1.averse vs. adverse

　　averse: not liking sth;opposed to sth 不喜歡某事物;反對某事物。

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

　　adverse:not favorable; contrary; hostile 敵對的，反對的，不利的。

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

　　2.adversity vs. adversary

　　adversity:trouble; unfortunate event 不幸，災禍。

　　e.g.Mary faces adversity with courage.

　　adversary:opponent; enemy 對手，敵人。

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

　　第1、2組詞是經常被同學們混淆的四個單詞，在這里兩兩組合進行對比，希望對同學們會有幫助。

　　3.antipathy vs. apathy

　　antipathy:strong or deep dislike 反感;厭惡;憎惡。

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

　　apathy:lack of interest; indifference 缺乏興趣;漠不關心。

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

　　這一組詞大家可以用詞根詞綴發(fā)來區(qū)別，path-作為詞根是“情感”的意思，anti-作為前綴是“相反，對抗”，而a-是“不、無、非”的意思，相關單詞有sympathy, empathy等。

　　4.derive—derivativevs. deride—derisive

　　derive:originate from sth; get sth from sth 源自，源于;得到獲取。

　　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這個單詞出現在閱讀中經常被同學當做是derive的形容詞性理解，其實是deride的形容詞，意思為“嘲笑的，嘲弄的”，例如derisive laughter。

　　5.exhaustedvs. exhaustive

　　exhausted:very tired 精疲力盡的。

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

　　exhaustive:very thorough; complete 詳盡的;徹底的。

　　e.g.Police make an exhaustive research.

　　6. imprudent vs. impudent

　　imprudent: not wise or discreet不智的;不謹慎的;輕率的。

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

　　impudent: very rude and disrespectful 粗魯的;放肆的;無禮的;不尊重的。

　　e.g. Tom is an impudent child who neverlistens to his parents.

　　在記這組詞之前，同學們最好先記住prudent這個單詞，它本身就是“謹慎的，審慎的”意思，在其加上im-這個表否定含義的前綴，意思就很容易得出了。

　　7. callow vs. callous

　　callow: immature and inexperienced 既不成熟又無經驗的;乳臭未乾的。

　　callous: cruelly insensitive orunsympathetic 冷酷無情的;無同情心的。

　　8. congenial vs. congenital

　　congenial: (of people) pleasing becauseof similarities in temperament, interests, etc ;agreeable(指人)(因性情﹑ 志趣等相近)彼此合得來的，意氣相投的;適合自己性格的。

　　e.g. I find this aspect of my jobparticularly congenial.

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

　　e.g. We should not deride people whohave congenital defects.

　　9. intelligent vs. intelligible

　　intelligent: smart, educated 聰明的，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 無表情的，無動于衷的。

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

　　impassioned: showing strong deep feeling充滿激情的;熱烈的。

　　e.g. He made an impassioned plea formercy.

　　同第3組詞相似的地方是這一組詞里面含有pass-表“情感”含義的詞根，im-表“不無、非”，所以impassive就是“無表情的，無動于衷的”意思。而后者中含有的“passion”其本身就是“激情，熱情”的意思。

　　11.adapt vs. adept

　　adapt:make sth suitable for a new use, situation, etc; modify sth 使某事物適合於新的用途﹑情況等;修改某事物。

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

　　adept:expert or skilful in (doing) sth 對(做)某事物內行的，熟練的。

　　e.g.She's adept at growing roses.

　　這一組詞中adapt也經常容易與adopt混淆，adopt意思為“采納，收養(yǎng)”。

　　12.indigent vs. indigenous

　　indigent: poor 貧窮。

　　indigenous:native 土生土長的，當地的。

　　e.g.Kangaroos are indigenoustoAustralia.

　　13.presumptive vs. presumptuous

　　presumptive:based on reasonable belief; probable基於合理之推測的;可能的。

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

　　presumptuous:too bold or self-confident 膽大妄為的，專橫的。

　　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)善於用新的或簡單的方法解決復雜問題的;設計獨特精巧的。

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

　　ingenuous:open, innocent 坦率的，不隱瞞的，天真的。

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

　　這一組詞，同學們可以利用另外兩個單詞幫助記憶，genius 和genuine,前者意思為“天才”后者意思為“真的，真誠的，非人造的”。ingenious從發(fā)音和詞形上與genius相近，而ingenuous 和genuine 相近。

　　15.discreet vs. discrete

　　discrete:separate; distinct 分離的;截然分開的。

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

　　discreet:careful or showing good judgment in what one says or does; not too obvious 言談舉止謹慎的;言行審慎的;不顯眼的。

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