这些动词均含“花费”之意。
cost : 指花费时间、金钱、劳力等。其主语是物，而不能由人充当，也不用被动形式。
- "How much does this book cost?" "It costs £25."
“这本书多少钱？”“25英镑。” - It costs a lot to buy a house in this part of Sydney.
在悉尼的这一地区买栋房子要花很多钱。 - The trip will cost you $1,000.
这趟旅游要花去你1000美元。
expend : 较正式用词，通常指为某一专门目的而花费大量金钱、时间或精力。
- You expend so much effort for so little return.
你费了那么大劲儿，回报却如此微不足道。 - Governments expend a lot of resources on war.
各国政府在战争上消耗了大量资源。
spend : 普通用词，与cost基本同义，但主语必须是人。
- How much did you spend?
你花了多少钱？ - I don't know how I managed to spend so much in the club last night.
我不知道昨晚在俱乐部怎么会花了这么多钱。 - We spent a fortune when we were in New York.
我们在纽约花了一大笔钱。 - She spends a lot of money on clothes.
她在衣服上花销很大。 - We've just spent $1.9 million on improving our computer network.
我们刚花了190万美元改进我们的计算机网络系统。 - We went on a spending spree (= we bought a lot of things) on Saturday.
我们周六疯狂购物了一番。
take : 普通用词，指需要占用空间、时间或精力等，其主语可以是人，也可以是一件事情。
- The cooking process only takes ten minutes.
烹饪过程只需10分钟。 - How long does this paint take to dry?
这种油漆要多久才能干？ - It took us all day to drive home.
我们开车回家花了一整天的时间。
