n (1)人(们) (persons in general) [pl]：Will～ever live 200 years? 人能活200年吗?P～will do anything to save their own lives. 人们会千方百计地保全自己的性命。be filled/crowded with～充/挤满了人;There were about 90～at the lecture/in the room. 大约有90人听了讲座/在房间里。Several～were hurt. 几个人受了伤。P～(who live) in glass houses shouldn't throw stones. (prov) 自己有短处，不要去惹别人。〖同〗persons，humans;

(2) 1)民(种)族，人民 (nation; race) [C]： the～s of Asia and Africa 亚洲、非洲各民族;all the～s of this world 世界上的所有民族;the English-speaking～s 说英语的各民族; a brave/warlike/hard-working～一个勇敢/好战/勤劳的民族;an intelligent～ 智慧的民族;〖同〗nation， race， tribe; 2) 某地方(国家)的人们 (those persons living in a particular place or having a particular nationality) [pl][接pl动词]： people who live in the south of England 居住在英国南方的人;the French/British/Russian/Chinese～法/英/俄/中国人;the～of New York/London/Paris 纽约/伦敦/巴黎人;the～of the city城里人;〖同〗population， inhabitants， folk; 3)某国的公(国)民(尤指有选举权者) (the citizens of a country， esp those having the right to vote) [pl]： government of the～， by the～， for the～民有，民治，民享的政府;have the support of the～得到人民的支持;be close to the～贴近人民;〖同〗citizens;

(3)平(庶)民，老百姓 (ordinary persons who are not nobles， not high in rank or position， etc) [pl] [接pl动词]： power to the～权力归人民;the common～平民百姓;a man of the (common)～受老百姓爱戴的人;A politician must appeal to the～. 一个政治家必须受老百姓欢迎。The French nobles oppressed the～. 法国的贵族压迫平民百姓。〖同〗crowd， masses;

(4)(统治者的)臣民，(领导人的)支持者 (persons in relation to a ruler， leader， etc) [pl][接pl动词]： a queen loved by her～受臣民爱戴的女王;His～are working very hard to get him elected. 他的支持者在努力使他当选。

(5)亲人(尤指父母)，亲戚 (relatives， esp one's parents) [pl] [接pl动词](infml)： John spends his holiday/his Christmas with his～. 约翰与家人一起度假/圣诞节。My～come from northern England. 我家人都是英格兰北方人。His～have lived in this valley for over 300 years. 他的家族已经在这个谷地生活了300多年。

vt 使住人 (fill a place with people) [尤pass： T+n， T+n+prep(with)]： a thickly/sparsely～d district 一个人口稠密/稀少的地区;Northern America was～d with Europeans during the last century. 上个世纪，欧洲人移居北美。

【说明】严格说，people是person的复数形式，用于指数量不定的人，如： The auditorium seats hundreds of people. (礼堂可坐数百人。) 而persons 则指有具体人数的人，如： Capacity of the restaurant is limited to 40 persons. (这家饭馆能容纳40人。) 此外，persons 是正式用法，多用于法律语言，如： She was murdered by a person or persons unknown. (她被一个或一些未知的人谋杀了。)persons 和people 的另一个区别是people仅仅表示人们，而 persons则表示具有性格、感情等的人。因此，我们说：Some people are quite different persons amongst their friends from what they are in their business relations. (有些人处朋友与处理业务方面的关系迥然不同。)但是，在实际使用中这两个词也有混淆。people 也作单数名词，表示“一个民族”，其复数形式为 peoples，如： The British are a funny people. (不列颠是一个很有趣的民族。)

【辨异】people与nation和race²的区别见NATION。