这些动词均含“收缩，压缩”之意。
condense : 指将东西压缩得更紧密、紧凑，但不失去原有的内容。
- Water vapour in the air condenses into fog.
空气中的水汽凝结形成雾。 - I condensed ten pages of comments into/to two.
我将十页的评论压缩成了两页。
compress : 指把乱而不成形的东西压成一定形状。
- Her lips compressed into a thin line.
她的双唇抿成了一道缝。 - Firmly compress the soil in the pot so that the plant is secure.
把盆里的土压实使植株固定。 - compressed air
压缩空气
contract : 主要指以内、外部力量进行紧缩，也可用作引申。
- In spoken English, "do not" often contracts to "don't".
在英语口语中，do not 常常缩略成 don't。 - As it cooled, the metal contracted.
金属冷却后收缩了。 - Glass contracts as it cools.
玻璃遇冷收缩。 - a contracting market
萎缩的市场 - The heart muscles contract to expel the blood.
心脏肌肉收缩以挤压出血液。 - The exercise consists of stretching and contracting the leg muscles.
此项训练包括伸展和收缩腿部肌肉。
shrink : 侧重指因收缩而达不到原有的长度、体积或容积。
- Your sweater will shrink if you wash it at too high a temperature.
用温度过高的水洗毛衣，毛衣会缩水。 - The company's profits have shrunk from $5.5 million to $1.25 million.
公司利润从550万美元减少到了125万美元。 - The productivity improvements have shrunk our costs by 25 percent.
生产率的提高使我们的成本下降了25%。
