英语用词的千变万化

词汇变化1．多种表达尽管许多大学生学完四级英语后基本掌握了4000个以上的词汇，但只这是认知、识别而言，而就产出交流来说，就少得多了。

一遇到要表达“许多”“大量”的意思，就只会用“many”，“a lot of”，一碰到要写“越来越多”，就马上用more and more。

比如：“More and more people who become more and more rich can buy more and more TV sets”这种用词单调的句子在学生习作中随处可见。

实际上英语中表示“许多”、“大量”、“大多数”意思的有相当多的词汇和短语：a) Greatness is built upon tremendous amount of study, practice anddevotion.b) A Chinese philosopher once remarked that a leader must have the graceof a good dancer, and there is a great deal of wisdom to this.c) The companies often run into conflicts--a multitude of little thingsthat escalate into big battles.d) Her function is to pass on to students that vast store of knowledgeshe has acquired.e) But in the evening the overwhelming majority of the public prefersto stay at home to watch a movie rather than go out.f) A sizable percentage of the pioneers were self-disciplined people,but they were almost as intolerant of others' views.g) China must face the problem of building upwards to accommodate aconsiderable proportion of its population in high blocks of flats.h) Large segments of the population of many developing countries areeconomically powerless.i) Many across this country are aware of this effect, and a considerable portion of them are hoping a marked reduction in the video violence. j) An organization, for instance, recently examined a very large number of men working in a construction site.k) Thus the bulk of the language acquisition of the high school graduate takes place informally first in the home.再如：“好学生”，大多数学生就是用good students。

而英语中表示“好学生”的有很多：top students，smart students，gifted students，superior students，excellent students，outstanding students此外，表示“学生”也不一定都用students，可用school boys and girls或college populations等等。

问题不在于这个表达比那个表达更好，而在于变化，也就是说，在一篇文章中尽可能用不同的词来表达同一个意思。

我们来看下面一些词语变化的实际应用。

1) The principal of a great Philadelphia high school is driven to cry for help in combating the notion that it is undemocratic to run a special program of studies for outstanding boys and girls. Again, when a good independent school in Memphis recently closed, some thoughtful citizens urged that it be taken over by the public school system and used for boys and girls of high ability, that it have entrance requirements and given an advanced program of studies to superior students who were interested and able to take it.--Seymour St. John: The Fifth Freedom 好学校: a great high school, a good independent school高级课程: a special program of studies, an advanced program of studies 好学生: outstanding boys and girls, boys and girls of high ability, superior students2) Hard work isn't the whole story either. Some of these high-achieving students actually put in fewer hours than their lower-scoring classmates. The students at the top of the class get there by mastering a few basic techniques that others can easily learn. Here, according to education experts and students themselves, are the secrets of A students.--Edwin Kiester: Secrets of A Students 成绩优秀学生: high-achieving students, The students at the top of the class, A students3) Is the sole aim of most Americans to make money and possess luxuries which could be called excessive? The majority of Americans would certainly deny this, though most feel proud to amass wealth and possessions throughhard work.--The American Character大多数美国人: most Americans, The majority of Americans积聚财富: make money and possess luxuries, amass wealth and possessions4) Indeed, as one imagine the underground world to become increasingly elaborate, one can visualize much of the food supply eventually deriving from hydroponics growth in artificially illuminated areas underground. --Isaac Asimov 想象：imagine, visualize5) The press and television keep showing us the faults of the public figures, until we lose faith and start looking for defects in any person who seems worthy of respect. In a neighbor or a statesman, we try to discover the weaknesses or ugly motives that are surely hiding behind his noble actions.--A Changing Scene缺点: faults, defects, weaknesses6) Retirement often brings many problems surrounding the "What do I do with myself today?" question, even though there may be no financial cares. Large numbers of people regularly get headaches and other ill-nesses on weekends when they don't have their jobs to go to, and must fend for themselves. It has been observed that unemployment, quite a- side from exerting financial pressures, brings enormous psychological troubles and that many individuals deteriorate rapidly when jobless.--Lonard R. Sayles 问题: problems, question, trouble经济拮据: financial cares, financial pressures许多: many, enormous, large numbers of人: people, individuals失业: unemployment, jobless7) A senior executive's instinctive capacity to empathize with and gaininsights from customers is the single most important skill he or she can use to direct technologies, product and service offerings, indeed, all elements of a company's strategic posture. People like Bill Gates brought this ability to the enterprises they founded. Without it, their ventures might have been short-lived or at least far less successful. But many top- level managers, particularly those at industrial companies, consider customer contact the bailiwick of sales and marketing staff.《现代英汉翻译操作》高级经理: senior executive, top-level managers公司企业: companies, ventures, enterprises.能力: capacity, skill, ability8) The personal computer revolution happened and it has affected millions of lives. It has led us to places we had barely imagined. We are all beginning another great journey. We aren't sure where this one will lead us either, but again I am certain this revolution will touch even more lives and take us all farther. The benefits and problems arising from this upcoming communications revolution will be much greater than those brought about by the PC revolution.--Bill Gates 影响: affect, touch把我们带到: lead us, take us引起: arising from, brought about9) What was it that enabled them to become great? Were they born with something special? Or did their greatness have more to do With timing, devotion and, perhaps, an uncompromising personality?... A never surrender attitude. If great achievers share anything, it is a unrelenting drive to succeed. There is a tendency to think that they are endowed with something super-normal.--Michael Ryan 天生: be born with, be endowed with特别的: something special, something supernormal永不屈服的精神: A never surrender attitude, an unrelenting drive tosucceed伟人: become great, great achievers10) As a child, Einstein became fascinated with the way magnets are drawn to metal. "He couldn't stop thinking about this stuff", Simonton pointed out. "He became obsessed with problems in physics by the time he was 16, and he never stopped working out them.--Michael Ryan 迷住: became fascinated with, became obsessed with思考研究: think about, work out11) Children are entitled to special consideration for two reasons: helplessness and innocence. They have not yet acquired either the faculty of reason or the wisdom of experience. Consequently, they are defenseless and blameless. That's why we grant them special protection. In an emergency, it is our duty to save them first because they, helpless, have put their lives in our hands. And in wartime, they are supposed to be protected by special immunity because they can have threatened or offended no one.--Charles Kmuthammer受特别保护: be entitled to special consideration, grant them special protection, protected by special immunity无助: helplessness, defenseless, have put their lives in our hands无辜: innocence, blameless, threatened or offended no one12) A typical example of this ability is the case of a woman who claims that her intuition prevented each of her five children from serious mishaps. Another interesting illustration of this six sense involves the famous escape artist.《新英语教程》第六册举例: example of, illustration of直觉: intuition, six sense13) The deafening noise, and the glare of the engine fire, would have ahad effect on nerves. Further, being moved through the air at a high speed would do great injury to delicate lungs. The sudden plunging of a train into the darkness of a tunnel, and the equally sudden rush into full daylight, would cause great damage to eyesight.损害: have a bad effect on, do great injury to, cause great damage to 冲进: plunge, rush14) When parents urge their children to study hard and get good grades, the children know that the payoff will not be social acceptance by their schoolmates. The rewards are not consistent with values taught at home. 回报: payoff, rewards15) Beyond checking the report for clarity and accuracy in the presentation of the result, you should also review it for basic grammatical and mechanical accuracy.检查: check, review16) This new civilization brings with it new family styles; changed ways of working, loving, and living; a new economy; new political conflicts; and beyond all this an altered consciousness as well.新的: new, changed, altered17) Asian parents are able to instill more motivation in their children. But how they imbue their offspring with this kind of motivation.灌输: instill, imbueinstill a sense of responsibility in children给孩子灌输责任意识be imbued with ambition满怀雄心孩子: children, offspring18) The question of what is to be done to regulate and control exploitation of the seabeds is no longer a theoretical matter. It is a problem of international concern.问题: question, matter, problem19) Nowadays, we never allow ourselves the convenience of being temporarily unavailable, even to strangers. With telephones and beepers, people make themselves instantly accessible to everyone at all times. 没有一刻联系不上: never…temporarily unavailable, instantly accessible at all times每个人: even to strangers, to everyone20) Foreigners who understand the degree to which Americans are imbued with the notion that the free, self-reliant individual is the ideal kind of human being will be able to understand many aspects of American behavior and thinking Having one's own bedroom, even as an infant, inculcates in a person the notion that she is entitled to a place of her own where she can be by herself.灌输思想: imbue sb. with the notion, inculcate in sb. the notion inculcate an idea in sb. 把一个想法反复灌输给某人2．基本表达除了以上这些词的表达外，在涉及当代社会问题、科技发展和校园生活的说明文或议论文的写作中，掌握一些基本表达法对于词汇的变化是很有意义的。