“Capability”和“Capacity”到底一不一樣？

ability

◆ actual skill, either mental or physical; native or acquired

實(shí)際能力，腦力或者體力上的;指人先天的或?qū)W來的各種能力。

例：

...the ability to bear hardship.

吃苦耐勞的能力...

Capability

◆ unique fitness for a defined end; sometimes may be used in place of ability, but its use in place of capacity is incorrect

多用于人，針對(duì)特定目的的具體能力(常有“勝任”某職務(wù)的意思);有時(shí)可用來代替ability，但它不能替代capacity

◆ often refers to extremes of ability

通常指你能達(dá)到的能力的極限

例：

It was, in any case, beyond the capability of one man.

無論如何，一個(gè)人是做不到的。

Capacity

◆ potential to develop a skill, usually mental; native, as opposed to acquired

側(cè)重指潛在能力，通常不指體力，多指才智，尤指接受與領(lǐng)悟能力;先天的，不是后天努力能得到的

◆ a measure of such ability.

衡量某一能力的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)或者尺度;capacity實(shí)際上多與數(shù)量或容量有關(guān)，表示能力的一種度量。通常用在物上，表示某物的容納等能力

例：

vital capacity n. 肺活量

最后，

我們放在句子里對(duì)照理解一下

我能寫作。

意思就是：

I've always been interested in writing, and I took some classes.

我一直對(duì)寫作很感興趣，我也上過一些寫作課。

I don't have the capability to write a novel.

我不能寫小說。

意思就是：

My skill is in poetry, not creating a fictional story.

我很擅長(zhǎng)寫詩歌，但是我不擅長(zhǎng)創(chuàng)作小說。

我能寫小說，但是我不想。

意思就是：

I don't want to put the mental effort into writing a long story.

我不想把精力花在寫一個(gè)長(zhǎng)篇故事上。