instant是一个雅思常考词汇，这个词的常用解释为a. 立即的； 紧迫的； (食品) 速溶的n. 瞬间， 时刻，这个词在很多英文原版小说中怎么应用呢，今天小编就带您了解一下。
在赫尔曼·梅尔维尔的《白鲸》里，有这样的句子出现：
-- Halting for an instant at the foot of the ladder, and with both hands grasping the ornamental knobs of the man-ropes, Father Mapple cast a look upwards, and then with a truly sailor-like but still reverential dexterity, hand over hand, mounted the steps as if ascending the main-top of his vessel.
-- Oh!how that harmless question mangles Jonah!For the instant he almost turns to flee again.
-- It flew from right to left, and back again, almost in one ticking of a watch, and every instant seemed on the point of snapping into splinters.
-- The fire hissed in the waves; the same instant the ship shot by the bubble the sinking pipe made.
-- Then ranging them before him near the capstan, with their harpoons in their hands, while his three mates stood at his side with their lances, and the rest of the ship's company formed a circle round the group; he stood for an instant searchingly eyeing every man of his crew.
在查尔斯·狄更斯的《雾都孤儿》里，有这样的句子出现：
-- Oliver was ordered into instant confinement; and a bill was next morning pasted on the outside of the gate, offering a reward of five pounds to anybody who would take Oliver Twist off the hands of the parish.
-- If he had hesitated for one instant to punish Oliver most severely, it must be quite clear to every experienced reader that he would have been, according to all precedents in disputes of matrimony established, a brute, an unnatural husband, an insulting creature, a base imitation of a man, and various other agreeable characters too numerous for recital within the limits of this chapter.
-- Oliver got up; walked across the room; and stooped for an instant to raise the pitcher.
-- In an instant the whole mystery of the hankerchiefs, and the watches, and the jewels, and the Jew, rushed upon the boy's mind.
-- In the very instant when Oliver began to run, the old gentleman, putting his hand to his pocket, and missing his handkerchief, turned sharp round.
在简·奥斯汀的《傲慢与偏见》里，有这样的句子出现：
-- He paused in hopes of an answer; but his companion was not disposed to make any; and Elizabeth at that instant moving towards them, he was struck with the action of do-ing a very gallant thing, and called out to her: 'My dear Miss Eliza, why are you not dancing?
-- But in an instant arose the dreadful suspicion of his being purposely omitted for Mr. Darcy's pleasure in the Bingleys' invitation to the officers; and though this was not exactly the case, the absolute fact of his absence was pronounced by his friend Denny, to whom Lydia eagerly ap-plied, and who told them that Wickham had been obliged to go to town on business the day before, and was not yet returned; adding, with a significant smile, 'I do not imagine his business would have called him away just now, if he had not wanted to avoid a certain gentleman here.'
-- I must find Mr. Gardiner this moment, on business that cannot be delayed; I have not an instant to lose.'
在丹尼尔·笛福的《鲁滨逊漂流记》里，有这样的句子出现：
-- We made signs of thanks to them, for we had nothing to make them amends; but an opportunity offered that very instant to oblige them wonderfully; for while we were lying by the shore came two mighty creatures, one pursuing the other (as we took it) with great fury from the mountains to-wards the sea; whether it was the male pursuing the female, or whether they were in sport or in rage, we could not tell, any more than we could tell whether it was usual or strange, but I believe it was the latter; because, in the first place, those ravenous creatures seldom appear but in the night; and, in the second place, we found the people terribly frighted, es-pecially the women.
-- He fell to work; and in an instant he had scraped a hole in the sand with his hands big enough to bury the first in, and then dragged him into it, and covered him; and did so by the other also; I believe he had him buried them both in a quarter of an hour.
在简·奥斯汀的《理智与情感》里，有这样的句子出现：
-- Every thing was silent; this could not be borne many seconds; she opened the door, advanced a few steps towards the stairs, and after listening half a minute, returned into the room in all the agitation which a conviction of having heard him would naturally produce; in the ecstasy of her feelings at that instant she could not help exclaiming, "Oh, Elinor, it is Willoughby, indeed it is!"
-- He made no reply; his complexion changed and all his embarrassment returned; but as if, on catching the eye of the young lady with whom he had been previously talking, he felt the necessity of instant exertion, he recovered himself again, and after saying, "Yes, I had the pleasure of receiving the information of your arrival in town, which you were so good as to send me," turned hastily away with a slight bow and joined his friend.
-- He came, examined his patient, and though encouraging Miss Dashwood to expect that a very few days would restore her sister to health, yet, by pronouncing her disorder to have a putrid tendency, and allowing the word "infection" to pass his lips, gave instant alarm to Mrs. Palmer, on her baby's account.
-- She saw them in an instant in their parsonage-house; saw in Lucy, the active, contriving manager, uniting at once a desire of smart appearance with the utmost frugality, and ashamed to be suspected of half her economical practices; pursuing her own interest in every thought, courting the favour of Colonel Brandon, of Mrs. Jennings, and of every wealthy friend.
在西奥多·德莱塞的《嘉莉妹妹》里，有这样的句子出现：
-- In an instant there was a buzz of action and conversation.
-- In an instant his persuasive, conciliatory manner fled.
-- The remembrance of how this individual brought up his wife to shake hands on that occasion was also on the instant clear.
-- With the idea thus grounded, rent day approaching, and clothes calling for instant purchase, she soon found excuse in Hurstwood's lassitude.
-- The humour of the memory fled in an instant and he felt ashamed.
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