区别辨析 price, cost, expense 与 expenditure

(1) price指“价格,定价”,引申为“代价”。

  • I will buy the furniture at that price .
    我将以那个价格买下这套家具。
  • The prices of bicycles in that shop range from 300 yuan to 800 yuan.
    那家商店的自行车价格从300元到800元不等。
  • Loss of health is too high a price to pay for success in your studies.
    为了你学习成功而付出健康的代价,未免有些太高了。
  • They won the battle, but at the price of too many lives.
    他们打胜了这一仗,但却付出了太多生命的代价。

 (2) cost指“成本,费用,价钱”,也可引申作“代价”。

  • We must do everything to cut down the cost of production.
    我们必须尽一切努力削减生产成本。
  • If you buy more than 20 books, we'll reduce the cost of each book by 10%.
    如果你买20本以上的书,我们将每本减价10%。
  • What is the cost/price of that raincoat?
    那件雨衣多少钱?
  • No matter what cost is involved we will perform our international duty.
    不论付出多少代价,我们都将履行我们的国际义务。

 (3) ①expense意思是“花费,费用”,指各种活动的费用,可与cost换用。

  • The expense/cost of living has been rising recently.
    生活费用最近一直在上涨。
  • The project involved great expense .
    该工程耗资巨大。
  • One expense followed another until her money was all gone.
    一笔接着一笔花费,直到她的钱被用光。

②expense也可作“代价”解。

  • She spared no expense to make the party a success.
    她不惜一切代价要使晚会成功。

 (4) expenditure也是“费用,开支,花费”之意,常可与expense换用。

  • You'd better limit your expenditure(s) to what is essential.
    你最好把开支限制在必要的范围之内。
  • The project entailed a great expenditure/expense on us.
    该工程让我们花费很大。