注意不要用錯的商務英語詞匯

注意不要用錯的商務英語詞匯

　　引導語：注意不要用錯的商務英語詞匯，由應屆畢業生培訓網整理而成，謝謝您的閱讀。

　　一、Adverse and averse

　　Adverse和averse

　　Adverse means harmful or unfavorable: "Adverse market conditions caused the IPO to be poorly subscribed." Averse refers to feelings of dislike or opposition: "I was averse to paying $18 a share for a company that generates no revenue."

　　adverse意為有害的或不順利的：“不利市場條件導致初次公開募股情況不容樂觀。”averse意為厭惡或敵對的情感：“我對支付每股18美元公司投資，卻不能得到任何利潤的行為表示反感。

　　But, hey, feel free to have an aversion to adverse conditions.

　　恩，不要介意對不利的條件感到反感。

　　二、Advise and advice

　　advise和advice

　　Aside from the two words being pronounced differently (the s in advise sounds like az), advise is a verb while advice is a noun. Advice is what you give (whether or not the recipient is interested in that gift is a different issue altogether) when you advise someone.

　　除了這兩個單詞的發音不同(advise中的s發起來類似az)，advise是動詞，而advice是名詞。Advice就是你給別人 “advise” 的忠告(至于接收者是否感興趣則另當別論)。

　　So "Thank you for the advise" is incorrect, while "I advise you not to bore me with your advice in the future" is correct if pretentious.

　　所以 “Thank you for the advise” 是不對的，而當你在顯擺“I advise you not to bore me with your advice in the future”的用法則是正確的。

　　三、Affect and effect

　　affect和effect

　　Verbs first. Affect means to influence: "Impatient investors affected our roll-out date."Effect means to accomplish something: "The board effected a sweeping policy change."

　　先說動詞吧。Affect意為制造影響：“缺乏耐心的發明家影響了我們的初次展出的日期。”effect意為達到某種目的：“董事會達到了全面改革的目的。”

　　How you use effect or affect can be tricky. For example, a board can affect changes by influencing them and can effect changes by directly implementing them. Bottom line, use effect if you're making it happen, and affect if you're having an impact on something that someone else is trying to make happen.

　　使用effect和affect會給人造成困惑。例如，董事會能通過給它制造影響而affect(影響)改革，以及為了effect(達到)改革的目的而直接實施該措施。“底線是，如果是你促成事件發生就用effect,在你對其他人促成的事件中產生影響時用affect”

　　As for nouns, effect is almost always correct: "Once he was fired he was given 20 minutes to gather his personal effects." Affect refers to an emotional state, so unless you're a psychologist you probably have little reason to use it.

　　而作名詞用的時候，effect幾乎怎么用都不會錯：“有一次他被解雇了，然后可以用20分鐘收拾自己的個人物品。”affect指代情感狀態，所以如果你不是心理學家，你也很少有機會用到這個詞。

　　四、Aggressive and enthusiastic

　　aggressive和enthusiastic

　　Aggressive is a very popular business adjective: aggressive sales force, aggressive revenue projections, aggressive product rollout. But unfortunately, aggressive means ready to attack, or pursuing aims forcefully, possibly unduly so.

　　aggressive是一個很常用的商務形容詞：aggressive sales force(積極的銷售團隊)，aggressive revenue projections(積極的收入預測)aggressive product rollout(積極的產品展示)。不過，aggressive也有蓄勢攻擊，或激烈地達到目的，一般帶有過分的意味。

　　Of course, most people have seen aggressive used that way for so long they don't think of it negatively; to them it just means hard-charging, results-oriented, driven, etc., none of which are bad things.

　　當然，很多人早已熟悉aggressive的以上用法，并不會把它認為是負面的詞語，因為這個詞語的意思只是強硬的，結果導向的，奮發圖強的，等等，沒有一個是負面的意思。

　　But some people may not see it that way. So consider using words like enthusiastic,eager, committed, dedicated, or even passionate.

　　不過有些人不卻不會這么認為。所以可以考慮使用諸如enthusiastic(熱情的)，eager(渴望的)，committed(堅定的)，dedicated(專注的)，或者甚至是passionate(激情的)。

　　五、Award and reward

　　award和reward

　　An award is a prize. Musicians win Grammy Awards. Car companies win J.D. Power awards. Employees win Employee of the Month awards. Think of an award as the result of a contest or competition.

　　award是一個獎項。音樂家得的獎是格萊美獎;汽車公司可以得J.D. Power獎;雇員得的是月度最佳員工獎。所以award可以視為某個競賽或比賽的獎項。

　　A reward is something given in return for effort, achievement, hard work, merit, etc. A sales commission is a reward. A bonus is a reward. A free trip for landing the highest number of new customers is a reward.

　　reward就是對努力，成就，辛勤工作，功績等作出的犒賞。銷售傭金是reward，補貼是reward。最佳業務員的免費旅行也是reward。

　　Be happy when your employees win industry or civic awards, and reward them for the hard work and sacrifices they make to help your business grow.

　　所以當你的員工獲得行業獎或公民獎(award)的時候應該感到高興，然后就犒賞(reward)他們為公司業績所付出的辛勤工作。

　　六、Between and among

　　between和among

　　Use between when you name separate and individual items. Take "The team will decide between Mary, Marcia, and Steve when we fill the open customer service position." Mary, Marcia, and Steve are separate and distinct, so between is correct.

　　當你表示不同的或單獨的名目時，使用between。比如“團隊將會在Mary, Marcia和Steve之間(between)選出擔任客戶服務經理的人員。Mary, Marcia和Steve都是不同的個體，所以使用between是正確的。

　　Use among when there are three or more items but they are not named separately. Like, "The team will decide among a number of candidates when we fill the open customer service position." Who are the candidates? You haven't named them separately, so among is correct.

　　如果存在三個或以上的，但不是單獨的個體時，使用among。例如：“團隊會在一些申請者里挑選一位員工填補客戶服務經理的空缺。”那么哪些人是申請人呢?這里并沒有獨自提出來，所以可以使用among。

　　And we're assuming there are more than two candidates; otherwise you'd say between. If there are two candidates you could say, "I just can't decide between them."

　　并且這里指的是多于兩位申請者，否則就應該用between了。如果申請者是兩位，你就該說“我不能在他們之間(between)做決定。”

　　七、Bring and take

　　bring和take

　　Both have to do with objects you move or carry. The difference is in the point of reference: You bring things here and you take them there. You ask people to bring something to you, and you ask people to take something to someone or somewhere else.

　　兩個詞都有移動或攜帶物品的意思。區別就在于：你把東西帶到這里來(bring)，然后把它們拿到那里去(take)。你請求別人帶點東西來給你(bring)，然后你請求別人拿點東西給某人或帶去某個地方(take)。

　　"Can you bring an appetizer to John's party"? Nope.

　　能說“Can you bring an appetize to John’s party?”不能。

　　Compliment and complement

　　compliment和complement

　　Compliment means to say something nice. Complement means added to, enhanced, improved, completed, or brought close to perfection.

　　compliment的意思是說善意的話。Complement的意思是添加到的，增強的，改善的，完成的，或者使其達到完美的物品。

　　I can compliment your staff and their service, but if you have no current openings you have a full complement of staff. Or your new app may complement your website.

　　我贊賞(compliment)你的員工和他們的服務，如果你當前沒有職位空缺，那么你的員工職位就被填滿了(complement)�；蚰愕男率謾C應用能填滿你的個人主頁。

　　For which I may decide to compliment you.

　　如果你懂得這么使用，我就會稱贊你。

　　八、Continuously and continually

　　continuously和continually

　　Both words come from the root continue, but they mean very different things. Continuously means never ending. Continual means whatever you're referring to stops and starts.

　　兩個詞的詞根都是continue，但是兩個詞語的意思截然不同。Continuously意為連續不斷的。Continual意為你所指示的東西一直在停止和結束的循環發生。

　　九、Criterion and criteria

　　criterion和criteria

　　A criterion is a principle or standard. If you have more than one criterion, those are referred to as criteria.

　　critetion指的是原則或標準。如果你的標準多于一個，那么它們就成為criteria。

　　十、Discreet and discrete

　　discreet和discrete

　　Discreet means careful, cautious, showing good judgment: "We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company."

　　discreet意為小心謹慎的，判斷精明的： “We made discreet inquiries to determine whether the founder was interested in selling her company.”

　　Discrete means individual, separate, or distinct: "We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels." And if you get confused, remember: You don't use "discretion" to work through sensitive issues; you exercise discretion.

　　discrete意為個人的，單獨的，或截然不同的： “We analyzed data from a number of discrete market segments to determine overall pricing levels.”如果你想表達敏感的話題，請不要使用discretion(個人的)，因為你就在差別對待(exercise discretion)。

　　十一、Elicit and illicit

　　elicit和illicit

　　Elicit means to draw out or coax. Think of elicit as the mildest form of extract.

　　elicit意為抽出或引出。把elicit視為extract(提取)的最溫和的表達方法。

　　Illicit means illegal or unlawful, and while I suppose you could elicit a response at gunpoint, you probably shouldn't.

　　illicit意為非法的或違法的，所以即使我猜測你在槍口脅迫下給出回應，但你不應該這么做。

　　十二、Everyday and every day

　　everyday和every day

　　Every day means, yep, every day -- each and every day. If you ate a bagel for breakfast each day this week, you had a bagel every day.

　　every day的意思，是的，就是每天。每，一，天。如果你一周七天早餐都吃甜甜圈，那么你就是每天(every day)都吃甜甜圈。

　　Everyday means commonplace or normal. Decide to wear your "everyday shoes" and that means you've chosen to wear the shoes you normally wear.

　　everyday意為習慣的或平常的。覺得穿那雙“everyday shoes”就是你選擇平常穿的鞋子。

　　十三、Evoke and invoke

　　evoke和invoke

　　To evoke is to call to mind; an unusual smell might evoke a long-lost memory. To invoke is to call upon something: help, aid, or maybe a higher power.

　　evoke意為喚起心理認同，比如，一種不尋常的氣味能喚起一段早已遺忘的記憶。而invoke意為請求某種東西：幫助，援助，或更高層次的權力。

　　十四、Farther and further

　　farther和futher

　　Farther involves a physical distance: "Florida is farther from New York than Tennessee." Further involves a figurative distance: "We can take our business plan no further."

　　farther指的是物理距離：“弗羅里達相距紐約的距離比田納西更遠(farther)。”further指的是比喻的距離：“我們不能再進一步(further)實施我們的商務計劃。”

　　十五、Fewer and less

　　fewer和less

　　Use fewer when referring to items you can count, like "fewer hours" or "fewer dollars." Use "less" when referring to items you can't count, like "less time" or "less money."

　　指代可數的物品時可以使用fewer，比如fewer hours, fewer dollar。如果指代的東西是不可數的，則使用less，比如 less time, less money。

　　十六、Good and well

　　good和well

　　Good is an adjective that describes something; if you did a good job, then you do good work. Well is an adverb that describes how something was done; you can do your job well.

　　good是形容詞，用于修飾某件物品或事情，如果你的工作出色，那就是do good work. Well是副詞，用于修飾某件事情的完成程度，你可以很出色地工作，就是用well。

　　十七、If and whether

　　if和whether

　　If and whether are often interchangeable. If a yes/no condition is involved, then feel free to use either: "I wonder whether Jim will finish the project on time?" or "I wonder if Jim will finish the project on time?" (Whether sounds a little more formal in this case, so consider your audience and how you wish to be perceived.)

　　if和whether常�；�換使用。如果條件是yes/no的，那么兩個詞都可以使用：I wonder whether/if Jim will finish the project on time?(我想知道Jim能否按時完成任務?)在這種情況下，whether聽起來更正式點，所以你得考慮到聽眾以及你想達到的效果。

　　And always use if when you introduce a condition. "If you hit your monthly target, I'll increase your bonus," is correct; the condition is hitting the target and the bonus is the result. "Whether you are able to hit your monthly target is totally up to you," does not introduce a condition (unless you want the employee to infer that your thinly veiled threat is a condition of ongoing employment).

　　如果想描述一個條件的時候，使用if。“If you hit your monthly target, I’ll increase your bonus.”(如果你達到了月度銷售目標，我就增加你的獎金。)這種用法是正確的。條件就是達到銷售目標，增加獎金是結果。“Whether you are able to hit your monthly target is totally up to you.”(無論你能否達到月度銷售目標，這完全取決于你自己。)這就不是一個表示條件的句子(除非你希望員工從中領會到這是一個關乎職業前景的潛在條件)。

　　十八、Imply and infer

　　imply和infer

　　The speaker or writer implies, which means to suggest. The listener or reader infers,which means to deduce, whether correctly or not.

　　演講者或作家 “implies”，意味著暗示。聽眾或讀者 “infers”，意味著去推斷，無論方式正確與否。

　　So I might imply you're going to receive a raise. And you might infer that a pay increase is imminent.

　　所以我可能會暗示(imply)你快要加工資了，而你就會推測(infer)加工資是即將到來的。

　　十九、Insure and ensure

　　insure和ensure

　　This one's easy. Insure refers to insurance. Ensure means to make sure.

　　這個很簡單，insure指代保險，ensure意為確保。

　　So if you promise an order will ship on time, ensure that it actually happens. Unless, of course, you plan to arrange for compensation if the package is damaged or lost -- then feel free to insure away.

　　所以如果你承諾某個訂單能如期船運，得確保(ensure)萬無一失。出發，你打算為包裹的耗損或遺失投保險(insure)，那就去吧。

　　二十、Irregardless and regardless

　　irregardless和regardless

　　Irregardless appears in some dictionaries because it's widely used to mean "without regard to" or "without respect to," which is also what regardless means.

　　irregardless在某些詞典里收錄，其中是因為它普遍被當作“毫不關心”或“毫不尊重”的意思，也就是regardless的意思。

　　So just say regardless is acceptable.

　　所以使用regardless就可以了。

　　二十一、Mute and moot

　　mute和moot

　　Think of mute like the button on your remote; it means unspoken or unable to speak. In the U.S., moot refers to something that is of no practical importance; a moot point is one that could be hypothetical or even academic. In British English, moot can also mean debatable or open to debate.

　　把mute看作遙控器上的按鈕，因為它的意思是無言的或無法發聲的。在美式英語里，moot意為某件毫無實際意義的事情，moot point(爭論未決的問題)可能是假設性或甚至學術性的問題。在英式英語里，moot也可以意為存在爭議的或開放討論的。

　　二十二、Number and amount

　　number和amount

　　Use number when you can count what you refer to: "The number of subscribers who opted out increased last month." Amount refers to a quantity of something that can't be counted: "The amount of alcohol consumed at our last company picnic was staggering."

　　當你所指示的東西是可數的時候，使用number，“The number of subscribers who opted out increased last months.”(上個月的訂閱量增加了，subscriber可數)。Amount指代不可數的東西，“The amount of alcohol consumed at out last company picnic was staggering.” (我們公司在上次野餐花費在酒精的費用實在讓人大吃一驚。)

　　二十三、Peak and peek

　　peak和peek

　　A peak is the highest point. Peek means quick glance, as in giving major customers a sneak peek at a new product before it's officially unveiled, which hopefully helps sales peak at an unimaginable height.

　　peak意為最高點，peek意為快速一瞥，正如在產品正式發布前對主要客戶的偷偷一眼，希望產品的銷售量能達到無法想象的高度。

　　二十四、Precede and proceed

　　precede和proceed

　　Precede means to come before. Proceed means to begin or continue.

　　precede意為先發生的動作，proceed意為開始或繼續。

　　二十五、Principle and principal

　　principle和principal

　　A principle is a fundamental. Principal means primary or of first importance.

　　principle意為基本原則。Principal意為首要的。

　　Principal can also refer to the most important item in a particular set: "Our principal account makes up 60 percent of our gross revenues."

　　principal也可以指代在某種情況下最重要的一項。我們的主要賬目占我們總收入的60%。

　　Principal can also refer to money, normally a sum that was borrowed, but can be extended to refer to the amount you owe -- hence principal and interest.

　　principal也可以用于指代金錢，通常指的是借貸的總額，或延伸至你所欠下的總額-也就是本金和利息。

　　If you're referring to laws, rules, guidelines, ethics, etc., use principle. If you're referring to the CEO or the president (or an individual in charge of a high school), use principal.

　　在表達法律，法規，常規，道德規范等等范疇時，使用principle。如果指的是CEO或校長，那就用principal.

　　二十六、Slander and libel

　　slander和libel

　　Don't like what people say about you? Like slander, libel refers to making a false statement that is harmful to a person's reputation.

　　你不喜歡別人這樣評論你，諸如誹謗，中傷就是損害他人名譽的不實言論。

　　The difference lies in how that statement is expressed. Slanderous remarks are spoken while libelous remarks are written and published (which means defamatory tweets could be considered libelous, not slanderous).

　　兩者的區別在于言論是通過什么方式表達的。誹謗性言論(slanderous remarks)是口頭的，中傷性的評論(libelous remarks)則是書面的或公開表示的(誹謗的微博也可視為libelous，而不是slanerous)。

　　Keep in mind what makes a statement libelous or slanderous is its inaccuracy, not its harshness.

　　請謹記，判斷言論是否中傷或誹謗性的在于其準確性，而不是言論的尖銳性。

　　二十七、Stationary and stationery

　　stationary和stationery

　　You write on stationery. You get business stationery, such as letterhead and envelopes, printed. But that box of envelopes is not stationary unless it's not moving -- and even then it's still stationery.

　　你在stationery(文具)上寫作。你得到商務信紙(business stationery)，比如信箋抬頭和信封，印有抬頭的文件。但是那一箱信封并不是靜止不動的(stationary)，除非它被移動了，不過即使被移動了，它仍然是文具(stationery)。

　　二十八、Sympathy and empathy

　　sympathy和empathy

　　Sympathy is acknowledging another person's feelings. "I am sorry for your loss" means you understand the other person is grieving and want to recognize that fact.

　　sympathy意為意識到他人的感覺。“對你的親人的離去我感到很遺憾”意味著你理解他人的悲傷并且意識到這個事實。

　　Empathy is having the ability to put yourself in the other person's shoes and relate to how the person feels, at least in part because you've experienced those feelings yourself.

　　empathy就是能把自己代入他人的角色感受他人所想，至少某種程度上是因為你感同身受。

　　The difference is huge. Sympathy is passive; empathy is active.

　　兩個詞的區別是非常大的。Sympathy(同情心)是被動的，empathy(同理心)是主動的。

　　二十九、Systemic and systematic

　　systemic和systematic

　　If you're in doubt, systematic is almost always the right word to use. Systematic means arranged or carried out according to a plan, method, or system. That's why you can take a systematic approach to continuous improvement, or do a systematic evaluation of customer revenue or a systematic assessment of market conditions.

　　如果你對這兩個詞存在疑惑，其實使用systematic總是對的。Systematic意味著根據計劃、方案或系統有序地安排或執行。也就是說你采取了系統的方法達到持續的完善，或對客戶帶來的收益有一個系統的評估，或對市場條件的系統測量。

　　Systemic means belonging to or affecting the system as a whole. Poor morale could be systemic to your organization. Or bias against employee diversity could be systemic.

　　systemic意為全身的或整個體系的。士氣不足可能對公司造成整體的形象。或者對員工的種族歧視也會造成系統性的影響。

　　三十、Then and than

　　then和than

　　Then refers in some way to time. "Let's close this deal, and then we'll celebrate!" Since the celebration comes after the sale, then is correct.

　　then某種程度上與時間有關。“Let’s close the deal, and then we’ll celebrate.”(我們來簽訂合約，然后去慶祝吧!)因為慶祝是在簽訂合約之后發生的，所以使用then是正確的。

　　Then is also often used with if. Think in terms of if-then statements: "If we don't get to the office on time, then we won't be able to close the deal today."

　　then也常常用于if引導的句子中，看看這個if-then的句子：“If we don’t get to the office on time, then we won’t be ablt to close the deal today.” (如果我們無法準時達到會場，那么我們就不能順利簽下合同了。)

　　Than involves a comparison. "Landing Customer A will result in higher revenue than landing Customer B."

　　than包含對比的關系。“Landing Customer A will result in higher revenue than landing Customer B” (簽下客戶A的合同比簽下客戶B的合同獲取的收益更高。)

　　三十一、Ultimate and penultimate

　　ultimate和penultimate

　　Ultimate means the best, or final, or last. Penultimate means the last but one, or second to last.

　　ultimate意為最佳的，最終或最后的。Penultimate意為倒數第二。

　　But penultimate doesn't mean second-best. Also, keep in mind that using ultimate is fraught with hyperbolic peril.

　　但penultimate并不意味著第二最好的。再者，請謹記ultimate充滿了夸張的恐怖色彩。

　　三十二、It's and its

　　it's和its

　　It's is the contraction of it is. That means it's doesn't own anything.You don't say, "It's collar is blue." You say, "Its collar is blue."

　　it’s是it is 的縮寫形式，也就是說it’s不帶有任何內容。你不能說It’s collar is blue.應該說Its collar is blue.

　　三十三、They're and their

　　they're和their

　　Same with these: They're is the contraction for they are. Again, the apostrophe doesn't own anything. We're going to their house, and I sure hope they're home.

　　這一對也一樣：they’re是they are的縮寫形式。再者，縮寫符號’不具備任何意思。“We’re going to their house, and I sure hope they’re home.”(我們要去他們家，并且我很希望他們在家。)

　　三十四、Who's and whose

　　who's和whose

　　"Whose password hasn't been changed in six months?" is correct. Use the non-contracted version of who's, like, "Who is (the non-contracted version of who's) password hasn't been changed in six months?" and you sound a little silly.

　　“Whose password hasn’t been changed in six months?”(誰的密碼六個月都沒有更換過?)這個句子是對的。而使用非縮略形式的who’s，就是“Who is (Who’s的完整形式)password hasn’t been changed in six months?”(誰是密碼六個月沒有更換過?)聽起來就很不地道了。

　　三十五、You're and your

　　you're和your

　　One more. You're is the contraction of you are. Your means you own it; the apostrophe in you're doesn't own anything.

　　最后一個。You’re是you are的縮寫形式。省略符號 “ ’ ”在you’re里沒有任何特別意思。

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