用法学习: 1. Donald Trump's former White House strategist Steve Bannon has stepped down from Breitbart News, the conservative news outlet announced Tuesday, still roiled ( roil I. 翻滚. to (cause to) move quickly in a twisting circular movement: Fierce winds roiled the sea. A massive tower of smoke roiled skyward. II. to seriously disturb; to throw into confusion. One lesson from the crises that have roiled the eurozone over the past five-plus years is that anyone who tells you the only response to a public debt crisis is to slash spending and embark on "structural reform" is either masochistic or downright mad. The rain turned a small creek into a roiling surge. The country faces a roiling financial crisis. ) in controversy over incendiary ( [ɪnˈsendiˌeri] I. designed for the purpose of causing a fire. an incendiary device/bomb. II. 惹火的, 惹祸的, 闯祸的, 引起公愤的. likely to cause anger or violence. incendiary statements. ) remarks about the president quoted in a new book. "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" -- which paints the president as disengaged, ill-informed and unstable -- has seen Bannon abandoned by financial patrons, condemned by erstwhile allies and ridiculed by Trump himself. His departure from Breitbart threatens to further isolate the self-proclaimed champion of anti-Washington populism that swept Trump to power(sweep to/from power to win or lose an election by a very large number of votes. The Party swept to power in elections the following year.) and whom Bloomberg once called "the most dangerous political operative 政治行动 in America." Bannon emerged from relative obscurity when Trump picked him as campaign chief in August 2016, just three months out from the presidential election that he was then widely expected to lose against Democrat Hillary Clinton. He was running Breitbart at the time, a website providing boisterous coverage of the Republican tycoon's rise, where he had served as executive chairman since 2012. He quickly presided over the brand of economic populism promoted by Trump and was hired as chief strategist for the White House. For months, Trump allowed Bannon to conduct open war from inside the White House against established party leaders, incumbent lawmakers and other heavyweights Bannon believed were undermining Trump's populist revolution. After Bannon left the White House in August, he remained on good terms with Trump. But if he was damaged by the electoral defeat of his preferred candidate, Roy Moore, in Alabama, his fall from grace was cemented by "Fire and Fury." 4. Some train stations were full to overflowing 饱满到近于溢出, with commuters journeys delayed by several hours in some cases. Mr Foley himself was caught up in the chaos, and said it was "utterly shambolic ( shambles I. something that is very badly organized and that does not operate effectively. in a shambles: Government corruption has left the economy in a shambles. II. an extremely messy place. His desk is a shambles.)"."We had a number of areas across the network badly affected by lightning strikes...and we also of course, we had a spike 猛增 in sick leave." The government said it will now test how to responds to major incidents, but said it won't revert back to its old timetable which was introduced in November. "The minister should commit to suspended the new timetable until the government can commit to extra drivers," Mr Foley said. "Go back to a timetable that whatever its imperfections actually did function and then invest in the resources, the trains and the drivers." 4. rancor [ˈræŋkər] 恨意, 不满 a feeling of hate or anger that continues for a long time. a feeling of hatred and anger towards someone you cannot forgive because they harmed you in the past. bitter anger or unfriendly feelings: Can we settle this disagreement without rancor? He spoke openly about the war without a trace of rancour 没有意思愤恨. rancorous [ræŋkərəs]: A rancorous argument or person is full of bitterness and anger. The deal ended after a series of rancorous disputes. Despite his rancorous parting 离开, 离职, Damore said he would welcome the opportunity to work at Google again. "I really believe I could improve things there," he said. 命运的安排: "Neither of us really believe in fate 相信命运, but friends have said things like 'kismet' (kismet ['kiz,met] 天命, 上意, 天意, 冥冥中的力量. destiny; fate. Kismet is the force which some people believe controls the things that happen to you in your life. Omar and I were meant for each other. It was kismet. "what chance did I stand against kismet?") and 'it was meant to be'. We just think it's a funny coincidence." Grace, the co-founder of women's publication To Her Door, doesn't recall attending the party, nor giving serious side-eye 斜眼看 to the little boy who went on to become her husband in March 2015. "That's me, in a white dress, eyeing him off (eye somebody/something (+ adv./prep.) to look at somebody/something carefully, especially because you want something or you are suspicious of something to eye somebody suspiciously He couldn't help eyeing the cakes hungrily. They eyed us with alarm. The children eyed the cakes greedily. eye somebody up 上下打量 (informal) to look at somebody in a way that shows you have a special interest in them, especially a sexual interest. eye off someone watch or look at with interest. cut one's eye after someone or cut one's eye at someone 鄙视的看, 蔑视的看 to look rudely at a person and then turn one's face away sharply while closing one's eyes: a gesture of contempt. give someone the eye 抛媚眼 to look at someone in a way that shows you are sexually attracted to them. You see that guy over there – I'm pretty sure he was giving me the eye. give someone the evil eye 登着, 怒目而视 to look at someone in an unpleasant way, especially because you are angry with them. catch someone's eye to cause someone to notice something or someone: I was looking around the store for a present for my mom, and this book caught my eye. )" 5. fun-size = fun-sized (of a product) smaller than the regular or usual size. This term is used especially for containers of snack foods. A small size for a container of goods. fun-size chocolate bars. bite-size = bite-sized (of a piece of food) small enough to be eaten in one mouthful. Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. potluck I. (dated) A meal, especially one offered to a guest, consisting of whatever is available. Here's a good potluck of beans and stew. Come to eat whatever happens to be served; also, take one's chances. For example, You're welcome to join us for supper but you'll have to take potluck, or When the flight was canceled, passengers had to take potluck on other airlines. This idiom alludes to accepting whatever happens to be in the cooking pot. II. 有什么算什么, 有一个算一个. 随便哪儿都行. Whatever is available in a particular situation. take pot luck If you take pot luck, you make a choice from what is available although you do not have any knowledge to help you. Note: 'Pot luck' is usually written as 'potluck' in American English. We'd take potluck at whatever restaurants might still be open. Just leave the highway, drive out into the country, pick on a small town and take pot luck. Note: You can say that something is pot luck when it is a matter of luck whether you get something good. The major stores change their products regularly, so finding good deals is pot luck. Note: You can also use pot-luck before a noun. Travel firms are offering great holidays on a pot-luck basis. III. 聚餐 A meal consisting of whatever guests have brought, particularly from different parts of the world; a potlatch. Usage notes: a. The term is commonly used attributively, as in the noun phrase "potluck dinner". b. The term is widespread in American English, though the Dictionary of American Regional English finds that it is less common in the South, the Mid-Atlantic states and New York than elsewhere. c. The "communal meal" sense is only recently attested; even in 2010, some dictionaries did not include it while others included it but sometimes proscribed it (proscribe 勒令停止, 被命令结束 to order an end to the existence or use of something. The organization has been proscribed by law.), opining 认为 that potlatch should be used instead for that sense. potlatch [ˈpɑtˌlætʃ] I. A ceremony amongst certain indigenous peoples of the Pacific northwest in which gifts are bestowed upon guests and personal property is destroyed in a show of wealth and generosity. II. A communal meal to which guests bring dishes to share; a potluck. brown bag 小讲座 (idiomatic) A short presentation or seminar on a given subject, especially one given at lunchtime. Did you attend the brown bag Tuesday on healthy exercise habits? A brown bag meeting is an informal meeting that generally occurs in the workplace around lunchtime. This type of meeting is referred to as a brown bag meeting or a brown bag seminar because participants typically bring their lunches, which are associated with being packed in brown paper bags. Meetings of this kind usually occur in office training or conference rooms. They don't necessarily have to be held during the lunch hour and can take place at any time during the workday or after hours. Brown bag meetings are informal training and learning sessions offered by employers to their staff. These meetings are also called lunch and learn sessions. The brown bag meeting is an efficient and straightforward way for corporations to save money while training or informing staff. The underlying assumption is that employees will bring their own lunch to the meeting. Formal meetings are usually catered or held offsite, with the company assuming all dining costs. Depending on the number of attendees, these costs can be significant. brown bag lunch 自带午餐 To carry one's lunch from home, as in a bag, rather than purchase it from a cafeteria or restaurant. food that you take to work with you to eat for your meal in the middle of the day: The park has become a place where office workers brown-bag it and take leisurely strolls. There are as many brown-bag lunches eaten today as lunches in restaurants.
Shopper who asked online seller for 'real' pictures of prom dresses is stunned to receive photos of HIM modelling the frocks: With an endless number of websites flogging cheap prom dresses it's no wonder shoppers want to ensure the quality of their goods before clicking buy. But one customer got more than she bargained for after asking an online seller for 'real' pictures of his cheap frocks - and received an extraordinary selection of photos of him modelling the wares himself. The unnamed shopper, believed to be from the UK, told how she was browsing Gidion's selection of formal evening dresses, which are shipped from China and cost from just $101 (£75) on AliExpress. Taking to Reddit, she explained: 'I found a shop that sold prom dresses and wedding dresses so I asked for real photos rather than stock photos and the seller sent me these of him trying them on.' She was stunned when the male seller, known as Shop739960 Store, gamely 愿赌服输的, 勇敢的 modelled the bejewelled backless chiffon frock in five different colours, trying out a variety of different poses for the camera. The polyester and Spandex number is described as a formal evening dress which 'fits true to size' and comes in 19 different hues, with the seller modelling the pink, purple, orange, yellow and peach. He became an overnight sensation after the impressed customer posted the pictures online where they racked up more than 500 comments, with fellow Redditors praising his 'dedication' 奉献精神, 热诚 and comparing him to a 'Disney princess'. One wrote: 'Perhaps it's dedication, or perhaps he likes wearing the dresses (no judgement from me).' And one person quipped: 'I don't think anyone is knocking ( knock somebody for six = knock someone sideways British English informal to shock or upset someone very much or make them physically weak. to make someone feel very shocked or upset. This flu has really knocked me for six. knock/throw someone for a loop to make someone feel very shocked or upset. ) him for wearing a dress. That being said, I definitely think he is pulling off the pink best with the more dignified and elegant pose.' Others debated which colour looked best on him, with one Redditor writing: 'the yellow showcases his figure 身材 and waist more finely'. One person wrote: 'I'd go for the peach one. If a seller sent me this, 100 per cent I will buy again [sic.].' It is not known whether the shopper decided to buy the dress.
儿童间性侵: Jane Smith (all names have been changed for legal reasons) allegedly witnessed her six-year-old being sexually abused by his 12-year-old step brother. She told nine.com.au her family had been torn apart as the two sets of parents debated whether or not to come forward to police, and that her son Nathan – who had a global development delay - had further suffered after officers had advised them his case was a lost cause 必败无疑, 必输无疑, 没有希望的事情 ( a person or thing that can no longer hope to succeed or be changed for the better. If you refer to something or someone as a lost cause, you mean that people's attempts to change or influence them have no chance of succeeding. someone or something that has no chance of succeeding: I used to try to get him to do some exercise but then decided he was a lost cause. They do not want to expend energy in what, to them, is a lost cause. "their opposition to planning for full employment was a lost cause". ). "No one would let me lay charges as there isn't enough evidence," Ms Smith told nine.com.au. "But I've got pictures, video statements, and Nathan wants to talk. They don't have the time to listen or have chosen not to." Ms Smith was cooking dinner with her blended family, which included her husband's two older sons, on March 10 when she went to check on the kids. What she found caused her to instantly throw up in the pot plants. "I had to pause to understand what was going on for a moment but what I saw was a teenage boy taking advantage of a six-year-old and enjoying it," Ms Smith told nine.com.au. She said she let out a shrill scream and the boys' father rushed in just as Steven – only days off his thirteenth birthday – was adjusting his pants."Nathan kept saying, 'He is a bad person, he was trying to put his willy in my bum'," Ms Smith said. She said Steven had then started yelling about not feeling a part of the family and continued to insist police not be involved. "We said we would do one better(go one better to do something that is more advanced or more generous than someone else. If you go one better, you do something better than it has been done before or obtain something better than someone else has. Now General Electric have gone one better than nature and made a diamond purer than the best quality natural diamonds. I gave her a card, but my brother went one better and bought her a present.) and call his mum but you could see the relief in his face," she said. Ms Smith explained the situation to Steven's mother and step-father, expecting the same level of repulsion and upset. But Steven's mother told her: "There is really nothing to worry about." "She said his behaviour was inappropriate but nothing sinister 邪恶的 and convinced us not to call the cops," Ms Smith said. Professor Bromfield said parents will often react this way, even when they are "disgusted" with their children. When questioned by his parents Steven completely denied any wrongdoing and deflected 转嫁, 推卸责任 blame to Nathan. She said Steven's mother wanted the matter dealt with "in house" 内部处理, 内部解决 and offered to counsel him herself. Ms Smith begrudgingly 不情愿的, 无可奈何的 accepted. But from that night on Nathan refused to sleep alone and started suffering night terrors. "He became petrified of anyone coming near him and would scream out in the night, 'Get off me' or 'He is coming to get me'." Professor Bromfield said sexual abuse can lead to both physical and mental trauma. According to Nathan's mother, he suffered both. Ms Smith said this pushed her to take the matter to the police. The distressed mother hoped an investigation would bring her son justice or at the very least some closure. However, Ms Smith said her family's dealings with police only caused Nathan more angst. Nathan was diagnosed with a global delay ( The term 'developmental delay' or 'global development delay 发育迟缓' is used when a child takes longer to reach certain development milestones than other children their age. This might include learning to walk or talk, movement skills, learning new things and interacting with others socially and emotionally.) when his mother realised he was not meeting his milestones as a baby. His mum said that while he was six he had the capacity of a four or five-year-old. "His cognitive, language and motor skills are behind 落后的, 迟缓的, 滞后的," she said. Ms Smith said Nathan's teacher offered to be present. "[The CPS officer] didn't build up any rapport [ræˈpɔr]( a relationship in which people like, understand, and respect each other. The doctor had an excellent rapport with his patients. If two people or groups have a rapport, they have a good relationship in which they are able to understand each other's ideas or feelings very well. He said he wanted 'to establish a rapport with the Indian people'. The success depends on good rapport between interviewer and interviewee. You have an intellectual rapport, a kind of easy companionship that makes me really jealous. ) so no wonder he didn't talk to her. He didn't know her from a bar of soap 完全不熟悉, 一无所知, 完全不认识 ( know from a bar of soap (Britain, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, idiomatic, informal) To know; to be acquainted with (a person). After she won the lottery, Marge had long-lost relatives she didn't know from a bar of soap come up to her to ask for money. To be completely unaware of or know nothing about someone; to have never met the person indicated. My girlfriend got really excited when a movie star apparently walked past us, but I wouldn't know him from a bar of soap. Someone I wouldn't know from a bar of soap just contacted me online, claiming to be a distant relative. Usage notes: This expression is more commonly used in its negative form. ) and I warned them of that," Ms Smith said. "With the nature of sexual abuse being something that happens with two people in the room there is often no corroborating witnesses, which makes it more difficult to prosecute, even if they are reported very soon after." She said children with disabilities were at a much higher risk of falling victim to sexual assault. "There is evidence to show perpetrators are quite predatory ( predator [ˈpredətə(r)] )([ˈpredəˌtɔri] I. relating to animals that kill and eat other animals. II. treating other people badly for your own benefit. a predatory criminal. a. 侵略性的. business relating to companies that are looking for other companies to buy, or are showing this type of behavior. predatory pricing 侵略性定价 the act of setting prices at very low levels in order to force other companies to fail. perpetrate [ˈpɜrpəˌtreɪt] ( perpetrator [ˈpɜːpɪtreɪtə(r)]) to do something that is harmful, illegal, or dishonest. The military perpetrated many human rights abuses during the earliest phase of the conflict. perpetuate [pə(r)ˈpetʃueɪt] 助纣为虐. 助长. to make something such as a situation or process continue, especially one that is wrong, unfair, or dangerous. Current policy only serves to perpetuate the old class divisions. ) in selecting their victims," Professor Bromfield said. "They will choose someone who is least likely to be believed when they tell or be perceived as a weak witness before the courts." Ms Smith believes denying Nathan a voice has caused him to slip backward(slip backward 退步 It means that the country became worse and worse, it slipped backwards in terms of progression. Of course, a country must go forward, avancer, not 'slip backwards'. Slip, has the idea of 'move slowly' (backwards). slip back (to someone or something) to move quietly and cautiously back to someone or something. Walter slipped back to Sally when her parents weren't looking. He slipped back and then Mary's parents slipped back, and there was quite a scene.). "He has completely lost focus. At school if he starts something he won't finish it. Getting shut down like that has caused him to close off," she said. CPS said it does not routinely offer repeat interviews for a "number of reasons", but that on some occasions it would make an exception. If a child is under the age of ten they are not deemed "criminally responsible" 负刑事责任的. "Under that age the young person is more likely to be displaying harmful behaviours because they are mirroring 模仿 things they've been exposed to, like pornography and domestic or sexual violence," she said. "If they successfully complete that treatment the court can make a determination not to record an offence," Professor Bromfield said. "If the child does not agree to undertake the therapy or is found to still be a risk of harm to other children, they will incarcerate them in a youth detention facility." Professor Bromfield said ultimately it was paramount to determine if there was a troubling cause at the root of the child's offending that urgently needed to be addressed. The co-director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection, Professor Bromfield told nine.com.au Aussie children were increasingly displaying "harmful sexual behaviours" and she feared not enough was being done to rehabilitate or even find out what was at the root cause 根本原因 of this offending 犯罪.
