surprise,astonish,astound,amaze作為動詞在壹起比較的壹般含義是“使吃驚”。
surprise 是通用詞，它的含義是使人壹楞。這種吃驚可能包含著高興也可能包含害怕或憂慮。
In spite of this, some people including myself-were surprised by a recent exhibition of modern sculpture.
盡管如此，最近舉辦的現代雕塑展覽會卻使壹些人——包括我在內——吃了壹驚。
I rang the bell and was not surprised to see that Herbert was as fat as ever.
我按響了門鈴，毫不覺得奇怪地看到赫伯特仍然和以往壹樣胖。
astonish 在現代英語中通常表示某事使人震驚得難以置信。
The successful laying of the Atlantic cable astonished everybody: its later breaks astonished no one; but after it was finally in operation. many said that no future invention could surprise them.
在大西洋底下成功地鋪設了電纜，這使得大家都感到駭然； 後來有幾處電纜折斷了，誰也不感到驚奇。不過在這些電纜終於投入工作之後，許多人都說，未來的任何發明再也不會使人吃驚了。
He was astonished at what he found. A man was lying in the box on top of a pile of woolen goods.
他所看到的使他大為震驚，箱子裏的壹堆毛織品上面躺著壹個人。
astound 比 astonish 的詞義強得多，常用於表示某件事妳雖然認為有可能，但與妳所發現的實際情況之間有很大差距。
The police were astounded when Mrs Ramsay told them what she had done.
當萊姆賽夫人把自己所做的事告訴了警察時，他們為之駭然。
amaze 所表示的吃驚中包含著使人迷惑不解、困窘或驚疑不定。（maze是迷宮）
When the archaeologists reconstructed the fragments, they were amazed to find that the goddess turned out to be a very modern-looking woman.
當考古學家把那些碎塊拼起來的時候，他們驚詫地發現那女神原來是壹個現代裝束的婦女。
Scientists have been amazed to find that it can cut through the hardest rock with great ease.
科學家驚詫地發現，它可以輕而易舉地鉆穿最堅硬的巖石。