這些名詞指導(dǎo)致重大損失和傷亡的不幸事件。Catastrophe可以同等地適用于個人的不幸或公眾的不幸：taking along a team of medical personnel to cope with unexpected catastrophes; air polution that has reached the proportions of catastrophe. 在應(yīng)用于個人時，catastrophe通常夸張地用于微小的事故：how to deal with the catastrophe of a stuck zipper. 在表示一般事件時，它可以指對特殊群體所造成的負(fù)面影響而不是全體大眾：a land reform program that benefited the poor but was a catastrophe for rich landowners. Cataclysm與catastrophe的這些含義相反，這一點在所有詞語中是最明確的，它幾乎不用于個人不幸，而是專用于指對每個人都造成負(fù)面結(jié)果的嚴(yán)重災(zāi)禍。而且，它還強(qiáng)調(diào)導(dǎo)致了嚴(yán)重?fù)p害和損失的重大破壞：a hairbreadth escape from nuclear cataclysm. 更重要的是，cataclysm專指大自然的劇變：Eruption of the volcano would mean a cataclysm for the city.

Disaster是這些名詞中最普通的，在各種可能性中，既可以指個人方面的不幸，也可以指公共的不幸：household disasters; a country afflicted with the twin disasters of food shortages and an exploding population.與cataclysm一樣，disaster可以指自然的劇變，但是不含有全面毀滅的意思，這一點與cataclysm不同：a flood that was the worst disaster the city had ever faced. 與catastrophe相比，disaster更雖調(diào)實際造成的傷害：They were glad they had survived the catastrophe and had net no disaster. 當(dāng)然，像catastrophe一樣，Disaster可以用作夸張的用法，用于微小的不幸：a party that turned out to be a complete disaster.

Calamity與catastrophe相類似，只是程度要略輕一點?，F(xiàn)在它聽起來也比其它的詞更正式一些，只是有一點過時。它更多的用于個人的不幸，無論是嚴(yán)肅的或是夸張的，但是它也可以偶爾用于公共災(zāi)難，此時，它比disaster更加抽像和主觀：a little calamity that happened on the way to school; a calamity that wiped out her savings; arguing that the bill's passage would result in a calamity for the whole country. Debacle曾經(jīng)專指嚴(yán)重的破壞和自然的劇變，比如洪水，尤其當(dāng)造成嚴(yán)重的損害或失敗時：the savings-and-loan debacle; the Vietnam debacle. 現(xiàn)在，debacle更多地指笨拙到可笑的和導(dǎo)致令人恥辱的失敗的嘗試：a hight-level conference that was nothing short of a debacle.

反義詞：benefit, blessing, boon, comfort, success.

翻譯自《choose the right word》