用法学习: 1. Then the chat took a turn when, seemingly unprompted 没来由的, 毫无预警的, Kyle transitioned straight to the topic of oral sex with very little segue 突兀的, 没有起承转合的 ( segue [ˈseɡweɪ] I. 无缝接入, 无缝切换 To move smoothly from one state or subject to another. to change smoothly from one song or subject of conversation to another without stopping. I can tell she's going to segue from our conversation about school to the topic of marriage. If something such as a piece of music or conversation segues into another piece of music or conversation, it changes into it or is followed by it without a break. The piece segues into his solo with the strings. ...his film's attempt, in its latter sections, to segue into comedy. ...a neat segue into an arrangement of 'Eleanor Rigby'. II. (music) To make a smooth transition from one theme to another. Beethoven's symphonies effortlessly segue from one theme to the next. III. (of a disk jockey) To play a sequence of records with no talk between them. Usage notes: In sense "move from one subject to another", contrast with non sequitur ("abrupt transition"), which is etymologically opposite ("follow" vs. "does not follow"). However, segue has connotations of moving between distinct subjects, and thus to segue often means to change rather abruptly, with at best a pretense of smooth transition.). The man has zero chill (have zero/no chill 失去理智 I. When someone has become reckless or can no longer behave in a rational manner, they no longer have any chill. to have no chill means that someone is rarely calm about anything. A person who gets worked up over little things might be said to have no chill. "Jane has no chill. She yelled at our waiter just because he forgot to bring ketchup." to have no chill means that someone is rarely calm about anything. slang The inability to be calm and composed. 安静不下来. 冷静不下来. My new kitten is adorable but seriously has no chill. She runs around the apartment all day long! A: "I like Sam, but he's just too intense about everything." B: "Yeah, he has no chill." II. (informal) Lack of any good qualities. ). Asked whether he was down with a bit of oral sex, The Honey Badger provided what may be the most hilarious, yet disturbing, response ever: "If they come out of the shower in a nice little bloody nightie. I tell you what, strap the feed bag on for sure." THE FEED BAG(A feedbag, feed bag, feeding bag, nosebag, or morral, is a bag, filled with fodder, and attached to the head of a horse, enabling it to eat. The main advantages are that only a small amount of the feed is wasted, and it prevents one animal consuming the ration of another. In popular US culture, the feedbag is used in the expression "strap on the old feedbag", meaning to "dine". It suggests that the diner will pay little attention to etiquette, and that the meal will be taken simply to satisfy one's hunger. The term is also used in numerous restaurant names. ). While the former rugby union player is known for his cooked quotes ( cooked food has been heated and is ready to eat. Use different containers for cooked and uncooked beef. a dish of lightly cooked vegetables. cooked/warmed/heated through thoroughly cooked/warmed/heated. done/cooked to a turn cooked for exactly the right amount of time. Roast the chicken until it is cooked through. cook up to invent a story, excuse, or plan. Between them they cooked up some story to tell their parents. cook someone's goose If you cook someone's goose, you prevent their plans from succeeding. He said that what they were up to would cook Krasky's goose.), this one might take the cake(take the cake = take the biscuit 执牛耳, 尤其糟糕, 尤其过分 I. (colloquial, US) To be especially good or outstanding. Thanks! You guys take the cake. Once the party was over, everyone agreed that Elizabeth and her Harriet Tubman getup had taken the cake. II. (colloquial, US) To be particularly bad, objectionable, or egregious. I've seen bad grammar, but this takes the cake.). He didn't stop there though, revealing that he struggled to keep control of his romantic impulses while in the mansion. "I'm a red-blooded 热血的 male and when you're in a spa and you've been locked up for a couple of months and you've got some cracking sort on your lap and you're starting to connect on some levels and you're exchanging saliva, all of a sudden the producers come in and start separating you," he said. 2. blow someone/something out of the water I. to show that something is completely false or wrong. We found evidence that blew his case out of the water. II. to defeat someone easily. To totally defeat or ruin someone or something. The image refers to the explosion of a ship that has been hit by enemy fire. The final score was 17-1? Wow, we really blew that team out of the water! I planned to be productive today, but a sudden emergency blew that idea out of the water. They think they can blow their rivals out of the water with this product. to destroy utterly someone or something, such as a plan. (Alludes to a torpedo or other weapon striking a ship and causing a great explosion that makes pieces of the ship fly out of the water.) I will blow him out of the water if he shows up around here. The boss blew the whole idea out of the water. III. To thoroughly impress, overwhelm, or excite one. The show of support from everyone just blew me out of the water. That movie really blew me out of the water—I didn't expect it to be so good! 3. Leopold and Loeb: The pair began asserting their perceived immunity from normal restrictions with acts of petty theft and vandalism. Breaking into a fraternity house at the university, they stole penknives, a camera, and a typewriter that they later used to type their ransom note. Emboldened 壮了胆的, 越来越大胆, they progressed to a series of more serious crimes, including arson, but no one seemed to notice. Disappointed with the absence of media coverage of their crimes, they decided to plan and execute a sensational "perfect crime" that would garner public attention, and confirm their self-proclaimed 自封的 status as "supermen". Leopold (then 19 years old) and Loeb (18) settled on the kidnapping and murder of an adolescent as their perfect crime. They spent seven months planning everything from the method of abduction to disposal of the body. To obfuscate [ˈɒbfəskeɪt] 混淆, 混淆视听 ( To obfuscate something means to deliberately make it seem confusing and difficult to understand. [formal] They are obfuscating the issue, as only insurance companies can. Macdonald accepted that such information could be used to obfuscate and to mislead. ) the precise nature of their crime and their motive, they decided to make a ransom demand, and devised an intricate plan for collecting it, involving a long series of complex delivery instructions to be communicated, one set at a time, by phone. They typed the final set of instructions involving the actual money drop in the form of a ransom note, using the typewriter stolen from the fraternity house. A chisel was selected as the murder weapon, and purchased. After a lengthy search for a suitable victim, mostly on the grounds of Harvard School for Boys in the Kenwood area, where Loeb had been educated, they decided upon Robert "Bobby" Franks, the 14-year-old son of wealthy Chicago watch manufacturer Jacob Franks. Loeb knew Bobby Franks well; he was his second cousin, an across-the-street neighbor, and had played tennis at the Loeb residence several times. The pair put their carefully crafted plan 精心策划的 in motion 启动计划, 发动计划 (put sth in action) on the afternoon of May 21, 1924. Using an automobile that Leopold had rented under the name "Morton D. Ballard", they offered Franks a ride as he walked home from school. The boy refused initially, since his destination was less than two blocks away; but Loeb persuaded him to enter the car to discuss a tennis racket that he had been using. The precise sequence of the events that followed remains in dispute 有争议, but a preponderance ( [prɪˈpɑnd(ə)rəns] 大多数的. 主流的. most of the people or things in a group. A preponderance of the students in the program came from overseas. ) of opinion placed Leopold behind the wheel of the car, while Loeb sat in the back seat with the chisel. Loeb struck Franks, sitting in front of him in the passenger seat, several times in the head with the chisel, then dragged him into the back seat, where he was gagged and soon died. With the body on the floorboard out of view, they drove to their predetermined dumping spot 抛尸地点 near Wolf Lake in Hammond, Indiana, 25 miles (40 km) south of Chicago. After nightfall they removed and discarded Franks' clothes, then concealed the body in a culvert 涵洞, 桥洞 along the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks north of the lake. To obscure 混淆, 混乱视听 the body's identification( obscure [əbˈskjʊr] adj. I. not known about, or not well known. Details of this period of Shakespeare’s life remain obscure. The report had been published in an obscure German journal. II. not clearly expressed, or not easy to understand. somewhat/relatively obscure: The rules for the competition are somewhat obscure. for some obscure reason 因为一些不为人知的原因 used for saying that you do not know the reason for something. For some obscure reason he is regarded as a great singer. v. I. to make something difficult to understand. This accident should not obscure the fact that train travel is extremely safe. II. to cover something so that it cannot be seen. His face was partially obscured by sunglasses. A solid wall of mist obscured the view.) they poured hydrochloric acid on the face, and on a distinctive abdominal scar, as well as the genitals (to conceal the fact that he was circumcised). By the time the two men returned to Chicago, word had already spread that Franks was missing. Leopold called Franks's mother, identifying himself as 自称 "George Johnson", and told her that Franks had been kidnapped; instructions for delivering the ransom would follow. After mailing the typed ransom note, burning their blood-stained clothing, and cleaning the bloodstains 血迹 from the rented vehicle's upholstery as best they could, they spent the remainder of the evening playing cards. Once the Franks family received the ransom note the following morning, Leopold called a second time and dictated the first set of ransom payment instructions. The intricate plan stalled almost immediately when a nervous family member forgot the address of the store where he was supposed to receive the next set of directions; and it was abandoned entirely when word came that a man named Tony Minke had found the boy's body. Convinced that they had done everything they could to hide their tracks, they went about their lives as usual. Chicago police launched an intensive investigation; rewards were offered for information. While Loeb went about his daily routine quietly, Leopold spoke freely to police and reporters, offering theories to any who would listen. He even told one detective, "If I were to murder anybody, it would be just such a cocky little son of a bitch as Bobby Franks". Police found a pair of eyeglasses near the body. Though common in prescription and frame, they were equipped with an unusual hinge mechanism purchased by only three customers in Chicago; one was Nathan Leopold. When questioned, Leopold offered the possibility that his glasses (now owned by the Chicago History Museum) might have dropped out of his pocket 掉出口袋 during a bird-watching trip. The destroyed typewriter was recovered from Jackson Park Lagoon on June 7. The two men were summoned for formal questioning on May 29. They asserted that on the night of the murder, they had picked up two women, Edna and May, in Chicago, using Leopold's car, then dropped them off sometime later near a golf course without learning their last names. Their alibi was exposed as a fabrication when Leopold's chauffeur told police that he was repairing Leopold's car that night, while the men claimed to be using it. The chauffeur's wife later confirmed that the car was parked in the Leopold garage on the night of the murder. Loeb confessed first. He asserted that Leopold had planned everything, and had killed Franks in the back seat of the car while he, Loeb, drove. Leopold's confession followed swiftly thereafter; but he insisted that he was the driver, and Loeb the murderer. Their confessions otherwise corroborated most of the evidence in the case. Leopold later claimed, in his book (long after Loeb was dead), that he pleaded in vain with Loeb to admit to killing Franks. "Mompsie feels less terrible than she might, thinking you did it," he quotes Loeb as saying, "and I'm not going to take that shred of comfort away from her." While most observers believed that Loeb did indeed strike the fatal blows, some circumstantial evidence—including testimony from eyewitness Carl Ulvigh, who said he saw Loeb driving and Leopold in the back seat minutes before the kidnapping—suggested that Leopold could have been the killer. Both admitted that they were driven by the thrill 刺激感 of the kill, their Übermensch delusions, and their aspiration to commit a "perfect crime". Leopold, at least, considered the incident an intellectual exercise. "The killing was an experiment," he told his attorney. "It is just as easy to justify such a death as it is to justify an entomologist killing a beetle on a pin." Initially, both Leopold and Loeb were receiving money from their wealthy families, but this was later cut to five dollars per week. The money was used to purchase goods such as cigarettes from the prison store. Other prisoners were not aware that Leopold and Loeb were no longer receiving larger amounts of money. They were both seen as rich snobs, which made them targets for other prisoners. One day in the prison yard, Leopold was threatened at knife point for money. After trying to explain that he did not have any, he was saved when Loeb and some of his other friends intervened. The allowance cut had also caused problems for Loeb. Some of Loeb's money went to a former cell-mate of his, James E. Day, as a bribe not to hurt him. After the money was cut, there were several accounts of abuse and threats, and Day was moved away from Loeb. On January 28, 1936, Leopold and Loeb were working on assignment at the prison school. While they were working, Day passed them and reportedly said "I'll see you later" (referring to Loeb). Loeb was later attacked by Day with a straight razor in a shower room. He was taken directly to the prison hospital where doctors tried to save his life. Leopold went to the hospital to find his friend barely conscious and slashed all over. Leopold offered to have his blood tested for a transfusion but was denied by the doctors, who knew there was no hope. Loeb's last words to Leopold were "I think I'm going to make it." Leopold then washed his friend's body as an act of affection. Day claimed afterward that Loeb had attempted to assault him, but it may have been the other way around. Many doubted that Day's story was true. It was not likely that he acted in self-defense. Day emerged unharmed from the attack, while Loeb sustained more than 50 wounds, including numerous defensive wounds on his arms and hands. Loeb's throat had also been slashed from behind, suggesting that he was taken by surprise. Nevertheless, an inquiry accepted Day's testimony. The prison authorities, perhaps embarrassed by publicity sensationalizing alleged decadent behavior in the prison, ruled that Day's attack on Loeb was self-defense. According to one widely reported account, newsman Ed Lahey wrote this lead for the Chicago Daily News: "Richard Loeb, despite his erudition 学识渊博, 博学多识 ( [ˌerəˈdɪʃ(ə)n] great knowledge gained through reading or studying. great academic knowledge. His erudition was apparently endless. erudite [ˈerudaɪt or ˈerjdaɪt] adj. someone who is erudite has a lot of knowledge because they have read or studied a lot. If you describe someone as erudite, you mean that they have or show great academic knowledge. You can also use erudite to describe something such as a book or a style of writing. He was never dull, always erudite and well informed. ...an original and highly erudite style. ), today ended his sentence with a proposition (proposition I. If you describe something such as a task or an activity as, for example, a difficult proposition or an attractive proposition, you mean that it is difficult or pleasant to do. Making easy money has always been an attractive proposition. Even among seasoned mountaineers this peak is considered quite a tough proposition. II. A proposition is a statement or an idea which people can consider or discuss to decide whether it is true. The proposition that democracies do not fight each other is based on a tiny historical sample. III. In the United States, a proposition is a question or statement about an issue of public policy which appears on a voting paper so that people can vote for or against it. I voted 'yes' on proposition 提案 136, but 'no' on propositions 129, 133 and 134. IV. A proposition is an offer or a suggestion that someone makes to you, usually concerning some work or business that you might be able to do together. You came to see me at my office the other day with a business proposition 提议. I want to make you a proposition. V. If someone who you do not know very well propositions you, they suggest that you have sex with them. He had allegedly tried to proposition a colleague. )." Some papers said that Loeb deserved what he got, and appeared to praise James Day for his murder. Day was later tried and acquitted of Loeb's murder. A sexual motive for the murder has been suggested. There is no evidence that Loeb was a sexual predator while in prison, but Day was later caught at least once in a sexual act with a fellow inmate. In his autobiography, Life Plus 99 Years, Leopold called Day's claim that Loeb had attempted to sexually assault him ridiculous and laughable. This is echoed in an interview with the Catholic chaplain at the prison, Father Eligius Weir, who had been a personal confidant of Loeb's. Weir stated that James Day had been the sexual predator and had gone after Loeb because Loeb refused to have sexual relations with him. Leopold dedicated much time to rehabilitate the name of Loeb, who had died an infamous child killer and a named sexual predator. Leopold composed books for the prison school. On the cover of these books he wrote Ratione autem liberamur (Latin, "by reason, however, we are set free"). Although Leopold continued with his work in prison after Loeb's death, he suffered from depression. He reportedly screamed for hours in his cell before being moved to the prison psychologists. This was meant to help him, but according to Leopold it was a punishment because Day was also among the patients. Leopold later wrote that reading Levin's book made him "... physically sick ... More than once I had to lay the book down and wait for the nausea to subside 等待恶心感消失. I felt as I suppose a man would feel if he were exposed stark-naked under a strong spotlight before a large audience." In beginning his account with the immediate aftermath of the crime, he engendered widespread criticism for his deliberate refusal (expressly stated in the book) to recount his childhood, or to describe any details of the murder itself. He was also accused of writing the book solely as a means of rehabilitating his public image by ignoring the dark side of his past. In 1959, Leopold sought unsuccessfully to block production of the film version of Compulsion on the grounds that Levin's book had invaded his privacy, defamed him, profited from his life story, and "intermingled fact and fiction to such an extent that they were indistinguishable". Eventually the Illinois Supreme Court ruled against him, holding that Leopold, as the confessed perpetrator of the "crime of the century", could not reasonably demonstrate that any book had injured his reputation. Leopold and Loeb were an excellent match psychologically: The brilliant but socially inept Leopold was enthralled by the handsome and vivacious ( [vɪˈveɪʃəs] lively and attractive. a vivacious and charming lady. a vivacious personality. ) Loeb, and Loeb found an excellent alter ego for his fantasy world in which he was supreme. They became inseparable and developed a sexual relationship. Leopold was reportedly intellectually precocious at an early age, though the reports of this may have been exaggerated when he penned his autobiography. He had suffered as a youth, being bullied at a public school and later allegedly sexually abused by a governess ( 家庭教师 A governess is a woman employed to teach and train children in a private household. In contrast to a nanny (formerly called a nurse), she concentrates on teaching children instead of meeting their physical needs. Her charges are of school age rather than babies.), Mathilda, when he was 12. Leopold's intellect set him apart from his contemporaries, and the boy had difficulty making friends. This was a trait that continued throughout his education and was made more difficult by his own superior attitude, in relation to both his family's wealth and his own intelligence. Loeb continued to embroil Leopold in a number of criminal pursuits, using the promise of sexual favors as an enticement, and became increasingly obsessed with the development and commission of the "perfect crime." On May 21, 1924, Loeb and Leopold put their plan into action, collecting a rental car, obscuring its number plates and then driving to the neighborhood of Kenwood in search of a convenient victim. They settled on 14-year-old Bobby Franks, a cousin of Loeb's. Lured into the car, Franks was hit over the head repeatedly with a chisel by Loeb and gagged before being hidden under blankets on the backseat of the car. After depositing Franks's body in a culvert at nearby Wolf Lake, they mailed a ransom note to the boy's father, Jacob. Bobby Franks's body was found by a laborer and identified before the ransom was delivered. Choosing to enter a guilty plea in order to remove a jury from the proceedings and have a judge determine the verdict, Darrow sought to stave off the death penalty by portraying his clients as "mentally ill," their actions driven by traumatic events from childhood. With the public closely following the details of the "crime of the century," both the prosecution and defense paraded a series of leading psychologists to the witness stand to make their case. Darrow gave an impassioned speech as part of his closing remarks, which lasted for a whopping three days and may have helped sway the judge. 4. common run of = general run of 一般的, 常见的, 通常的 Ordinary persons, things, or events. the common/general run of (something) The standard, average, or typical type of something. Criminals are not the common run of humanity. This programme is better than the general run of television comedies. The unorthodox politician is seen by many as a rebuke to the common run of bureaucrats, who spend more time debating and arguing than actually accomplishing anything meaningful. While the common run of 一般的, 常见的 stuff you find in a flea market is junk, every now and then you come across something really valuable. cut from the same cloth = like two peas in a pod = of a kind = cut of the same cloth = cut out of the same cloth 一丘之貉, 一样一样的, 同类人 (idiomatic, of two or more persons or things) Very similar; possessing many of the same fundamental characteristics. All floor traders are of a kind, and most burn out by their late thirties. 土耳其危机: It might seem incongruous ( [ɪnkɒŋgruəs] 不和谐的. 扎眼的. strange because of being very different to other things which happen or exist in the same situation. Someone or something that is incongruous seems strange when considered together with other aspects of a situation. [formal] She was small and fragile and looked incongruous in an army uniform. The Indian temple is an incongruous sight in the Welsh border country. ) that global markets might be so concerned about the state of an economy that barely registers on international investors' radars, and to which international investors have a very modest 非常有限的 exposure. There are a number of strands to the reason why Trump's imposition of tariffs – as leverage to ( [ˈlev(ə)rɪdʒ] n. I. the power to make someone do what you want. II. physics the power that a lever gives you to move things. v. to borrow money to buy a business, hoping that the business will make enough profit to pay the interest on the money that is borrowed. ) force Turkey to release a US pastor accused of backing a coup attempt against Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan two years ago – should roil markets well beyond that struggling state. The economic crisis that has developed in Turkey has added to the concerns about the dual impact of escalating global trade tensions and a stronger US dollar on emerging market economies. The currencies of Argentina, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia, Brazil, Mexico, Poland, Russia and India have come under selling pressure as investors, fearing a form of contagion, have retreated to the perceived safe haven of the US currency.
brochure VS pamphlet VS flyer VS leaflet: Brochures can be created from multiple sheets bound 装订 together. Sometimes smaller, simpler brochures are referred to as pamphlets. And whereas a flyer is generally 8.5" x 11", brochures are offered in a variety of standard or custom sizes. The pages of a brochure are generally of a heavier paper weight. A flyer is a form of paper advertisement intended for wide distribution and typically posted or distributed in a public place, handed out to individuals or sent through the mail. In the 2010s, flyers range from inexpensively photocopied leaflets to expensive, glossy, full-colour circulars. A flyer is also called a "flier", "circular", "handbill", "pamphlet", "poster", "lit'" (literature), "weekly ad", "catalogue" or "leaflet". A pamphlet is an unbound booklet (that is, without a hard cover or binding). It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths, called a leaflet, or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book. A brochure is an informative paper document (often also used for advertising) that can be folded into a template, pamphlet or leaflet. A brochure can also be a set of related unfolded papers put into a pocket folder or packet. Brochures are promotional documents, primarily used to introduce a company, organization, products or services and inform prospective customers or members of the public of the benefits. A brochure is usually folded and only includes summary information that is promotional in character. A booklet is usually several sheets of paper with a cardstock cover and bound with staples, string or plastic binding. In contrast, a single piece of unfolded paper is usually called an insert, flyer or bulletin.
