SAT考试中常见的15组形近词辨析

8. congenial vs. congenital

congenial: (of people) pleasing because of similarities in temperament, interests, etc ;agreeable（指人）（因性情﹑ 志趣等相近）彼此合得来的，意气相投的；适合自己性格的。

e.g. I find this aspect of my job particularly congenial.

congenital: (of diseases, etc) present from or before birth （指疾病等）天生的，先天的。

e.g. We should not deride people who have congenital defects.

9. intelligent vs. intelligible

intelligent: smart, educated 聪明的，智能的，智力的。

intelligible：that can be (easily) understood 可（易）理解的。

e.g. That’s totally a muddled explanation which was scarcely intelligible.

10. impassive vs. impassioned

impassive: showing no sign of feeling 无表情的，无动于衷的。

e.g. The accused sat impassively as the judge sentenced him to ten years in prison.

impassioned: showing strong deep feeling 充满激情的；热烈的。

e.g. He made an impassioned plea for mercy.

同第3组词相似的地方是这一组词里面含有pass-表“情感”含义的词根，im-表“不无、非”，所以impassive就是“无表情的，无动于衷的”意思。而后者中含有的“passion”其本身就是“激情，热情”的意思。

11. adapt vs. adept

adapt: make sth suitable for a new use, situation, etc; modify sth 使某事物适合於新的用途﹑情况等；修改某事物。

e.g. These styles can be adapted to suit individual tastes.

adept: expert or skilful in (doing) sth 对（做）某事物内行的，熟练的。

e.g. She's adept at growing roses.

这一组词中adapt也经常容易与adopt混淆，adopt意思为“采纳，收养”。

12. indigent vs. indigenous

indigent : poor 贫穷。

indigenous: native 土生土长的，当地的。

e.g. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia.

13. presumptive vs. presumptuous

presumptive: based on reasonable belief; probable基於合理之推测的；可能的。

e.g. It is absurd that he was sentenced to death based on presumptive evidence.

presumptuous: too bold or self-confident 胆大妄为的，专横的。

e.g. Would it be presumptuous of me to ask you to contribute?

14. ingenious vs. ingenuous

ingenious: (of a person) clever at finding new or simple solutions for complex problems; original in design（指人）善於用新的或简单的方法解决复杂问题的；设计独特精巧的。

e.g. So you fitted that wire through that little hole there: that's very ingenious!

ingenuous: open, innocent 坦率的，不隐瞒的，天真的。

e.g. That kid gives me an ingenuous smile.

这一组词，同学们可以利用另外两个单词帮助记忆，genius 和genuine,前者意思为“天才”后者意思为“真的，真诚的，非人造的”。ingenious从发音和词形上与genius相近，而ingenuous 和genuine 相近。

15. discreet vs. discrete

discrete: separate; distinct 分离的；截然分开的。

e.g. Those are a series of discrete events.

discreet: careful or showing good judgment in what one says or does; not too obvious 言谈举止谨慎的；言行审慎的；不显眼的。

e.g. I should make a few discreet enquirers about the firm before you sign anything.

以上是给同学们简单分析的15组形近词，希望对大家的学习单词方面有所帮助。同时也建议同学们以后如果碰到形近词，可以学着用词根词缀，单词联想、理解英文释义等方式将它们分辨清楚。