prefer
句型一：Someone prefer A.
表达比较喜欢的简单句子，在上下文中有比较含意的时候就可以直接使用，后接名词或动名词。
In the morning, I prefer coffee.
早上我比较喜欢咖啡。
Actually, I prefer having afternoon tea.
事实上我比较喜欢喝下午茶。
人有比较喜欢的食物，蚊子也有比较喜欢盯的类型喔！
句型二：Someone prefer A to/over B.
明确比较两种事物。 A、B可为名词或动名词。
In the morning, I prefer coffee to tea.
早上我比较喜欢咖啡胜过茶。
As for leisure activities, Tom prefers watching movies over reading books.
谈到休闲活动，Tom比较喜欢看电影胜过看书。
句型三：Someone prefer to A rather than B.= Someone would rather A than B.
某人喜欢做某事胜过另一件；虽然都有比较的意思，但 would rather… than 的句型口气更接近「宁愿做某事也不要做另一件」。 A和B都为原型动词。
Ruby prefers to go shopping rather than play online games.
=Ruby would rather go shopping than play online games.
Ruby喜欢去逛街胜过玩线上游戏。
句型四：Someone prefer that somebody (should) A.
prefer 加上 that 子句时，用法和 suggest、demand 等很相似，should 可以省略因此A为原型动词。
Fiona prefers John take off his shoes before going into her room.
Fiona希望John在进她的房间前先脱鞋。
名词：preference
指一种喜好或偏好。
When it comes to music, everyone has their own preferences.
说到音乐，每个人都会有自己的偏好。
Teenagers show a growing preference for Korean pop music.
青少年越来越喜欢韩国流行音乐。
Buzzfeed的这部影片做了个小研究
rather
句型一：rather than
比较两件事的优劣顺序，放在 rather than「前面」的项目是比较偏好的那个。
In my opinion, it’s important to preserve historical sites rather than (to) build new buildings.
我的意见是，保存古迹比盖新建筑物重要。
句型二：would rather
宁可做某事，后加原型动词。
I would rather stay home on such a cold day.
这么冷的天气我宁可待在家里。
补充用法：rather当副词
rather当副词时有以下两个用法
1. 相当地；某种程度上的
John, who used to be rather aggressive and irritable, has changed after dating Gina.
原本相当暴躁易怒的John在开始跟Gina约会后改变不少。
2. 更精确的
I walked, or rather limped, the two kilometers home.
我走了两公里，更精确的说是一跛一跛的回家。
