(1)过一会儿，马上 (after a short time; soon)： P～she got the whole story. 不一会儿，她就了解了全部情况。I'll be with him～. 我马上来陪他。The speaker will begin～. 讲演马上就开始。〖同〗soon， shortly;

(2)目前，眼下(now， at the present time) (尤AmE)： They are～reading Shakespeare's tragedies. 眼下他们在读莎士比亚的悲剧。The Secretary of State is～in Europe. 国务卿目前正在欧洲。〖同〗now， currently;

←′present¹ adj;

【说明】当presently 用于表示“立刻”、“马上”时，一般放在句尾： He'll be here presently. (他马上到这里来。)当presently 用于表示“过了一会儿”时，有时放在句首： Presently he heard her leave the room. (过了一会儿，他听见她离开了房间。)现在英国英语中presently也和在美国英语中一样，越来越多地用于表示 “目前”、“眼下”，并且与动词放在一起用： He's presently working on his PhD. (目前他正在攻读博士学位。)