1. play a / the role of… 扮演……的角色, 在……中發揮作用。
e.g. (1) He plays the role of the old king in our school play.
(2) Besides eating, exercising plays an important part / role in losing weight.
(3) In the fields of education, health and research, computers will continue to play an important part.
2. succeed in doing sth. 成功地做某事
e.g. He succeeded escaping from the prison.
The doctors succeeded in saving the patient’s life.
succeed v. success n. successful adj. successfully adv.
fail v.
fail to do something 未能；不能……；忘記
e.g. The car failed to stop at the red light.
I fail to see the reason.
failure n.失敗
e.g. Failure is the mother of success.
3. owe 欠 owe sb. sth. 欠某人某物= owe sth. to sb.
e.g. I owed him 1,000 yuan.= I owe 1,000 yuan to him.
owe … to… 歸功于……
e.g. (1)They owed their riches to oil.
有了石油才有他們的財富.
(2) She owes her good health to diet and exercise.
(3) The young writer owed his success to his teacher’s encouragement.
(4) He owes his success more to luck than to ability.
(5) I owe ten dollars to my sister.
(6) We owe our parents a lot.
owing to 意為“由于”。
e.g. They decided to postpone the trip, owing to bad weather.
Owing to the drought, crops are short.
4. 在英語中有一些表示時間，條件，方式或讓步的從句有時可以省略一些成分： 如果從句的主語和主句一致，而且從句謂語動詞又包含be，那么這個主語和be動詞都可以省略。
e.g. (1) While still a student, she played roles in many film.
= While she was still a student, she played roles in many film.
(2) Be careful while crossing the street.
= Be careful while you are crossing the street.
(3) When asked about the secret of his success, Spielberg…
=When he was asked about …
(4) Don’t talk while (you are) eating.
(5) When (he was) asked how he got first place, he suddenly became cheerful.
(6) If (they are) operated by computer in the future, manY of the trains will have no drivers.
5. take off
(1) 脫掉，除去
Take your coat off.
You should take off your toys off the table.
(2) 起飛，躍起，飛起，突然離開
The plane will taken off in 5 minutes.
When they saw the police coming, they took off in the opposite direction.
(3) 在（某期間）休息
I’d like to take the next Friday off.
(4) 從（價格）減去……，減價
They are taking 50% off all goods in that shop.
(5) 突然成功或成名
The new dictionary has really taken off.
6. beat，defeat和win有什么區別
(1)beat，defeat都表示在戰斗中或競賽中“戰勝、打敗(對手)”，后接競爭對手，可以互換。
e.g. beat the competitor/the country/the team…
打敗對手/國家/那個隊……
I can beat/defeat you at swimming. 我游泳比得過你。
He was defeated/beaten at chess. 他棋下輸了。
We defeated all the other players in the game.
我們在比賽中戰勝了其他的對手。
(2)win“戰勝、贏得”， win a game/a prize/an honour其賓語通常是比賽、戰爭、獎品或表尊重、崇拜之類意義的詞。競爭對手不能作其賓語。
e.g. By her hard work，she won herself a place on the school team.
在刻苦訓練下，她在校隊里贏得了地位。
His poem won the first prize of ten dollars.
他的詩獲得了10美元的一等獎。
Our team won the game 8 to 7.
我們隊以8比7贏了那場比賽。
He won by five points.
他以5分的優勢獲勝。
He won her love at last.
他終于獲得了她的芳心。
Our team lost the game and was very unhappy.
Our team was defeated/ beat in the game and was very unhappy.
7. on the air 正在播出的，播送
e.g. His show is on the air at six o’clock.
What’s on the air now?
These programmes come on the air every day.
Is that radio show still on the air?
8. speed n. 速度
at a / the speed of 50km per hour
at a low/ high speed
with great speed
v. 加快，飛跑
I saw a car speeding away.
The time sped quickly.
9. cruel
a cruel master 殘暴的主人 a cruel disease 痛苦的疾病
a cruel scene 凄慘的景象 a cruel punishment 殘酷的處罰
was cruel to 對…… 殘酷
e.g. The girl’s stepmother was cruel to her when her father was away.
He was cruel to his dog.
他虐待他的狗。
It is cruel of you to bully your friend like that.
你如此欺凌朋友真是殘酷。
cruel adj. --- cruelty n.
be good to sb. be polite to sb.
be loyal to sb. be rude to sb.
10. work on: do an activity which needs time and effort
Here he worked on a short film,…
(1) He is working on an article.
(2) They are working on the wall newspaper.
11. afford的用法
及物動詞，其主要用法如下：
(1)“擔負得起(……的費用、時間)”，常與can，could，be able to連用，表示“有足夠的(時間、金錢等)條件(做某事)”。
afford +n./ pron.
e.g. Now many people can’t afford the medical treatment in the country.
現在在農村許多人看不起病。
I can’t afford the time for it.
這時間我花不起。
afford to do sth.
e.g. Before liberation many people couldn’t afford to go to school.
解放前，許多人上不起學。
We can’t afford to buy this new house.
我們買不起這新房子。
(2)提供，供給，給予(正式用語)
afford sth.
e.g.The trees afford a pleasant shake.
這些樹提供陰涼。
afford sb.sth./afford sth.to sb.
e.g.Reading affords us pleasure.
閱讀使我們快樂。
History affords lessons to us.
歷史給我們提供經驗教訓。