■ identify

1) 作为第四类动词，指辨认出某人确是某人而不是别人，某物确是某物而不是他物。

• The device can identify its owner through his fingerprint pattern.该装置能通过指纹辨认出主人。
• There would be no way the guard at the reception desk could identify him.问讯处的警卫员不可能认出他来。
• The man was identified as Carl Bottinger.那个人被辨认出是卡尔·伯丁杰。
• Her parasol was identified by its color.她的阳伞靠颜色来辨认。
• In the absence of the label (on which he had himself written the word "Poison"), it was impossible for him to identify the bottle.(Wilkie Collins, Law and the Lady)由于标签（他亲自在上面写了“毒”字）已经不在，他就无法把那个瓶子找出来。
• Authorities identified the victim as Edward Collins, 48, of Fairfax, VA.当局查明被害者是弗吉尼亚州费尔法克斯 48 岁的爱德华·科林斯。
• There is hardly a person in this room, white or black, whose natal signature I cannot produce, and not one of them can so disguise himself that I cannot pick him out from a multitude of his fellow creatures and unerringly identify him by his hands. (Mark Twain, Pudd'n'head Wilson)这个房间里所有的人，无论黑人白人，几乎没有谁的天生特征是我说不出来的，他们没有哪一个能够化妆起来，让我无法从他们一大堆人当中把他单独分辨出来，单凭看他的手，就可以分厘不差地把他辨认出来。
• He would be able to disguise himself so effectually that ninety-nine people out of a hundred would fail to identify him, either by his voice or his manner. (Wilkie Collins, I Say No)他可以把自己乔装起来，天衣无缝，一百个人有九十九个，无论听声音或是看举止，都认不出他来。
• The next moment, straightening up in the saddle with a movement he could not fail to identify, she put the horse into a gallop, riding away with her back toward them. (Jack London, Burning Daylight)接着，她以他所熟悉的她特有的动作，坐在马鞍上挺一挺身子，策马轻跑起来，背对着他们，骑着走开了。
• A part of our work this morning will be to identify that grave. (Ambrose Bierce, Can Such Things Be?)咱们今天上午工作的一部分，就是把墓地找出来。

2) 作为第四类动词，确认某物属于某人。

• identify handwriting鉴定笔迹
• identify fingerprints鉴定指纹
• I identified my wallet by asking what was in it.我问清楚钱包里有什么东西，从而认清了是我的。
• The corpse could not be identified.尸体无法辨认。

3) 作为第四类动词，认清 X 同 Y 是一回事或至少在一个意义上是一回事。

• Children learn to identify objects with words.儿童学习把事物同单词对应起来。

4) 作为第四类动词，已经知道而且说出某人是谁。

• The police chief refused to identify the suspects.警察局长拒绝说出疑犯们的姓名。
• Four officials familiar with intel-policy discussions, who asked not to be identified because the subject matter is sensitive, say...(Newsweek, Oct. 10, 2006, p.8)四名对情报事项讨论很熟悉但因为谈论问题十分敏感而要求不要被说出姓名身份的官员说…

如果是 identify oneself，则是“自报姓名身份”或“证明自己姓名身份”（要注意，不光是身份，因为可以多人有相同身份）。

• Please identify yourself.请自报姓名身份。
• He had no means of identifying himself.他拿不出什么东西来证明自己是谁。

5) 作为第四类动词，经过转义，identify 不一定是一开头就弄清楚某人或某物的 identity，而只是在茫茫大环境中发现某人或某物符合某个原先存在的标准（当然，发现了之后，对 identity 就咬住不放了）。

• identify and nurture bright students发现并培养高材生
• Scientists claim to have identified natural substances with cancer-combating properties.科学家们声称发现了一些有抗癌性能的天然物质。
• The World Bank... has embarked on a global program to assess restoration efforts and to identify tactics to combat their (= the corals') decline. (The New York Times, May 1, 2007, F1)世界银行…开展了一个全球的工作项目，要对恢复珊瑚的努力加以评估，并且要找出制止珊瑚衰退的策略。
• The torpedo has a very powerful warhead designed to hit big submarines. Even if enemy warship sensors identify the missile, no warship can escape from this missile because of its high speed. (The Associated Press, April 3, 2006)这种鱼雷，有专门设计打击大型潜艇的威力非常强大的弹头。即使敌方军舰的遥感器发现了这个导弹，也由于它速度很快，没有军舰能够躲得开。

6) identify 作为不及物的第二类动词，加上 with，表示在想象中把自己同某个人物（尤其是虚构的人物）等同起来，身在其中，参与这个人物的喜怒哀乐和沉浮起伏。

• She always identifies with the heroine of a TV drama.她总是把自己同一部电视剧中的女主角等同起来。

在这个意义上，也有人把 identify 作为及物动词加上 oneself，但更常见的仍然是作为不及物动词。此外，也可以表示同某现实存在的他人有了融洽的关系。

• The surviving elites in Germany and Japan could easily identify with their occupiers. (Foreign Policy, March/April 2004, p.26)德国和日本生存下来的精英们，能够很容易地同占领者融洽起来。

7) 作为第二类动词，identify oneself with 或 be identified with 后面加上某个公共性的事业、主张、组织、运动，是参与或给与支持。

• He didn't want to be identified with the program.他不愿意同这个项目搭上关系。
• She identified herself with Women's Lib.她参与了妇解运动。

8) 作为第二类或第四类动词，identify X with Y 还可以表示在认识上或言论上把 X 同 Y 看成一回事。

• Don't identify appearance with reality.别把现象当作现实。