rotate, revolve, roll, spin, turn, whirl,circle这几个动词有“转动、旋转”的意思。区别如下：

▲rotate 多指物体围绕自己的轴或中心旋转。如：

The earth rotates on its axis. 地球绕地轴自转。

It is best to allow the rotor to rotatefreely. 最好让转子自由旋转。

Each joint can rotate through an angle of90. 每个联轴节都能以90°角活动。

How long does it take for the dial torotate through a full circle? 刻度盘转一整圈需要多长时间？

有时也用于引申义。如：

She rotated around the departments to get aflavour of all aspects of the business. 她到各部门巡视了一圈，以了解一下公司各方面的大致状况。

▲revolve 多指物体围绕本身以外的中心旋转。如：

The earth orbits the sun. 地球绕太阳运行。

The room began to revolve, then shefainted. 屋子开始旋转，接着她昏倒了。

It takes approximately 365 and a quarterdays for the earth to revolve around the sun. 地球绕太阳1 周大约需要365 天。

有时也用于引申义。如：

Her life revolves around the family. 她一生都以家庭为中心。

His world view revolves around a battlebetween rich and poor. 他的世界观环绕着贫富之争。

She thinks the world revolves around herand her schedule. 她以为全世界就以她和她的时间表为中心。

▲roll 主要指某物在平面上滚动或翻滚。如：

A heavy mist rolled over the fields. 原野上大雾瀰漫。

Large drops of sweat rolled down her face. 大颗汗珠从她脸上落下来。

The car rolled over the edge of the cliff. 汽车从悬崖边翻了出去。

She rolled her eyes in sheer exasperation. 她气急败坏地转动着眼珠。

The children rolled down the grassy bank. 孩子们沿着长满草的斜坡磙下。

We could only watch in disbelief as the carrolled into the water. 我们只得难以置信地睁眼看汽车翻入水里。

▲spin 多指沿内轴迅速而连续旋转，或沿外部一个点作快速圆周运转。如：

The wheel can now spin freely. 轮子现在可以顺畅地转动了。

The car had spun through 180 degrees onimpact. 这辆车由于受到冲撞转了180度。

He could feel his head spinning after onlyone drink. 他只喝了一杯就觉得天旋地转了。

The secret of making the ball spin is inthe wrist action. 使球旋转的秘诀在于手腕的动作。

▲turn 普通用词，中性，含义不确切，可以指转动方向，也可指作一个圆周运动或连续地作圆周运动，或指仅是沿圆的弧形转动。如：

He turned the car in a tight circle. 他将车来了个急转。

She turned her head away in disdain. 她不屑地把头转了过去。

You have to turn the handle and then pullit towards you. 你得先转动把手，然后再拉。

As they turned the corner all the parcelsslid to one side. 他们拐过街角时，所有的包裹都滑到了一边。

He turned his eyes to the door when heheard the handle turning. 听到门把手转动的声音，他向门看去。

可用于引申义。如：

She turned the conversation to her work. 她把话题转到了她的工作上。

The conversation turned to holidays in France. 谈话转到了在法国度假的事情上。

▲whirl 指旋转或作圆周运动，侧重急速或力量。如：

Leaves whirled in eddies of wind. 树叶在风的旋涡中飞转。

I whirled her round the dance hall. 我带着她在舞池里翩翩起舞。

The smoke began to whirl and grew into amonstrous column. 浓烟开始盘旋上升，形成了一个巨大的烟柱。

▲circle 指转圈、盘旋，或指类似地作圆周运动。如：

We circled round the island. 他们环岛而行。

The helicopter was circling slowly, verylow. 直升飞机在低空慢慢盘旋。

Vultures circled in slow spirals above thecamp. 兀鹫在营地上空缓慢盘旋。

The plane circled for an hour beforereceiving permission to land. 飞机盘旋一小时后才接到允许着陆的命令。