58.at last, in time, finally与in the end
这几个词语都有“终于”或“最后”的意思。at last 强调久等之后 例: a. When the fire had at last been put out, the forest authorities ordered several tons of special type of grass seed which would grow quickly.在火终于被扑灭的时候，森林管理局订购了好几吨特殊速生草籽。b. When the dentist at last removed the cotton wool from my mouth, I was able to tell him that he had pulled out the wrong tooth.在牙科医生终于把药棉从我嘴中取出时，我才勉强地告诉他说，他把牙拔错了。c. At last firemen have put out a big forest fire in California.消防队员终于扑灭了加利福尼亚州的一场森林大火。in time 表示经过一段不定的时间之后例: a. In time, all Sams money was paid back in this way.山姆所有的钱终于都用这种办法归还了。b. You will learn how to do it in time.这项工作你最终总能学会做的。注:in time 还有“及时”的意思。finally 也表示久等之后，但有时表示在一系列因素的最后一个之后。例: a. After putting it off three times, we finally managed to have a holiday in Greece.推迟了三次度假之后，我们终于在希腊度了假。b. We need to increase productivity. We need to reduce unemployment. And finally, we need to make our exports competitive on world markets.我们需要增加生产率，减少失业率，最后我们需要使我们的出口产品在国际市场上具有竞争力。in the end 和 finally 同义，但 finally 一般位于谓语前。这些词除 finally 之外，其他三个都可以用在谓语前，也可位于谓语后。例: a. In the end, we stay at home and look after everything.最后，我们还是呆在家里照看着一切。b. He tried many ways of earning, in the end he became a farm labourer.他试过许多谋生之道，最后他做了农场工人。
59.delay, postpone与put off
均含“推迟”、“延期”、“延缓”的意思。delay 指“暂时阻挠或阻挡, 稍后可再继续进行”例:The steamer was delayed by bad weather.汽轮因天气不佳而延期。postpone是正式用语, 语义较强, 指“有意识地延至将来某一特定时间”, 在多数情况下, 后面说明改在何时进行 例:The meeting has been postponed to Friday.会议推迟到星期五举行。put off与postpone大致同义, 但较通俗口语化 例:Let’s put this off till some other time.我们还是把这搁一搁, 以后再说吧。
60.attempt与try
它们的一般含义是致力于可能成功也可能失败的某件事。attempt 的含义是去做自己希望会成功的事，常常包含冒险的意义。例：a. It will be a long time before any landing on Mars can be attempted
试图在火星上着陆是一件遥远的事。b. Over a year passed before the first attempt was made. 一年多的时间过去之后，才作了首次尝试。try 比 attempt 普通得多。在口语中使用 try 比使用 attempt 显得浅近通俗。但这两个词有着明显的差异。try 表示试一试，意即欲证明或检验某件事，这是attempt 所不能表达的。在表示致力于某事时，try 并不包含冒险的意思。例：a. You can try on the new coat. 这件新上衣，你可以试一试。b. I tried to say something, but my mouth was full of cotton wool.我想说句话，但我嘴里塞满了药棉。