盘点25个最常弄错含义的英语单词(3)

　　11. Terrific
　　What you think it means: Fantastic, good。你认为单词的含义是：妙极了，极好的。
　　What it really means: Horrific, to inspire fear。单词的真正含义是：可怖的，令人害怕的。
　　This is another one that we expect will be changed in the dictionary eventually because barely anyone uses the real meaning anymore. When people say they feel terrific, they mean to say they feel fantastic. An example of something terrific is King Kong. You see a giant monster and it inspires fear. We’re going to loop awesome in with this one too. Awesome simply means to inspire awe and people often use it to describe something really good。我们认为这个单词的含义以后也会在词典里重新修订，因为现在几乎没有人会去使用它的真正含义。当人们说感觉terrific(恐怖的)时，他们是指感觉fantastic(好极了)。《金刚》就是典型的terrific(可怖的)例子，因为它是巨怪，让人感到恐惧。在此顺便说说awesome这个单词吧。Awesome是指“让人感到惊惧”，但现在人们用这个词的时候主要是指“某事好极了”。
　　12. Effect
　　What you may think it means: To cause something to change。你以为单词的含义是：引起某事发生变化。
　　What it really means: An event that causes a change。单词的真正含义是：引起变化事件。
　　A lot of people staunchly
　　defend the wrong definition of this and it’s understandable. When action A causes a change in object B, action A affected object B and object B has been affected. Effect is an event that causes a change. In our prior example, action A is, in and of itself, an effect because it affects things. It’s admittedly confusing to explain but easy to remember. If it’s a noun, it’s an effect. If it’s a verb, it’s an affect。很多人是错误用法的拥趸者，这是可以理解的。当行动A导致事物B发生变化，行动A影响了事物B，因此，事物B受到了影响。Effect其实是指引起变化的事件。在先前的例子中，行动A本身就是个effect(事件)，因为它影响了事物。不得不说，这么解释起来很容易引起困惑，不过记起来却不难。如果是名词，那就是effect(事件)；如果是动词，那就是affect(影响)。
　　13. Disinterested
　　What you think it means: Bored。你以为单词的含义是：无趣的。
　　What it really means: Neutral。单词的真正含义是：中立的。
　　A good way to remember this one is that there is a word that means bored and it’s uninterested. If you’re uninterested, you’re bored. Being disinterested is the long-form equivalent of stating that you don’t care about something。要记住这个单词，有个办法就是别忘了已经有一个单词表示“无趣的”——这个单词就是uninterested。如果你uninterested(不感兴趣)，那自然就“无趣”了。Disinterested是表示“对某事不关心”的一个单词。
　　14. Irregardless
　　What you think it means: Without regard。你以为单词的含义是：不管怎样。What it really means: Nothing。单词的真正含义是：它也是不存在的。
　　Like conversate above, irregardless isn’t actually a word. When people say irregardless, they actually mean to say regardless. Regardless means without regard. Irregardless has been used so often that it actually is in the dictionary now and that’s kind of sad. Even though it is technically there, there are a large number of people who don’t consider it a word. You can save yourself a couple of keystrokes and a tongue lashing by just using regardless。跟前面的conversate一样，irregardless这个单词其实也不存在。当人们说irregardless时，其实是想说regardless。Regardless是指“不管怎样”。Irregardless一直被频繁使用，所以现在确实也纳入了词典，这可真无奈啊！不过，尽管它在字典里占有一席，但很多人并不觉得它是个单词。既然用regardless就行了，何必还要多敲几下键盘、多发一个音符来费事呢？
　　15. Chronic
　　What you think it means: Severe。你以为单词的含义是：剧烈的。What it really means: Over the course of a long time。单词的真正含义是：历时长久的。
　　This is definitely one that people ought to know better. When you have severe pain, it is just severe pain. If you have chronic pain, you have been in pain for a long, long time. Chronic conditions and diseases are called chronic because they won’t go away and not because they’re overly severe。人们绝对需要好好了解这个单词的含义。假设你受到剧烈疼痛，那它只是剧烈疼痛而已。如果你有chronic(慢性的)疼痛，那你可得很久很久地承受这疼痛了。慢性状况和疾病之所以是chronic(慢性的)，是因为它们不会消退，而不是说它们极其严重。