**一、基本释义**

1. **确定，查明事实真相**

   - 例如：The archaeologists are endeavoring to ascertain the age of the fossils. (考古学家正在努力确定这些化石的年代。)

2. **获取确切信息**

   - 例如：The company needs to ascertain the market demand for their new product. (公司需要确定新产品的市场需求。)

3. **确保，确认**

   - 例如：Before making a decision, he ascertained all the facts. (在做决定前，他确认了所有的事实。)

**二、用法例句**

1. **用于表达查明事实的过程**

   - "The police were tasked with ascertaining the identity of the victim." (警方被派去查明受害人的身份。)

   

2. **用于描述获取重要信息的场景**

   - "The scientist ascertained the composition of the newly discovered element through a series of experiments." (科学家通过一系列实验确定了新发现元素的组成。)

3. **用于强调确认某事的重要性**

   - "It's crucial to ascertain the accuracy of the data before presenting it in the report." (在报告中呈现数据之前，确认其准确性至关重要。)

4. **与其他动词连用增强表达效果**

   - "She ascertained from her sources that the rumors were true." (她从消息来源处确认了谣言是真的。)

**三、同义词辨析**

1. **Determine** - 与ascertain相似，determine也表示确定或决定某事。然而，determine更常用于强调做出决定或得出结论，而ascertain则侧重于通过调查或研究找到答案。

   - 例如：The committee determined to increase the budget for research. (委员会决定增加研究预算。)

2. **Establish** - Establish除了有建立的意思外，也可表示确定事实或情况。但它的使用通常涉及到创建、设定或稳固确立某个状态或事实。

   - 例如：The study established a clear link between smoking and lung cancer. (研究建立了吸烟与肺癌之间的明显联系。)

3. **Confirm** - Confirm着重于证实已知的信息或先前的假设，强调信息的确认和巩固。

   - 例如：The test results confirmed his suspicion about the disease. (测试结果证实了他对疾病的怀疑。)

4. **Discover** - Discover强调的是首次找到或看到以前未知的事物或信息，通常带有惊喜或意外的成分。

   - 例如：She discovered a new species of plant during her expedition. (她在探险中发现了一种新的植物物种。)