(1) ①wade through指“(费力、吃力地从水、雪、泥中)走过”。
- We had to wade through thick mud to get to the farm.
我们必须蹚过厚厚的泥浆去农场。
②wade through用于引申意义，表示“费力地干完、看完(书)等”，用进行时态时，则表示“费力地做着(工作等)”，是较随便的用语。
- I shan't be home for dinner. I'm still wading through all those urgent letters.
我不回家吃饭了，我正在努力处理这些紧急信函。 - I've finally managed to wade through that boring book I had to read.
我终于费劲地读完了那本我必须读的乏味的书。
(2) plough through可表示“(费力、吃力地)从水、雪、泥、人群中等走过；(船破浪)前进”，用于引申意义，表示“费力地干完、看完(书)等”，是较随便的用语。
- The ship ploughed through the waves in the dark night.
轮船在暗夜中破浪前行。 - It took over an hour to reach the farmhouse, ploughing through the deep snow in my high boots.
我花了一个多小时穿着长筒靴踩过厚厚的积雪才到达农舍。 - The famous actress had to plough her way through the crowd to reach her car.
这位著名的女演员不得不艰难地挤出人群走到她的车前。 - I doubt if I shall be home for dinner. I've suddenly a lot of urgent work to plough through .
我恐怕不能回家吃饭了，我突然有大量的紧急工作要去处理。
(3) ①toil at/over, labor at/over均指“(长时间)辛苦、努力地干(工作等)”，可以互换。
- After toiling/laboring at/over the article for weeks he went to the seaside for a short rest.
在连续几周埋头苦写这篇文章后，他去了海边做短暂的休息。 - She is toiling over preparing for the Graduate Entrance Examinations of next year.
她正在辛苦地为来年的研究生入学考试做准备。 - Week on week he toiled at his complicated experiments.
他一周又一周艰难地进行着他的复杂的实验。 - I've been toiling over these exam scripts for weeks. There seems to be no end to them.
我已连续几周费力地处理这些试卷，它们似乎没完没了。 - Don't labor at/over your writing, try to make it seem easy and natural.
不要把你的写作搞得太费力，想办法让它变得简单、自然一些。
②有时用介词on。
- He labored 15 years on this book.
这本书他辛辛苦苦搞了十五年。
(4) ①toil through意为“费力、吃力地做完/读完”。
- I've finally managed to toil through the difficult work.
最后，我终于完成了这项艰难的工作。
②toil along表示“吃力地行进”，along可以是副词，也可是介词。
- We toiled along slowly through the deep snow.
我们在积雪中缓慢而吃力地前行。 - We toiled along the muddy road with our entire luggage.
我们带着所有的行李在泥泞的道路上艰难前行。
(5) ①labor through可指“(在……中)费力、艰难地行进”。
- They labored through the thick forest and up the steep hill.
他们艰难地穿过茂密的森林，爬上了陡峭的山峰。 - The ship labored through the heavy seas in the dark.
轮船在黑暗里艰难地穿行于波涛汹涌的大海中。
②labor through也可表示“费力做完(某事)；看完”。
- It took me a month to labor through the dull book.
我用了一个月才读完这本枯燥乏味的书。
(6) work at可表示“(在……上)努力、设法、下功夫；学习，研究，致力于”。
- You'll have to work at the weak points in your English if you want to pass the exam.
如果你想通过这次英语考试，就必须在你的弱项上下功夫。 - I want to work at perfecting my style before trying anything new.
在尝试其他新事情以前，我必须努力使我的风格更完美。 - I haven't yet persuaded the director to accept my suggestions, but don't worry, I'm still working at it!
我还没有说服主管接受我的建议，不过别担心，我仍在努力！
(7) work away意为“一个劲儿干下去；下力气干；用功”，后接at或on，用进行时较多。
- She is still working away at her homework.
她正在用功地做着她的家庭作业。 - You have been working away since the early hours of this morning, and I think you should stop for the good of your health.
你从一大早就埋头工作到现在，我认为为了你的身体，你该停下来了。
(8) ①work on可作“从事，致力于，研究”解，此时可与work at换用。
- I want to work on perfecting my style before trying anything new.
在尝试其他新事情以前，我想致力于完善我的风格。 - They're still working on inventing new methods of reaching outer space.
他们依然在致力于找出到达外层空间的新途径。
②work on还作“对……施加影响；做(某人的)工作”解。
- Can you work on the chairman to accept my plan?
你能说服主席让他接受我的计划吗？ - I'll have to work on your father to give me a loan so as for me to be able to go abroad.
我将不得不说服你父亲让他给我一笔贷款以让我能出国。
③work on it与work at it都有“继续努力(以使情况发生变化)”的意思。
- I haven't yet persuaded him to change his mind, but don't worry, I'm still working on/at it .
我还没说服他改变主意，但是别着急，我仍在继续努力。
(9) ①work through意为“渗透，穿透”。
- The rain is still working through the roof.
雨依然从房顶渗透下来。 - It's difficult to work the needle through the stiff cloth.
很难让针穿透这块硬挺的布料。
②work through还作“设法干完/克服”解。
- I'm still working through this pile of papers.
我仍在处理这摞文件。 - We must work through the difficulties until we find an answer.
我们必须克服这些困难，直到我们找到答案。
(10) slave (away) at指“辛辛苦苦地干”，含有辛苦、不情愿的意味，用away时表示连续不间断。
- By slaving away at the hot stove for about an hour, she at last got the dinner ready.
在火热的炉子前辛苦了大约一个小时后，她终于把晚饭准备好了。 - I have been slaving away at the manuscript for about 10 years.
10年来，我一直在辛辛苦苦忙着这本手稿。
