Idea 一词词意最为广泛:Fruit is not her idea of a dessert.水果不是她所想要的甜点.Don't get any ideas about revenge.不要想着报仇.“Human history is in essence a history of ideas” (H.G.Wells).“人类历史本质上是一部思想史” (H·G·威尔斯).Thought 一词是指明显的智力活动,特别是指经过思考和推理后得出的结论,与单纯的观察、感觉或愿望不同:Quiet—she's trying to collect her thoughts.静悄悄地--她正努力集中着自己的思想.I have no thought of going to Europe.我不想去欧洲.“Language is the dress of thought” (Samuel Johnson).“语言是思想的外衣” (萨缪尔·约翰逊).Opinion 常用于法院判决,尤其指个人的判断,它基于一种根据,这种根据不足于排除可能的争论:It is wise to seek a second medical opinion before submitting to surgery.在决定做手术之前再寻找另外一种手段是聪明的做法.“A little group of willful men,representing no opinion but their own,have rendered the great Government of the United States helpless and contemptible” (Woodrow Wilson).“那些只代表他们自己的意见而不是其它公民意见的一小撮人,已经使伟大的美国政府处于一种无助和被人小瞧的地步” (伍德洛·威尔逊).Mind ,泛指思想、知觉、记忆和决断的能力:“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear” (Edmund Burke).“没有一种感情能象恐惧一样可剥夺头脑的所有行为和思考能力” (埃德蒙·伯克).