finished和completed究竟有何区别？

在分辨这两个动词是否有区别之前，先让我们看一看字典的释义：

 

Dictionary Reference :

Completed : Finish making or doing.

Finished : Brought to an end; completed.

 

再看一看下面的两个例句：

 

Ex1: He finished his homework.

Ex2: He completed his homework.

 

上述两个句子的意思看上去似乎没有多少区别，都是表示做完功课的意思。那么就让我们再看一看下面的释义：

 

Completed - means you've done all the parts of the relevant task.
Finished - means you've done the task as a whole, but you may have skipped some parts.

 

如果你外出菜馆就餐，服务员想帮你收拾整理一下桌面上的碗碟盘子什么的，尽管碗碟盘子里还有一些残羹（imcomplete），他会这么问：

 

Are you finished, Sir/Madam/Miss?

 

而不问：

 

Are you complete?

 

不然，是很不礼貌的！再如，如果你问你的孩子Tom是否想把甜点吃完，你会这样问:

 

Tom, are you going to finish [or finish eating] your dessert?

 

而你一般不会这么问：

 

Tom, are you going to complete [or complete eating] your dessert?

 

除非你要贬损你的小孩，说他的吃相很糟糕，用舌头把甜点盘子舔得一干二净。

 

下面，请你仔细阅读下文，看完一笑了之：

 

When you marry a right woman, you are 'completed'. If you marry a wrong woman, you are 'finished'. BUT when the right woman catches you with the wrong woman, you are 'completely finished'.

 

 

via 郑新民谈英语教学与研究