你是否有過，明明自信滿滿的覺得自己使用了正確的英文單字，對方還是一頭霧水，指鹿為馬的洩氣經驗呢？
你覺得所謂的「談話」、「對話」、「閒聊」跟「聊天」指的是同一件事嗎？那麼「問題」、「疑問」跟「困難」，又有什麼不一樣呢？還有「旅行」跟「旅遊」呢？
學習英文的時候，總有些時候我們無可避免地會需要中文的輔助，幫助我們快速地理解新單字的意義、甚至是記住它的用法和使用時機。但有時中文的輔助學習就好比是雙面刃，是助力的同時，有時也會因為習慣了依賴中文字意，反而混淆了我們對英文單字本身的真正含意，進而模糊了它的正確用法。那可就真的是老虎、老鼠，傻傻分不清楚啦！
今天我們就要來看看，針對這些惱人的易混淆，到底該怎麼用才不會再讓你的聽眾霧煞煞，或是偷偷笑你的選字不夠「政治正確」吧！
1. problem & question 問題
problem (n.)something that causes trouble or difficulty
question (n.)something that someone asks you when they want information
其實只要仔細看看這兩個字的定義，我們就可以非常明確地知道兩者的涵義可是天差地遠的。但因為question和problem都是名詞，因此用法上很類似，端看說話者想要表達的語意而須選用不同的字：
question是指產生了疑問而想知道答案或獲取更多資訊的「問題」；而problem則比較傾向遇到了麻煩或是困難點時所產生的「問題」---
Mr. Yang, I have a question ! ---- (O)Ms. Jean, I have a problem for you. ---- (X)Wait a second! I think we have a big problem here! ---- (O)Are there any questions with your car? Why does it stop? ---- (X)Do you have any questions? Please raise your hand. ---- (有疑問或是聽不懂，可以提出來讓我幫你解答。)Do you have any problems? You can trust me. ---- (有困難可以說出來，也許我們可以試著解決它。)且因為字義不同，兩者常搭配的動詞也大不同---
Can anybody in this room answer my question ? ---- (回答問題/疑問)I seriously doubt that money can solve the problem . ---- (解決問題/困難點)Susan just raised a very interesting question . ---- (提出一個疑問)The blackout last night caused serial problems . ---- (產生一連串的問題/麻煩)2. conversation & chat 聊天
conversation (n.)a talk between two or more people, usually a private and informal one
chat (n.)a friendly conversation
chat (v.)to talk in a friendly way
其實在廣義上conversation和chat的涵義幾乎沒有太大的不同，都是指和朋友或是他人私底下輕鬆的對談，主要要留意的是詞性的差異，在用法上產生了較大的區別：
因為都是名詞詞性，所以兩者在此時用法相同---
She just had a really interesting conversation with Tim. ---- (O)Of course I'd love to have a chat with such a charming lady! ---- (O)然若真的要在意義上做極細微的區分，一般會認為chat比較傾向輕鬆、漫無目的的閒聊；而conversation有時則較具有主題或目的性，像是針對本周天氣的變化是否為生活帶來了哪些變數等等較有內容的談話---
Would you please try to keep your voice down a bit? Your mom and I are trying to have a conversation here!----有點正經事要討論Well, since we can't actually go anywhere in such a bad weather, maybe we could have some chat about what we've been up to lately. What do you think?----空閒隨便聊聊，殺殺時間但總地來說，chat和conversation在大多數狀況裡都是可以互相取代的。
值得留意的是chat同時具有動詞詞性，所以還有以下用法---
He chatted happily with the attractive woman.---- (O)I want to conversation with my foreign friends.---- (X)conversation則因為是名詞而沒有這樣的用法，要特別注意。
3.trip & travel 旅行
trip (n.)an occasion when you go somewhere and come back again a journey especially for pleasure.
travel (n.)the action of travelling
travel (v.)to go on a journey or visit different places ,especially places that are far away from where you live or work
trip和travel雖然都有旅行的意思，但trip只有作為名詞的用法，指的是時間上較短，距離上也比較近的旅程，像是當天來回，或是三天兩夜的小旅行；而travel則是作為動詞用法時，意味著包含了多個目的地，為期較長且距離較遙遠的旅行：
Would you like to join our fishing trip this weekend?---- (周末一天來回的釣魚行。)He travelled to New York on business recently.---- (長途跋涉的到紐約出差。)幾個常見的動詞/名詞搭配用法---
My family is planning to take a trip to Hualian during the summer break.Louisa just returned from a business trip .We're going to travel around Taiwan in one month.If I save enough money before retirement, I wish to travel the world .---- (環遊世界。)而travel的名詞則意指長途旅行，或作為包含多個目的地的旅行這個行為本身。
My job requires a lot of travel .---- (長途旅行或四處出差的這件事。)Are you going to write a book about your travels ? It must be fascinating!---- (好幾段不同的旅行經歷。)trip雖然也有最為動詞的用法，但意思可就跟旅行差了十萬八千裡了：trip (v.)to hit your foot on something and fall down
仔細看看定義，trip可是絆倒的意思哩！常見的幾個用法---
Harley tripped over a rock and cried.---- (被某樣物品絆倒，想提到導致跌倒的物品時可以使用。)He stuck out his right food to trip her up as she passed.---- (被絆住而跌倒，想強調絆倒這個動作而非物品時可用。)He tripped up on the way back to the office.現在有沒有對這些常見的混淆字有多一點的認識了呢？下次學習新單字的時候，別再一股腦兒的往中文翻譯裡衝，記得要停、看、聽，才能細細體會每個語言的些微差異喔！
持續關注我們的文章，一起學習更多實用好玩的英文喔！融入生活學英文，自然而然講英文！