很多同学在背SAT单词的过程中都会有混淆形近词的困扰。例如bold和bald, 前者是“大胆的，无畏的”意思，却总被同学们误以为是“秃头的”意思。在此，我选择了15组在SAT词汇授课过程中出现频率较高而同学们又较容易混淆的形近词进行简单地区分。

 

1. averse vs. adverse

 

averse : not liking sth; opposed to sth 不喜欢某事物; 反对某事物

e.g. He seems to be averse to hard work

adverse: not favorable; contrary; hostile 敌对的，反对的，不利的

e.g. His health was adversely affected by the climate.

 

2. adversity vs. adversary

 

adversity: trouble; unfortunate event 不幸，灾祸

e.g. Mary faces adversity with courage

adversary: opponent; enemy 对手，敌人

e.g. He defeated his old adversary in the election.

第1、2组词是经常被同学们混淆的四个单词，在这里两两组合进行对比，希望对同学们会有帮助。

 

3. antipathy vs. apathy

 

antipathy: strong or deep dislike 反感; 厌恶; 憎恶

e.g. He showed a marked antipathy to foreigners.

apathy: lack of interest; indifference 缺乏兴趣;漠不关心

e.g. My parents do not feel apathy about the election.

这一组词大家可以用词根词缀发来区别, path-作为词根是“情感”的意思，anti-作为前缀是“相反，对抗”，而 a- 是“不、无、非”的意思，相关单词有 sympathy, empathy等

 

4. derive—derivative vs. deride—derisive

 

derive: originate from sth; get sth from sth 源自，源于;得到获取

e.g. Thousands of English words derive from Latin.

deride: mock sb/sth 嘲笑，嘲弄

e.g. They derided his effort as childish.

derisive 这个单词出现在阅读中经常被同学当做是derive 的形容词性理解，其实是deride的形容词，意思为“嘲笑的，嘲弄的”，例如derisive laughter

 

5.exhausted vs. exhaustive

 

exhausted: very tired 精疲力尽的

e.g. After a ten-mile hike, everybody is exhausted

exhaustive: very thorough; complete 详尽的;彻底的

e.g. Police make an exhaustive research.

 

6. imprudent vs. impudent

 

imprudent: not wise or discreet不智的; 不谨慎的;轻率的

e.g. It would be imprudent (of you) to resign from your present job before you are offered another.

impudent: very rude and disrespectful 粗鲁的; 放肆的; 无礼的; 不尊重的

e.g. Tom is an impudent child who never listens to his parents.

在记这组词之前，同学们先记住prudent这个单词，它本身就是“谨慎的，审慎的”意思，在其加上im- 这个表否定含义的前缀，意思就很容易得出了。

 

7. callow vs. callous

 

callow: immature and inexperienced 既不成熟又无经验的; 乳臭未乾的

callous: cruelly insensitive or unsympathetic 冷酷无情的; 无同情心的

 

8. congenial vs. congenital

 

congenial: (of people) pleasing because of similarities in temperament, interests, etc ;agreeable(指人)(因性情﹑ 志趣等相近)彼此合得来的, 意气相投的;适合自己性格的

e.g. I find this aspect of my job particularly congenial.

congenital: (of diseases, etc) present from or before birth (指疾病等)天生的, 先天的

e.g. We should not deride people who have congenital defects.

 

9. intelligent vs. intelligible

 

intelligent: smart, educated 聪明的，智能的，智力的

intelligible：that can be (easily) understood 可(易)理解的

e.g. That’s totally a muddled explanation which was scarcely intelligible.

 

10. impassive vs. impassioned

 

impassive: showing no sign of feeling 无表情的，无动于衷的

e.g. The accused sat impassively as the judge sentenced him to ten years in prison.

impassioned: showing strong deep feeling 充满激情的; 热烈的

e.g. He made an impassioned plea for mercy.

同第3组词相似的地方是这一组词里面含有pass-表“情感”含义的词根，im-表“不无、非”，所以impassive就是“无表情的，无动于衷的”意思。而后者中含有的“passion”其本身就是“激情，热情”的意思。

 

11. adapt vs. adept

 

adapt: make sth suitable for a new use, situation, etc; modify sth 使某事物适合於新的用途﹑ 情况等; 修改某事物

e.g. These styles can be adapted to suit individual tastes.

adept: expert or skilful in (doing) sth 对(做)某事物内行的, 熟练的

e.g. She's adept at growing roses.

这一组词中adapt也经常容易与adopt混淆，adopt意思为“采纳，收养”。

 

12. indigent vs. indigenous

 

indigent : poor 贫穷

indigenous: native 土生土长的，当地的

e.g. Kangaroos are indigenousto Australia.

 

13. presumptive vs. presumptuous

 

presumptive: based on reasonable belief; probable基於合理之推测的; 可能的

e.g. It is absurd that he was sentenced to death based on presumptive evidence.

presumptuous: too bold or self-confident 胆大妄为的，专横的

e.g. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask you to contribute?

 

14. ingenious vs. ingenuous

 

ingenious: (of a person) clever at finding new or simple solutions for complex problems; original in design(指人)善於用新 的或简单的方法解决复杂问题的;设计独特精巧的

e.g. So you fitted that wire through that little hole there: that's very ingenious!

ingenuous: open, innocent 坦率的，不隐瞒的，天真的

e.g. That kid gives me an ingenuous smile.

这一组词，同学们可以利用另外两个单词帮助记忆，genius 和genuine,前者意思为“天才”后者意思为“真的，真诚的，非人造的”。ingenious 从发音和词形上与genius相近，而ingenuous 和genuine 相近。

 

15. discreet vs. discrete

 

discrete: separate; distinct 分离的; 截然分开的

e.g. Those are a series of discrete events.

discreet: careful or showing good judgment in what one says or does; not too obvious 言谈举止谨慎的; 言行审慎的; 不显眼的

e.g. I should make a few discreet enquires about the firm before you sign anything.

 

以上是给同学们简单分析的15组形近词，希望对大家的学习单词方面有所帮助。同时也建议同学们以后如果碰到形近词，可以学着用词根词缀，单词联想、理解英文释义等方式将它们分辨清楚。

 

教师简介：

郑淋钰，上海新航道SAT&综合英语主讲，英语专业八级，曾应邀参加澳大利亚Stanley Awards，并担任颁奖嘉宾。长期从事雅思、托福、SAT等辅导教学工作，可以根据学生自身情况制定个性化辅导方案。教学注重基础，稳扎稳打。