9. Aloud or Allowed

Aloud 还是 Allowed

When you hear something, it is aloud, that is you can listen to it. Think of this word as the opposite of silent.

当你听某事物时，它是大声的，才能够听到。这个词是silent的反义词。

She prayed aloud to her God.

她大声地向上帝祷告。

If something is permitted, it is allowed.

Allowed指某事是经过允许的。

They were allowed to go to the party.

他们被允许去参加聚会。

10. Altar or Alter

Altar 还是Alter

An altar is the name of a raised table or platform for religious sacrifices to a God.

Altar指为宗教祭祀的神而升起的桌子或者是平台的名称。

The priest walked towards the altar with the sacrifice.

牧师带着祭品走向祭坛。

When you change something, you have altered it.

Alter指改变某事。

I would like to alter my booking for this weekend.

我想改一下这周的预定。

11. Amaze or a maze

Amaze 还是a maze

Amaze is to be astonished, surprised, astounded.

Amaze指惊讶，惊奇。

I was amazed at how skilled that street artist was.

这位街头艺术家娴熟的技巧让我感到很惊讶。

A maze is a type of game; it involves trying to get out of a very confusing area with many different passages and dead ends or starting from the outside of the maze and finding your way to the center.

A maze是一种游戏。它指试图走出一个非常混乱的区域，这片区域里有许多不同的通道或者是死胡同或者指从迷宫的外面找到通往中心的路。

It took us an hour to find our way out of that garden maze; it was a lot of fun though!

虽然很有趣，但是我们花了一个小时才找到走出那个花园迷宫的路。

12. Amoral or Immoral

Amoral 还是 Immoral

Amoral describes a person or thing that is not concerned with what is right or wrong, that is the moral values.

Amoral指某人不关心对错，某事无关乎对错，这是一种道德价值。

Because she acts so selfishly, I think she is amoral.

我认为她不道德，因为她表现得自私。

Immoral is when someone does something that is morally unacceptable to society.

Immoral指某人做了道德上能不能为社会所接受的事情。

The buying and selling of people is an immoral practice and should be prevented around the world.

贩卖人口是一种不道德的行为，应该在全世界范围内加以制止。

13. Appraise or Apprise

Appraise 还是 Apprise

To appraise something means to try and determine how much an item is worth.

Appraise指尝试确定某一物品的价值。

The jeweler appraised the diamond ring I found at over ten thousand dollars!

珠宝商对我发现的价值一万多美元的钻戒表示赞赏。

Apprise means to let someone know about something or update them with information.

Apprise指让某人知道某事或者用信息更新他们。

I will apprise the president that the meeting will be delayed for another hour.

我将通知总统会议推迟一个半小时。

14. Aspire or a Spire

Aspire 还是 a Spire

To aspire means to try and get something.

Aspire意为尝试着去得到某些东西。

The Football team aspires to win the World Cup.

这只足球队渴望赢得世界杯。

A spire is a noun and refers to the upper part of a stalk, grass, tree or even the pointy uppermost part of a roof.

Spire是一个名词。指的是茎，草。树的上部，甚至指屋子的尖顶。

The house was well built and had a spire pointing up in the center of its roof.

房子建地很好，屋顶的中央有一个尖顶。

15. Assent or Ascent or Ascend

Assent ，Ascent 还是Ascend

Assent is the same as agreeing or approving.

Assent与agree和approve含义相同。

My father will assent to our marriage if you ask him beforehand.

如果你事先问我父亲，他会同意我们的婚事的。

Ascent is what climbers do on mountains; they move upwards as they climb.

Ascent是登山者登山时所做的事情；他们向上爬的同时不断移动着。

The climber’s ascent was faster than what many expected.

攀登者的登山速度比许多人预计的要快。

Ascend. Similar to ascent it means to move upward but can be used to describe things differently.

Ascend与ascent含义相似，它意味着向上移动，但是可以以不同的方式来描述事物。

He will ascend to power very quickly.

他将很快上台执政。

She ascended the staircase.

她爬楼梯。

16. Aural or Oral

Aural 还是Oral

Aural is specific to the ear or hearing.

Aural是耳朵或者听觉所特有的。

Their whispering was aural during the movie.

播放电影时，他们的低语是能听见的。

Oral refers to the mouth and the action of speaking.

Oral指嘴巴，或者说话的动作。

I have good oral habits because I brush my teeth twice a day.

我有良好的口腔习惯，因为我每天都刷两次牙。

The oral exam was the most challenging part of the English test.

口试是英语考试中最有挑战性的部分。

It is most likely you will come across many other words that sound similar beginning with ‘a’.However, you will frequently find that the confusion comes simply from the fact that the article ‘a’ has been used to introduce the word following it, just as we saw with the words amaze and a maze. The key is to listen carefully and exam the context of the sentence.

你很可能还会遇到许多以a开头，听起来很像的词。然而，你会经常发现，这种混淆来自于同一个事实，即文中的a 已经用来介绍后面的单词，就像amaze和a maze 一样。关键要仔细听，确定句子的上下文。