用法学习: 1. beside oneself (with something) 高兴坏了, 激动坏了, 乐坏了 Fig. in an extreme state of some emotion. I was beside myself with joy. Sarah could not speak. She was beside herself with anger. 关于Foxtel Go: My husband is going to be beside himself with excitement at the EPL channels. 2. 摘自关于Android生态系统失控的报道: Unlike other Android tablet manufacturers, Amazon takes complete control over the entire stack. Amazon is creating a curated (scrutineer 审查, 监视, 监管的人. curate I. 副牧师, 助理牧师. A cleric, especially one who has charge of a parish. curate-in-charge A cleric who assists a rector or vicar. II. 审查机制, 审查策略, 监管. To act as curator of; organize and oversee. curator [kjuə'reitə] One who manages or oversees, as the administrative director of a museum collection or a library. a curate's egg 毁誉参半, 有好处也有坏处 (British)
something which has both good and bad parts. Usage notes: A curate is a
priest. There is a joke about a curate who was given a bad egg and said
that parts of the egg were good because he did not want to offend the
person who gave it to him. Queen's College is
something of a curate's egg, with elegant Victorian buildings alongside
some of the ugliest modern architecture. Barnes & Noble is going to run their own app store for the Nook Color, distributing and selling applications. It's a "curated" experience, meaning they'll have to approve apps for the store,
which developers can start submitting in "early 2011," with apps
approved "within weeks" of submission. So the apps that we saw at the
launch, like Pandora, is all that'll be available for a couple of
months. (They won't disclose how they're splitting revenue with developers but said they're using a "familiar" scheme, so the standard 70/30 probably applies.).) experience that matches Apple's and, in some respects, exceeds it. wiki关于curate's egg: The term derives from a cartoon published in the humorous British magazine Punch on 9 November 1895. Drawn by George du Maurier and entitled "True Humility", it pictures a timid-looking curate taking breakfast in his bishop's house. The bishop remarks with candid honesty to his lowly guest: "I'm afraid you've got a bad egg, Mr Jones." The curate replies, desperate not to offend his eminent host and ultimate employer: "Oh, no, my Lord, I assure you that parts of it are excellent!" The term relies on an objective analysis and intuitive understanding of the depicted scenario: a self-contained egg cannot be both partially spoiled and partially unspoiled. To pretend to find elements of freshness in a bad egg is thus a desperate attempt to find good in something which is irredeemably bad. The humour is derived from the fact that, given the social situation, the timid curate is so obsessively fearful of giving offence that he cannot even agree with his superior's acknowledgement that he has served a bad egg and thereby ends up looking absurd himself by exposing his obsequiousness ( obsequious [əbˈsi:kwiəs] 溜须拍马的, 卑躬屈膝的, 奉承的 obedient or attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner. Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning. ingratiate 讨好, 谄媚 to ingratiate oneself with sb. fawn 巴结, 讨好. fawn over/upon sb. servile ['sɜ:vail] adj I. 听命于人, 顺从的.的. obsequious or fawning in attitude or behaviour; submissive. II. of or suitable for a slave. III. existing in or relating to a state of slavery. IV. (when postpositive, foll by to) submitting or obedient. ). In the final issue of Punch published in 1992, the cartoon was re-printed with the caption: Curate: This f***ing egg's off! The contrast is thus drawn with the modern era where people are implied to have little care for the niceties of Victorian over-stretched good manners towards what were then termed social superiors社交长辈. like the curate's egg ( good in parts) (BrE) sth that has some good things and some bad things about it 瑕瑜互见之物；好坏参半之物: 'Is it an interesting book?' 'A bit like the curate's egg, good in parts. The dialogue's often quite amusing.'. A "curate's egg" is a phrase used to describe something that is at least partly bad, but with some arguably redeeming features. In
its original context, the term refers to something which is obviously
and essentially bad but which is wilfully described euphemistically as
being only partly so, its supposed good features being credited with
undue redeeming power. Its modern usage varies, with some authorities
defining it as something that is an indeterminate mix of good and
bad and others stating it implies a preponderance of bad
qualities. take something in good part 开得起玩笑 (British) if you take criticism or jokes in good part, you are not upset or annoyed by them. His friends used to call him 'Big Ears' but he took it all in good part. He can take jokes, I like him. 3. suss someone out 看穿, 看透, 看不穿, 看不透, 看不懂, 搞清楚, 摸清楚, 弄清楚 Sl. to try to figure someone out. I can't seem to suss Tom out. What a strange guy. I don't have any luck sussing out people I don't know well. That guy looks suspicious, can you go and suss it out please. drugged-out 吸了毒似的 being under the influence of a drug, esp. a narcotic or an illicit drug. That guy is always drugged-out. expedite ['ɛkspiˌdait] vb (tr) I. to hasten the progress of; hasten or assist. To speed up the progress of; accelerate. Can we expedite this plz? II. to do or process (something, such as business matters) with speed and efficiency. To execute quickly and efficiently: was trusted to expedite the directives of the board. 句子: We're sure Ange would be welcome to grab a meal and soak up the entertainment(soak something up I. to enjoy something. I just want to lie on the beach and soak up the sun. What does he think of all the praise he's getting? He's soaking it up. II. to learn and remember something easily and quickly. Jill soaks up everything that's said in class. Music came naturally to him, and when he heard something, he soaked it up and could play it. III. to use all of something. The price of heating oil will not rise until the cold weather soaks up the huge amount waiting to be sold. There was a budget surplus, but the needs of the military will surely soak it up. ) at the biggest RSL in Australia. 4. Much of the island has unspoilt wilderness landscapes. In 2011, he was bludgeoned ( bludgeon [ˈblʌdʒən] 狼牙棒 I. to hit or knock down with or as with a bludgeon. II. (often foll by into) to force; bully; coerce. They bludgeoned him into accepting the job. n. a stout heavy club, typically thicker at one end. A short heavy club, usually of wood, that is thicker or loaded at one end. Bludgeon suggests the use of grossly aggressive or combative methods: had to be bludgeoned into fulfilling his duties. intimidate, browbeat, bulldoze, cow2, bully1, bludgeon: These verbs all mean to frighten into submission, compliance, or acquiescence. Intimidate implies the presence or operation of a fear-inspiring force: "It [atomic energy] may intimidate the human race into bringing order into its international affairs" (Albert Einstein). Browbeat 拷问, 拷打 suggests the persistent application of highhanded, disdainful, or imperious tactics: browbeating a witness. Bulldoze connotes the leveling of all spirit of opposition: was bulldozed into hiring an unacceptable candidate. Cow implies bringing out an abject state of timorousness and often demoralization: a dog that was cowed by abuse. To bully is to intimidate through blustering, domineering, or threatening behavior: workers who were bullied into accepting a poor contract. Bludgeon suggests the use of grossly aggressive or combative methods: had to be bludgeoned into fulfilling his duties. 警棍: A truncheon or baton (also called a cosh, billystick, billy club, nightstick, sap, blackjack, stick) is essentially a club of less than arm's length made of wood, plastic, or metal. They are carried for forced compliance and self-defense by law-enforcement officers, correctional staff, security-industry employees and (less often) military personnel. Other uses for truncheons and batons include crowd control or the dispersal of belligerent or non-compliant people. ) to death at his home, drawing worldwide condemnation引起强烈谴责. 5. 什么样的鸡最幸福: But it seems free-range eggs may not be all they are cracked up to be( not be all it's cracked up to be 并不像人们说的那样, 盛名之下其实难副 if something is not all it's cracked up to be, it is not as good as people say it is. Her latest book isn't all it's cracked up to be. I wouldn't bother reading it if I were you. It's a good restaurant, but it's not all it's cracked up to be. cracked up to be something; cracked up as something 吹嘘为, 说成是, 声称的 alleged or understood to be something. She was cracked up to be a pretty good player. She was cracked up as a pretty good golfer. (Used with the negative.) He is not the problem solving CEO that he was cracked up to be. ). According to researchers, hens kept indoors in cages lead happier lives. A study found birds raised in "enriched cages" enjoyed lower levels of stress and mortality, and were less likely to suffer from bone fractures or pecking than free-range chickens. Although free-range farms had the potential to offer birds a better quality of life than their caged counterparts, many had poor welfare standards. A spokesman for Compassion in World Farming said consumers should still opt for free-range eggs. She added: "Only in free-range (or organic) farms can hens fully perform all their important natural behaviours, like stretching and flapping their wings, perching up high, foraging ( forage 觅食 I. To collect forage from; strip of food or supplies: troops who were foraging the countryside. Soldiers foraging near an abandoned farm. II. Informal To obtain by foraging: foraged a snack from the refrigerator. forage (around) (for something) to search for something, especially something to eat. I will go to the kitchen and forage around for some cereal or something. The rabbits got into the garden and were foraging for a good meal.), scratching, dust-bathing and laying their eggs in a comfortable nest." 6. Kevin Rudd退出政坛: The announcement by the former Prime Minister on just the second day of the new Parliament means the voters of Griffith face a drawn out ( long drawn out 拉长的 going on for a long time. lasting a very long time; protracted; drawn-out: a long-drawn-out story. The meeting was long drawn out; a long-drawn-out meeting/scream. ) by-election campaign that is expected to drag on past Christmas and into 2014. Claiming the "slings and arrows"( unpleasant, negative attacks. He was surprised by the slings and arrows directed at him by several economists. Etymology: from the phrase "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" in Shakespeare's play "Hamlet") of political life had taken its toll, Mr Rudd, who was elected as the MP for Griffith in 1998, said it was time to give something back to his family(It's time for me to zip). Mr Rudd said had recently looked back on his maiden speech处女演讲 to parliament in 1998 and his views had not changed since then. "I also said way back then, that I had no interest in being here for the sake of being here, and that the only point of being here was to make a difference for the betterment of all. Fifteen years later, that remains my view as well." Mr Abbott said it was important in politics to know when you had passed your "usefulness". But he also paid tribute to Mr Rudd's achievement in beating Prime Minister John Howard to take the reins of power. "It takes extraordinary ability, insight, guts and focus to win such a contest," Mr Abbott said. "He didn't just win that contest in 2007, he triumphed."
关于占座, 占位的种种(hold/reserve/stake out the space/seat/parking spot, parking space savers用来占位的东西, space holders. mark a space, space marker占位用的东西. respecting these makeshift markers认可占位行为. ): Can you please reserve/hold this seat for me? This seat is taken. stake out something I. to claim something belongs to you. To
avoid a long wait to eat lunch, one of you stakes out a table and the
other gets the food. Lars staked out a cot in a third-floor bedroom and
tried to make it seem like his own space. II. surveillance/surveillant to secretly watch a place Private detectives staked out their house, went through their garbage, and interviewed their neighbors. 美国人的占车位行为: As Boston deals with snowstorm after snowstorm this winter, another battle rages on the city's crowded streets: Jockeying for(jockey someone or something into position to manage to get someone or something into a desirable position. The rider jockeyed his horse into position. Try to jockey your bicycle into position so you can pass the others. jockey for position I. Lit. to work one's horse into a desired position in a horse race. Three riders were jockeying for position in the race. Ken was behind, but jockeying for position. II. Fig. to work oneself into a desired position. The candidates were jockeying for position, trying to get the best television exposure. I was jockeying for position but running out of campaign money. jockey around 挪来挪去 to move around as if trying to get into a special position. I spent most of the movie jockeying around, trying to get comfortable. She always has to jockey around a bit when she is getting into a parking place. We had to jockey our bikes around a number of stalled cars. We jockeyed around a few can to make room for the bus in the parking lot. ) parking spots. Contentious? Competitive? Controversial? Sure. It's certainly one of the most debated topics for anyone who lives -- or drives -- in Boston. Click through to see some of the objects used in recent years to stake out parking claims( stake out a claim on/to something to lay claim to something. The prospector staked out a claim to the promising piece of land. We staked out a claim on two seats at the side of the auditorium.) in the city, and submit your photos of parking-space savers seen in Boston. Pittsburgh residents are using chairs, different items to stake out parking spots. How do you spot a newcomer to Pittsburgh? They stare in wonderment 好奇的盯着 at a chair in a parking space. "Does that really work?" they ask. "Don't people just move it and park?" In some places, they do. In the six years that Matt Ruffalo has lived on the South Side, "reserving a spot has changed from accepted to ignored," even by lifelong Pittsburghers, he said by e-mail. Yet, chairs, traffic cones, garbage cans and other household objects appeared on streets throughout the South Side Flats and other neighborhoods in the wake of this past weekend's nearly 2-foot snowfall. The philosophy is simple: If you dig it out, it's yours. "No self-respecting有自尊的 Pittsburgher would ever move a parking chair, though there are those who have little self-respect," says Bernadette Kazmarski, an artist and writer who routinely photographs parking chairs, mostly in her hometown of Carnegie, and posts them on her blog. Objects other than chairs seem to be the latest trend最新趋势. A laundry basket, floor lamp and stepladder held places in Squirrel Hill on Tuesday and construction drums worked in Braddock. Plastic lawn chairs are still favored广受欢迎, though it's not unusual to see a dining room chair outdoors. Mr. Delaney, 34, a Los Angeles voiceover artist, didn't realize that parkers in other places don't use chairs as place-holders until he left Pittsburgh in 1997. In truth, residents of Philadelphia, Boston, Chicago, Baltimore and St. Louis sometimes do it, but only the Pittsburgh Parking Chair has its own entry on Wikipedia. Technically illegal, the parking chair has sometimes been a source of friction摩擦的根源, 产生摩擦的起因, and not just between longtime residents and newcomers. A woman had spent more than an hour clearing away heavy snow from a spot, then left to run an errand, leaving a chair behind. When she returned, she found the chair pushed aside推到一边去了 and a car parked in its place. Seething火冒三丈 ( I. (intr) to boil or to foam as if boiling. II. (intr) to be in a state of extreme agitation, esp through anger. III. (tr) to soak in liquid. ) despite the sub-freezing temperatures, she got her revenge. When the parker returned to his car, he found it encased -- including its tires -- in a layer of ice from the garden hose. wiki休斯敦的占车位行为: A parking chair is a chair that is used by a vehicle owner to informally mark a parking space as reserved for oneself. Other space savers are also used for this purpose, including trash cans, ladders, ironing boards, and other similar-sized objects that are commonly found in households. For curbside parking spaces, two or more items are normally used. The practice of using parking chairs is common in inclement weather极端天气 in urban residential areas of the United States where parking is scarce稀少的, 稀缺的, 没有很多的 and vehicle owners do not wish to risk losing their vehicle's previously occupied space in its absence不在的时候. Other spaces may be scarce due to accumulation of plowed snow, and the owner of the vehicle may have invested considerable work in clearing the space, just to get the car out in the first place. In snowstorms, vehicle owners with such a need有这样需求的人 mark the space as their own that their vehicle previously occupied after digging out the heavy snow that covered the vehicle and blocked them in. The legality合法性 and level of enforcement of existing laws pertaining to this practice varies by location. Generally, curbside parking spaces are public property公共财产 and are available to vehicles on a first-come, first-served basis. Still, respecting these makeshift markers承认占位, 认可占位 has been accepted by citizens as a common courtesy during snowstorms. The practice is often most effective when accompanied by the threat or actual occurrence of a "look of consternation(consternation [ˌkonstəˈneiʃən] n. a feeling of anxiety, dismay, dread, or confusion. )" from a vigilant, often elderly neighbor who "keeps watch" in their neighbor's absence. While use is year-round全年都在用, it is a particularly time-honored tradition( time-honored Respected or adhered to because of age or age-old observance. revered or respected because of long observance or continuance: a time-honored custom.) in times of great snowfall accumulation, when a resident who "digs out" their spot on the street essentially declares ownership, which often goes unchallenged by neighbors for fear of retribution害怕报复. The idea of the practice is that the person who has reserved the space is declaring dibs to the space from which s/he has freed his/her vehicle for future parking during the remainder of the storm and as long as snow remains on the ground. It is generally a Lockean recognition that the effort of the physical exertion of digging provides an entitlement to the space where the vehicle was previously located. But in some instances, spaces get reserved in this fashion even before a snowstorm starts. In Boston, the law permits residents to reserve spaces for up to 48 hours. In 2007, the city confiscated the markers from 220 spaces where the residents had exceeded this limit. Some places, including Pittsburgh, do not place legal sanctions against those engaging in the practice从事这种行为, but make clear that anyone has the right to claim an informal space that was reserved by someone else for their own vehicle, regardless of courtesy. However, it is a general practice around the city to respect the markers of others. Most dense residential urban streets have fewer parking spaces than residents owning vehicles. Despite this, it is rare that all residents require a parking space at the same time. When residents use parking chairs or other markers to claim spaces, they effectively reduce the parking available to everyone, by removing the efficiency that first-come-first-serve public parking normally provides. Furthermore, guest and work vehicles are prevented from using available spaces when needed, without fear of retribution. Even in cities, such as Pittsburgh, where parking chairs are generally tolerated, local police make it clear that public street parking cannot legally be reserved. Citizens are explicitly discouraged from using objects to block parking spaces. Because parking chairs are considered abandoned furniture, they may be removed at any time.
What Started the "Cops Eating Donuts" Stereotype(关于美国警察爱吃dounuts and coffee的笑话): Dan asks: How did the running gag ( A running gag, or running joke, is a literary device that takes the form of an amusing joke or a comical reference and appears repeatedly throughout a work of literature or other form of storytelling. Running gags can begin with an instance of unintentional humor that is repeated in variations as the joke grows familiar and audiences anticipate reappearances of the gag. The humor in a running gag may derive entirely from how often it is repeated, the (in)appropriateness of the situation in which the gag occurs, or setting up the audience to expect another occurrence of the joke and then substituting something else (bait and switch). Running gags are found mostly in television shows, but also appear in other places, such as video games, films, books, and comic strips. ) of police always eating donuts come about? Members of law enforcement stuffing their faces full of donuts is one of the most enduring 经久不息的, 长盛不衰的 stereotypes about the boys and girls in blue. In virtually every media representation of the police that isn't deadly serious, the stereotype is played out in some way - Police Academy, The Simpsons, Family Guy, hell, in Wreck-it Ralph the police officers are literally sentient donuts. So where and when did this stereotype start? As to the "when", that isn't clear. However, I was able to find one person who said his grandfather, who had worked as a police officer starting in the early 1950s, told him donut shops were a hot spot热门场所 for cops to stop at during certain times even then. So whether the general public picked up on it way back then, the practice goes back at least that far, and probably further. As to why donut shops were so popular among the police, the answer is simple. Up until quite recently in history most food establishments, and also the majority of stores, closed fairly early in the evening and stayed closed all night. There were basically two options for an officer working the graveyard shift上夜班 who wanted a snack and a cup of fairly good quality coffee- diners and donut shops. Diners were generally out出局 because their food took time to prepare and a police officer could get called away被叫走 at any time. So that left the donut shops, which were often open throughout the night, or at least in the very early a.m. because they had to have fresh donuts baked and ready for the morning rush. In addition to that, one officer stated that it isn't just about the coffee and readily available snack either. There's also the fact that most donut shops have a place to sit down. Particularly for officers in cities that walk the beat巡逻, instead of sit in a climate controlled car, this is handy. It's just nice to have a place out of the weather ( out of the weather outside the house, far from the warmth "He liked that she preferred being out along the rail instead of inside the cafe, out of the weather" weather out to encounter successfully, though with difficulty; as, to weather out a storm.) to take a load off ( take a/the load off [one's feet] To sit or lie down. Sit down, relax. I wish you'd take some time and take the load off. load 松了一口气, 卸下一块大石头: something that weighs down, oppresses, or burdens. that's a load off my mind. ) on a break. The coffee and donuts are just a bonus. In addition to that, cops working the night shift who had patrol cars, also liked the well-lit place to sit down and do paperwork, which, as many police lament, is a huge part of their job. Though today there are a multitude of places open 24 hours a day, it would seem donut shops are still the choice for a decent portion of officers. For example, during the Boston Marathon Bombings one of the only places that wasn't completely locked down were several select Dunkin' Donuts, that remained open to serve the police. However, this donut/cop tradition is noted by some officers as a generational thing, when this website interviewed younger officers during national donut day (yes, that's a thing), most were quick to point out that donuts were simply too sugary for the modern, trim, health conscious officer on the go. Citing bagels as a healthier alternative… (I just… hmmm). Bottom line, even today if you're a cop working at 3am and have a stack of paperwork to do, but have to be ready to get up and leave at a moment's notice, your choices are typically fast food restaurants and donut shops, the latter of which generally have much better coffee, which for most police is probably a much bigger reason to hit the donut shop than the actual donuts. After all, you can pack your lunch, but unless you have a heating contraption in your car, hard to keep coffee hot for a full night shift, and certainly impossible if you're walking the beat. Now that it's a running gag, confirmation bias( Confirmation bias (also called confirmatory bias or myside bias) is a tendency of people to favor information that confirms their beliefs or hypotheses. People display this bias when they gather or remember information selectively, or when they interpret it in a biased way. The effect is stronger for emotionally charged issues 情感相关的问题 and for deeply entrenched beliefs. They also tend to interpret ambiguous evidence as supporting their existing position. ) makes sure even if it's just a small percentage of police that hit up donut shops today, the stereotype will live on.
