ambition: applies to the desire for personal advancement or preferment and may suggest equally a praiseworthy OR an inordinate desire: driven by the ~ to be rich.    (preferment提升晋升= promotion，如after ordination, preferment was fast被授予圣职后，晋升很快)


aspiration: implies a striving after something higher than oneself and usually implies that the striver is thereby ennobled or uplifted: an ~ to become President someday.    （strive奋斗persistent effort against great difficulty，如continues to strive for a lasting peaceful solution继续为持久和平而奋斗）


pretension: suggests ardent desire for recognition of accomplishment without actual possession of the necessary ability or qualifications and therefore implies presumption or folly: people with literary ~s frequenting her salon.     ardent热情投入的=enthusiastic，这里没有翻译        （presumption自以为是too confident，如it would be presumptuous to judge what the outcome will be现在就判断结果有些自以为是）


ambition雄心或野心: 指想要进步晋升的愿望，既可指值得称赞的也可指过度的 ，aspiration雄心抱负: 表示为崇高理想而奋斗，使个人提升，pretension自负自命不凡: 表示没有能力资质却希望别人认可，显得自以为是愚蠢


记忆方法：1）抱负的意思是想要进步成功的强烈愿望mean strong desire for advancement or success.