22 同（近）义词appliance、facility、equipment、apparatus与instrument的用法区别

问：有这样一道选择题：（1）Today, housework has been made much easier by electrical .

A. facilities

B. appliances

C. instruments

D. equipment

所给答案是B，但我不知道这四个选择答案究竟有什么不同，请解释。

答：这是一组常用同（近）义词的辨析题。appliance意为“器械，器具，装置”（a device used for a specific function, usu. electrical and used at home），如mechanical appliances、sanitary appliances、domestic appliances，该词通常指“家用器具”；“家用电器”，如 household appliances，而electrical（或electric）appliances已是比较固定的说法了。例如：

（2）Vacuum cleaners, washing machines, and refrigerators are household appliances.

（3）They sell electric（al）appliances for the home.

facility意为“设备，设施，工具”（rooms, equipment, or services that are provided for a particular purpose），多用复数形式，既可指特殊用途的场地、处所，也可指具体的器具。如amusement（recreational）facilities，sports（athletic）facilities，communication facilities，library（airport, medical, traffic, power production, child-care）facilities等，卫生设备也可以说sanitary facilities，又如：

（4）The sports facility at that club includes tennis courts, a golf course, and a swimming pool.

（5）Its facilities include X-ray, operating rooms and delivery rooms.

Facility也可指家用的电器设备。例如：

（6）The kitchen has a garbage disposal and other modern facilities.

equipment意为“设备，装备，器械（材）”（the set of things needed for a particular activity, esp. an activity of a practical or technical kind），是集合名词，通常不用复数，多用于对研究工作、实验、旅行、运动、运输及战争等所需的设备或器材，并通常指除人员以外的进行有效操作或服务所需要的一切事物（铁路则通常仅指车辆），应用范围比较广泛，尤指实用或技术性的设备。如 electric（heating, communication, transportation, fire protection, radar, video, arms）equipment，也可指家用设备，如kitchen equipment，household equipment，又如：

（7）All sounds come to us in waves that can be seen only with special electronic equipment. The police found bombing-making equipment in the terrorists’ hideout.（警方在恐怖分子的藏身处发现了制造炸弹的全套器具。）

（8）The marines took with them full combat equipment, including tanks, artillery, jeeps, and flamethrowers.

Apparatus意为“仪器，设备；器械（尤指体操的）”（set of instrument, etc. used esp. in scientific experiments, equipment used for doing sth. esp. in gymnastics），既不可数又可数，多用前者，后者罕用，如a piece of apparatus in a gymnasium。例句如：

（9）The astronauts have special breathing apparatus.

（10）Scientific apparatuses are sometimes imported and sometimes made in our own factories.

最后，来谈一下instrument，其意为“器具，仪器（表）；乐器”（an object used to help in work, esp. in work where exact detail and measurements are required, such as medicine and science, an object for making music, such as a violin, piano or horn），多用于科学或艺术的人造器具，通常不具备动力，且多为精密仪器或乐器，是可数名词。如airborne（all-purpose）instruments（航空（万能）仪表），optical（nautical, precision, scientific）instruments（光学（航海、精密、科学）仪器，a fire-control（medical, surgical）instruments（防火（医疗，外科）器械），orchestra instruments（管弦乐器），又如：

（11）The pilot studied his instruments anxiously.

（12）A violin, cello, and piano were the instruments in the trio.

有如上述，可见答案B. appliances是最佳选择。同（近）义词的正确使用是一项重要的基本功，它需要我们在大量的各种语言实践中去观察、比较和学习，语言是科学，但切忌绝对化。