disturb, agitate, perturb, make havoc of/with 与 upset 这几个词语都有“扰乱”的意思:
(1) disturb意为“扰乱,妨碍安静、平静,搞乱正常秩序”。
- I'm awfully sorry to have disturbed your mother in her sleep.
我非常抱歉,打扰了你母亲的睡眠。 - Who has disturbed the papers on my desk?
谁把我写字台上的文件搞乱了? - We were deeply disturbed to hear of your illness.
获悉你患病的消息,我们深感不安。 - The sheriff of St. Joseph County said he wouldn't allow the hoodlums to disturb the peace.
圣约瑟夫郡的警察局局长说,他不会容许这些歹徒扰乱治安。
(2) agitate除作“鼓动”解外,用作“扰乱”的意思时,强调使受扰乱者感情激动,甚至不能克制自己。
- He looks terribly agitated . What's happened?
他看上去非常激动,出了什么事吗? - Jim was agitated about his wife's health.
吉姆为妻子的健康焦虑不安。
(3) perturb意为“把……扰得心烦意乱”,强调使受扰者焦急烦恼、心绪不安。
- It was the rumor spread by Tom concerning earthquake that perturbed the villagers.
是汤姆散布的关于地震的谣言把村民们扰得心烦意乱。 - Do be quiet, children! Grandpa is in a state of perturbed mind.
千万保持安静,孩子们!爷爷正心烦意乱呢。
(4) make havoc of/with意为“使……陷入大混乱,把……搞得乱七八糟”,有时也用wreak havoc with。
- The flood made havoc of/with all traffic in that region for the past week.
过去一周里,洪水使那个地区的交通陷入一片混乱。 - The September 11th incident made a sad havoc of/with American aviation.
“9·11”事件给美国的航空业造成极大的混乱。
(5) upset用于人时,意为“使人心烦意乱、感觉不舒服”;用于事物时,表示“打乱正常的秩序、平衡或安排”等。
- They wouldn't have believed they could be so upset by a mewing cat.
他们简直不能相信他们会被猫叫弄得如此心烦意乱。 - We must decide promptly and opportunely to upset the enemy's plan.
我们必须当机立断打乱敌人的计划。 - The upsetting of the balance in ecological system, no matter in what respect, will surely bring about a serious effect.
生态系统的平衡被打破,不论在哪一方面,肯定都会带来严重的后果。