用法学习: 1. halfway house I. A halfway house is an arrangement or thing that has some of the qualities of two different things. The results sound like a halfway house between a piano and an electric guitar. II. A halfway house is a home for people such as former prisoners, mental patients, or drug addicts who can stay there for a limited period of time to get used to life outside prison or hospital. a temporary place to live for people who have spent a long time somewhere such as a prison or psychiatric hospital. wiki: A halfway house is an institution that allows people with physical, mental, and emotional disabilities, or those with criminal backgrounds, to learn (or relearn) the necessary skills to re-integrate into society and better support and care for themselves. As well as serving as a residence, halfway houses provide social, medical, psychiatric, educational, and other similar services. They are termed "halfway houses" due to their being halfway between completely independent living on the one hand, and in-patient or correctional facilities on the other hand where residents are highly restricted in their behavior and freedoms. infirmary [ɪnˈfɜrməri] 诊所 a room in some schools and other institutions where people go when they are sick or injured. Mrs Hardie had been taken to the infirmary in an ambulance. ...the Radcliffe Infirmary in Oxford. Erin Sykes tweeted that Emirates Flight 203 from Dubai was "basically a flying infirmary" after 100 people fell ill. 2. more by luck than judgment 运气好而已, 而不是有什么特殊能力 by chance and not because of any special skill: "You did amazingly well to get the ball in." "Oh, it was more by luck than judgment." The court heard he was "virtually paralysed on the left side" and requires a wheelchair. His memory and eyesight have also been affected. Judge Goetze said it was "more by good luck than management that he is still alive". 暴力凶杀案: The judge also noted Gleeson was at a medium risk of violent offending again in the future. "You need to target your violent lifestyle, your negative attitudes, your poor insight (and) your tendency to justify violence," Judge Goetze said. "You need to keep away from people who are a bad influence on you. "You need to target your impulsivity 冲动( That is why many Trump appointees have vowed to do what we can to preserve our democratic institutions while thwarting Mr. Trump's more misguided impulses until he is out of office. Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back. ), your poor coping and your emotional control and ... your substance abuse." 3. 杀死继子案: Child protection advocates say they cannot fathom how William O'Sullivan, of Caboolture, Queensland, was given only a nine-year jail term for the manslaughter of 22-month-old Mason Lee in Brisbane yesterday. Bravehearts founder Hetty Johnston says the sentence defies belief and shows the system is failing children. "How can you kill a child and walk away after four years? It just defies any kind of logic 不符合任何逻辑, 不合逻辑, it doesn't set any example," Ms Johnston said. "I think they need to throw the whole sentencing regime out the window and start again." "I'm sure that the public don't think that a sentence that lenient is sufficient for what that little boy went through," she said. 4. Moive - Double Jeopardy - Libby Parsons (Ashley Judd) and her husband Nick (Bruce Greenwood) are wealthy residents of Whidbey Island, Washington. With her best friend, Angela Green (Annabeth Gish) offering to look after her 4-year-old son, Matty (Benjamin Weir), Libby and Nick go off sailing for the weekend on their yacht. After a session of love making, Libby falls asleep. She wakes to find her husband missing and blood all over her hands, clothes, legs, and the boat's floors. A Coast Guard vessel appears and Libby is spotted holding a bloody knife she found lying on the deck. Even with Nick's body unaccounted for 找不到遗体, Libby is arrested, humiliated in the media, tried, and convicted of her husband's murder. Libby asks Angela to look after Matty for the duration of her prison sentence. At first, Angela brings Matty to see Libby in prison, but after a while, these visits cease and she disappears. For the first of numerous times in the film Libby uses remarkable search skills and the ability to deceive people to track Angela to her phone in San Francisco. She calls Angela and speaks with Matty. Libby hears a door open in the background, then Matty exclaims, "Daddy!" right before the line goes dead. Libby realizes that Nick possibly faked his death and framed her, leaving Matty as the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy, as people convicted for murder are not allowed to collect the life insurance on their victims. After unsuccessfully attempting to get investigative help, she is told by a fellow inmate named Margaret (Roma Maffia) that if she were to get paroled for good behavior, she could kill Nick with impunity due to the Double Jeopardy Clause in the Fifth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. She spends the next six years in prison building up her body and committing herself to finding Matty. Libby is paroled 被假释 after six years and begins searching for Nick and Matty, while living in a halfway house under the close supervision of parole officer Travis Lehman (Tommy Lee Jones). Lehman is a very tough officer. He is a former law professor whose wife and daughter left him after the family was in a car accident with him driving under the influence of alcohol. Libby violates her curfew and is caught breaking into Matty's school on Whidbey Island to try to get Angela's records. However, as Lehman is delivering Libby back to prison via a car ferry 渡轮, he handcuffs her to the car door handle, and goes for a drink. He leaves the keys and Libby drives the car back and forth trying to knock off the handcuffs. Lehman returns; they struggle and the car goes overboard. He uncuffs her underwater. Libby then knocks out 打晕 Lehman and swims to shore while he is rescued by ferry personnel. She goes to her family farm where her mother gives her cash to enable her to search for her husband and child. Libby discovers that Angela has recently died in Colorado in a home gas explosion, which looks like an accident staged by Nick. Then Libby recognizes a Kandinsky painting in a newspaper photo. Tracing it through an art dealer's database (which nearly again allows her capture by Lehman) leads her to New Orleans, where she finds Nick running a luxury hotel under an assumed 冒充的 name, Jonathan Devereaux. Libby confronts Nick after making a winning bid of $10,000 on him at a bachelor's auction during a fund raising party hosted at his hotel. She demands he return Matty in exchange for her silence about his real identity, while he claimed that he faked his death to collect insurance as his original business was going under. Their parley ( a meeting, usually between enemies, to discuss an agreement. ) is cut short when Lehman shows up at the hotel party to warn Nick that his wife is a fugitive. In the French Quarter, Libby is later tipped off by a bartender who recognizes her from a wanted poster but lets her escape the police as no reward is offered. Nick agrees to bring Matty to a meeting in a cemetery. There he uses a decoy 诱饵 boy to distract Libby, knocks her unconscious, and locks her in a casket inside a mausoleum 陵墓, 墓穴. Using a .38 caliber handgun she had snatched from Lehman, Libby manages to shoot the hinges off the lid of the casket and escape the mausoleum by throwing a flower vase through a stained glass window. While tracking Libby in New Orleans, Lehman himself becomes suspicious of Nick's death and begins to believe Libby's story, based on the clues uncovered in his search. He finds a picture of a different Nicholas Parsons when searching the Washington State DMV records to prove his suspicions, and later confirms them when he uncovers six DMV records under that name, including Nick's DMV application and photograph. After intercepting 截住 and capturing Libby later in the city as she makes her way to Nick's hotel, the two end up teaming up. Lehman visits Nick in his office under the pretense of asking for money to keep his identity secret. He records a remark by Nick that he had murdered his wife, the only witness to his true past, and then Libby enters, holding Nick at gunpoint. Nick is given a choice of surrendering to the authorities or getting shot by his vengeful wife, who he believes would go free for this deed because of double jeopardy. Nick pulls out a hidden gun, shoots Lehman, and fires at Libby. Lehman manages to bring Nick down before he can shoot Libby. Nick gets the upper hand 占上风 in the scuffle 搏斗, but before he can kill the wounded parole officer, Libby shoots Nick dead. Lehman promises to help Libby get fully pardoned, and together they travel to Matty's boarding school in Georgia. Matty (Spencer Treat Clark), now eleven years old, recognizes his mother, and they embrace with Lehman watching them. jump all over someone also jump on someone to criticize someone suddenlyand severely: When I showed him my report card, Dad jumpedall over me and said I wasn’t working hard enough. charges [something] to a room 算到房费里去, 计入房费 (Hospitality (hotel): Restaurant, paying the check) If you charge an item or expenseto a room at a hotel, you add it to a guest's final bill so they can pay for it when they check out of the room. The restaurant offers meals which can be charged to your room. Any items that you charged to your room during your stay must be paid for when you check out. Are you paying for your drinks now, or are you charging them to your room? slice and dice 大卸八块, 碎尸万段 I. To cut and chop something to pieces. I sliced and diced him. I'm a murderer. II. To rearrange or analyze in a number of different ways, often arbitrarily. 5. Sheldon: So, if she wants to end her pair-bond with Leonard, why on earth would she guzzle 吸一口 a witches' brew of his soda and spit? Amy: It's complicated. Sheldon: String theory is complicated. That's just yucky. Don't get any ideas. All right, for the sake of argument, let's say that's true. Why doesn't Penny just end the relationship? Amy: She's not sure how she feels. Sheldon: How can she not be sure how she feels? You know, when I have a feeling, I know it. Trains? Love them. Swordfish? I love them, too. They're fish with a sword for a nose. Amy: Regardless 不管怎样, 无论怎样, 不管怎么说, don't say anything to Leonard. Sheldon: Now you're asking me to keep a secret from my best friend, colleague, and roommate? Amy: Yes, please, Penny will kill me. Sheldon: Uh, fine. FYI, secret-keeping? Hate it. Hand-holding? Not a fan. Hammerhead shark? I love that thing. Yeah, it's another fish with a tool on its head. Stuart: Raisinet? Sheldon: Shh, we're trying to watch the movie. This is not working out with him. unimaginative 没有创新的, 没有新意的, 没有创意的, 没有想象力的. 缺乏想象力的 unable to think of new and interesting things She was a rather dull unimaginative woman. What an unimaginative name for an airline. The fastest growing carrier on the list is also the smallest. GoAir's H1 capacity of nearly 7.3m was way up on the same period last year, when it was 5.57m. If you describe someone as unimaginative, you are criticizing them because they do not think of new methods or things to do. [disapproval] Her father was a steady, unimaginative, corporate lawyer. ...unimaginative teachers. If you describe something as unimaginative, you mean that it is boring or unattractive because very little imagination or effort has been used on it. [disapproval] ...unimaginative food. Film critics called it a monumentally unimaginative movie. put down roots = establish roots 定居 To establish something, someone, or oneself as a permanent resident or establishment in a certain place. Settle somewhere, become established. We've put down roots here and don't want to move away. I'd been living in this country for a few years, but it wasn't until I had kids that I felt like I had really put down roots here. The company is keen to put down roots in the region, which they see as having huge untapped market 未触及的市场 potential. establish: To establish something means to begin it or bring it about. If you want everyone in your family to bring you chocolate every evening, you can establish a "Chocolates for Me" policy 立法, 规定 requiring it. Establish is related to stable through its Latin roots and has many meanings, but all have the feel of building on a stable foundation. Besides the meaning of setting a policy, establish can also mean to prove one's value. You should establish yourself in a community 立足 before you try to bring change to it. Similarly, if you like to debate controversial issues, you'd best begin with facts that have been established 工人的事实 and are not open to question. If you have a lot of money and want to build up your community, you can establish, or found, a school or library there. 6. Nick Jonas: He was ranked in sixth place on Capital FM's list of Sexiest Men in Pop during 2016. Jonas' new public image has led to him receiving a large fan following in the LGBT community, a fact he claims to be "thrilled" about. Some of Jonas' interviews and comments have drawn criticism as being "gay pandering" ( pander If you pander to someone or to their wishes 迎合, you do everything that they want, often to get some advantage for yourself [disapproval] He has offended the party's traditional base by pandering to the rich and the middle classes. ...books which don't pander to popular taste. Earlier this year, Jonas insisted that he's not trying to "gay-bait" fans by making ambiguous comments about his sexuality. ), though Jonas had denied these claims.
穿反了: 1. The opposite 对立面 of good is bad. 2. Worn your clothes inside out 里外反/backwards 前后反. Backward (adj.) 向后的, 发展迟缓的 落后的. The place is backward. 3. Wear shoes backwards. Put them on the wrong feet穿错脚了. 4. Have his hat on backwards. 帽子戴反. 5. Holding the book upside down. 书拿倒了. 6. Reverse parking. Back the car up.倒车. Back the car into the parking spot. 7. in reverse order倒序. In regular order 正序. 8. Flip it over 翻过来. Turn it over. 9. Will you rewind 倒带 that scene so we can watch it again?
纽约时报评论文章惹怒总统: THE Trump administration is still reeling 余怒未消 ( to feel very shocked, upset, or confused. reel from: The banks were reeling from the unexpectedly large losses. reel at: Local people are still reeling at the news of his death.) after The New York Times' extraordinary anonymous op-ed claiming that a secret "resistance" is working "from within" to protect America from its commander in chief. Today, the question on everybody's lips is: whodunit([huˈdʌnɪt] 谁干的. a book or movie about a murder, in which you do not know who committed the murder until the end. )? The remarkable piece details how the author, identified only as a senior White House official, is conspiring with others inside the Trump administration to "thwart" the US President's "worst inclinations". The unsigned opinion column has sent Mr Trump on a "volcanic" rampage — both on Twitter and reportedly through the White House corridors — calling for the "gutless" 没种的 author to turn themselves in while his aides grapple with the fallout and scramble to get to the bottom of those responsible. A top White House official told CNN statements of denial from Trump's staff were being printed out and delivered to the President as they came in. The only problem is, according to one administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity: "It could be so many people. "You can't rule it down to one person. Everyone is trying, but it's impossible." One ex-White House official in close contact with former colleagues said: "It's like the horror movies when everyone realises the call is coming from inside the house," the Washington Post reports. And so, while the internet continues a hilarious game of Cluedo (Cluedo 杀人游戏 ([ˈkluːdou]), known as Clue in North America, is a murder mystery game for three to six players that was devised by Anthony E. Pratt from Birmingham, England. The game was first manufactured by Waddingtons in the UK in 1949. Since then, it has been relaunched and updated several times, and it is currently owned and published by the American game and toy company Hasbro. The object of the game is to determine who murdered the game's victim ("Dr. Black" in the UK version and "Mr. Boddy" in North American versions), where the crime took place, and which weapon was used. Each player assumes the role of one of the six suspects, and attempts to deduce the correct answer by strategically moving around a game board representing the rooms of a mansion and collecting clues about the circumstances of the murder from the other players. ) — with everyone from the Easter Bunny to First Lady Melania Trump having the finger pointed at them — here's a long list of people who might actually be the author of the bombshell article. THE DEEP STATE: Just one of a host of familiar targets that Mr Trump lashed out at in the hours after the scathing piece hit the internet. "The Deep State and the Left, and their vehicle, the Fake News Media, are going Crazy — & they don't know what to do," he tweeted, highlighting the country's strong economy at the same time. However the author seemed to anticipate this reaction from the American leader, claiming the individual is part of the so-called "deep state" which conservatives often say is undermining their leader. "This isn't the work of the so-called deep state," the author writes. "It's the work of the steady state." Jeff Sessions makes the list of possible authors for the simple reason that he has a motive. Mr Trump has continuously waged a strikingly public campaign against his embattled Attorney-General; just this week it emerged that the US President has referred to him as "mentally retarded" 脑子有问题, 智商有问题 and a "dumb Southerner", according to the new tell-all book Fear: Trump In The White House by legendary Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward. The timing couldn't be more perfect. MIKE PENCE: While we may never know who was behind the explosive op-ed, an archaic word that features in the article has led internet sleuths to suggest Mike Pence may be a leading suspect. "Lodestar", meaning a star that is used to guide the course of a ship, happens to be a word that US Vice President Mike Pence has used several times in speeches over the years. A homage to John McCain at the end of The New York Times op-ed reads: "We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his example — a lodestar for restoring honour to public life and our national dialogue. Mr Trump may fear such honourable men, but we should revere them." Not exactly concrete evidence 铁的证据, but certainly intriguing. Or perhaps somebody else wrote it and used "lodestar" as a distraction? On Thursday, Mr Pence's deputy chief of staff and communications director Jarrod Agen forcefully 被迫出面否认 denied that the US vice president had anything to do with it. The Vice President puts his name on his Op-Eds. The @nytimes should be ashamed and so should the person who wrote the false, illogical, and gutless op-ed. Our office is above such amateur acts 不至于那么低下, 不至于那么无知. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was one of a string of denials to emerge on Thursday. While travelling in India, he told reporters simply: "It's not mine. "It is sad that you have someone who would make that choice," Mr Pompeo said, referring to suggestions that he could be behind the article. "I come from a place where, if you're not in a position to execute the commander's intent, you have a singular option — that is to leave." Mr Pompeo also blamed the publication of the detrimental op-ed on a media which is trying to undermine Mr Trump. 纽约时报发的匿名评论文章引起总统震怒: amoral [ˌeɪˈmɔrəl]
someone who is amoral does not care whether or not their behavior is
morally right. a. used about people's behavior, attitudes, etc. amoral values. amorality[ˌeɪməˈræləti] 无道德观念, 无德, 没有道德, 缺德 The root of the problem is the president's amorality. Anyone who works with him knows he is not moored to any discernible first principles that guide his decision making. Although he was elected as a Republican, the president shows little affinity for ideals long espoused by conservatives: free minds, free markets and free people. At best 好的时候, he has invoked these ideals in scripted settings. At worst, he has attacked them outright.. moor [mʊə(r)] to stop a ship or boat from moving by fastening it to a place with ropes or by using an anchor. impetuous [ɪmˈpetʃuəs] 不计后果的, 不顾一切的, 冲动的 someone who is impetuous does things quickly without thinking about what will happen as a result. an impetuous young man. a. done quickly, without thinking about what the effects will be. an impetuous decision. But these successes have come despite — not because of — the president's leadership style, which is impetuous, adversarial, petty and ineffective. adversarial [ˌædvɜː(r)ˈseəriəl] 争论不休的, 吵闹不休的, 吵个没够的 involving people arguing with or opposing each other. an adversarial legal system. From
the White House to executive branch departments and agencies, senior
officials will privately admit their daily disbelief at the commander in
chief's comments and actions. Most are working to insulate their operations from his whims. Meetings with him veer off topic and off the rails, he engages in repetitive rants, and his impulsiveness results in half-baked, ill-informed and occasionally reckless decisions that have to be walked back. "There is literally no telling whether he might change his mind from one minute to the next," a top official complained to me recently, exasperated by an Oval Office meeting at which the president flip-flopped on a major policy decision he'd made only a week earlier. The erratic behavior would be more concerning if it weren't for unsung heroes in and around the White House. Some of his aides have been cast as villains by the media. But in private, they have gone to great lengths to keep bad decisions contained to the West Wing, though they are clearly not always successful. It may be cold comfort
in this chaotic era, but Americans should know that there are adults in
the room. We fully recognize what is happening. And we are trying to do
what's right even when Donald Trump won't. The result is a two-track 两面的, 并行的, 两条轨道的 presidency.
Take foreign policy: In public and in private, President Trump shows a
preference for autocrats and dictators, such as President Vladimir Putin
of Russia and North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-un, and displays little
genuine appreciation for the ties that bind us to allied, like-minded
nations. Astute observers have noted, though, that the rest of the administration is operating on another track, one where countries like Russia are called out for meddling and punished accordingly, and where allies around the world are engaged as peers rather than ridiculed as rivals.
On Russia, for instance, the president was reluctant to expel so many
of Mr. Putin's spies as punishment for the poisoning of a former Russian
spy in Britain. He complained for weeks about senior staff members letting him get boxed into further confrontation with Russia, and he expressed frustration that the United States continued to impose sanctions on the country for its malign behavior.
But his national security team knew better — such actions had to be
taken, to hold Moscow accountable. Given the instability many witnessed,
there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th
Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the
president. But no one wanted to precipitate ( [prɪˈsɪpɪteɪt] I. 引发. [intransitive/transitive] formal
to make something happen or begin to exist suddenly and quickly,
especially something bad. If something precipitates an event or
situation, usually a bad one, it causes it to happen suddenly or sooner
than normal. [formal] The recent killings have precipitated the worst crisis yet. A slight mistake could precipitate a disaster. Such headaches can be precipitated by certain foods as well as stress. II. [intransitive/transitive] chemistry
沉淀 if a solid substance precipitates, or if something precipitates it,
it becomes separate from the liquid that it is in and drops to the
bottom of the container. III. [intransitive/transitive] formal to
fall or be thrown forwards quickly in a particular direction, or to
make someone do this. adj. [prɪˈsɪpɪtət] 仓促的. 仓猝的. 准备不足的. done too
quickly, and without enough thought or preparation. A precipitate action
or decision happens or is made more quickly or suddenly than most
people think is sensible. [formal] I
don't think we should make precipitate decisions. Many of our current
problems have been caused by precipitate policy making in the past. precipitate action. n. 沉淀物. a solid substance that has been separated from a liquid it was in. ) a constitutional crisis. So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction
until — one way or another — it's over. The bigger concern is not what
Mr. Trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have
allowed him to do to us. We have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility.
We may no longer have Senator McCain. But we will always have his
example — a lodestar for restoring honor to public life and our national
dialogue. Mr. Trump may fear such honorable men, but we should revere [rɪˈvɪə(r)] ( to have a lot of respect and admiration for someone or something. a colleague he once revered 崇敬, 敬畏 but ultimately came to despise. ) them. There is a quiet resistance within the administration of people choosing to put country first. But the real difference will be made by everyday citizens rising above politics 超脱于政治之上, reaching across the aisle and resolving to shed the labels in favor of a single one: Americans.
