“你问我答”：同音词辨析：discreet 与 discrete

BBC 学英语。

BBC Learning English.

BBC，我是布利。

BBC I'm Bully.

我是乔治。我们有一位听众提了个问题。这个问题很棒，因为连母语人士有时也会把这两个词搞混。这两个词都是形容词。虽然发音一样，但拼写不同，含义也不同。

And I'm Georgie. We have a question here from one of our listeners. Well, this is a great question because even native speakers get these two words confused sometimes. The words are both adjectives. And even though they sound the same, the words are spelled differently and have different meanings.

是的。以 e e t 结尾的 discrete 可以形容一个人做事低调或私密。我们来听几个例子。

Yes. Discrete with e e t at the end can describe the actions of a person when they are doing something subtly or privately. Let's hear some examples.

她知道我还没准备好把新工作告诉大家，所以等到我们单独在一起时才问我。她非常谨慎。

She knew I wasn't ready to tell everyone about my new job yet, so she waited until we were alone to ask me about it. She was very discreet.

我很感激老板对我的失误守口如瓶，没有向团队提起。

I was grateful when my boss was discreet about my mistake and didn't mention it to the team.

低调的局，低调的离场。这对夫妇低调地离开了派对。他们只跟一两个人道别，除此之外没人注意到他们走了。

Discrete bureau, a discrete exit. The couple made a discrete exit from the party. They said goodbye to one or two people, but otherwise, they left without anyone noticing.

我悄悄朝吉姆点了点头，示意轮到他上台演讲了。

I gave Jim a discreet nod to let him know it was his turn to walk on stage for his speech.

最后，你也可以用 discrete 来形容物品，意思是它们低调、不引人注目。我们来听几个例子。

Lastly, you can also describe objects as discrete, and it means they are subtle and do not grab attention. Let's hear some examples.

我喜欢戴低调的珠宝，不要太鲜艳或夸张。

I prefer wearing discrete jewelry, nothing too colorful or bold.

餐厅的照明非常柔和，让我感到很放松。

The restaurant lighting was very discreet. It made me feel very relaxed.

是的。它最常用于数学和科学语境中，指离散的类别，而不是连续的范围。我们来听几个例子。

Yes. It's most used in the context of maths and science when talking about discrete categories rather than a continuous range. Let's hear some examples.

科学家们将数据分成了六个离散的类别。

The scientists separated the data into six discrete categories.

他们的项目被分成了三个独立的阶段：规划、开发和测试。

Their project was divided into three discrete stages, planning, development, and testing.

好了，Bully。我觉得是时候来总结一下了。对吧。

Okay, Bully. I think it's time to recap. Right.

C R E T E Discrete discrete。

C R E T E Discrete discrete.

另一方面，如果你想在说话或写作中使用这些词，请记住，它们可能听起来完全一样，但含义和拼写是离散的。记住，如果你有问题想问我们，也可以发邮件到 questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk。

On the other hand, if you want to use these words yourself when speaking or writing, keep in mind that they may sound exactly the same but have discrete meanings and spellings. Remember, if you have a question that you'd like us to answer, you can email us too at questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.

BBC，再见。

BBC, Bye.

再见。

Goodbye.