damage, destroy, ruin, spoil 这几个词都有“破坏；损坏”的意思，区别如下：
1、damage意为“损坏、破坏”。它可用于表示损坏或破坏具体的物品，一般暗示损坏后价值或效益会降低，这种损坏是部分性的，通常指损坏的程度不那么严重，还可以修复再用。也可用于表示损坏抽象的东西,有时该词也用于借喻。
如：
①The car was not damaged badly in the accident, but five people were seriously hurt. 汽车在事故中损坏不严重，但却有五个人受了重伤。
②The earthquake damaged several buildings. 地震使一些建筑受到了破坏。
③Her heart was slightly damaged as a result of her long illness. 长期生病使她的心脏受到轻度损伤。
④What they said and did damage the relations between the two countries. 他们的言行损害了这两个国家之间的关系。
⑤The storm did a lot of damage to the crops. 暴风雨使庄稼受到了很大损失。
⑥Smoking has damaged his health badly. 吸烟严重地损害了他的健康。
damage还可用作可数或不可数名词。如：
①The earthquake did a lot of damages to the city. 这场地震给这座城市带来了巨大的破坏。
②An earthquake sometimes causes great damage. 地震有时造成重大损失。
do damage to损害, 破坏
cause damage to损害, 破坏
2、destroy，为常用词, 指“剧烈地破坏”、“使之不存在”或“使之失去效能”，“破坏；摧毁；消灭；毁灭”，通常指程度非常严重的“毁坏”，一般情况下不可以修复再用。另外，它既可表示毁坏具体的物品，也可表示毁坏抽象的东西；。打破(希望, 计划), 使失败。
如：
①That town was destroyed in a big fire. 那个城镇在一场大火中被毁了。
②The Nazi wanted to destroy people's hopes, but in the end what was destroyed was the Nazi's dream by the power of people. 纳粹想摧毁人民的希望，最终是纳粹的梦想被人民的力量所摧毁。
③The fire destroyed all my books. 这场大火毁了我的全部书籍。
④The houses were destroyed by a fire [a flood, an earthquake]. 房屋被火灾[水灾, 地震]所毁。
⑤The heavy rain destroyed all hope of a picnic. 大雨打破了野餐的一切希望。
⑥The enemy destroyed the city. 敌人破坏了这座城市。
3、ruin 多用于借喻之中，有时泛指一般性的破坏，指把某物损坏到了不能再使用的程度，使破产。
如：
①My new coat is ruined. 我的外套不能再穿了。
②The rain will ruin the crops. 这雨会把庄稼毁掉的。
③I was ruined by that law case; I'm a ruined man. 我被那场官司毁了，我破产了。
④He knocked over a bottle of ink and ruined the table cloth. 他打翻了一瓶墨水把桌布弄脏了。
⑤She poured water all over my painting, and ruined it. 她把水全倒在了我的画上，把画毁了。
⑥I was ruined by that law case. 我被那场官司搞得倾家荡产。
惯用法：
be the ruin of成为...毁灭[堕落]的原因
bring sb. to ruin使某人失败; 使倾家荡产
bring ruin upon oneself自取灭亡
come to ruin毁灭, 灭亡; 崩溃; 破坏掉
fall to ruin毁灭, 灭亡; 崩溃; 破坏掉
go to ruin毁灭, 灭亡; 崩溃; 破坏掉
in ruins成为废墟
ruin oneself毁掉自己
in ruins成为废墟，遭到严重破坏
4、Spoil vt. (spoilt, spoiled)损坏[害], 损伤; 弄坏, 弄脏, 糟踢; 搞糟；使无用；破坏，宠坏, 溺爱; 姑息
①Our holidays were spoilt by bad weather. 我们假日的乐趣被恶劣天气所破坏。
②They spoil their children. 他们宠坏了他们的孩子们。
③The rain has spoilt my painting. 雨水毁了我的画。
④Mankind is warned to stop spoiling the environment. 人类受到警告不能再污染环境。
