199. Freedom-of-speech advocates accused the societies of catering to politicians, and even disputed the number of studies (most were review articles and essays, they said).

译文　言论自由的拥护者们指责这些社会团体一味迎合政客，甚至对他们研究的数量提出了质疑（他们称，大多数研究只是评论文章和论文）。

点睛　本句中，accused和disputed是两个并列的谓语动词。括号里的部分相当于定语从句，修饰studies。

freedom-of-speech意为“言论自由”。advocate意为“提倡者；拥护者”。cater to意为“迎合，投合”。如：

Serious newspapers do not cater to people's love of scandal. 严肃的报纸不去迎合人们对丑闻的爱好。

dispute意为“对……提出质疑”。如：

They disputed the election results. 他们对选举结果提出异议。

考点归纳　与accuse同义的词还有charge、blame和prosecute，它们的区别在于：

accuse意为“控告，谴责”，常用搭配为accuse sb. of sth.。如：

He accused his boss of having broken his word. 他指责老板不守信用。

charge意为“控诉，指责”，多指较严重的错误或罪行，而且往往向法庭提出正式起诉。常用搭配为charge sb. with sth.。如：

The statement charged that their actions violated the agreement. 声明指责他们的行为违背了协定。

blame意为“责备”，常用搭配为blame sb. for sth.。如：

He blamed you for the neglect of duty. 他责备你玩忽职守。

prosecute意为“对……起诉，告发”，常用搭配为prosecute sb. for sth.。如：

He is being prosecuted for two criminal offences. 他被指控犯有两项罪行。