stigma: may imply dishonor or public shame: tried to avoid the ~ of bankruptcy; but more often it applies to a negative attitude or judgment attached to something in order to bring discredit or disapproval: the increasing ~  attached to smoking in the workplace.     （dishonor丧失名誉emphasizes the loss of honor that one has previously enjoyed or the loss of self-esteem丧失名誉或自尊，如prefer death to life with dishonor宁愿死也不愿丧失名誉地活着，discredit和dishonor意思完全相同，注释见最后一段） （又如the social stigma of alcoholism/divorce/obesity/ incarceration酗酒/离婚/肥胖/入狱在社会上的负面评价）  


brand: carries stronger implications of disgrace and infamy and may suggest the impossibility of removal or concealment or the resulting social ostracism and public condemnation: bore the ~ of corruption and deceit.  （disgrace巨大耻辱often implies loss of favor or complete humiliation and sometimes ostracism完全蒙羞甚至被驱逐，如his conviction for bribery brought disgrace upon his family他受贿被定罪给家庭带来巨大耻辱）  （infamy臭名昭著implies notoriety as well as exceeding shame表示臭名昭著和非常耻辱，如a gangster whose name retains an enduring infamy遗臭万年的匪徒）      ostracism驱逐放逐to deliberately not include someone    <the scarlet letter红字>中的主角海斯特-白兰Hester Prynne胸前的红字，就是一个brand耻辱的标记，但后来在人们的意识里，那个红色字母A的含义发生了变化


blot, stain: imply a blemish that diminishes but does not extinguish the honor of a name or reputation: a ~ on the family name(blot); wanted there to be no ~ on her record.       （diminish明显减小perceptible loss，如his muscular strength diminished with age随着年龄增长他肌肉力量明显减小）  extinguish猛然结束，如fire extinguisher灭火器    （blemish瑕疵suggests something that affects only the surface or appearance只影响表面或外观，如fair skin completely devoid of blemishes面部皮肤完美无暇，如"大略不问其短，德厚不非小疵"）


stigma耻辱标记、负面评价: 指使人丧失名誉带来公开耻辱的事物，但更多表示使人名声不好的负面评价，brand耻辱标记: 指更严重的无法消除隐藏的巨大耻辱，使人受到谴责甚至驱逐，blot, stain污点: 指损害但尚未毁灭名誉的瑕疵


记忆方法: 1）首字母SBBS是不不是<==耻辱

         2）耻辱的意思是耻辱的标记mean a mark of shame or discredit.     （credit信誉信任信用the belief that someone has good qualities，如credit card信用卡，如give no credit to idle rumors不相信闲言碎语，而discredit意思是使信誉名誉丧失败坏to cause someone to lose people's respect or trust，如the photos were deliberately taken to discredit the President这些蓄意拍摄的照片旨在败坏总统的名声，to discredit a rival败坏竞争对手名声，如the previous government is, by now, thoroughly discredited前任政府已名声扫地，如the old, discredited regimes陈腐的、名声不好的政权）