[9i] stuff 和 things 在表示“东西”时的细微区别

在英文书和电影当中，经常能听到「stuff」这个单词，注意是stuff，不是staff（指的是员工）。stuff好像总是在代称其他事物，那它和things有什么区别么？

1、这两个单词在表示Object时，都有东西，事情，物的意思。先看看剑桥词典是怎么进行定义解释的：

1)thing

名词，在表示OBJECT时有三类含义：

• used to refer in an approximate way to an object or to avoid naming it

物，东西
What's that thing over there?
There are some nice things in the shops this summer.

• your possessions or a particular set of your possessions

财产；（个人的）所有物，用具
All their things were destroyed in the fire.
Bring your swimming things if the weather's nice.

• a particular set of objects

成套物品
Let me help you clear away the tea things (= cups, plates, etc. that are used for having tea).
2)stuff   
名词，与THING(S)相同意思时有三类含义：

• a substance, especially when you do not know or say exactly what it is

物品，东西，玩意
There's sticky stuff all over the chair.
What's this black stuff?

• things that someone says or does, when you are referring to them in a general way without saying exactly what they are

（用来泛指）某人说的或做的事
All that stuff she has been saying about Lee is just not true.
We did some really interesting stuff today.

• someone's possessions or things that they take somewhere with them

（某人拥有的或携带的）物品，东西
We'll have to carry all our camping stuff.
Do you want help bringing your stuff in from the van?

2、things 和 stuff 区别

在中文中“东西”这个词可以代表很多不同的的含义，在英文里也有同样含义的单词——“things 和 stuff”，这两个单词的含义非常相近，只是在用法上有些许的差异，所以很容易在使用时产生混淆，这里就列举一下这两个单词的差异，以免以后使用时出错。
thing 和 stuff 最大的区别不在于语意，而在词性的不同。
thing (n.) [C] 东西（thing 是可数名词，可以直接上加上 s）
stuff (n.) [U] 东西（stuff 是不可数名词，不可以加上 s）
e.g I’ve got a lot of things / stuff to do.
       = I’ve got so many things to do.
       = I’ve got so much stuff to do.

That's my stuff. = those are my things.
I don't understand this stuff. = I don't understand these things.
He has stuff to do today. = He has things to do today.