smother

smother指用东西盖住或罩住某人的脸而使其不能正常呼吸而导致透不过气来或窒息而死，含有主观谋杀的意味。如：

He smothered the baby with a pillow. 他用枕头把婴儿闷死了。

They tried to smother up the murder by pretending that her death was accidental. 他们谎称她是意外死亡以掩盖谋杀事实。

Don't put that cloth over the baby's face, you'll smother him! 不要把布盖在那个婴儿脸上, 会使他窒息的!

A father was secretly filmed as he tried to smother his six-week-old son in hospital. 一位父亲在医院里企图捂死自己 6 周大的儿子的情景被秘密地拍了下来。

suffocate

suffocate 指因为缺少空气而导致的窒息而死或闷死。如：

If you shut all the windows, I will suffocate. 如果你把窗户全部关起来, 我就会闷死。

Passengers suffocated in the burning aircraft. 乘客在燃烧的飞机中窒息死亡。

The fireman was suffocated by the fumes. 那个消防队员让浓烟憋死了。

The heat is tolerable at night but suffocate during the day. 在夜间尚能忍受这种高温,但白天就令人感到呼吸困难。

asphyxiate

asphyxiate指因外界客观原因导致不能正常呼吸进而导致死亡或失去知觉。如：

Three people were asphyxiated in the crush for last week's train. 在上周的火车撞车事故中有3人窒息死亡。

John Doe died in his bath, asphyxiated by the fumes from a gas water-heater. 一名男子死于浴室中，死因是吸入燃气热水器中排出的气体导致窒息。

choke

choke指因气管被堵住、卡住、呛住、噎住、哽住等而导致的不能正常呼吸。如：

She choked (to death) on a fish bone. 鱼刺把她卡住而窒息（致死）。

A small child could choke on the doll's hair. 洋娃娃的头发可能会让小孩窒息。

Dense smoke swirled and billowed, its rank fumes choking her. 滚滚浓烟盘旋翻腾，恶臭味呛得她喘不过气来。

The coffee was almost too hot to swallow and made him choke for a moment. 咖啡烫得几乎咽不下去，呛得他好一会儿喘不过气来。

strangle

strangle 指掐住或勒住咽喉使其不能正常呼吸而导致死亡。如：

He strangled her with her own scarf. 他用她的围巾把她勒死了。

This stiff collar is strangling me. 这硬领把我的脖子卡得喘不过气来。

He tried to strangle a border policeman and steal his gun. 他企图勒死一名边防警察并偷走他的枪。

He was almost strangled by his parachute harness straps. 他差点被自己的降落伞吊带勒死。

I could cheerfully strangle you for getting me into this mess! 你让我这样难堪, 我恨不得掐死你!