不相信这个，反之，他认为，有书面性这种东西存在。
耶鲁公开课 - 文学理论导论课程节选

You make news of something which is not news, which is not a thing in Netherlands.
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