高考英语常用词汇辨析

    damage; destroy; ruin；spoil这三个词都有“破坏；损坏”的意思，区别如下：

1、damage意为“损坏、破坏”。它可用于表示损坏或破坏具体的物品，一般暗示损坏后价值或效益会降低，这种损坏是部分性的，通常指损坏的程度不那么严重，还可以修复再用。也可用于表示损坏抽象的东西,有时该词也用于借喻。如：

⑴The car was not damaged badly in the accident, but five people were seriously hurt．汽车在事故中损坏不严重，但却有五个人受了重伤。

⑵The earthquake damaged several buildings.地震使一些建筑受到了破坏。

⑶Her heart was slightly damaged as a result of her long illness．长期生病使她的心脏受到轻度损伤。

⑷What they said and did damage the relations between the two countries．他们的言行损害了这两个国家之间的关系。

⑸The storm did a lot of damage to the crops.暴风雨使庄稼受到了很大损失。

⑹Smoking has damaged his health badly．       吸烟严重地损害了他的健康。

Soft wood damages easily.软木容易损坏。

damage还可用作可数或不可数名词。如：

⑺The earthquake did a lot of damages to the city．这场地震给这座城市带来了巨大的破坏。

⑻An earthquake sometimes causes great damage.地震有时造成重大损失。

do damage to损害, 破坏

cause damage to损害, 破坏

2、destroy ，为常用词, 指“剧烈地破坏”、“使之不存在”或“使之失去效能”，“破坏；摧毁；消灭；毁灭”，通常指程度非常严重的“毁坏”，一般情况下不可以修复再用。另外，它既可表示毁坏具体的物品，也可表示毁坏抽象的东西；。打破(希望, 计划), 使失败，如：；

①That town was destroyed in a big fire.那个城镇在一场大火中被毁了。

②The Nazi wanted to destroy people's hopes, but in the end what was destroyed was the Nazi's dream by the power of people．纳粹想摧毁人民的希望，最终是纳粹的梦想被人民的力量所摧毁。

③The fire destroyed all my books.这场大火毁了我的全部书籍。

④The houses were destroyed by a fire [a flood, an earthquake].房屋被火灾[水灾, 地震]所毁。

⑤The heavy rain destroyed all hope of a picnic.大雨打破了野餐的一切希望。

⑥The enemy destroyed the city.敌人破坏了这座城市。

3、ruin多用于借喻之中，有时泛指一般性的破坏，指把某物损坏到了不能再使用的程度。使破产，如：

①My new coat is ruined．我的外套不能再穿了。

②The rain will ruin the crops．这雨会把庄稼毁掉的。

③I was ruined by that law case; I'm a ruined man我被那场官司毁了，我破产了。

④He knocked over a bottle of ink and ruined the table cloth.他打翻了一瓶墨水把桌布弄脏了。

⑤She poured water all over my painting, and ruined it.她把水全倒在了我的画上，把画毁了。

⑥I was ruined by that law case.我被那场官司搞得倾家荡产。

惯用法：

be the ruin of成为...毁灭[堕落]的原因

bring sb. to ruin使某人失败; 使倾家荡产

bring ruin upon oneself自取灭亡

come to ruin毁灭, 灭亡; 崩溃; 破坏掉

fall to ruin毁灭, 灭亡; 崩溃; 破坏掉

go to ruin毁灭, 灭亡; 崩溃; 破坏掉

in ruins成为废墟

ruin oneself毁掉自己

in ruins成为废墟，遭到严重破坏

Gambling was his ruin[the ruin of him].赌博是他堕落的原因。

4、Spoil vt. (spoilt, spoiled)损坏[害], 损伤; 弄坏, 弄脏, 糟踢; 搞糟；；使无用；破坏，宠坏, 溺爱; 姑息

①Our holidays were spoilt by bad weather.我们假日的乐趣被恶劣天气所破坏。

②They spoil their children.他们宠坏了他们的孩子们。

③The rain has spoilt my painting.雨水毁了我的画。

④Mankind is warned to stop spoiling the environment.人类受到警告不能再污染环境。