自学英语 最终 finally，eventually，ultimately如何区分？

来自VOA的[ Ask a Teacher ] Finally, Eventually, Ultimately: What’s the Difference?

(2021/7/11) 节选

我们说话和写文章经常会用到“最终地”，“最后……”这样的说法，但是脑海里会有三个词同时蹦出来，让你有时候无从选择。是哪三个呢？是finally，eventually，ultimately！

我们先来说一下三个里面我们最熟悉的一个finally

1、Finally is often used to introduce the last in a series of statements. When used in this way, finally is especially common in speeches, presentations, or in formal writing such as in an academic paper or a job application.

解答：

finally其实是我们最先想到的表达“最终”意思的英语单词，但实际上使用频率没有想象那么高的。更多时候，finally出现在演讲，谈话，或者文学作品和求职申请里。不过，如果要表达经过一长段时间（通常是指经历了困难和滞迟）达成了效果，用finally也可以。

例句1：

Finally, I'd like to thank the conference organizers for putting together this event.

最终，我想感谢这场会议的组织者的促成。

例句2：

After one month, he finally arrived to join us.

经过一个月，他终于到达加入我们。

2、Eventually means at some later time or in the end. It can be used to talk about something that will happen in the future.

解答：

eventually含有时间因素，表示目前还未发生，但终将发生，强调的是将来肯定会发生的事结局。

例句1：

The Celtics have some good young players. In a few years, they'll eventually win the championship.

凯尔特人篮球队获得了几名优质新秀，过些年他们最终会赢得总冠军的。

例句2：

This tree will eventually reach a height of 50 meters.

这棵树最终会长成50米高的大树的。

3、Ultimately can mean: in the most important way or at the most basic level. When it has this meaning, speakers often use it at the beginning or in the middle of a sentence

解答：

Ultimately一般是表示最重要的，最基本的，这部分的含义更多一点，一般用在开头或者句子中央。

例句1：

Ultimately, it is a question for the voters to decide. 或者 It is ultimately a question for the voters to decide.

最终，这个问题取决于投票者的决定。

例句1：

Ultimately, it's a question of who is more popular.

最终，这个问题归结于谁更有人气

上文说了那么多，大家懂得区分开来用了吗？

《猫鼠游戏》的封面

可是，我找到一段经典台词，来自“小李子”莱昂纳多Leonardo在他主演的经典影片《猫鼠游戏》（Catch Me If You Can）：

Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.

两只小老鼠掉进一个奶油桶。第一只老鼠很快放弃了，淹死了。而第二只老鼠没有。他努力直到把奶油搅拌成了黄油，然后爬了出来。先生们，在这里我想说，我，是那第二只老鼠。

这里我就不是很明白了，似乎这里用finally替代eventually更加合适，因为也是表示老鼠历经艰辛才把奶油搅拌成黄油。各位读者，你们认为呢？