shorten、abbreviate、abridge与cut这些动词均含有“缩短”之意。
shorten : 通常指缩短时间、尺寸或过程。
- As you grow older, your spine shortens by about an inch.
随着年龄变老，你的脊柱将缩短约1英寸。 - I've asked him to shorten my grey trousers.
我已经请他把我的灰色裤子改短一些。 - The name William is often shortened to Bill.
“威廉”这个名字经常被简称为“比尔”。
abbreviate : 指省去应有的或后续的部分，从而使整体缩短。也可指缩短时间。
- "Daniel" is often abbreviated to "Dan".
Daniel常简称为Dan。 - "Chief Executive Officer" is abbreviated as "CEO".
Chief Executive Officer（首席执行官）缩写为CEO。
abridge : 多指对书籍的删节或缩短，删去不重要部分而保存其精华。
- The book was abridged for children.
这本书删节后供儿童阅读。
cut : 普通用词，指任何缩短而缩减的过程。
- Could you cut your essay from 5 000 to 3 000 words?
请把你的文章从5 000字删减到3 000字好吗？
