(1)過一會(huì)兒，馬上 (after a short time; soon)： P～she got the whole story. 不一會(huì)兒，她就了解了全部情況。I'll be with him～. 我馬上來陪他。The speaker will begin～. 講演馬上就開始。〖同〗soon， shortly;
(2)目前，眼下(now， at the present time) (尤AmE)： They are～reading Shakespeare's tragedies. 眼下他們?cè)谧x莎士比亞的悲劇。The Secretary of State is～in Europe. 國務(wù)卿目前正在歐洲?！纪絥ow， currently;
←′present1 adj;
【說明】當(dāng)presently 用于表示“立刻”、“馬上”時(shí)，一般放在句尾： He'll be here presently. (他馬上到這里來。)當(dāng)presently 用于表示“過了一會(huì)兒”時(shí)，有時(shí)放在句首： Presently he heard her leave the room. (過了一會(huì)兒，他聽見她離開了房間。)現(xiàn)在英國英語中presently也和在美國英語中一樣，越來越多地用于表示 “目前”、“眼下”，并且與動(dòng)詞放在一起用： He's presently working on his PhD. (目前他正在攻讀博士學(xué)位。)