2004年6月全国大学英语六级考试的Vocabulary部分有如下一道题：

　　The bank is offering a________to anyone who can give information about the robbery.

　　A) reward B) bonus C) prize D) compliment

　　本题测试名词近义词辨析。四个选项中，reward和prize是同义词，二者都有“奖赏”的含义，但它们有如下细微的区别：

　　reward指对品德高尚和勤劳的人给予的奖励，也指为某事而付给的酬金。如：

　　1. Her devotion was his reward. 她对他忠贞不二，这便是他得到的报答。

　　2. My mother used to give me chocolate as a reward when I was good. 我妈妈过去常常给我巧克力，作为对我表现好的奖赏。

　　3. The fireman received a reward for saving the child's life. 因救了小孩的命，消防员得到一笔酬金。

　　prize指对在各种竞赛中获得优胜的人所给予的奖励。如：

　　1. My sister won first prize for her singing. 我妹妹获歌唱比赛一等奖。

　　2. Her beautiful roses gained first prize at the flower show. 花赛中她美丽的玫瑰得到第一名。

　　3. Prizes will be given for the three best stories. 三篇最好的小说将获奖。

　　4. He carried off the prize from over sixteen hundred competitors. 他从1，600多位竞争者手中夺走了奖品。

　　reward, prize的同义词还有award和premium。

　　award指对某方面有功者所给予的奖励。有时指在竞赛中获胜者所得的奖励。另外，该词还意为“赔偿金”。如：

　　1. Clarke went on to become captain of the team and twice won the NHL's Most Valuable Player award. 克拉克成了这个队的队长，而且两次获得了美国曲棍球联合会的最有价值运动员奖。

　　2. Who do you think should win the Academy Award for Best Director this year? 你认为今年谁会获得奥斯卡最佳导演奖？

　　3. His horse won the highest award. 他的马赢得了最高奖。

　　4. They have authorized awards of ￡900 to each of the victims. 他们给予每位受害者900英镑赔偿金。

　　premium指为了鼓励出售商品或调动人干好工作而给予的奖励。如：

　　1. The dictionary sells on its merits alone, without the aid of any premium of cheapness. 这部词典的销售全凭自身质量，而不是靠廉价优惠。

　　2. If you buy two you get a premium of one more, free. 你买两个，就可以再送你一个。

　　3. Some magazines give premiums for obtaining new subscriptions. 为了获得新的订户，一些杂志附赠礼品。

　　4. Parents often encourage their children with premiums for good conduct. 孩子们品行优良时，父母常常奖励他们。

　　reward, prize, award和premium的反义词是fine, penalty和forfeit。如：

　　1. There is a fine of fifty dollars for littering. 乱扔纸屑杂物，罚款50美元。

　　2. If you lose the game, you will have to pay a forfeit. 如果你比赛输了，就得受罚。

　　bonus, compliment是reward, prize, award, premium的近义词。

　　bonus指红利，意外的收获，工资以外的奖金，额外的赠品。如：

　　1. I will do my own evaluation and allocate the bonuses to each person. 我有自己给每人评价和分配红利的办法。

　　2. Her unexpected visit was a pure bonus. 她的突然来访真令人喜出望外。

　　3. I'm pleased to tell you that your year-end bonus has just grown by $750 for this suggestion. 我很高兴地通知你，由于这项建议，你的年终奖金增加750美元。

　　4. If you order three books you will receive a fourth one as a bonus. 要是你订购3本书，还可以得到1本赠书。

　　compliment指对某人的恭维、称赞、敬意、问候。如：

　　1. A: I'm sorry this is just a quick meal. 很抱歉，这些饭菜是匆忙赶出来的。

　　B:“But mother, you know your cooking is always wonderful,” He said, and asked himself why she always had to fish for compliments. “可是妈妈，你做的菜一向是很棒的啊。”他一边说，一边问自己怎么妈妈老是要别人恭维她几句才行。

　　2. He was pleased, seeing no irony in her compliment. 他很高兴，因为在她的赞扬里他没有看到嘲讽。

　　3. Please send my compliments to him. 请代我向他问好。

　　4. With my compliments to you and your wife. 向您和您的夫人问好！

　　通过以上的辨别分析，我们不难看出，本文开头的那道六级词汇题的答案应为A)，全句的句意为：银行提出，给予提供关于抢劫案线索的人酬金。

　　(文/姜建华；英语辅导报 大学二年级版 04～05学年第26期； 版权归英语辅导报社所有，独家网络合作伙伴新浪教育，未经许可，不得以任何形式进行转载。)