【问】 Good health is a family’s most valued possession.
 (A)noticeable (B)useful (C)costly (D)precious(TOEFL)
 正确答案为(D)。但我认为(C) costly也同样正确。不知你以为然否?
 【答】 WNDS将costly，expensive，valuable与precious列为一组同义词。costly主要用于指真正很值钱的东西，通常含有稀少、珍贵、奢侈等意义。在这个意义上它最接近于expensive：
 1. The house is too costly for us to buy. (FWF)
 这所房子太贵，我们买不起。
 2. I took a costly jewel from my neck.(WNDS)
 我从脖子上取下一条珍贵的项链。
 有时用于表示“代价昂贵的”，即涉及到大量的金钱、时间、精力、重大的损失或牺牲等：
 1. the costliest war in our history(LDCE)
 我国历史上一次代价最高的战争
 2. That route will be too costly in time.
 这条路线将是太费时间的。
 3. The general's decision to invade was a costly mistake. (FWF)
 将军关于入侵的决定是一个代价昂贵的错误。
 precious用于指具有金钱价值的东西时，通常意味着该物品是同一类中最稀有、最昂贵的(the rarest and most costly)。有时precious可用于指其价值几乎不能用金钱衡量的人或物：
 1. Salt is nearly as precious as gold in many places. (Collins)
 在许多地方食盐几乎跟金子一样珍贵。
 2. She owned many precious antiques. (FWF)
 她拥有许多珍贵的古物。
 3. Your friendship is most precious to me. (LDCE)
 你的友谊对于我是极其珍贵的。
 4. Her children are very precious to her. (ALD)
 她的孩子们对她是非常珍贵的。
 由此可以看出，在上面的试题中选D (precious)显然比选C (costly)更贴切。
 请做下面的考题：
 1. Needlepoint has always been an elegant and costly form of embroidery.A. expensive B. popular C. beautiful D. complicated
 2. Collections of opals and quartz are featured at the City Museum's annual exhibition ofprecious stones.
 A. coins B. loot C. gems D.shells