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雅思小作文因?yàn)楸容^模式化，相對(duì)來說用錯(cuò)詞的情況也少一些。朗閣海外考試研究中心提醒考生們在常見錯(cuò)誤方面應(yīng)注意：在談及價(jià)位時(shí)我們應(yīng)該用高低而非大小貴賤來表達(dá)，即high/low price 而非big/small price 或者expensive/cheap price; great value而不是big value; their living condition is poor而非bad等等。其實(shí)，小作文中比較集中的錯(cuò)誤在“比較與對(duì)比”搞不清楚，所以出現(xiàn) ‘compare’與 ‘contrast’ 的使用錯(cuò)誤，這里我們詳細(xì)說一下。
一、compare與contrast的誤用
我們先從兩者的定義入手來看兩者的區(qū)別。Compare的定義為：to examine people or things to see how they are similar or different. Contrast的定義為：to compare two or more things to show the difference between them. 由定義不難看出前者側(cè)重于找到兩個(gè)或多個(gè)事物的異同，而后者則側(cè)重于它們的不同。
看個(gè)例句：
It is interesting to compare their situations to ours./It is interesting to contrast their situations to ours.
前一句翻譯為：對(duì)比一下我們的情況與他們的情況會(huì)很有趣。
后一句的翻譯為：我們的情況與他們的情況有很大的不同，這很有趣。
再看一個(gè)引自O(shè)XFORD ADBANCED LEARNER’S DICTIONARY的例子：
There is an obvious contrast between the culture of East and West.
The company lost million in contrast to a profit of .2 million a year earlier.
When you look at their new system, ours seems very old-fashioned by contrast.
不難發(fā)現(xiàn)，Compare 翻譯為“ 與。。。相比”而contrast可譯為“明顯不同的是。。。”，切記這種翻譯方式就不會(huì)用錯(cuò)彼此了。
