每天我們都會遇到 question / problem / difficulty / competition / challenge / chance / opportunity / doubt / suspicion / misconceptions / misunderstand / mystery / puzzle / obstacles / conflict / resistance 等等，也因此在托福雅思寫作或口說測驗時，相關的英語用法就顯的重要。例如 solve / resolve / remove / dispel / prevent / win / fail / lose / beat / defeat 等等。特別注意到這些字的意思間有「微差異 (subtle difference)」，用法也不太一樣，筆者從新聞以及字典整理資料，並比較 resolve 與 determine 在「決心」表達上用法的差異。
- Solve / Solution — 解答
- Resolve / Resolution — 解決 / 決心
- Special Usage Collection
- Determine or Determination — 決定 / 決心
- Resolute or Determined — 形容詞用法
- Defeat the Purpose
Solve / Solution — 解答
Solve = to find an answer to a problem 思索，思考。Solution = the answer to a problem 解決辦法;解決方案。注意到這個字的名詞與動詞都強調「找到答案」，或者是「想出解決辦法」。
E.G.:
- to solve a mystery / puzzle 揭開秘密／謎底。
- If you had one million dollars, how would you solve the challenge? 想出解決辦法
- There’s no easy solution to this problem. 這個問題沒有容易的解決辦法。
Resolve / Resolution — 解決 / 決心
Resolve = to solve or end a problem or difficulty 解決;解除;消除。Resolution = the act of solving or ending a problem or difficulty 解決;解除;消除。注意到這個字是在強調「解決問題」這整件事，而非單純地像 solve 找到答案。可以看到英英解釋裡出現了 solve 這個字，換句話說 resolve 包括了找到解決方案以及實際的執行，也可以說 resolve 解決的是複雜狀況，其中包含了許許多多的 solve。
- Have you resolved the problem of transport yet? 因為使用 resolve 所以是將 problem 視為一個大的，需要很多小答案才能解決的問題。
- a successful resolution to the crisis 注意使用「to」。
Resolve 也有下決心的意思，其基本概念是「想要解決事情」而下的決心。
- She resolves that she would never speak to him again. = 下決心去
- She resolves to quit smoking. = 下決心去
- I’ve made a resolution to exercise three times a week. = 下決心去
- A quarter of men broke their New Year’s resolution to lose weight. = 打破決心
Special Usage Collection
- to overcome / beat difficulties/obstacles/problems/resistance/challenges = 克服 / 打敗
- Our team was badly beaten in the championship game. = 被打敗
- We win / stay ahead of the competition. = 贏 / 領先
- If you do not hit the intended target, you fail the challenge. = 失敗
- Students will rise to / take on the challenge of rigorous subject matter if it sparks their interest = 挑戰
- She missed / lose the chance / opportunity of promotion when she turned down the job of assistant manager. = 錯過 / 失去
- We need to seize / take this chance / opportunity while we can. 抓住 / 利用
- This decision has removed the last obstacle to the hostages’ release. = 移除障礙
- They never cleared up the mystery of the missing money.
- I want to clear up any misconceptions you might still have.
- To dispel any doubts about this and eliminate any possible sources of irritation. 注意到 dispel 有驅散的概念。
- She was anxious to dispel any suspicions that she had married for money. 注意到 dispel 有驅散的概念。
- Such opportunities were even more important for him to dispel misunderstanding from the controversial YouTube video. 注意到 dispel 有驅散的概念。
- The instructions were carefully written to prevent misunderstanding.
- After their defeat in battle, the soldiers surrendered. 注意到名詞 defeat 是「敗北」的意思。
- They defeated the Italian team and reached the final. 注意到動詞 defeat 是「打敗」的意思。
Determine or Determination — 決定 / 決心
Determine 代表的決心，其基本概念是「決定」。換句話說，是「經過思考調查後」下定的決心。此與 resolve 代表的「想要解決事情」而下定的決心相異。
- Your health is determined by what you eat. = 決定
- She determined that one day she would be an actor. = 下決定（經過思考調查後
- They determined to leave immediately. = 下決定（經過思考調查後
- We all respected her fierce determination to succeed. = 決心
- Inspectors made the determination that the building is unsafe. = 下定論（注意到這個意思和 make resolution 完全不同，又因為後面接 that 指定了那個定論的內容，所以使用 the 而不是 resolution 接的 a。
Resolute or Determined — 形容詞用法
- She was resolute to keep her leash round him tighter. = 下定決心的
- she was resolute that she wasn’t the appropriate person to unveil that mystery. = 下定決心的
- Europeans demand / take resolute action to counter internet disinformation. = 下定決心的
- I am determined to get this piece of work done today. = 下定決心的
- They were determined that they would see this thing to the end = 下定決心的
- Teachers must make a determined effort to know as much as they can about the individual children in their classroom. = 下決心的
Defeat the Purpose
defeat the purpose of = 使…沒意義。當這個用法出現，常常可以預見要討論的東西會很深奧。例如上圖中的新聞指出 TicTok 洩露個人隱私資訊所以美國想要把它 ban 掉，這件事看似符合 national security 的利益，實則使的 national security 沒意義了！理由是：
The whole point of national security is defending people from violations of their liberty. It makes zero sense, then, to violate liberty in the name of protecting it. Yet that’s exactly what a ban on TikTok purports to do.
Banning TikTok Would Defeat the Purpose of National Security
若讀者想簡單地了解 defeat the purpose 的意思，筆者在 Quora 有看到一個不錯的講法：
You eat a sugar-free dessert in order to reduce your sugar consumption. But you add syrup to make it sweeter. Therefore, adding syrup defeats the purpose of choosing a sugar-free dessert.
https://qr.ae/pKTonS