【根】mut＝to change（改变）

mutate
To undergo or cause to undergo mutation.
vi. 变化，产生突变
vt. 改变，使突变

commute
To travel as a commuter.
To make substitution or exchange. To serve as a substitute.
To pay in gross, usually at a reduced rate, rather than in individual payments.
To substitute (one thing for another); exchange.
To change (a penalty, debt, or payment) to a less severe one.
An act or instance of commuting, especially the trip made by a commuter:
vt. 减刑；交换；用……交换；使……变成
vi. 通勤；代偿
n. 通勤（口语）

例句：
His sentence was commuted from death to life imprisonment.
他由死刑改判为终身监禁。
She commutes between Chicago and Rockford every day.
她每天通勤于芝加哥和罗克福德之间。

commutation
A substitution, exchange, or interchange.
The substitution of one kind of payment for another. The payment substituted.
The travel of a commuter.
Electricity. Conversion of alternating to unidirectional current. Reversal of current direction.
Law. Reduction of a penalty to a less severe one.
n. 减刑；交换；经常来往；代偿

permutation
A complete change; a transformation.
The act of altering a given set of objects in a group.
Mathematics. A rearrangement of the elements of a set.
n.变更；更换；变换；重排；【数学】排列；置换

permute
To change the order of.
Mathematics. To subject to permutation.
vt. 交换；变更；排列

transmutation
The act or an instance of transmuting; transformation. The state of being transmuted.
Physics. Transformation of one element into another by one or a series of nuclear reactions.
The supposed conversion of base metals into gold or silver in alchemy.
n. 变形；变化；演变

transmute
To change from one form, nature, substance, or state into another; transform: Alchemists tried to transmute lead into gold. See Synonyms at convert.
To undergo transmutation.
vt. 使变形；使变质
vi. 变形；变质

例句：
We can transmute water power into electric power.
我们可以将水力变成电力。
It is impossible to transmute base metals into gold.
把贱金属变成黄金是不可能的。

趣味单词

loom
To come into view as a massive, distorted, or indistinct image
To appear to the mind in a magnified and threatening form
To seem imminent; impend
A distorted, threatening appearance of something, as through fog or darkness.
An apparatus for making thread or yarn into cloth by weaving strands together at right angles.
To weave (a tapestry, for example) on a loom.
n. 织布机；若隐若现的景象
vi. 赫然耸现；可怕地出现；朦胧地出现；隐约可见；迫在眉睫
vt. 在织布机上织

例句：
A flagpole loomed up through the mist.
在薄雾中隐隐可见一根旗杆。
“Stalin looms over the whole human tragedy of 1930-1933”(&b{Robert Conquest})
“斯大林赫然耸现在1930—1933年整个人类的悲剧中”(罗伯特·康奎斯特)