disinterested,uninterested(1 / 1)

這兩個詞都是由ied加上否定意義的形容詞前綴dis-和un-構成,但它們的含義和使用場合並不相同。

disied的意義是“公正的”、“不偏的”、“無利己之心的”(impartial or unbiad by personal i),該字的重音落在“in”音節上。

ued的意義是“冷淡的”、“不關心的”、“不感興趣的" (indifferent,without or unwilling to give attention to),該字的重音落在“un”和“in”兩個音節上。

It is said that the judges of the Supreme Court are all disied in their cas.

據說,最高法院的那些法官判案都很公正。

All of us remember quite well his disied help to the poor people.

我們大家都記憶猶新,他曾給予窮苦人民無私的幫助。

At oime he was very enthusiastic about his work,but lately he ems to have bee ued.

有一段時期,他工作時幹勁十足,可是他最近對工作卻變得漠不關心了。

He appears totally ued iock exge of Hong Kong.

他似乎對香港證券交易絲毫不感興趣。

現將disied和ued用在同一句子中,以便區別:

A judge should be disied in a ca he is trying,but he should not be ued.

法官在判案時應公正,但不能漠然處之。

在英語中,這種稱為否定對似語(ive doublets)很多,常見的有:

displead和unplead

dissatisfied和unsatisfied

disqualified和unqualified

inedible和uable

immeasurable和unmeasurable

irreligious和unreligious

你能否分辨它們在詞義上的細微差別並正確地使用它們?如果不能,就應求助於辨義精確的大詞典。