Assume: to think or accept that sth is true but without having proof of it.
翻译为“假设、假定”,是否有事实依据是不确定的。
Claim: to say sth is true although it has not been proved and other people may not believe it.
翻译为“声称”,用这个词往往意味着不赞同紧跟其后的观点,所以很少用作‘I claim that…"
Scientist are claiming a breakthrough in the fight against cancer, but in fact …
所以“It is claimed that”通常翻译为“有报道称”和“it is reported that ”的区别在于后者翻译为“据报道”,往往代表着作者赞同报告的内容。
Consider: to think about sth carefully, especially in order to make a decision
翻译为“考虑”,一般不用作引出观点,看个例子:
We are considering buying a new car。
所以,千万不要在雅思大作文的第一段(观点表达段)就因为用词把握不准而导致对整篇文章的低分印象。
三、compare与contrast的误用
我们先从两者的定义入手来看两者的区别。 Compare的定义为:to examine people or things to see how they are similar or different. Contrast的定义为:to compare two or more things to show the difference between them. 由定义不难看出前者侧重于找到两个或多个事物的异同,而后者则侧重于它们的不同。
看个例句:
It is interesting to compare their situations to ours./It is interesting to contrast their situations to ours.
前一句翻译为:对比一下我们的情况与他们的情况会很有趣。
后一句的翻译为:我们的情况与他们的情况有很大的不同,这很有趣。
再看一个引自OXFORD ADBANCED LEARNER’S DICTIONARY的例子:
There is an obvious contrast between the culture of East and West.
The company lost $7 million in contrast to a profit of $6.2 million a year earlier.
When you look at their new system,ours seems very old-fashioned by contrast.