【每日一词】MacGuffin - something in a film that moves the plot (= story) forward but is not important itself
麦高芬（指推动电影情节发展，但本身并不重要的细节）；an object, event, or character in a film or story that serves to set and keep the plot in motion despite usually lacking intrinsic importance
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麦高芬（英语：MacGuffin）是一个电影用语，指在电影中可以推展剧情的对象、人物、或目标，例如一个众角色争夺的东西，而关于这个对象、人物、或目标的详细说明不一定重要，有些作品会有交代，有些作品则不会，只要是对电影中众角色很重要，可以让剧情发展即可算是麦高芬。
麦高芬最常用于惊悚片，通常是视频第一幕中的焦点，此后重要性渐渐降低。在故事的高潮部分可能会重现，但有时候直到片尾也不会再次现身。
Examples of MacGuffin in a Sentence
1 The show’s main flaw is its MacGuffin, which turns out to be not an object (like the falcon) but rather a small and terrified Algerian boy (Ismaël Berqouch) whom everyone, including the Vatican, is trying to kidnap.—Lili Loofbourow, Washington Post, 22 Jan. 2024
2 Beyond Grey’s Anatomy and his cameos on Shonda Rhimes’ sister series Station 19, McKidd has voiced Lord MacGuffin in Disney Pixar’s Brave and joined his former Grey’s costar Katherine Heigl in 2015’s Home Sweet Hell.—Zoey Lyttle, Peoplemag, 19 Dec. 2023
3 According to Deadline, the film was the MacGuffin in a bidding war between streamers, before landing at Netflix.—Vulture, 26 Nov. 2023
4 The three lords of the kingdom – Dingwall, Macintosh and MacGuffin – are the unruly, overzealous leaders of their respective clans. 丁瓦、麦金和麦葛是王国里三个不太守规矩，过分热心的部落首领。
5 Another is that such a seemingly significant plot point as the identity of the invaders is actually as interchangeable as a MacGuffin. 另外，如此一个似乎很重要的情节问题——入侵者身份，竟然如麦高芬般可随便置换。