【问】 1991年6月全国大学英语CET—4考试中有一道试题：
 American women were____the right to vote until 1920 after many years of hard strug-gle.
 A. ignored B. neglected C. refused D. denied
 我认为选C或D都是正确的。不知你以为然否?
 【答】 deny和refuse在用法和词义上有不少区别。例如，deny doing sth.，而refuse to do sth.，deny that...，而refuse却不能跟that从句。但是，当它们作“拒绝给予”解时却具有相同的用法：deny/refuse sb.sth.(即deny/refuse Oi Od)或Oi is denied/refused (to) Od(拒绝给予某人某物或某人被拒绝得到某物)。Essential English Dictionary对deny和refuse的释义如下：
 “If you deny someone something that they want，you do not let them have it.If someone refuses you something，they do not give it to you or do not allow you to haveit.”
 从上面的释义我们很难看出deny与refuse在语义上的差别。让我们再来考察一些实例：
 1. She denied the child the candy. (Webster's)
 她拒绝把糖果给孩子。
 2. His employer denied him an increase in salary.
 他的雇主拒绝给他涨工资。
 3. At that time education was denied to the working classes. (Wood)
 那时，劳动人民被剥夺了受教育的权利。
 4. Justice must not be denied to anyone，however poor he may be. (Schibsbye)
 应该公平地对待每一个人，不管他们多么贫穷。
 5. He has denied you access to information.
 他不让你得到信息。
 6. He denied the students a chance to speak.
 他拒绝给学生讲话的机会。
 7. Millions of Afro-Americans were thus denied the right to vote.
 就这样，数百万美国黑人被剥夺了选举权。
 8. They refused me permission. (ALD)
 他们拒绝了我的要求。
 9. The bank refused him the loan. (CGEL)
 银行拒绝给他贷款。
 10. He had never refuse d her anything except the complete surrender of his own personali-ty. (Puzo，Godfather)
 如果他的人格不受到完全损害的话，他从来不拒绝她的任何要求。
 11. He was refused entrance at the club door. (Webster's)
 他被拒绝进入俱乐部的大门。
 12. They were refused the right to use the Irish ports.
 他们被拒绝得到使用爱尔兰港口的权力。
 由此可见，当deny和refuse作“拒绝给予”解时，其语义和语法差别是微乎其微的，因此，上面的考题让大学生来确定选deny或选refuse的优劣，是不符合考生的实际情况的。实际上，它们常常可以互换。
 请做下面的英语试题：
 1. He was refused admission to the restaurant for not wearing a tie.
 A. granted B. denied C. acquiesced D. appealed (TOEFL 教程)
 2. He was_______ admittance to the theater for not being properly dressed.A. denied B. rejected
 C. repelled D. deprived(攻读硕士学位研究生入学考试英语试题，88A)