1.difficulty作“困难,麻烦”解时,指必须付出大量的思考和运用技巧才能解决的任何困难,当表示抽象的困难时,是不可数名词,既不能与不定冠词连用,也不能用于复数形式; 表示具体的难处、难事、麻烦时,是可数名词,既可与不定冠词连用,也可用于复数形式。difficulty引申还可作“困境(尤指经济上的拮据)”解,这时常用复数形式。
2.difficulty后常接“of+n./v-ing”或“in+v-ing”作定语, in有时可省去,不用动词不定式。

get〔run〕 into difficulty
陷入困境 put in a bad situation
You will certainly run into many difficulties, but you must not give up.你一定会遇到许多困难,但不可中途停止。
If you do this you will only run into difficulties.你如果做这件事就只能陷入困境。
When sales slowed down, the company got into difficulties.销售量下降时,公司陷入了困境。

in difficulty
处于困境,在困难中 in trouble
When you are in difficulty, you may ask for her help.你有困难时,可以找她帮忙。
She is in difficulties.她手头拮据。

make〔raise〕 difficulties
刁难,提出反对 make opposition
Jones keeps raising difficulties over my new plan.琼斯对我的新计划不断提出反对意见。

tide over difficulties
渡过难关 smooth the difficulty
Without their help we wouldn't be able to tide over our difficulties in carrying out the task.要是没有他们的帮助,我们在完成这项任务时就会有好多困难克服不了。

with difficulty
有困难地 difficulty
〔说明〕 with difficulty只作状语,不能作定语。
I learned with difficulty how to drive.我好容易才学会开汽车。
I found the place with difficulty.我费了好大劲才找到那个地方。
The habit is easily acquired but broken up with difficulty.此种习惯养成容易,摒弃就困难了。

without difficulty
容易地,不费事地 easily
He finished the work without difficulty.他不费力地把工作做完了。
The driver found the house without difficulty.司机轻松地找到了那座房子。

Look at the difficulty in another way.用另一种不同的方式看一下困难。
The tests in this book are arranged in order of difficulty.这本书的试题是按难易程度顺序排列的。
The work was attended to with much difficulty.这项工作带来了许多困难。
Have you any concrete thoughts on how to deal with this difficulty?对于应付这种困难,你有什么具体想法?
An answer to the difficulty usually suggests itself to me if I go to bed thinking about it.如果我上床时考虑一个难题,我通常能想出解决的办法。
It was with the greatest difficulty that the boy gathered the strength to speak, but spoke with a frightening emphasis.那个男孩艰难地、费了很大力气说出话来,然而他吐字有力,使人惊惧。
Tom progressed well with his book until he met a difficulty.在遇到困难之前,汤姆的书写得很顺利。
We are not going to allow a little difficulty like that to put us off.我们不能让这样一个小小的困难就使我们泄气。
We often meet with a difficulty arising out of the peculiar natural conditions.我们常常遇到由于特殊自然条件而产生的困难。
It is a difficulty that has long been recognized.这是一个早已被大家公认的困难。
You should face the difficulties and try your best to overcome them.你必须面对困难并且尽最大努力去克服它们。
We shall help you go through the difficulties to the best of our ability.我们会尽力帮你渡过难关。
His determination blinded him to all the difficulties.他的决心使他看不到存在的困难。
Our difficulties are many, to begin with, we can't get the workers.我们有许多困难,首要的是我们招不来工人。
The mountain climbers had to battle against great difficulties.登山队员不得不与艰难险阻搏斗。
▲～+(in) v-ing
The police had some difficulty in matching up the statements taken from the two witnesses.警方难以使两个证人提供的证词互相吻合。
Older students were having difficulty in studying and organizing themselves.年龄大的学生们学习有困难,也难以组织起来。
Mr. Brown has some difficulty in adjusting to the new climate.布朗先生不大容易适应新的气候。
I had difficulty in getting the ink off my skirt.我很难把衬衣上的墨水洗掉。
The committee member had difficulty in fighting his suggestion through.委员要使他的提案通过有很大困难。
They had little difficulty in getting away from the puppet guards.他们不费事地从傀儡看守手中逃掉了。
Some people have more difficulty than others in keeping their weight down.有些人比别人更难减少自己的体重。
She steps out so actively that I have difficulty keeping up with her.她蹦蹦跳跳走得太快了,我很难跟上她。
His eyes were so tired that he had difficulty focusing it.他的眼睛累了,无法准确聚焦。
▲～+of n./v-ing
He finally solved the difficulty of transportation.他终于解决了运输的难题。
The difficulty of the examination staggered him.考试的困难使他很发愁。
I fear that I underrated the difficulty of the task.我担心我低估了这项任务的难度。
Well, that disposes of the difficulty of choosing a holiday place.好啦,那可解决了选择度假地点的难题了。
▲～+with n./v-ing
I have no difficulty with English.我对学英语并不感到困难。
The students have great difficulty with this text.学生们对理解这篇课文深感困难。

difficulty in, in difficulty
这两个短语的词序不同,意义和用法也完全不同。difficulty in接动名词,意为“在…方面的困难”; in difficulty则是介词短语,在句中作表语或后置定语,意为“处于困境”“在困难中”。另外, difficulty in中的difficulty只能用单数形式,而in difficulty中的difficulty多用单数,也可用复数,尤其是指“经济困难”时。
difficulty with, with difficulty
1.结构不同:前者是名词加介词,后者是介词加名词。
2.意思不同:difficulty with的意思是“对…感到困难”; 而with difficulty则表示“有困难地”,在句中只能用作状语。
difficulty, hardship
两者均可表示“困难”。其区别是:difficulty指必须付出大量的思考和运用技巧才能解决的困难; hardship用于抽象事物,指各种难以完成或处理的、需付出很大努力才能克服的麻烦,用于具体事物指疾病、贫穷等给人们带来的磨难。例如:
That was a small matter after the hardships they had been through.经历过那么多磨难之后,这点事对他们来说就算不了什么了。

找到他并不难。
［误］  There is no difficulty to find him.
［正］  There is no difficulty in finding him.
［析］  difficulty如需用非谓语动词作定语,须用(in+)v-ing,不可用动词不定式。