一、at

1. 動詞+ at。

at表示“指向某一目標,到達某地”:arrive at抵達, call at訪問某地, catch at(it)當場抓住, come at攻擊, fire at向……開火, glance at 瞟一眼, glare at 怒目而視, grieve at 憂傷,knock at 敲, laugh at 嘲笑, look at 看一眼, pull at 拉扯, rejoice at 對……高興,smile at 向某人微笑, shoot at 朝……射擊, stare at 怒目而視, thrust at 刺向, tear at 撕, tremble at 顫抖,wonder at 吃驚,work at 工作。

例如:

Don’t let me catch you again at it. 不要再讓我當場逮住你。

We must “shoot the arrow at the target”. 我們必須有的放矢。

They trembled at the sight of the peasant’s spears. 看到農(nóng)民的梭標,他們陣陣發(fā)抖。

2. be +形容詞/過去分詞+ at。

其中at表示“情緒、情感的原因,或?qū)δ澄锞哂心撤N感情”:be angry at惱怒于, be alarmed at對……保持警覺,be astonished at對……吃驚, be bad at不擅長, be clever at對某事很靈巧,be delighted at高興,be disgusted at厭惡, be disappointed at對…失望,be good at擅長, be impatient at對…不夠耐心, be mad at狂熱于,be pleased at對…感到高興, be present at出席, be satisfied at滿意,be surprised at吃驚, be shocked at對…非常震驚,be terrified at受到…的恐嚇,be quick at對…很機敏。

例如:

They were overjoyed at his return to work. 他們對他重返工作感到欣喜。

They are alarmed at the growth of the liberation movement in the colonies. 他們對殖民地日益壯大的解放運動警覺起來。

3. at+名詞構(gòu)成的詞組。

at a distance在一定距離,at a loss不知所措,at a time一次,at all一點也不,at any cost不惜一切代價,at best最好也只是,at first起初,at hand手頭,at heart在內(nèi)心里,at home在家;無拘束,at last最后,at least至少,at most最多,at once馬上,at present目前,at sea不知所措,at times有時,at will任意地,at work起作用,at worst最壞。

4. 其它含有at的短語。

work hard at勤奮工作,drop in at順路拜訪。

二、to

1.動詞+to

a) 動詞+ to。

介詞to意為“達到,指向”等:adjust to適應, attend to處理;照料, agree to贊同, amount to加起來達…,belong to屬于, come to達到, drink to為…干杯,get to到達, happen to發(fā)生在某人身上, hold to緊握, lead to通向, listen to聽, occur to想起, object to反對, point to指向, respond to回答, refer to參考;指的是…;涉及, reply to回答, see to負責,stick to堅持, turn to求助, write to給某人寫信。

例如:

She must learn to adjust herself to English life. 她必須學會適應英國的生活。

Business has to be attended to. 有事要辦。

An idea occurred to me. 我想出一個辦法。

b) 動詞(+sth.)+to+sb.。

下列動詞不能直接帶間接賓語sb.,要接間接賓語時須在動詞后加介詞to:announce to通知某人, describe to向某人描述, explain to向某人解釋, express to對某人表達, mention to提及, nod to向某人點頭, report to報告, say to告知, shout to對某人大叫, suggest to對某人提建議,speak to與某人交談, talk to跟某人談話, whisper to和某人低聲耳語。

例如:

She suggested to me one or two suitable people for the committee.她跟我向委員會推舉了一兩個合適的人選。

c) 動詞+sth./sb.+ to +sth./sb.。

此時介詞to可譯成“到,于,給”等意思:add to增加, compare to比作, carry to運送至, devote to致力于,introduce to介紹給, invite to邀請參加, join to連接到, leave to委托給,reduce to下降至, sentence to判處, take to帶到。例如:

Please add a piece of candy to coffee. 請給咖啡加塊糖。

Poets like to compare life to stage. 詩人喜歡把人生比作舞臺。

2. be +形容詞/過去分詞+ to。

to的意思是“對…”:be alive to覺察;曉得,be attentive to注意;留心, be awake to知曉, be blind to缺乏眼光,be close to緊挨著, be common to對某人來說很普通, be contrary to違反;反對, be devoted to致力, be deaf to不愿意聽, be equal to有…的力量,be exposed to暴露;遭受, be fair to對…公平, be familiar to對某人來說熟悉,be grateful to對某人心存感激, be good to對…有好處, be harmful to對…有危害,be important to對…重要, be kind to友好對待, be known to周知于,be married to嫁給, be moved to轉(zhuǎn)移到, be near to靠近,be necessary to對…有必要, be opposite to在對面, be opposed to反對,be pleasant to合某人之意, be proper to專屬, be polite to禮貌待人,be rude to粗暴對待, be relative to與…有關(guān), be strange to不習慣,be similar to類似, be suitable to適合, be true to忠實,be thankful to感激, be useful to對…有用, be used to習慣。

例如:

Are you alive to what is going on? 你注意到發(fā)生什么事了嗎?

The old man was not equal to the situation. 那老人不能應付這種情況。

His house is opposite to mine. 他的房子在我的房子對面。

3. to+名詞構(gòu)成的詞組。

to a degree在某種程度上, to date到現(xiàn)在為止,to one’s feet跳起來,to one’s mind照…看來, to one’s surprise使…吃驚,to one’s taste符合胃口, to oneself獨自享用, to order定做,to the letter不折不扣地, to the point中肯地。

三、about

1. 動詞+about+sth.。

about在此表示“論及,談起,涉及,著手”等意思:arrange about安排,argue about辯論, ask about詢問,bring about帶來,chat about閑聊,care about在意,complain about報怨,go about著手,hear about聽說, inquire about打聽,know about了解, quarrel about爭論,read about讀到, see about負責處理,set about開始, speak about談起, talk about談論, think about考慮, trouble about擔心,tell about講述,worry about著急。

現(xiàn)舉例說明其中一些短語的用法:

She inquired about my brother. 她向我打聽有關(guān)我兄弟的情況。

I must set about my packing. 我必須開始收拾行裝。

What are you chatting about? 你們在聊什么呢?

2. be +形容詞+about+sth.。

about在此意思是“為…,對…”,接表原因的詞:be anxious about為…著急, be bad about對…感到不舒服,be busy about忙于…,be careful about小心…, be certain about對…有把握, be concerned about關(guān)心…,be crazy about為…發(fā)狂,be excited about為…感到激動, be happy about為…而高興,be mad about為…發(fā)瘋,be nervous about對…感到緊張, be particular about挑剔…,be pleased about為…興奮,be strict about對…嚴格,be thoughtful about對…考慮周到的,be uneasy about為…感受到不安。

例句:

What have you been busy about today? 今天在忙些什么?

You are certainly very thoughtful about others. 你為別人想得太周到了。

I’m strict about such things. 對這些事我是很嚴格的。

注:come about發(fā)生,get about(疾病、謠言)流行,turn about轉(zhuǎn)身,

leave about到處亂放,lie about隨便堆放,put about打擾;傳播,

put oneself about使…發(fā)愁。這些詞組中about作副詞,此時about不能接賓語。

四、for

1. 動詞+for

a) 動詞+for。

for表原因、目的:account for解釋;說明, answer for對…負責,apply for申請;請求, apologize for為…而道歉, beg for請求, call for要求,care for在意, enter for報名參加, fight for為…而戰(zhàn), hope for希望,inquire for查詢;求見, leave for離開某地到另一地, look for尋找, long for盼望,mistake for誤認為, plan for計劃做某事, prepare for為…作準備,provide for為…提供, reach for伸手去拿, run for競選, stand for象征,search for搜尋, send for派人去請, speak for陳述意見、愿望, take for當作, wish for希望, wait for等待。

例如:

His illness accounts for his absence. 他因病缺席。

The baby reached for the apple but couldn’t reach it.那嬰兒伸手去蘋果,但夠不著。

He who would search for pearls must dive below.要想找到珍珠,必須潛到海底。

b) 動詞+sb.+ for +sth.。

for表示原因或目的:ask for要求得到,blame for因…責備, excuse for寬恕, forgive for諒解, pardon for原諒,pay for花錢買, praise for稱贊, punish for對…進行懲罰,push for催逼,reward for酬謝, thank for對…表示謝意。

例如:

Please excuse me for my being late. 請原諒我的遲到。

Forgive me for my keeping you waiting. 請見諒,讓你久等了。

2. be +形容詞+for。

for表作用、目的、對人或物有某種情緒等:be anxious for急于做, be eager for渴望, be bad for有害于,be convenient for便于, be good for利于, be famous for以…出名,be fit for適合于, be grateful for對…心存感激, be impatient for對…不耐煩,be late for遲到, be necessary for有必要, be ready for作好準備,be sorry for為…而后悔, be responsible for對…負責,be suitable for適合于, be unfit for不適合, be useful for對…有作用。

例如:

He is eager for success. 他渴望成功。

The government is responsible for the nation’s welfare. 政府負責民眾的福利。

3. for+名詞構(gòu)成的詞組。

for all盡管,for a song非常便宜地,for certain確切地,for company陪著,for ever永遠,for example例如,for fear以免,for fair肯定地,for free免費,for fun為了好玩,for good永遠,for instance比方,for luck祝福,for life終身,for long長久,for nothing白白地,for once有生第一次,for oneself替自己,for pleasure為了消遣,for reason因為…理由,for sale供出售,for shame真不害臊,for short簡稱,for sport好玩,for sure確切地。

4. 動詞+副詞/名詞+for構(gòu)成的短語。

be in for將遇到,make up for彌補,go in for從事,look out for提防,take sth. for granted把…當作理所當然,have an ear for音感好, have a gift for有某方面的天賦