bother、disturb、trouble、annoy、irritate与vex这些动词均有“使人不安或烦恼”之意。
bother : 指使人烦恼而引起的紧张不安或感到不耐烦。
- Does it bother you that he's out so much of the time?
他出去了那么长时间,你不担心吗? - Living on my own has never bothered me.
独自生活从来没有让我感到担心。
disturb : 较正式用词,多用被动态。指拢乱,使人不能平静或妨碍别人工作、思维或正常秩序,是程度较深的烦恼。
- Some scenes are violent and may disturb younger viewers.
某些场景中有暴力内容,可能会使年幼些的观众产生焦虑情绪。
trouble : 指给人在行动上带来不便或在身心上造成痛苦。
- I asked her what was troubling her, but she didn't want to talk.
我问她是不是有什么烦心事,但是她不想说。 - Many of us are deeply troubled by the chairman's decision.
我们许多人对主席的决定深感不安。
annoy : 强调因被迫忍受令人不快、讨厌的事而失去平静或耐心,多指一时的打拢或恼怒。
- Tina really annoyed me in the meeting this morning.
在今天上午的会上,蒂娜真是把我气坏了。 - I'm sorry - is my cough annoying you?
对不起,我咳嗽打扰你了吧?
irritate : 侧重指因不断重复发生的事情而逐渐激起愤怒,其情绪表现范围可从一时单纯的不耐烦到狂怒爆发。
- 那个小官员故意操那种口音的样子实在令我恼火。
The way the petty official puts on that accent really irritates me. - 我不论说什么她都全盘接受,这倒惹我不耐烦起来。
Her blanket acceptance of everything I said began to irritate me.
(拓展学习:小词详解 | irritate)
vex : 多指在琐碎的事情上使某人感到恼火、沮丧或担忧,常意味着一定程度的愤怒,但有时也意味着深深的困惑或焦虑。
- 一想到别人在背后说我闲话,我就很恼火。于是我精心策划了一个错综复杂的方案来报复他们。
It vexed me to think of others gossiping behind my back. So I contrived an intricate plan to get back at them.
(拓展学习:小词详解 | vex)