receive的意思是“收到了……”,只表示收到某物这个动作,并不表明同意或不同意接受的含义。例如:
I received a gift from her, but I returned it back to her this morning.
我收到了她的礼物,但是今天上午我退回了礼物。
accept表示“接受……”,“同意接纳……”。如接受物体、邀请、批评等,反映人内心的接受或接纳,反义词为refuse。
He received an invitation from her and accepted it happily.
他收到了她的邀请,并愉快地接受了。
【例题】I _________a strange gift yesterday, and I still don’t know who it was from.
A. took B. accepted C. received D. brought
我昨天收到了一个奇怪的礼物,我还不知道是谁送的。答案是C。
最后,大家要仔细体会:你receive了,未必就accept了。这句话的含义,就能彻底弄懂这两个词的区别。