用法学习: 1. time-honored 时间锤炼的 A time-honored tradition or way of doing something is one that has been used and respected for a very long time. long-standing, revered or followed as a result of a long tradition or history. If your family has a 20-year tradition of decorating the Christmas tree on Christmas eve, this tradition is an example of something that would be described as a time-honored tradition. Raising the money is done in the usual time-honored ways – college events, garage sales, and the like. kryptonite [ˈkrɪptənʌɪt] 氪星石 I. (in the fictional word of the cartoon, TV, and film character Superman) an alien mineral that has the property of depriving Superman of his powers. "the evil Lex Luthor diminishes Superman's powers with kryptonite". II. something that can seriously weaken or harm a particular person or thing. something that renders a person or thing helpless. football movies are box-office kryptonite. "flip-flopping on issues can be kryptonite to presidential candidates". Kryptonite is a material that appears primarily in Superman stories. In its most well-known form, it is a green, crystalline material that emits a peculiar radiation that weakens and sickens Superman, but is generally harmless to humans when exposed to it in short term. However, when it gets into their bloodstream it can poison them. There are other varieties of kryptonite such as red and gold kryptonite which have different but still generally negative effects on Superman. Due to Superman's popularity kryptonite has become a byword for an extraordinary weakness, synonymous with "Achilles' heel [əˈkɪliz ˌhil]". aphrodisiac[ˌæfrəˈdɪziˌæk] 让人血脉喷张的, 让人性欲勃发的, 引起性欲的 a food, drink, or drug that makes people want to have sex. Aphrodite [ˌæfrəˈdaɪtɪ] Aphrodite is an ancient Greek goddess associated with love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation 生育, 繁衍, 繁育, 繁殖. She is identified with the planet Venus, which is named after the Roman goddess Venus, with whom Aphrodite was extensively syncretized(syncretize [ˈsɪŋkrɪtʌɪz] attempt to amalgamate [əˈmælɡəˌmeɪt] or reconcile (differing things, especially religious beliefs, cultural elements, or schools of thought). "the Amish communities of today have syncretized many traditional elements of their material culture with elements in the New World"). the goddess of love and beauty, daughter of Zeus [zjuːs] ( the supreme god of the ancient Greeks, who became ruler of gods and humans after he dethroned his father Cronus and defeated the Titans. He was the husband of his sister Hera and father by her and others of many gods, demigods, and mortals. He wielded thunderbolts and ruled the heavens, while his brothers Poseidon 海神 and Hades ruled the sea and underworld respectively. Roman counterpart: Jupiter [ˈdʒuːpɪtə] (in Roman tradition) the king and ruler of the Olympian gods. ). demigod [demigɒd] 半仙 I. In mythology, a demigod is a less important god, especially one who is half god and half human. II. If you describe a famous or important person such as a politician, writer, or musician as a demigod, you mean that you disapprove of the way in which people admire them and treat them like a god. 2. catch on to something If you catch on to something, you understand it, or realize that it is happening. to understand. He didn't catch on at first. Then I caught on to what it was the guy was saying. He got what he could out of me before I caught on to the kind of person he'd turned into. Wait a minute! I'm beginning to catch on. My father sold dope and my mother was a heroin addict. Moms and Pops were real popular in the neighborhood. They would always be giving parties for friends of theirs who just got out of jail or was on their way to jail. They only got married 'cause I was born. My pop sometimes worked as an electrician or a cab driver or a plumber, but his main job was selling drugs. Sometimes Mom would use 'em all up before he could even sell 'em. Then he'd have to beat her up. Growing up with parents like that, I heard a lot and I saw a lot. I caught on to the criminal life real quick. Instead of keeping me out of trouble, they turned me on to it. catch on [with someone] If something catches on, it becomes popular. to become popular or fashionable. Sports drinks have caught on as consumers have become more health-conscious. Cruise control initially was thought of as a luxury item, but slowly caught on with car buyers at other levels. The idea has been around for ages without catching on. 3. break yourself (和brace yourself 类似, 但是是抢劫专用语) 准备投降 To submit, or yield to someone else. Prepare to be shot/mugged. Yield or submit, no resistance please. If you're going to run, do it now. A phrase stated by an assailant (typically an inner-city youth) to an intended victim before the assailant robs them or whoops their ass' or 'Lets the gats pop'. Intended as a warning for the 'shit' that is coming. You better break yourself before I bust a cap in your ass. The armed robber told the lady "Break yourself" so she gave him her purse. break somebody of something to make someone stop having a bad habit Try to break yourself of the habit of eating between meals. incisive [ɪnsaɪsɪv] [approval] You use incisive to describe a person, their thoughts, or their speech when you approve of their ability to think and express their ideas clearly, briefly, and forcefully. ...a shrewd operator with an incisive mind. She's incredibly incisive, incredibly intelligent. I. 说话条理清晰的. 表达清楚的. expressed in a clear and direct manner. Quickly proceeding to judgment and forceful in expression; decisive; forthright. An incisive producer, who expressed vehement disapproval with my pitch upon my first sentence. incisive comments. II. 脑子清醒的, 不糊涂的. 脑子清楚的. 不是傻瓜的. 不傻的. showing the ability to think clearly and quickly. Intelligently analytical and concise. showing intelligence and a clear understanding of something. incisive remarks/criticism etc. Her questions were well-formulated and incisive.
hold 相关词组: 1. hold one's own or to hold your own 不妥协, 不认输, 保持自己立场, 自保 If you hold your own, you are able to resist someone who is attacking or opposing you. To demonstrate oneself to be capable; to provide a respectable performance or worthy competition; to stick up for oneself. The Frenchman held his own against the challenger. She could more than hold her own 坚持自己立场. 2. hold [down] the fort If you hold the fort for someone, or, in American English, if you hold down the fort, you look after things for them while they are somewhere else or are busy doing something else. His business partner is holding the fort while he is away. 3. Could you save/hold my place/spot 占位 (in line)? saving a seat (save me a seat, save a seat for me) I. To try and hold a spot or chair for a friend or loved one at a public place like a bar or theater...if they will be there soon, this is acceptable. Sorry..I'm saving a seat, they'll be right back. II. The b-tch who leaves her purse on a nearby table, simply because she can't hold it in her lap or doesn't want anyone sitting by her.....not acceptable. . No you can't sit there! I already told you I'm saving a seat! 4. hold down I. 按住. 治住. 压住. 压制. to hold someone who is lying down, so that they cannot move. Four people held him down. II. to hold something so it does not move upwards. They put a cloth on the grass and stones on the edge to hold it down. III. to prevent something from developing, or to prevent someone from doing what they want. She proved that being a woman wouldn't hold her down 阻止, 阻挡, 止住. IV. to stop prices or numbers from rising. a deal to hold down 压制住 wages and prices. V. to succeed in keeping a job. Half of them have never held down a proper job. VI. to stop someone from having their freedom or right. The regime had been holding down its people for years. hold somebody/something I. to make someone or something stay on something, and stop them from moving away or escaping. We had to hold the tent down with rocks to stop it blowing away. It took three strong men to hold him down. II. to prevent the level of something such as prices from rising. We will aim to hold down prices. III. hold down a job to succeed in keeping a job for a period of time. He's never held down a job for longer than a few weeks.V. to keep people under control or limit their freedom. to keep someone or something in a particular place or position and to stop him, her, or it from moving: He was struggling so much it took three officers to hold him down The people were held down for centuries by their conquerors. 5. [something] holds a special place in (one's) heart 占据特殊位置, 有特殊含义 If something "holds a special place" in your heart, it means that it's very emotionally important to you. That region holds a special place in my heart. Vikki will always hold a special place in my heart. That job was horrible... but strangely enough, it still holds a special place in my heart. You usually use this phrase to talk about things that you don't encounter very often any more, like a friend from your school days, a neighborhood that you don't live in any more, a pet you had when you were a child, etc. 6. have a soft spot for someone If you have a soft spot for someone or something, you feel a great deal of affection for them or like them a lot. Terry had a soft spot for me. I have a soft spot for London Zoo. 警察被抓: Judge Frank Gucciardo said the messages escalated to become sexualised, peppered with explicit content and invitations for intimate encounters. Judge Gucciardo said Gopinath's use of duty to disguise personal satisfaction was egregious([ɪˈɡridʒəs] extremely bad.). "When it is aggravated 更加严重 by the vulnerability of the victim it is utterly reprehensible," he said. "When it is compounded by lies and untruth it is inexcusable 不可原谅的." Gopinath must serve the full 10 months in prison and will be a registered sex offender for eight years. He'll also be discharged from the police force.
Pelosi is winning battle with Trump because she's better at her job: The House speaker is fond of three precepts 格言 ( [ˈpriˌsept] a rule, instruction, or principle that teaches correct behavior. A precept is a general rule that helps you to decide how you should behave in particular circumstances. ...an electoral process based on the precept that all men are born equal. ...the precepts of Buddhism. moral precepts. ); spend time with her and you'll hear them all. One is from Abraham Lincoln: "Public sentiment 公众情绪 is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed 民心向背." US President Donald Trump blasted Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Sunday after she called his offer to end a partial government shutdown "a compilation of several previously rejected initiatives." The second is from her father, an old-school Democratic mayor of Baltimore: "Votes are the coin of the realm." The third is her own: Never underestimate Nancy Pelosi. Since the US president forced the partial shutdown of the federal government on December 22, public sentiment has run against him and the wall he wants to build on the border with Mexico. A Pew Research Centre poll released Wednesday reported that 58 per cent of Americans oppose building a border wall; 61 per cent disapprove of the way Trump is handling the shutdown. But if he's being blamed, it's his own fault. In a contentious meeting on December 11, Trump told Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer that he'd be "proud" to shut the government over his demands for a wall. "I will take the mantle," Trump said as the clash played out on live TV. "I will be the one to shut it down." So Pelosi and her allies are winning the "outside game," the battle for public opinion - even though that's supposed to be Trump's turf. The speaker is prevailing in the inside game too. That should not come as a surprise, since she's one of the Democrats' best vote counters in a generation. After the November 6 midterm election, her re-election as speaker was challenged but she quashed a nascent Democratic rebellion with relative ease. Now the confrontation with Trump has united House Democrats; the left-wing insurgents and centrist mavericks( If you describe someone as a maverick, you mean that they are unconventional and independent, and do not think or behave in the same way as other people. He was too much of a maverick ever to hold high office. ...a maverick group of scientists, who oppose the prevailing medical opinion on the disease. Her independence and maverick behaviour precluded any chance of promotion.) who once grumbled about the 78-year-old speaker have fallen into line ( come/get/fall into line with: to agree with or become similar to someone or something else. It didn’t take much pressure to make him fall into line with company policy.). Contrast that with the Republican-led Senate, where a dozen members of the GOP majority have complained that the White House has no strategy and several have proposed reopening the government without money for a wall. Trump has never mastered the art of dealing with his own party in Congress, let alone the opposition. He's changed his positions 改变立场 on proposed legislation without warning. He's made promises only to back down under fire from hard-line conservatives. And when the results displeased him, he often blamed his allies. In Congress, Pelosi's home turf, the president is out of his league ( be out of (one's) league To be a poor match for someone, often because someone or something is considered superior. Although it can be used in other situations, this phrase is very often applied to romantic partners that are not similarly attractive or wealthy. I can't believe that average-looking guy is dating a supermodel—she is totally out of his league! I've only been working in IT for a few months, so that advanced position is really out of my league.). As for underestimating Pelosi, Trump has long said he respects the speaker's political skills. But he overestimated his chances of winning the trust of the highest-ranking elected woman in US history. At first, the president tried a charm offensive, praising Pelosi's abilities and sparing her the schoolboy nicknames he slaps on others. "I think you're terrific," he told her after the 2016 election. "You're somebody that gets things done." But Pelosi kept him at arm's length, and except for one short-term spending deal, bipartisan cooperation didn't bloom. When Democrats won the House majority in November, Trump tried again. At the Oval Office meeting with Pelosi and Schumer, he excused her hard-line opposition to the wall by saying she faced a tough election for the speaker's seat. Pelosi interrupted him. "Please don't characterise the strength I bring to this meeting," she said icily. Later, she publicly compared the president to a child throwing a tantrum, and told House colleagues that the wall "is like a manhood thing for him - as if manhood would ever be associated with him." Her trash talk was intended strategically, an aide said, "as a way to break through." The message was that Pelosi won't be intimidated, even by a president. Trump proposed that Congress fund a wall in exchange for a three-year reprieve from deportation for the so-called Dreamers, immigrants who entered the country illegally as children. Pelosi called that "a nonstarter(a plan that has no chance of being successful. If you describe a plan or idea as a nonstarter, you mean that it has no chance of success. The United States is certain to reject the proposal as a nonstarter.)." Instead, she plans to pass a package of House bills that would reopen shuttered government agencies and increase spending on border security - without a wall. Both proposals appeared intended to allow each party to claim that it's working toward a solution, another front 前线战场 in the battle for public sentiment. Pelosi's real goal is to establish a new balance of power for the next two years - reflecting her fourth precept: "Congress is a co-equal 同等重要的, 独立的, 平等的 (having the same rank or importance. a person or thing equal with another. Having the same rank or importance. "coequal partners".) branch of government." In a sense, she's been preparing for this fight for decades. She's served in Congress since 1987 - including 12 years as minority leader and four as speaker. And Trump? He landed in the White House almost by accident, never planned for his presidency, and still avoids the hard work of absorbing briefings and formulating policies. She knows how to do her job. Him, not so much. It's not a fair fight.
