Following on from Cara's advice and explanation, it seems to me ultimately counter-productive to compare a few words without context, in a vacuum.
The intelligent learner would always state, and work from, the context in which they first encountered a new word. That context is the fertile soil in which understanding may blossom.
Usage, 用法,is not mastered through an abstract discussion of definitions. Life, and communication, is at the end of the day, not a dictionary.
One should of course look up a dictionary on one's own first. That is the very minimum work that one should put in first before coming here. Italki is first and foremost a mentoring community. It is not a dictionary. Students, having looked up a dictionary, come here to say exactly which parts of the definitions they have a problem with.
Cara 生生不息的例子很好。Collocation 嘛。
"好歌唱不停", 就没有人说"好歌唱不断"。
"连绵不断", 就没有人说"连绵不停"。
"不绝于耳", 就没有人说"不停于耳"。
一般人是怎样学会的? 按课本循序渐进,多看书,多听普通话广播,就会了。中国小孩从来不是通过发问"请问不断、不停和不息有什么不同"之类的问题来学会中文的。那是死胡同来的。 用好的方法来学习是关键,方法不对,就会事倍而功半。