address

address, lecture, oration, report, speech, talk

1.在这组词中, address, speech, talk, oration四个词是同义词, lecture和report的词义与其他四个词的词义差异较大。
①lecture指学术性的“专题讲演”,尤指大学教师讲课,引申义为“教训”。例如：
Professor Black will give us a lecture on English literature tomorrow afternoon.布莱克教授明天下午将给我们做关于英国文学的演讲。
His mother gave him a lecture for getting up late.他妈妈因为他睡懒觉而训斥了他一顿。
注意这六个词中只有lecture不可与make连用。
②report指下级对上级或委托机关的“报告”,比汉语中“报告”的外延小得多。例如：
The manager had just given the company's annual report.经理刚做了公司的年度报告。
2.address, speech, talk, oration四个词的共同含义是“当众讲话”。它们的区别是：
①speech和talk是普通用语, address和oration是正式用语。
②address和oration用于正式隆重的场合,经过充分准备,听众较多,篇幅较长。这两者中, oration比address更正式,更隆重,人更多,篇幅更长。例如：
The minister's address will be broadcast at 8 o'clock.部长的讲话将于8时广播。
Lincoln's Gettysburg Address was an oration.林肯的盖茨堡讲演是一篇雄辩有力的演说辞。
这两个词含义上的区别是：address强调演说人的身份或地位高,而oration则强调演说人口才好,演说有煽动性,雄辩有力,词藻华丽。
③speech和talk的区别是：speech多用于正式场合,也可用于非正式场合; 而talk多用于非正式场合,也可用于正式场合。speech一般是经过准备的也可不经过准备; 而talk一般是不经过准备的。speech的措辞一般是庄重的; 而talk是较为随便的,讲话方式也较自由,甚至也可以是对话。例如：
Please tell us what you think in a few simple words, we don't want a speech.请用简短的话说明你的意思,不要演说。
We enjoy freedom of speech.我们有言论自由。
We had a long talk about it.关于此事,我们作了一次长谈。
He gave us a very interesting talk on Yugoslavia.他给我们作了一场饶有兴趣的关于南斯拉夫的报告。
④speech除作“讲演”解之外,还有“讲稿”“讲演风格”的含义,而另外三个词无此含义。例如：
His speech was sent to the newspaper in advance.他的讲话稿事先就送报社去了。
Her speech is informal and filled with colloquialisms.她的讲话常是非正式的,很口语化。

address, address to, address oneself to

这三个词语都可作“向…讲话”解,但address后面直接跟宾语,而address to常用于address sth to sb 结构, address oneself to则是正式用法,除作“向…讲话”解外还可作“从事于,忙于”解。

address to, mail to, post to

这三个短语结构相同( v. + prep. ),意思相同(将某物寄给某人或某地),用法相同(接表示人或地点的名词作宾语,可用于主、被动结构)。它们之间的区别在于使用场合上,作“寄信”解时可换用。例如:
Please address〔mail,post〕 the letter to Alaska.请将此信按地址寄至阿拉斯加。
而“寄包裹或其他物品”时英国人多用post to,美国人多用mail to。例如:
支票于昨日寄给您了。
The cheque was posted to you yesterday.
(BrE)
The check was mailed to you yesterday.
(AmE)