threaten与menace这两个动词均有“威胁、恐吓”之意。
threaten : 侧重扬言要对不服从者给予惩罚，有时指某种情况所预示的恶兆。
- They threatened to kill him unless he did as they asked.
他们威胁要杀他，除非他按他们说的去做。
menace : 系正式用词，着重以脸色或某种意志给以威胁，而不用语言明白表示出来。
- The forests are being menaced by major development projects.
大型开发项目正在危及森林。
