用法学习: 1. The citron([ˈsitrən])(Citroen是汽车品牌) is a fragrant citrus fruit, botanically classified as Citrus medica by both the Swingle and Tanaka systems. 又称香櫞、香水檸檬，是芸香科柑橘屬的植物；和檸檬的外觀在神創上相似. 枸櫞是猶太人慶祝住棚節必備的植物之一. citrus [ˈsɪtrəs] 柑橘类果实 any tree or shrub of the tropical and subtropical rutaceous genus Citrus, which includes the orange, lemon, lime, grapefruit, citron, and calamondin. 2. 泰国政变: By late Sunday, protesters had removed cement barriers, leaving just one razor wire-topped barricade(Barbed tape or razor wire 钢丝网, 铁丝网 is a mesh of metal strips with sharp edges whose purpose is to prevent passage by humans. The term "razor wire", through long usage, has generally been used to describe barbed tape products. While razor wire is much sharper than the standard barbed wire, it is named after its appearance, but is not actually razor sharp. However, the points are very sharp and made to rip and grab onto clothing and flesh.) between protesters and riot police. Capping a week-long bid to topple Yingluck and end her family's more than decade-long influence over Thai politics, Suthep had urged supporters to seize government offices, television stations, police headquarters and the prime minister's offices in a "people's coup". Through Sunday, the detonation ( [ˌdɛtəˈneɪʃən] 引爆 detonate [ˈdɛtəˌneɪt]) of stun grenades霰弹, followed by the jeers of protesters, echoed across the historic government quarter, not far from the Khao San Road tourist area, after a chaotic night of gun and knife battles in east Bangkok in which three people were killed and at least 58 wounded. Reuters journalists waiting to interview Yingluck in the police Narcotics Suppression Bureau were told by an aide she had left after protesters made it inside the outer compound of the Police Sports Club, where the bureau is located. 3. behind the ball: I guess that "behind the ball" means that they are not keeping up, not providing a good service maybe. "We have been behind the ball since that point when the GFC hit us," said Zoos South Australia Chief Executive Chris West in a statement. Air India is "just so far behind the ball I don't know how they will ever catch up," said Alexander Garmendia, 64, who joined Air India in 2009 after retiring from American Airlines. be behind the eight ball (American & Australian informal) to be in a difficult situation and unable to make progress. Usage notes: In a game of pool (= a game in which you hit numbered balls into holes around a table), if you are behind the black, number eight ball you are in a difficult position to take your next turn. The police are very much behind the eight ball - they've had no more leads on these burglaries. on the ball active and aware of things. knowledgeable; competent; attentive. If you say that someone is "on the ball" it means they're up to date, up to speed or possibly knowledgeable about something. Their staff seems to be really on the ball, able to get projects done on time. have something on the ball to have a particular amount of smartness or cleverness. Both John and Mary have a lot on the ball. They should go far. I think I'd do better in school if I had more on the ball. I learn slowly. keep your eye on the ball to give your attention to what you are doing all the time. You have to keep your eye on the ball in business. 4. Conscientiousness尽责性, 责任心 is the trait that denotes being thorough, careful, or vigilant; it implies a desire to do a task well. It is manifested in characteristic behaviors such as being efficient, organized, neat, and systematic, also including such elements as self-discipline, carefulness, thoroughness, self-organization, deliberation (the tendency to think carefully before acting), and need for achievement. Conscientious individuals are generally hard working and reliable. When taken to an extreme, they may also be "workaholics", perfectionists, and compulsive in their behavior. People who score low on conscientiousness tend to be more laid back, less goal-oriented, and less driven by success; they also are more likely to engage in antisocial and criminal behavior. conscientious [ˌkonʃiˈɛnʃəs] I. Guided by or in accordance with the dictates of conscience责任心, 良心驱使(To act on what your conscience (that inner voice of morality that was hardwired into us by the Almighty) is telling you to do. Let conscience be your guide. ); principled, scrupulous: a conscientious decision to speak out about injustice. II. involving or taking great care; painstaking; diligent. Thorough and assiduous: a conscientious worker; a conscientious effort to comply with the regulations. conscious [ˈkonʃəs] adj I. 清醒的, 意识清醒的. a. alert and awake; not sleeping or comatose. b. aware of one's surroundings, one's own thoughts and motivations, etc. The patient remained fully conscious after the local anesthetic was administered. II. 意识到的. 心里明白的. 心里清楚的. aware of and giving value or emphasis to a particular fact or phenomenon. I am conscious of your great kindness to me. clothes-conscious. a cost-conscious approach to further development; a health-conscious diet. III. 有意的, 故意的. done with full awareness; deliberate. a conscious insult; made a conscious effort to speak more clearly. a conscious effort conscious rudeness. conscience [ˈkonʃəns] I. a. The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: to follow the dictates of conscience. Let your conscience be your guide. b. A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience. c. Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience. unflagging [ʌnˈflægiŋ] 精力旺盛, 精力充沛 Not flagging; untiring. Not flagging; untiring. flagging [ˈflægɪŋ] adj I. Declining; weakening: flagging strength. II. Languid; drooping. weak, fatigued, or drooping. n. A pavement laid with flagstones大小不一的铺地用的石块. flag n. A flagstone. v I. To hang limply; droop. II. To decline in vigor or strength: The conversation flagged flag someone or something down to signal or wave, indicating that someone should stop. Please go out and flag a taxi down. I'll be right out. She went to flag down a taxi. fly/show/wave the flag to support or to represent your country (often + for ). In the absence of any other Italian film directors, Mr Infascelli bravely flew the flag for his country. II. The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration. A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Prov. If you have done something wrong and feel guilty about it, you will be uncomfortable and want to confess even if no one accuses you of wrongdoing. Even though no one noticed him eating most of the cookies, Peter felt so bad about it that he told us what he had done. A guilty conscience needs no accuser. Conscience does make cowards of us all Prov. People sometimes fear to do what they want or what they believe is necessary because they think it is wrong. (From Shakespeare's play, Hamlet.) Alan: I really want to go to the ball game with you guys this afternoon, but it just doesn't seem right to skip work to do it. Fred: Conscience does make cowards of us all, right, Alan? have a clear/clean conscience (about someone or something) to be free of guilt about someone or something. I'm sorry that John got the blame. I have a clean conscience about the whole affair. I have a clear conscience about John and his problems. I didn't do it. I swear to that with a clean conscience. in (all) good conscience Fig. having good motives; displaying motives that will not result in a guilty conscience. In all good conscience, I could not recommend that you buy this car. In good conscience, she could not accept the reward. She had only been acting as a good citizen should. prick somebody's conscience 拷问良心 to make someone feel guilty. Seeing pictures of starving children pricks my conscience, but I rarely give money to charity. 5. far-out Slang adj (far out when postpositive) I. bizarre or avant-garde. New, radical and extreme. 太过了. 过分了. 极端了. We were discussing a new base for our office, but moving to Antarctica seemed too far out. II. excellent; wonderful. Some thing that is out of this world. Some thing so cool that it cannot be compared to anything on this planet. That chick was far out man. My kicks are also far out. interj far out. an expression of amazement or delight. Cool; great; an expression of support, enthusiasm, or celebration. Far out! The game has a hidden cow level. 6. apprehensive [ˌæpriˈhɛnsiv] I. 不安的, 害怕的, 担心的, 恐惧的, 焦虑的, 忧心忡忡, 变得焦躁不安, 变得焦虑不安 Anxious or fearful about the future; uneasy. He was rather apprehensive of failure. She was deeply apprehensive about her future. They were apprehensive that something might go wrong. The long delay had made me quite apprehensive. be apprehensive of sb.'s safety, be apprehensive of danger. I am apprehensive that she may fall ill. II. Capable of understanding and quick to apprehend. an apprehensive mind, be apprehensive of one's folly愚蠢, Judgement is implied in every apprehensive act. folly [ˈfoli] n. I. the state or quality of being foolish; stupidity; rashness. II. 蠢事. a foolish action, mistake, idea, etc. regretted the follies of his youth. Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. Prov. If knowing something makes you unhappy, it would be better not to know it. (Also the cliché: ignorance is bliss.) Ellen: The doctor didn't tell Dad that Mom probably won't recover from her illness. Do you think we should tell him? Bill: No. It would only make him unhappy and ruin their last months together. Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise. apprehend I. 收押, 逮捕. To take into custody; arrest: apprehended the murderer. II. To grasp mentally; understand: a candidate who apprehends the significance of geopolitical issues. III. To become conscious of, as through the emotions or senses; perceive. 8. once too often: 两种含义 Instead of that one additional time causing a higher level of pain最后一下让人疼了, it
could be that the one additional time exceeded your patience(最后一下超出了忍受极限). 例句: It was precisely at this point that the oouuch blurted out of my mouth. He poked once too often. 解释为: You poked me many times before, but that one last time you poked me was really painful. The dentist kept poking my teeth until they hurt me. The dentist kept poking my teeth until I felt the pain. Perhaps he made the teacher mad on many occasions, and this time, she sent him to the principal's office. He made her angry once too often. Maybe you teased someone many times, but this time, you teased him and he knocked you to the ground. You teased him once too often. 另一个举例: A child whines to his mother that she wants ice cream. The mother says "no". The child whines again. The mother says, "no, it is too close to dinner time". The child whines again and the mother says you are "trying my patience考验耐性". The child whines again and the mother says you "whined once too often" and proceeds to spank the child. It is the same whining, it is just that the mother ran out of tolerance for it. Back to the original sentence: So it could be that the patient was hurt each time the doctor poked, but that last time he no longer felt obliged not to complain. 9. burn something to a crisp to burn something very badly. He burned the sausages to a crisp. I played a little golf yesterday and my neck got burned to a crisp. be burned/burnt to a crisp 烧成灰 (mainly American) to be very burnt. By the time I remembered the pizza was in the oven, it was burnt to a crisp. burned to a cinder(煤渣, 炭渣)(cinder ['sində] I. a. A burned or partly burned substance, such as coal, that is not reduced to ashes but is incapable of further combustion. b. A partly charred substance that can burn further but without flame. II. cinders Ashes.) burned very badly. [Very often used figuratively.] I stayed out in the sun too long, and I am burned to a cinder. This toast is burnt to a cinder. She's coming up to (approaching) 接近, 近于 twenty. "How long have you had this boat?" "Coming up to two years.". 10. leg it I. 逃跑. 跑掉. (intransitive, slang) To run away, to flee. After snatching my handbag he just legged it. II. (intransitive, slang) To hurry. As soon as I heard about the fire I legged it over here as fast as I could. beat it I. (idiomatic, chiefly as imperative, pejorative, colloquial, dismissal) To leave; to go away. II. (idiomatic, US, Canada, vulgar, colloquial) To masturbate, usually a man of himself.
全球教育水平评估: Data on other Chinese provinces and cities is not yet published by PISA because not enough regions take part in the tests to be considered representative有代表性的, a spokesman said. However, China as a whole is expected to be included in the 2015 assessment. Shanghai's outstanding performance defies preconceptions 打破固有的看法, 成见 about China's education system being based on rote learning( rote1 I. A memorizing process using routine or repetition, often without full attention or comprehension: learn by rote. II. Mechanical routine. by rote from memory, without thought of the meaning; in a mechanical way: to learn a language by rote. learn something by rote Fig. to learn something by memorizing without giving any thought to what is being learned. I learned history by rote; then I couldn't pass the test that required me to think. If you learn things by rote, you'll never understand them. rote2 I. The sound of surf breaking on the shore. II. A medieval stringed instrument variably identified with a lyre, lute, or harp. wiki: Rote learning is a memorization technique based on repetition. The idea is that one will be able to quickly recall the meaning of the material the more one repeats it. Some of the alternatives to rote learning include meaningful learning, associative learning, and active learning.), according to Schleicher. Australian high school students' achievement in maths and reading has slumped over the past decade, while huge gaps 巨大差距 persist based on wealth, location, gender and whether students are indigenous. The snapshot of international education achievement has revealed worrying trends for Australia, showing that while students in this country perform better than the OECD average, results are slipping 成绩下滑 and are bedevilled ( bedevil [bɪˈdɛvəl] I. to harass or torment. II. to throw into confusion. III. to possess, as with a devil. ) by equity issues. The findings are likely to further fuel debates around school funding, reinvigorated 重燃战火 this week by the Abbott government's shifting positions on the Gonski "needs-based" funding model, and its decision to hand $1.2 billion to non-signatory jurisdictions such as the Northern Territory which will not be required to distribute the funding to schools with the most disadvantaged students. "We're being outperformed 表现超过 by a much larger number of countries now," said Sue Thomson. In a disturbing new trend, the achievement of Australian girls in mathematics fell faster than it did for boys since 2009. "We were quite proud that we had no gender gap in mathematics, but that's back, and girls' attitudes are really quite a concern in terms of their level of 'maths anxiety' and belief about whether they can succeed in maths," Dr Thomson said. The PISA results confirm serious inequality[ˌiniˈkwoliti] 不平等 within the education system in Australia, a key fact highlighted by David Gonski's review of school funding. "Forget Shanghai and Finland," he said. "Canada is the country Australia needs to compare itself with because it is culturally similar. The key thing is that it has a higher performance than us overall and a lower correlation [ˌkoriˈleiʃən]关联性 between disadvantage and performance." Education Minister Christopher Pyne said the report showed Labor's "Education Revolution" had been a failure. "Today's report card shows that for all the billions spent on laptops and school halls there is still no evidence of a lift in outcomes for students," he said. Education Secretary Arne Duncan called the results a "picture of educational stagnation停滞不前, 原地踏步(sluggish), 爱动不动的( sluggish [ˈslʌgɪʃ] adj I. lacking energy; inactive; slow-moving. II. functioning at below normal rate or level. III. exhibiting poor response to stimulation. )" as U.S. students showed little improvement over three years, failing to score in the top 20 on math, reading or science. These results again raise the question of whether the United States is consistently outperformed because of the widely varied backgrounds of its students. Some are from low-income households, for example. Others don't have English as their primary language. "Since the 1990s, our performance in these league tables(A 排名表, 排行榜league table, standings, ranking chart, ladder or leaderboard is a chart or list which compares sports teams or individuals, institutions, nations or companies by ranking them in order of ability or achievement. A league table may list several related statistics, but they are generally sorted by the primary one that determines the rankings. Many industries and institutions may compete in league tables in order to help bring in new customers and clients. Those tables ranking sports teams are generally used to help determine who may advance to the playoffs or another tournament, who gets promoted or relegated, or who gets a higher draft pick.) has been at best stagnant(停滞不前的, 爱动不动的, sluggish ), at worst declining," said Britain's Education Secretary Michael Gove, adding that the results "underline the urgent need for our reforms." Duncan, too, called for an increased focus on education. "We must invest in early education, raise academic standards, make college affordable and do more to recruit and retain 留住 top-notch educators," he said. In the education community, Finland has drawn notice 引起注意, 吸引注意力 for its past test performance, but this year its average PISA score dropped in all three subjects, most pronounced最明显的 in math. Finland's students did better on average than those from the United States. Overall, National Education Association President Dennis Van Roekel said among the Asian nations dominating the test, "The one thing they all have in common is that they make a real commitment to education for all kids, and nothing deters them from that vision, and then they do what's necessary to make that happen. In the United States, we don't have the commitment for all kids and it needs to change."
ACA争议报道: Following on from complaints from viewers, the Australian Communication and Media Authority (ACMA) found the segment breached three clauses of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, including containing inaccurate factual material and placing gratuitous ( gratuitous [grəˈtju:itəs] adj I. 免费的. given or received without payment or obligation. II. 不必要的, 无谓的. 没意义的. 没有来由的. without cause; unjustified. Unnecessary or unwarranted; unjustified. being without apparent reason, cause, or justification: a gratuitous insult. gratuitous criticism. The film has been criticized for its gratuitous violence. III. (Law) given or made without receiving any value in return. a gratuitous agreement. ) emphasis on ethnic origin. The ACMA also found the story was "likely to provoke intense dislike and serious contempt on the grounds of ethnic origin". Despite not having the authority to force Nine to make an apology, the ACMA recommended Nine make a statement on air, correcting the story, and pull the segment from its website. Nine has agreed to both measures. "I commend 赞许, 称赞, 表扬 TCN [Nine] for acting on the ACMA's recommendations," said ACMA Chairman, Chris Chapman. "The broadcaster is to be congratulated for taking a mature approach to matters of such concern, and for being transparent with its viewers." 其他相关句子: Today Tonight is notorious for its sensationalist reporting耸人听闻的报道, and is an
example of tabloid television where stories rotate around community
issues i.e. diet fads, miracle cures, welfare cheats, shonky builders,
negligent doctors, poorly run businesses and corrupt government
officials. For this reason the program is constantly under criticism and
ridicule, especially by satirical groups such as The Chaser. wiki的页面上: It
reported the rumor that Stefanovic was taken off air for more than two
days following the incident. The claims were slammed by Channel Nine,
stating that the claims were "desperate nonsense" and "wilfully false故意歪曲事实".
