相似英語詞彙辨析133：same, similar

133 same, similar

這一對形容詞的涵義並不相同。

Same是“同一的”、“一樣的”、“沒有變的”；similar是“相像的”、“類似的”。因此，the same mistake 是“同樣的錯誤”，a similar mistake是“類似的錯誤”；on the same plan是“以同一的方法”，on a similar plan是“以類似的方法”。
另一點要注意的是，same之前要用the、this或that 等詞，只有在口語裏例外。similar之後用to，不用with。same的名詞是sameness；similar的名詞是similarity。
請看下面例句：
I'm in the same class with him.
我和他在同一個班裏讀書。
The patient is much the same as yesterday.
病人的情況和昨日大致一樣。
You can pay now or later; it's all the same to me.
你現在付也好，以後付也好，對我來說都一樣。
有時候，same和this、that、these、those等詞連用，可以表示嘲笑、侮蔑等意。例：
What is the use of this (that) same patience?
如此忍耐又有何用？
下面是similar的例子：
The cat and the tiger have similar features.
貓同虎有類似的特點。
A cat is similar to a tiger in many ways.
貓同虎有很多地方相像。
Gold is similar in colour to brass.
黃金和黃銅的顏色很相像。
A high－level delegation has arrived for talks apparently aimed at trying to revive a similar relationship that has waned in recent years.
一個高層代表團到來會談，顯然想改善近年採已衰退的關係，恢復類似以前的關係。