英语词汇区分：bare 还是bear 傻傻分不清楚？

Bare and bear are homophones – that is, they sound the same – but have very different meanings. Where it is often misused for bare is when it is used as a verb. The verb bear relates to carrying or supporting whereas the verb bare means ‘to uncover and expose it to view’:

Bare和bear是同音异义异形词——也就是说，他们的发音是一样的——但是意义却完全不同。Bare作为动词时经常被误用。动词bear指带有或者支持，而动词bare指‘揭露或者使…在视线内’：

He was bearing a tray of brimming glasses.

他拿着一个装满水的玻璃杯。

Steamboats bear the travellers home.

轮船载着旅行者们回家。

The walls cannot bear the weight of a stone vault.

墙壁无法承受石拱的力量。

He bared his chest to show his scar.

他露出胸膛上的疤。

She grinned, baring an impressive row of teeth.

她咧嘴一笑，露出了一排令人印象深刻的牙齿。

The verb bear can also be used of figurative carrying and supporting, commonly in relation to bearing a name, carrying the weight of responsibility (The tenant will bear the expert’s fee), or to ‘be able to accept or stand up to’ (His claims may not bear scrutiny).

动词bear也可以用于比喻性的承载和支持，通常指一个名字，承担责任的重量(承租人将承担专家的费用)，或者指‘能够接受或经得起’(他的主张可能经不起审查)。

Bear can also mean to endure an ordeal or difficulty (She bore the pain stoically), to manage to tolerate something (often phrased with the negative; she could not bear his sarcasm), or to dislike strongly (I can’t bear parsnips).

Bear也可能意味着忍受痛苦或困难(她坚忍地忍受着痛苦)，设法容忍某事(经常用否定词加以修饰，她忍受不了他的讽刺)，或者指强烈地厌恶(我忍受不了欧洲放风草这种植物)。

Finally, bear can mean to give birth to a child (when said of a person) or the produce fruit or flowers (when said of a plant or tree):

最后，bear可以意为分娩小孩(指人的时候)或者指结水果，开花(当指植物或者是树的时候)：

She bore six daughters. (bore is the past tense of bear)

她生了六个女孩儿。(bore是bear的过去式)

Plants can bear flowers and fruits at the same time.

植物可以在同一时间开花结果。

Until the 18th century, borne and born were simply variant forms of the past participle of bear, used interchangeably. At that time borne became the standard past participle used in all the senses listed above, and remains so today. Born became restricted to just one very common use, which remains the case today: in the passive, without by, to refer to birth: she was born in 1965.

Several everyday expressions and phrasal verbs use bear; using bare in these expressions is a common mistake:

直到十八世纪，borne与born都是bear的过去分词的简单形式，可以互换使用。 那时， borne成了上面列出的所有意义的标准过去分词，而今天仍然如此。 Born只限于一种非常常见的用途，今天仍然如此：常用于不使用by的被动语态，指出生：她生于1965年。几个日常表达和短语动词也使用bear; 在这些表达中使用bare是一个常见的错误：

Bear on: ‘be relevant to (something)’

Bear on:‘与…有关’

Bear (something) out: ‘support or confirm (something)’

Bear (something) out:‘支持某事’

Bear up: ‘remain cheerful in the face of adversity’

Bear up:‘使振作，不气馁’

Bear with: ‘be patient or tolerant with’

Bear with:‘对…有耐心或者忍受…’

And bear can also, of course, be a noun – denoting the animal.

当然bear也可以用作名词 —— 指一种动物，熊。

Unlike bear, bare can also be an adjective, and is often used to describe someone or something that is uncovered, or without the appropriate or usual contents.

与bear不一样，bare也可以用作形容词，通常指某人或者某事赤裸的，无遮蔽的或者没有适当的或者常见的内容。

She padded in bare feet towards the door.

她赤着脚向门口走去。

Leaf fall had left the trees bare.

树叶都掉光了。

It was a bare cell with just a mattress.

那是一间空牢房，只有一个床垫。

Other meanings of the very versatile adjective bare are ‘without addition; basic and simple’, ‘only just sufficient’, or ‘surprisingly small in number or amount’.

万能形容词bare的其他含义还有‘无添加的;基本的，简单的’，‘仅够…的’或者‘数量极少的’。

He outlined the bare bones of the story.

他概述了这个故事的梗概。

They had the bare minimum of furniture.

他们仅有少量的家具。

Here are some tips for identifying which word to use:

这里有一些提示来帮助你辨认使用哪个词:

if you need an adjective, always use bare

如果你需要一个形容词，那么请使用bare

if you want a verb which has anything to do with carrying, supporting, or enduring: use bear

如果你需要一个表示带有，支持或者忍受的动词，那么请使用bear

if you want a verb which has anything to do with uncovering: use bare

如果你需要一个表示揭露的动词那么请使用bare。