英语是AEAS考试培训中至关重要的课程，2016AEAS考试报名时大家关注较多的就是英语方面。为了更好的提高广大考试的AEAS真题模拟成绩，下面AEAS考试网带领大家一起学习25个最常弄错含义的单词（3）.

17. Decimate

What you think it means: To destroy or annihilate

你以为单词的含义是：毁坏或击败。

What it really means: To destroy ten percent.

单词的真正含义是：10%毁坏。

This one is really goofy and one day this won’t be true. For the time being, decimate actually means removing only ten percent of something. If you know a little bit about words it’s not difficult to figure out. The prefix “dec” means ten. However, the traditional definition of this word is antiquated and it’ll probably be changed eventually. Until then, it’s technically correct to use a word like exterminate or annihilate instead.

这个单词有点别扭，或许以后就没人用了。不过现在而言，decimate是指“只抽取某事物的10%”。如果你稍微了解一点英语构词法的话，这就不难理解了。它的前缀“dec”就是“十”的意思。不过，这个单词的传统定义比较古旧，估计以

后会有所改变。但在那之前，最好还是使用exterminate（铲除）或annihilate（歼灭）替代吧。

18. Panacea

What you think it means: A cure.

你以为单词的含义是：治愈。

What it really means: A cure for a lot of things.

单词的真正含义是：万灵药。

This one is easy to confuse because the explanation is virtually the same even if the definitions are

vastly different. A panacea is something that cures a lot of things all at once. For instance, penicillin

is a panacea. It cures a bunch of diseases. The flu vaccine is not a panacea because it only protects

against the flu.

这个单词很容易混淆，因为即便定义迥异，解释起来实质还是一样的。Panacea（万灵药）能立刻治愈各种疾病。比如说，盘尼西林就是panacea（万灵药），它能治疗很多疾病；而流感疫苗就不是panacea（万灵药），因为它只预防流感。

19. Fortuitous

What you think it means: Lucky.

你以为单词的含义是：幸运的。

What it really means: By chance.

单词的真正含义是：偶然碰巧。

There is a difference between luck and chance. Unfortunately, people use the two interchangeably, so much

so that it’s difficult to explain the differences anymore. Lucky is an event that happens by chance that

can be described as fortunate. Winning the lottery is lucky. Fortuitous means simply by chance. For

instance if you drop your basketball and it bounces into the road and gets hit by a car, that’s a

fortuitous instance. It’s neutral, so it can be good or bad things that happen by chance.

运气和机会是有区别的。可是人们总把它们交互使用，所以很难再去解释其中的区别了。运气是偶然发生的一件事，可以视为“幸运的”。中彩票是幸运的。Fortuitous是指“纯属偶然”。举个例子，假设你没拿住篮球，结果篮球弹到路上击中了一辆车，这就是fortuitous（纯属偶然）。这个单词是中性的，既可以指偶然发生的好事，也可以指偶然发生

的坏事。

20. Plethora

What you think it means: A lot of something.

你以为单词的含义是：很多事物。

What it really means: More than is needed.

单词的真正含义是：多余。

This is one I use incorrectly all the time. In fact, I almost used it a couple of times in this very

article. Plethora simply means that there is more of something than is needed. For instance, you may

think that 5,000 people is a plethora of people. However, when you put them into a hockey arena that

seats 13,000 people, it’s actually less than half capacity and therefore not a plethora. If you had

13,500 people in that same arena, that would be a plethora of people.

这个单词是我总用错的。其实，这篇文章里可能也有几次相关的错误。Plethora是指“再也不需要什么了”。比如，你

可能觉得5000人是很多人，但是，如果你把这些人放到能容纳13000人的冰球场，那么人数还不到容量的一半，所以就不

能算plethora（多余）；如果你把13500人放到那个冰球场，那就是plethora（多余）的了。

21. Total

Total means exactly what you think it means but total is used unnecessarily on a frequent basis. When there is a total of 50 people who do something, the total is 50 whether or not you use the word “total.” Or you might hear someone say that they were totally surprised. Surprise is not a conditional emotion. You were either surprised or not. The use of total didn’t add anything of value to the sentence. In most cases, the definition is correct but using the word is repetitive when put in context with the rest of the sentence.

Total的含义和你认为的完全一样，但是，total总是被不必要地使用。假设总共有50个人在干活，那么不管你有没有用

total这个词，total（总数）肯定就是50。或许你听人说过他们totally（完全）被吓到了。“吓到”并不是一种条件性情绪，你要么被吓到，要么没有。句中添加一个total根本起不到任何意义。在多数情况下，这个单词的定义是正确的；但是，如果把单词放到字里行间就显得重复了。

22. Literally

What you think it means: Figuratively.

你以为单词的含义是：象征地。

What it really means: Actually.

单词的真正含义是：确切地。

This is something that has come about relatively recently and my generation may have helped propagate

this one. Literally means actually. When something is literally true, it is actually true. If I haven’t

seen my friend in literally five years then I actually haven’t seen them in five years. People use

literally along with hyperbole to show an emotion: “I haven’t had Chinese food in literally a million

years.” This is meant to denote that the person hasn’t had Chinese food in a while. The word those

people actually want is figuratively. They figuratively haven’t had Chinese food in a million years.

They probably literally hadn’t had it in a few days or weeks.

这个单词是近些年才流行起来的，我这一代人或许起到过推波助澜的作用。Literally的意思是“确切地”。如果某事literally（确切）属实，那它就确实是真的。如果我literally（确切）有5年没见过朋友了，那就是说我的确5年都没见过他们。为了表达情感，人们会夸张地使用这个单词：“我literally（确切）有一百万年没吃中国菜了！”这是指那个人有一段时间没吃中国菜了。这些人其实是想用figuratively（象征地）这个单词，表示他们figuratively（仿佛）有一百万年没吃中国菜了。他们可能literally（确切）只有几天或几个星期没吃中国菜罢了。

23. Can

What you think it means: What is permissible.

你以为单词的含义是：可行的。

What it really means: What is possible.

单词的真正含义是：可能的。

This is one you have to nip in the bud in childhood because it’s much harder to correct in adulthood.

When you can do something, you have capacity within you to perform that action regardless of whether or not you actually do it. I can bang my head into my desk but I absolutely will not do it. When people use can incorrectly it is because they mean to use the word “may.” When you ask someone if they can open the door, you did not ask them to open the door. You asked them if they were capable of opening the door. If you wish for them to perform the task, you should ask if they will open the door. When you ask if you can have something, you’re not asking someone to give it to you. You’re asking if you have the capacity to own it. If you need something, ask if you may have it.

这个单词的使用必须在儿童时就开始注意，一旦用错，成年以后就很难纠正了。当你can（可以）做某事时，即意味着不管实际行动与否，你自身都有能力去采取那个行动。我can（可以）把头撞到桌上，但我绝对不会这么去做。有时人们错用can这个单词，是因为他们本想表达may（可能）。当你问别人是否can（可能）开门时，你其实并没有要求对方一定得开门，只是在询问对方能不能开门；要是你希望对方开门，你就会直接问“是否开门”了。当你问对方是否can（可能）有某事物，你其实并没有要求对方把它给你，你只是在问对方有没有拥有那个东西的可能性。如果你需要某物，你会直接问“是否可以拥有它”。

24. Defective

What you think it means: That something is broken or missing pieces.

你以为单词的含义是：某物碎了或缺了部分。

What it really means: Simply that it’s broken.

单词的真正含义是：某物坏了。

You’ll see this one a lot in Amazon reviews. People will say that their unit came defective because it was missing a screw or pieces in the box. That’s actually incorrect. What they mean to say is that their product is deficient. It’s missing pieces, it is not actually broken. The machine may work perfectly fine once the missing pieces have been re-added, which means that it actually isn’t defective at all.

你会在亚马逊网评上看到很多人用这个单词。人们会说网购的产品是defective（坏的），因为盒子里缺少某个螺丝钉或部件。其实这种用法是不对的。人们本想说产品是deficient（缺陷的），产品只是缺少部件，而不是坏了，如果装上缺少的部件，或许机器就能正常运转了，所以，产品根本就不是defective（坏的）。

25. Obsolete

What you think it means: Old, out of date.

你以为单词的含义是：旧的，过时的。

What it really means: Not produced, used, or needed.

单词的真正含义是：未生产的，未使用的，不需要的。

You’ll see this one in the tech industry a lot. People in tech article comments will comment that a

phone is obsolete when they really mean that it’s out of date. The literal definition of obsolete is an item that it isn’t produced, needed, or used anymore. An example of this is is the steam engine. It’s largely inefficient compared to today’s combustion engine and even more inefficient than the emerging electric engines. Thus, steam engines are not used, produced, or needed anymore. Yes, they are also old and out of date, but obsolete is kind of the next step after old and out of date.

这个单词在科技行业经常出现。在科技文章评论中，人们会说某个电话机obsolete（未使用的），其实他们是想说电话机过时了。Obsolete的字面定义是指某物未被生产、不被需要或不再使用。一个例子就是蒸汽机。跟如今的内燃机相比，蒸汽机相当不给力，甚至都比不上新兴的电发动机；因此，蒸汽机是不被使用的、不被生产的或不再被需要的。没错

，蒸汽机也是旧的、过时的，但obsolete是“旧”与“过时”更后一步的阶段了。

Wrap up

总结

The English language is a finicky one but it’s also ever changing. Words are updated and definitions change. New words are added every year and some are retired. Very few people will ever master the entire language and the rest of us will just have to do the best we can!