用法学习: 1. vexatious [vɛkˈseɪʃəs] annoying = bothersome = galling = irritating = pesky informal = vexing I. 烦人的. 恼人的. 惹人讨厌的. 惹恼人的. vexing or tending to vex. causing or tending to cause annoyance, frustration, or worry. difficult to deal with and causing a lot of anger, worry, or argument: This settlement will resolve one of the most vexatious problems in the field of industrial relations. "the vexatious questions posed by software copyrights". II. 没机会赢纯属找事的, 只为对方找麻烦的诉讼. 找茬的. 搅局的. 没事找事的. (of a legal action or proceeding) instituted without sufficient grounds, esp so as to cause annoyance or embarrassment to the defendant vexatious legal action has no purpose other than to cause annoyance. The amendment opens the door to vexatious litigation. The defendant must be able to show a prosecutor's charges were "vexatious, frivolous, or in bad faith." "a frivolous or vexatious litigant". vexatious litigation. frivolous [frɪvələs] flippant, foolish, dizzy [informal], superficial I. If you describe someone as frivolous, you mean they behave in a silly or light-hearted way, rather than being serious and sensible. I just decided I was a bit too frivolous to be a doctor. II. If you describe an activity as frivolous, you disapprove of it because it is not useful and wastes time or money. [disapproval] The group wants politicians to stop wasting public money on what it believes are frivolous projects. vex to make someone annoyed, confused, or worried. If someone or something vexes you, they make you feel annoyed, puzzled, and frustrated. It vexed me to think of others gossiping behind my back. Everything about her vexed him. Exporters, farmers and industrialists alike are vexed and blame the government. There remains, however, another and more vexing problem. vexed [vekst] 麻烦重重的 adj. A vexed problem or question is very difficult and causes people a lot of trouble. Ministers have begun work on the vexed issue of economic union. ...the vexed question of whether it was acceptable for players to be paid for their performances. 2. Apple busts 逮住, 抓获 Facebook for circumventing (sidestep) 绕开, 避开 app store to distribute data-sucking app, Google doing the same. Facebook tries to sidestep Apple ban to keep capturing data. 发飙: Donald Trump has unleashed a Twitter tirade 又发一次飚 against his own intelligence agencies, accusing them of being "wrong" and "naive" over the impending global threats. In a direct contradiction of statements made by his top spy chiefs yesterday, he claimed "tremendous progress" had been made with Islamic State, and the "caliphate ( [ˈkælɪfeɪt] I. the position of a caliph. II. the period of time when someone is a caliph. III. an area ruled by a caliph. caliph [ˈkeɪlɪf] a Muslim man who was a religious and political leader in the past. ) would soon be destroyed." It came after Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats told the Senate IS was "intent on resurging 重生, 再起 and still commands thousands of fighters in Iraq and Syria" and ready to attack Western adversaries, including the United States. That statement contradicted numerous administration claims of foreign policy success. Never one to be a shrinking violet(shrinking violet someone who is very shy. If you say that someone is no shrinking violet, you mean that they are not at all shy. When it comes to expressing himself he is no shrinking violet. None of the women he paints, however, could be described as shrinking violets.), Mr Trump immediately struck back. The President identified Iran as a source of potential conflict, accusing the nation of testing rockets "last week" and warning the nation was "coming very close to the edge," in a string of furious tweets about regional tensions on Wednesday morning local time. 3. 搜救萨拉: A second cushion was found in the same area later that same day. "From a preliminary 初步调查, 初步探查 examination, we have concluded that it is likely that the cushions are from the missing aircraft," the AAIB said in a statement. Investigators now plan to launch an underwater seabed search for aircraft wreckage. 蕾哈娜出街: The 'Work' singer may have just about every major designer on speed dial, but for her latest outing the pop star proved she is just as comfortable in casual attire as couture ( [kuːtjʊəʳ , US -tʊr] Couture is the designing and making of expensive fashionable clothes, or the clothes themselves. clothes that a famous designer makes for individual customers, or the design of these clothes. ...Christian Lacroix's first Paris couture collection. haute couture [ˌoʊt kuˈtʊr] expensive and fashionable clothes, or the business of designing and making them. Someone who makes or sells these clothes is a haute couturier. ). 谣传: My, my, my – it looks like there's definitely legs to this theory ( have legs 后劲足 informal I. If a story in the news has legs, it will continue for a long time: This latest scandal has legs - you'll probably still be reading about it in a year's time. II. If something has legs, it can continue to exist and be successful: The business has legs. If an idea, plan, or activity has legs, it is likely to continue or succeed. The American economy still has legs. ) and I, for one, am convinced. 4. the more you know: It was a television slogan from American broadcaster NBC. They show an educational announcement 公益广告, and end it with the NBC logo and the words "the more you know". From NBC's public service advertisements. During the short clip a celebrity personality will state some fact, followed by the ending "The More You Know" sequence. Can be used as a sarcastic response to learning some typically useless knowledge, trivia or fact. It became a meme for when someone says something educational, typically used as a sarcastic response when someone mentions a fact that the other person considers trivial or unimportant. look at/on the bright side [of life] to find good things in a bad situation. If you look on the bright side, you try to be cheerful about a bad situation by thinking of some advantages that could result from it, or thinking that it is not as bad as it could have been. Look on the bright side - no one was badly hurt. 5. to drop [down] dead 暴病而死 If you say that a person or animal dropped dead or dropped down dead, you mean that they died very suddenly and unexpectedly. He dropped dead of a heart attack. Drop kick: In Australia, a 'drop kick' refers to someone who isn't very smart and hasn't made it very far in life. A drop kick usually doesn't go to school anymore, either having dropped out or done very poorly in Year 12, and is usually either unemployed or working a crappy low paid job full time (such as at McDonalds, KFC, supermarket etc), with no aspirations to do anything better with their lives. Many smoke and/or do drugs. Many drop kicks are eshays or bogans. Drop kicks can be found hanging around train stations or bus interchanges, shopping centres and of course in low paid, unskilled jobs like fast food or supermarkets. Guy 1: So, what happened to James? He dropped out of school before we graduated, what's he doing now? Guy 2: Yeah, he's working at McDonalds full time. He's a total drop kick. come down the pike us to appear or be noticed for the first time: Every movie coming down the pike was touted to be more "spectacular" or "hilarious" than anything seen before. to happen or start to happen This is the lightest, brightest, and tightest movie to come down the pike in quite some time. 6. Albinism [ˈælbəˌnɪzəm] 白癜风(albino [ælˈbaɪnou] 白癜风病人 a person or animal with very pale skin, white hair or fur, and pink eyes caused by a medical condition that they were born with.) is a congenital disorder characterized in humans by the complete or partial absence of pigment in the skin, hair and eyes. Albinism is associated with a number of vision defects, such as photophobia, nystagmus, and amblyopia. Lack of skin pigmentation makes for more susceptibility to sunburn and skin cancers. 差点被绑架: She detailed the day in 1992 when she missed her bus to work and ex-marine officer Andrew Urdiales offered her a ride. She thought it was a 'godsend'. Due to his physical appearance, she didn't consider him much of a threat: "I could totally beat this guy up if he did anything weird," she recalled to PEOPLE. After driving a few blocks, the man started to scream at her for giving him a fake number, drove her to a deserted area and began trying to sexually assault her. She temporarily broke free before he bound her hands and trapped her in his boot. Asbenson tells PEOPLE she summoned "hysterical strength" 洪荒之力, 使出吃奶的劲 to break free of the bounds and unlatch the boot. 7. Bestjet collapsed: Failed online travel agency Bestjet has gone into liquidation after its $10 million collapse left thousands of customers out of pocket. When Bestjet collapsed, it had just $3.6 million cash in the bank. IntegraPay was Bestjet's principal payment aggregator, and claims it has "entitlement over the entirety of these funds", according to a Pilot Partners report released on January 22. Mr Markey also told the meeting that Bestjet's Xero financial management software had been accessed four times since the company went into administration, a creditor at the meeting told 9Finance. 飞机维护工作外移: Day-to-day maintenance 日常维护 of the airliners will continue in Canberra, carried out by about 25 Qantas staff. Following a competitive tender process, ST Aerospace in Singapore, the world's largest provider of maintenance services, was awarded the contract for heavy maintenance on our Boeing 717 fleet. Because the workers are contractors, there has been no consultation. There will be no redundancy payouts and the engineers will be left high and dry. Mr Purvinas also said the action showed Qantas put profit ahead of safety(This is another example of Qantas putting profit before safety.). He feared CASA will not be able to adequately oversee work overseas.
You S1E1: 1. But, Beck, where's the rest? You owe me 20 more pages. I've been honestly working every day and grading papers. If the schedule is too rigorous( [ˈrɪɡərəs] I. thorough and careful. rigorous safety checks. II. strict, or severe. rigorous enforcement of the law.), drop back to part-time. But then I won't qualify to TA. I need the cash, the housing. I'd lose my place. I'm sure you'll figure it out. I'm rooting for you 我支持你. You just need to keep up. Happy to discuss further, after class some evening. If we're gonna seriously discuss poetry, it should be over a drink. There's a little gastropub I love. I would love that, Paul. Just, uh, how would your wife feel about you... About me helping out an aspiring writer? She's used to my generosity. 2. I was careful to call the gas company on a day when you had a full schedule. Wouldn't want to scare you. Hey, is Beck here? Nope, super let me in. Someone reported a leak. Right, yeah, she mentioned that. Is everything okay? Yeah, all clear. Tell your girlfriend there's no leak. I'm done, so Okay, thanks. Well, I can just lock up. I just need to know who you really are, besides a broke poetry student in a subsidized [ˈsʌbsɪˌdaɪz] apartment 有补助的 you could never afford. 3. Don't you tell me how to parent. Look, this whole nice-guy act, this might work on other people. I'm a parole officer 15 years, and I can see what you are. Well, you're an alcoholic who beats women, so, please, enlighten me. You're a freak. So stay away from Paco, because if you don't, I'm gonna grab a steak knife and I'm gonna cut those freak eyes out. 4. When it comes to the value of a book, it's all about condition. I'll show you. It's always 65 degrees, humidity 40%. Too moist, the pages can mildew ( a fungus like a white powder that grows on plants and other surfaces when they are slightly wet. Mildew is a soft white fungus that grows in damp places. The room smelled of mildew. ). Too dry, they get brittle 脆的. Always keep books upright so the spines don't become rolled or warped or what we call cocked. And we never want to fold or crease the pages. And we dust the covers with a chemical-free duster. Always towards the spine. Under no circumstances is there any sunlight in this room. Sunlight can ruin a book as fast as fire. 4. Well, hello there. Who are you? Based on your vibe 气质, a student. Your blouse is loose. You're not here to be ogled, but those bracelets, they jangle. You like a little attention. Okay, I bite ( I'll bite 我甘愿上钩, 陪你玩 Inf. Okay, I will answer your question.; Okay, I will listen to your joke or play your little guessing game. Bob: Guess what is in this box? Bill: I'll bite. Bob: A new toaster! John: Didyou hear the joke about the used car salesman? Jane: No, I'll bite.). You search the books. Uh, fiction. F through K. Now, hmm, you're not the standard insecure nymph ( [nɪmf] I. literature in ancient Greek and Roman stories, one of the female spirits who live in rivers, mountains, or forests. a mythological spirit of nature imagined as a beautiful maiden inhabiting rivers, woods, or other locations. "the idyllic world of nymphs and shepherds". a. literary a young woman. II. biology a young insect that becomes an adult without going through a pupa stage. nymphomaniac [nɪmfəˈmeɪnɪak] 欲求不满 n. a woman with uncontrollable or excessive sexual desire. A person (historically used to refer to women, but the word means both men and women) who has an abnormally high sex drive and craves sex nearly all the time. "I heard that Stacy was a nymphomaniac." "Greg is such a nymphomaniac, I bet he doesn't even close pornhub." adjective denoting or characteristic of a woman with uncontrollable or excessive sexual desire. His nymphomaniac lover. nympho [ˈnɪmfəu] 色女, 欲女 informal derogatory a woman with very strong sexual desires. movie nymphomaniac: He takes her back to his home and, over tea, listens intently as Joe recounts the story of her libidinous ( [lɪˈbid(ə)nəs] expressing strong sexual feelings. People who are libidinous have strong sexual feelings and express them in their behaviour. Powell let his libidinous imagination run away with him. ) life. Seligman, a highly-educated but cloistered 离群索居的 ([ˈklɔɪstərd] kept away from the noise, activity, or unpleasant responsibilities of ordinary life. The Countess lived a cloistered existence. cloister to make someone spend time in a quiet or private place away from other people. bimbomania 很容易沦为花瓶, 胸大无脑的女人 花瓶. Akin
to nymphomania but only due to ripe (nubile) age and hormones; as
opposed to sexual starvation after loss of virginity. A cultured woman
at the age of 18 (bimbo) may share a whiff of nymphomania as subtle as
the younger flocks (bird-brains) of the western bimbomaniacs who serve
well @self-pimping up-to immature indulgence before favorable biological
maturity of the psyché thereby. bimbo ['bimbəu] n I.
花瓶, 胸大无脑的人. an insulting word for an attractive but not very
intelligent young woman. an attractive but empty-headed young woman. II.
a fellow; person esp a foolish one. nymphomania [ˌnimfə'meiniə] Excessive sexual desire and behavior by a female. floozy an insulting word for a woman who likes to attract men and have sex.) man, connects and analyzes Joe's stories with what he has read about.) hunting for Faulkner you'll never finish. Too sun-kissed for Stephen King. Who will you buy? You sound apologetic, like you're embarrassed to be a good girl. And you murmur your first word to me. Hello. Do you work here? Guilty. Can I help you find something? Paula Fox? That's a good choice. Hmm, I feel weirdly validated 被认证, 被肯定, 被表扬, 被称赞(I. 证实. to officially prove that something is true or correct. To validate something such as a claim or statement means to prove or confirm that it is true or correct. This discovery seems to validate the claims of popular astrology. ...how that evidence was evaluated and validated by historians. Some thought must be given to the method of validation. This validation process ensures that the data conforms to acceptable formats. The evidence does seem to validate his claim. II. to officially state that something is of an appropriate standard. To validate a person, state, or system means to prove or confirm that they are valuable or worthwhile. She is looking for an image that validates her. The Academy Awards appear to validate his career. I think the film is a validation of our lifestyle. All courses are validated by the University of Wales. III. to make a document legally valid.). Follow me. She's gonna be in here. Celebrity authors. I thought Fox was pretty obscure ( [əbˈskjʊr] 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. adj. I. 不著名, 不出名的. 不广为人知的. 不为人知的. 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 不明确, 模棱两可: The rules for the competition are somewhat obscure. for some obscure reason 莫名其妙的, 不为人所知的原因, 没有人知道为什么, 因为莫名其妙的原因 used for saying that you do not know the reason for something. For some obscure reason he is regarded as a great singer.). She is Courtney Love's maternal grandmother. You're not expected to know that. Good, I didn't. Mr. Mooney wants anyone in here who's even tangentially ( [tænˈdʒenʃəl] I. 擦点边的. 稍微沾点边的. very formal only slightly related to what you are doing, discussing, or thinking about. If you describe something as tangential, you mean that it has only a slight or indirect connection with the thing you are concerned with, and is therefore not worth considering seriously. Too much time was spent discussing tangential issues. They thought the whole thing was a side-show, tangential 不沾边的 to the real world of business. II. maths something such as a line that is tangential to something touches its edge but does not pass through it. If something is tangential to something else, it is at a tangent to it. ...point T, where the demand curve is tangential to the straight line L. [+ to] ...the street tangential to the courthouse square. ) famous. He thinks it sells more books. That's sad people buying books because of what's popular, not because they want to be moved or changed in some way. Yeah. It's an epidemic 无所不在的, 无处不在的, 普适的, 人人都这样, 到处都是这样( epidemic adj. happening a lot and affecting many people. In some cities, drug use has reached epidemic proportions. n. I. If there is an epidemic of a particular disease somewhere, it affects a very large number of people there and spreads quickly to other areas. an epidemic of typhoid. an influenza epidemic. A flu epidemic 流感爆发 is sweeping through Moscow. ...a killer epidemic of yellow fever. [+ of] II. If an activity that you disapprove of is increasing or spreading rapidly, you can refer to this as an epidemic of that activity. [disapproval] An epidemic of petty crime 小偷小摸不断的 has hit the area. ..an epidemic of serial killings. an epidemic of strikes. [+ of] Drug experts say it could spell the end of the crack epidemic. ). Hmm. Yeah, you see this guy, here with the glasses, behind you? He just grabbed Dan Brown's latest on the way in. So he's gonna wander around for another, like, five or ten minutes just to find something legitimate to buy with it. Oh, like the cereal guys buy when they're really there for condoms? Only makes it more conspicuous. Like, own your shit ( own your own shit = own up to it: 老实承认. 大方承认, 坦白承认. Owning your shit means taking responsibility for your actions, acknowledging their impact on others, and moving forward without trying to cover your ass. It is often used in conversation to simply mean "admit your mistakes," but really it is much bigger than than that. To embrace or accept as fact. To show pride or intent in; thereby taking the sting out of being accused of being or doing something considered unfavorable. Bro, dont let her make you feel bad for cummimg too quickly. You gotta own that shit. know (one's) shit to be knowledgeable of a particular subject. He really knows his shit. He knows his shit when it comes to pop culture trivia. ) if Dan Brown's your kink 怪癖, then be out about it 承认( be/feel out of it/things 格格不入 not be/feel part of a group, a conversation, an activity, etc: I didn't know anybody at the party so I felt a bit out of it really. out I. You can use out to indicate that you are talking about the situation outside, rather than inside buildings. It's hot out–very hot, very humid. II. 不在家. 出门了. If you are out, you are not at home or not at your usual place of work. I tried to get in touch with you yesterday evening, but I think you were out. She had to go out. III. If you say that someone is out in a particular place, you mean that they are in a different place, usually one far away. The police tell me they've finished their investigations out there. When he's not filming out east, Allen lives in the Cotswolds. IV. When the sea or tide goes out, the sea moves away from the shore. The tide was out 退潮 and they walked among the rock pools. V. If you are out a particular amount of money, you have that amount less than you should or than you did. [mainly US] Me and my friends are out ten thousand dollars 少了, 缺了, 丢了, with nothing to show for it! to be out of sth I. if you are out of something, you no longer have any of it. I can't find the sugar – and we're out of milk. She was completely out of sugar. I'm fresh out of good ideas, I'm afraid. II. if you are out of a contest of some kind, you have been eliminated from it. Rovers are out of the League Cup. These players did not make the cut and are out of the competition. be out for something/be out to do something informal to have a particular intention. to be aiming to do something or to get something. These are dangerous men, and they are out for revenge. The company is simply out to make larger profits. Andrew's just out for a good time. I was convinced he was out to cheat me. be out for To seek or pursue, especially to determinedly pursue something to one's own benefit. He's out for all he can get. The king was out for revenge. come out with something 说出 to say something unexpectedly or suddenly: You come out with some strange comments sometimes! get out of something to avoid doing something that you do not want to do, or to escape responsibility for something: If I can get out of going to the meeting tonight, I will. get something out of something to obtain something, esp. a good feeling, by doing something: Bob's sister would probably get a big kick out of visiting him. do someone out of something to cheat someone by preventing that person from obtaining or keeping something of value: Con men did him out of over $10,000 of his hard-earned money. ). At the end of the day, people really are disappointing, aren't they? Sometimes they surprise you. Paula Fox, top shelf. Do you want me to... Oh, no, I got it. Oh, are you not wearing a bra? And you want me to notice. If this was a movie, I'd grab you and we'd go at it 开干 right in the stacks 书架子间. Have you read her fiction? "Desperate Characters" is her it's her best. Oh, that's what I keep hearing. You haven't read "Desperate Characters"? I know. I know. I'm worried it's not gonna live up to the hype 名不副实. I can safely say it is that good. That's a high endorsement. And from a bookstore clerk, nonetheless. Well, it's bookstore manager. Hello? Anyone working here? Oh. Whoa. Do you mind? Uh, I'm in a hurry. He's just pissed he's gotta buy Salinger to feel respectable when all he really wants to do is eat Cheetos and jerk it to iPorn before washing it all down with a Dan Brown chaser. Have a nice day, sir. Okay, I'm going for it 我听你的 (买那个小说). Good, you won't regret it. Better not. Paula Fox, nice. You know, she was, uh, Courtney Love's maternal grandmother. That's why I'm buying it. You have enough cash to cover this, but you want me to know your name. Guinevere? Yeah, my parents were assholes with the whole naming thing. But everyone just calls me Beck. And you're Joe? Goldberg. Everyone calls me Joe. Aren't you gonna tell me to have a nice day? You have a nice day, Beck. You have one yourself, Joe. You smiled, laughed at my jokes, told me your name, asked for mine. She write her number on there? She was on you hard( be hard on I. to treat severely; be harsh toward. II. to be difficult, unpleasant, or painful for. be/get one up on someone 棋高一着, 先一步 to have or get an advantage over someone, usually by being better than they are at something. He and his brothers are always trying to get one up on each other. be on somebody spoken used to say who is going to pay for something The drinks are on me! Each table will get a bottle of champagne on the house (=paid for by the restaurant, hotel etc). be sweet on someone to be attracted to someone in a romantic way. on someone's account (参考 on one's own initiative, use your initiative) I. Your feelings on someone's account are the feelings you have about what they have experienced or might experience, especially when you imagine yourself to be in their situation. Mollie told me what she'd done and I was really scared on her account 替他担心, 替他害怕. II. 为了...某人. 冒着...的名义. 打着...的旗号. 以...为借口. 拿...当幌子. only for or because of one person. If you tell someone not to do something on your account, you mean that they should do it only if they want to, and not because they think it will please you. for a specified person's benefit. if you do something on someone's account, you do it because you think they want you to. Please don't go on my account. "don't bother on my account" Don't leave on my account. doting If you say that someone is, for example, a doting mother, husband, or friend, you mean that they show a lot of love for someone. His doting parents bought him his first racing bike at 13. dote on someone to love someone very much, sometimes too much: They dote on their grandchild. ). No, she was just being nice. I'd be Googling the hell out of her right now. You know her full name. That's pretty aggressive, Ethan. What do I tell you? Always be closing that shit. 5. I was in love once. She broke my heart, Beck. Oh, she really did a number on me(treat someone badly, typically by deceiving, humiliating, or criticizing them in a calculated way. to injure someone or something, or to hurt or embarrass someone: I really did a number on my ankle when I fell. She really did a number on her old boyfriend, making him beg her to come back and then turning him down.). I should have seen the signs 早就应该看明白, 看到警告. But we never do when we're in love. 6. Wow, you are burning through that book, aren't you? Reads quick. It's good. Well, let me know when you finish. I'll I'll get you another one. All right, well, I don't care about that! Are you hungry? 'Cause, you know, I just got this meatball sub, but I remembered I have Thai from last night. No, my mom will just make me something later. It's a shame. This won't keep 不能放着, 不能久放. It's getting tossed 扔掉了. You sure, Joe? All for one and one for all. 7. Are you ready for class? Professor Obvious wants to fuck you. But you're smart. You you let him think one day, he might. And what's the harm in that, right? After class, you head to your favorite cafe to write for the first time all day. But your life doesn't cooperate 天不遂人愿, 老天爷不开眼, 你的人生不合作. Your wealthy girlfriends have just now woken up and have nothing better to do than plan their next pointless 没有意义的 yet Instagrammable night. Can we get real for a second? You have questionable taste in friends, Beck.
关于The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail: 1. The Holy Grail 圣器(有认为是圣杯, 圣石等) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian 亚瑟王 literature. Different traditions describe it as a cup, dish or stone with miraculous powers that provide happiness, eternal youth or sustenance in infinite abundance, often in the custody of the Fisher King (In Arthurian legend, the Fisher King, also known as the Wounded King or Maimed 残疾 King, is the last in a long line charged with keeping 保管 the Holy Grail. Versions of the original story vary widely, but he is always wounded in the legs or groin and incapable of standing. All he is able to do is fish in a small boat on the river near his castle, Corbenic, and wait for some noble who might be able to heal him by asking a certain question. In later versions knights travel from many lands to try to heal the Fisher King, but only the chosen can accomplish the feat. This is Percival alone in the earlier stories; in later versions, he is joined by Galahad and Bors. Many later works have two wounded "Grail Kings" who live in the same castle, a father and son (or grandfather and grandson). The more seriously wounded father stays in the castle, sustained by the Grail alone, while the more active son can meet with guests and go fishing. For the purposes of clarity in the remainder of this article, where both appear, the father will be called the Wounded King, the son named the Fisher King. In the Fisher King legends, it is implied that he becomes unable to father or support a next generation to carry on after his death (a "thigh" wound has been interpreted by many scholars in Arthurian literature as a genital wound). There are slight hints in the early versions that his kingdom and lands suffers as he does, and 20th-century scholars have suggested his impotence affecting the fertility of the land and reducing it to a barren wasteland.). The term "holy grail" is often used to denote an elusive object or goal that is sought after for its great significance. A "grail", wondrous but not explicitly holy, first appears in Perceval, le Conte du Graal, an unfinished romance written by Chrétien de Troyes around 1190. Here, Chrétien's story attracted many continuators, translators and interpreters in the later 12th and early 13th centuries, including Wolfram von Eschenbach, who perceived the Grail as a stone. In the late 12th century, Robert de Boron wrote in Joseph d'Arimathie that the Grail was Jesus's vessel from the Last Supper, which Joseph of Arimathea used to catch Christ's blood at the Crucifixion. Thereafter, the Holy Grail became interwoven with the legend of the Holy Chalice (The Holy Chalice ( [ˈtʃælɪs] a large cup for wine, especially one used during the Christian ceremony of Holy Communion. poisoned chalice a job or piece of work that will cause many problems for the person who is forced to do it. ), also known as the Holy Grail, is in some Christian traditions the vessel that Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve wine. The Synoptic Gospels refer to Jesus sharing a cup of wine with the Apostles, saying it was the covenant in his blood. The use of wine and chalice in the Eucharist in Christian churches is based on the Last Supper story. Two artifacts, one in Genoa and one in Valencia, became particularly well known and are identified as the Holy Chalice. ), the Last Supper cup, a theme continued in works such as the Vulgate Cycle, the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Le Morte d'Arthur. 2. In The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail ( The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail (published as Holy Blood, Holy Grail in the United States) is a book by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. The book was first published in 1982. ), the authors put forward a hypothesis that the historical Jesus married Mary Magdalene, had one or more children, and that those children or their descendants emigrated to what is now southern France. Once there, they intermarried with the noble families that would eventually become the Merovingian dynasty, whose special claim to the throne of France is championed today by a secret society called the Priory of Sion. They concluded that the legendary Holy Grail is simultaneously the womb of Mary Magdalene and the sacred royal bloodline she gave birth to. An international bestseller upon its release, The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail spurred interest in a number of ideas related to its central thesis. Response from professional historians and scholars from related fields was negative. They argued that the bulk of the claims, ancient mysteries, and conspiracy theories presented as facts are pseudohistorical. The book's ideas were considered blasphemous enough for the book to be banned in some Catholic countries. 3. The Da Vinci Code provoked a popular interest in speculation concerning the Holy Grail legend and Mary Magdalene's role in the history of Christianity. The book has, however, been extensively denounced by many Christian denominations as an attack on the Roman Catholic Church, and consistently criticized for its historical and scientific inaccuracies.
