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| 2010/10/04 10:41:47瀏覽1974｜回應0｜推薦2 | |
在 Macmillan-Webster 字典的網頁上, 看到一個標題 “Do these words stump you too?”恩, 會讓人覺得困惑的英文字, 應該挺有趣的, 大家來試試看: 1. To provide more details, should you flush out or flesh out your plan? Answer: flesh out 這個詞可以想到 flesh out a skeleton (骨架成為肉身), To flesh out something is to give it substance, or to make it fuller or more nearly complete. 賦予實質或更完整的內質; 至於flush out 則指離開隱蔽之處( to cause it to leave a hiding place), 比如 "The birds were flushed out of the tree."(鳥兒飛出樹叢）如果用得更生動( It can also be used figuratively),可以說“使真理從誨暗中呈現” (flush out the truth) 2. Do your shoes compliment or complement your outfit? Answer: complement 如果有e 字母 (with an "e") 表示某件事配得另一件事, (If one thing complements another, it completes that thing) 就像鞋子合腳（ the shoes complete your outfit, or make it perfect); 但是若用 “i” 就是稱讚他人啦(If you compliment something, you express admiration for it.) 一但當贈品就要用“complimentary” (And when something is given free as a courtesy or favor, it's complimentary.) 3. Do the appetizers precede or proceed the main course? Answer: precede 考慮字首 (the prefix), pre–.表示 "earlier than," or "before" – as we can see in a phrase like preexisting condition, or in the word prefix itself. To precede is to go or come before, or to be earlier than. proceed 字根則表示 "to go forward," 像 "Let's now proceed with the meal."句中咎表示進行之意。 4. He does nothing accept or except complain? Answer: except 也許只要記住 except 與exception 的關聯(Keep in mind the link between except and exception.) 5. Is this room hotter than or then a sauna? Answer: than 6. Is an overly-elaborate plan best described as torturous or tortuous? Answer: tortuous Torturous有第二個r, (with a second "r") 就是來自 “torture” （really does suggest torture, the word it comes from. ) It's reserved for things that are very unpleasant, painful, difficult, or slow. But something that is tricky, complicated, or circuitous – such as an overly elaborate plan – is tortuous. 想想 twists and turns這兩個字, 另外也可想到相關字 torque, 意思是旋轉之意“ rotate”. 7. Is danger imminent or eminent? Answer: imminent Think of the first syllables of immediately and imminent to remember that imminent means "about to occur"(即將發生） – often in a threatening sense.(有被威脅的意味） Eminent means "prominent" or "famous."(有名的） As it happens, these words have a shared root: -minent comes from a Latin word meaning "to project" or "to stand out." In imminent, this root originally suggested something like a threatening overhang above your head; in eminent it suggested something conspicuous. 8. Does the process involve a number of discrete or discreet steps? Answer: discrete 如何記得這兩個字呢？Try this one: "discrete" means "separate" – so picture the letter "e," divided from its twin in both discrete and separate. Discreet has an entirely different meaning: it's often used to describe something not likely to be seen or noticed (e.g., "He made discreet inquiries about the job"). 9. Does the manager persecute or prosecute the employees? Answer: persecute 如何記得這兩個字呢？ prosecute(用此字需有合法的過程, 一般公司經理是沒有的) someone you need a legal process, something most managers don't have. To persecute is to harass people or treat them unfairly or cruelly. Not surprisingly, given these words' similar meanings and spellings, persecute and prosecute share an ancestor: they both come from a Latin word meaning "to pursue."（當然追本遡源, 仍來自拉丁字, 係“追逐” 之意。 10. Did the speaker loose or lose his train of thought? Answer: lose 11. If you treat convention with disdain, are you flouting or flaunting the rules? Answer: flouting 美國前總統Bush也曾把這兩個字搞錯, flout 嘲笑 flaunt 炫耀 12. Does the weather affect or effect your mood? Answer: affect The simplest distinction is that“affect" is almost always a verb, and “effect" is usually a noun. Effect 較明顯用作名詞, 作為結果來用, 但有時它也可當動詞, 意思是“使某事發生”(cause something to happen), 如“The new president effected (=made, caused) many changes to the company."新總裁對公司做了諸多改革。 13. If you receive an appropriate punishment, did you get your just deserts or just desserts? Answer: just deserts How to Remember It: 此字與沙漠或仙人掌無關(This word is unrelated to deserts of the sand and cactus kind,) 更非餐後甜點( and it isn't about the desserts that provide a sweet finish to a meal.) Instead, this deserts comes from the same word that gave us deserve. (Oddly, it's pronounced like desserts.) 14. Do you buy your writing paper in a store that sells stationary or stationery? Answer: stationery Meanwhile, the adjective stationary has always been used to describe what is fixed, immobile, or static. Here's another way to remember it: stationery is spelled with an "e," like the envelopes that often come with it. 15. If you're getting shot at by antiaircraft guns, or receiving unfriendly criticism, are you taking flak or flack? Answer: flak hat use of flak in English dates back to 1938. In the decades after the war it took on its civilian meaning of "criticism." (A flack, meanwhile, is a PR agent or someone who provides publicity.) 16. The car won't start because its battery, or it's battery, is dead? Answer:its 17. When you're attentively studying, are you poring over or pouring over the materials? Answer: poring One reason this word trips us up is that both pour and pore are often followed by over. But in this case it probably helps to think literally. When we're intently studying something, nothing is actually pouring (i.e., flowing, leaking) onto the object of study; in fact, if something did pour onto what you're poring over, your task would be far more difficult. The less familiar verb pore is correct. (Pore actually has the same root as pour, but of course that only adds to the confusion.) 18. Does the average American family have less than two kids or fewer than two kids? Answer: fewer How to Remember It: Fewer refers to things that can be counted (fewer kids, fewer chairs). Less usually refers to quantities of things that can't be counted (less coffee, less agitation). 似乎很清楚 However, under certain circumstances less, not fewer, is more commonly used with countable things. For example: Less than twenty miles, less than five dollars, and 1500 words or less, are considered standard. 然而卻真是不易區分呀 19. If your ship fills with water and sinks, does it flounder or founder? Answer: founder When something founders, it loses its foundation. (Founder and foundation have the same root.) To founder is to collapse, sink, or fail. One source of confusion here is that the meaning of the verb flounder is similar: to flounder is to struggle to move or get one's footing, or to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually. 注意了, 人會“ flounder” , 船則“founder” (People can flounder, but ships founder.) 20. Is the person in charge of a school the principal or the principle? Answer: principal 這對我們應該不太會混淆吧 |
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