關鍵字彙
alter/ barter/ caprice/ capricious/ cataclysm/ convert/ deflect/ deviate/ deviation/ digress/ divert/ drastic/ erratic/ fickle/ fluctuate/ flux/ gradation/ immutable/ iridescent/ kaleidoscopic/ mercurial/ metamorphosis/ modify/ modulate/ mutable/ oscillate/ precarious/ radical/ swap, swop/ swerve/ temperamental/ transfigure/ transform/ transmute/ upheaval/ vagary/ variable/ vary/ veer/ vicissitudes/ whim
1. 強調小幅度地改變計畫、想法、情況或某種事物的形式或本質，用modify；強調儘管改變的幅度可能不小，但本質、本體或結構不變，用alter：
•She modified her novel by removing a few trivial episodes.
•The committee modified the agenda of the meeting to allow it to be ended within one hour.
•The village altered greatly over the last decade.
•According to a zoologist, in the course of their century-old association with humans, there is no animal that has so rapidly altered as the dog, and no animal that has altered so little as the cat.
2. 指改變形式、用途、宗教或政治信仰、貨幣單位等，用convert：
•The bungalow was converted into a granary.
•The factory has worked out a way to convert used plastic containers into blankets and garments.
•The atheist is scarcely likely to be converted to any religion.
•The Zen master has converted many of his followers to Buddhism.
•The politician spent much time converting his wife to his camp.
•In the interest of investment, it may be a good time now to convert some of your NT dollars into US dollars.
3. 指隨情況而改變，用vary。它後面常接with或according to。此外，vary也可以接between，表示在兩種相反的情況之間變來變去，等於fluctuate或oscillate：
•Climate varies with geographical areas.
•Salaries in our company vary according to employers' performance.
•The girl's moods varied with the weather.
•My uncle's business varied between prosperity and stagnation.
•Lucy's emotion fluctuated between an intention to revenge and a willingness to forgive.
•It is interesting to note how public opinion oscillates between the extremes of optimism and pessimism.
4. 描述完全改變外型或本質，用transform；若強調改變後的外型顯得更加光鮮亮麗，用transfigure；強調改變後具有更好的性質或品質，用transmute：
•The witch transformed a branch into a knife.
•A generator transforms water into electricity.
•She was transfigured with the beautiful new dress.
•The tapestry and the grand piano transfigured the living room.
•A happy marriage transmuted his attitude toward life.
•Great writers can transmute an ordinary event into a superb story.
•Science has transmuted many supposed impossibilities into possibilities.
5. 指拋出之物偏離方向，用deflect；指車輛等的突然轉向，可用swerve或veer。但swerve比較是在駕駛控制下的轉向，veer的轉向有時是在失控下所造成。此外，veer也可以指風向的改變：
•He did not catch the ball because it was deflected from the course.
•My father swerved the car and therefore avoided collision.
•A boy rushed out of the alley and the taxi driver swerved.
•The motorcycle veered suddenly and ran into a tree.
•The wet and slippery road caused the car to veer and hit the lamppost.
•The typhoon veered to the north earlier than the weather bureau had forecast.
6. 指作者或演講者的「離題」，用digress; 指人在行為等方面的背離傳統或「越軌」，用deviate；指讓人轉移焦點，用divert，這個字也可以指讓河川改道。另外，deviate的名詞deviation也很常用：
•Do not digress when you are doing a presentation.
•He deviated from the generally agreed moral standards and deceived the girl into marrying him.
•A nice trip may help to divert her away from her bereavement.
•The farmers diverted the river to irrigate their farms.
•No deviation from traditional methods was permitted in preparation for the banquet.
•The man was deeply worried about his sexual deviation.
7. 指人「調整」聲音的強弱、語氣或音調，用modulate：
•When the teacher modulated her voice, the student became less nervous and began to tell the truth.
•In the radio interview we modulated the interviewee's voice to protect her identity.
8. 「以物易物」，用barter或swap，但swap較不正式，且可以拼成swop。 同時，它還可以指位置的交換：
•We bartered our poultry (fowls) for our neighbor's fruit and vegetables.
•I swapped (swopped) my old iPhone for John's old computer.
•I like to sit near the window; shall we swap (swop) the seats?
9. 描寫一種不斷變化或充滿變數的不穩定狀態，用flux；描寫人生的起起落落，用vicissitudes，生活的不穩定還可以用形容詞precarious。再者，強調變換過程中的「層次」，用gradation：
•The country has been in a state of flux since the resignation of the President.
•Jane became an orphan when she was only five and suffered many vicissitudes of fortune afterward.
•His precarious income provided him no luxuries.
•The musician was best known for his ability to express every gradation of music from the cheerful to the plaintive.
•Shakespeare's drama demonstrates the gradation of human nature from hate to love.
•Vermilion and pink are two distinct gradations in the color red.
10. 指昆蟲生活史中型態的完全改變，用metamorphosis：
•A butterfly is produced by metamorphosis from a caterpillar.
11. 生活的大改變或社會的大失序，用upheaval；災難性的巨變，用cataclysm。指改變突然、劇烈或甚至帶有暴力成份，用形容詞drastic；指改變「根本而徹底」，用形容詞radical：
•Changing workplace was an upheaval for her.
•The 9/21 Earthquake and Typhoon Morakot were two of the cataclysms of Taiwan.
•Drastic changes are necessary to improve the government of the country.
•Drastic measures have been taken to stop the crime wave.
•The sociologist said that our society was undergoing a radical change.
•You should make radical improvements in your behavior.
12. 指人突然的改變心意或行為，且這種改變可能毫無道理，可用caprice、 whim或vagary等名詞，其中vagary還可以指情況不可理解的突然改變，例如流行時尚等：
•You don't have to take his suggestion so seriously; it may be one of his caprices again.
•The old father spoiled his youngest daughter to the point of letting her indulge her every whim.
•The professor hoped that this cultural movement did not end up as a vagary of fashion and fad.
•The poor man had a vagary to send his girlfriend a diamond ring.
13. 「善變的」，可用capricious、erratic、temperamental、mercurial 和fickle等形容詞。其中，capricious可以指人或情況，temperamental和mercurial 經常指人的喜怒無常，fickle則有頗負面的意含，暗示人在愛情方面的不專一和友誼方面的不堅定：
•It is hard for a capricious youth to stay long in a job.
•Nature may not be more capricious than humans.
•An erratic person cannot concentrate on a single idea easily.
•A country will be in great danger if it is ruled by a temperamental leader.
•A mature person should not behave in such a mercurial manner.
•A fickle friend is probably more dangerous than a robber.
•Strangely enough, sometimes the more fickle a man is, the more seductive he seems to be to a woman.
14. 只強調改變的不可避免，不做特別的（尤其是負面的）價值判斷，用形容詞 mutable，其相反詞immutable是個較為正式的用字。另外，表示「可以被改變的」，用variable：
•Life is mutable.
•Human destiny is mutable.
•Mary is mutable in mood as a spring day.
•Many psychologists and philosophers were in constant pursuit of the immutable laws of human nature during their lifetime.
•The result of this experiment is variable by using different materials.
15. 形容形式或景物的不斷變化，用kaleidoscopic；描寫當光線投射到某物體後呈現種種色彩變化，用iridescent：
•The kaleidoscopic views of Taipei fascinated the Chinese tourists.
•The iridescent percolator cost much.
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