1.remains的基本意思是“剩余物”“残余物”,指一部分已用掉或毁掉事物的剩余部分或残余部分。
2.remains也可指“遗迹,遗址,废墟”“遗体”等,在句中用其复数形式。作主语时,谓语动词用单复数形式均可。

The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.剩饭喂狗了。
I rescued the remains of my slipper from the dog.我从那条狗的口中夺回了我拖鞋的残余部分。
Investigators found a trench containing human remains.调查人员发现一条沟中有人的尸体。
The martyr's remains are buried at the foot of the hill.烈士的遗体葬在山脚下。
The general's remains are buried at high mountains.那位将军的遗体埋葬在高山上。
The museum contains the remains of Chinese antiquity.博物馆藏有中国古代的遗物。
They had a tremendous number of ancient Roman remains there.他们那儿有大量的古罗马遗迹。
This is the remains of a temple.这是一所寺庙的废墟。

remains, body, corpse
这三个词的共同意思是“尸体”“遗体”。其区别在于:
1.body和corpse可用于人也可用于动物; 而remains一般只用于人。在表示“身体”“躯体”“主干”等意思时,只能用body,不能用corpse和remains。例如:
The fighters buried the bodies after a battle.在一场战斗之后,战士们掩埋了尸体。
Mary's treasured little dog died yesterday. She buried its body to bear deep grieves.昨天玛丽心爱的小狗死了,她怀着深切的悲痛埋了它。
The hunter found a corpse in the valley.猎人在山谷里发现了一具动物的尸体。
She was laying out a corpse.她正为尸体做入殓安葬准备。
2.在表示“行尸走肉”这一意思时,只能用corpse,不能用body和remains。例如:
He is a living corpse.他如同行尸走肉。
3.remains是书面语,比较庄重。
remains, remainder, residue, rest
这组词都有“剩余”的意思。其区别是:remains指某物已用掉或毁掉一部分后的剩余部分或残余部分; remainder着重指作了扣除之后剩下的东西,也可指算术中的差数或余数; residue指某一过程中的残余物,尤指在化学反应中; rest表示在原有总体上剩下来的人或事物。例如:
Take five from eight and the remainder is three. 8减5余3。
Twenty of us went to reap wheat and the remainder worked in the cotton fields.我们之中20人去割麦,其余人在棉花田劳动。
Mary scraped the residue of food from the plates before putting them under water.玛丽在把盘子放入水之前先刮去上面的食物残渣。
There is a green residue in the bottom of the test tube.试管底部有绿色的沉淀物。
Keep the rest for yourself.剩下的都给你了。

［同义词］   ashes, body, remainder, rest, traces