用法学习: 1. someone's partner in crime 同党, 同伙 someone who you do something with, especially something that other people do not approve of. two people who have planned and done something together, especially something that slightly annoys other people – used humorously. When Prince William married Kate Middleton in 2011, he left behind his 'partner in crime', Prince Harry, with a royal biographer claiming this created tension between the brothers, leaving Harry feeling "bitter" and "lonely". rudderless [ˈrʌdələs] 乌合之众. 无所依的, 无可依赖的, 没有依靠的, 无头苍蝇似的, 无依无靠, 不知所措的 (of an organization) without anyone in control and therefore unable to take decisions. A country or a person that is rudderless does not have a clear aim or a strong leader to follow. The country was politically rudderless for almost three months. ...a feeling in the country that the Government was drifting rudderless. "[Harry] had become very close to Kate, who helped to fill some of the emotional void in his life," she wrote. "Harry felt detached, lonely, and 'rudderless', and according to a friend, he dreaded Sunday nights." She said Harry would suffer "really bad spells of loneliness" "I think he was worried he was going to be left on the shelf. He told me he hated being alone, especially on Sunday nights.". on the shelf 没人要了 If you say that someone or something is on the shelf, you mean that no one wants them. [informal] I was afraid of getting left on the shelf. ...first-rate plans which sit on the shelf. 2. implode I. 内爆. [intransitive/ transitive] to break up violently and fall inward, or make something do this. an internal vacuum that caused the vessel to implode. II. [intransitive] if something such as an organization or an economic system implodes, it is completely destroyed by things that are happening within it. impale [ɪmˈpeɪl] 穿透, 刺穿, 刺透, 插穿, 扎脚 to push a pointed object through someone or something. To impale something on a pointed object means to cause the point to go into it or through it. Researchers observed one bird impale a rodent on a cactus. Lenny swayed for a moment, then dropped to the ground, impaling himself on his switchblade. Locals in an Adelaide beachside suburb are demanding urgent action after an eight-year-old girl's foot was impaled on a rusty metal barb, while walking on the sand. Abi Cook was participating in a Nippers Surf Life Saving event in West Beach, when her foot was pierced 刺穿 by the sharp metal object on Saturday afternoon. X-rays show the shocking extent of the injury and the tiny hooked-tip 倒钩, which meant the barb could not be pulled out. Abi was rushed into the surf club nearby and given oxygen, before being taken by ambulance to the Women's & Children's Hospital, where doctors delicately 小心翼翼的 removed the barb. "The city of Charles Sturt needs to put up bunting and warning signs around those areas of concern, we can't have a situation where people are injured," Mr Speirs said. City of Charles Sturt CEO, Paul Sutton said council staff have been checking the beach, but simply fencing it off 围起来, 圈起来 isn't the answer. "The high tide comes all the way up to the rock walls so any bunting or whatever would get washed away with the next high tide," Mr Sutton said. A team of council workers will scour the beach from tomorrow morning with metal detectors. bunting 小彩旗, 挂在绳子上的小三角旗 a line of small flags on a string, used for decorating buildings and streets for special occasions. bunt in the game of baseball, to deliberately hit the ball so that it only goes a short distance. 3. 火车上: When the train reached Central Station, a man boarded the train and sat next to the 18-year-old, and began allegedly touching him inappropriately. Police were told the young man fended off 挡开 the offender's advances and moved towards the doors of the train. The younger man moved carriages and got off the train at Lidcombe, where the older man also departed (depart I. When something or someone departs from a place, they leave it and start a journey to another place. Our tour departs from Heathrow Airport on 31 March and returns 16 April. In the morning Mr McDonald departed for Sydney. The coach departs Potsdam in the morning. Before departing Colombo, they visited a Buddhist temple. II. 背离, 偏离. If you depart from a traditional, accepted, or agreed way of doing something, you do it in a different or unexpected way. Why is it in this country that we have departed from good educational sense? It takes a brave cook to depart radically from the traditional Christmas menu. III. If someone departs from a job, they resign from it or leave it. In American English, you can say that someone departs a job. Lipton is planning to depart from the company he founded. It is not unusual for staff to depart at this time of year. He departed baseball in the '60s. IV. When someone departs this life, or departs this earth, they die. He departed this world with a sense of having fulfilled his destiny. break with precedent = depart from precedent to change the way in which things have traditionally been done The club has broken with precedent and elected a female president. ) and boarded another train. The man is described as 30 to 35 years old, with short dark hair and a muscular build. He was wearing a dark blue T-shirt and dark pants at the time 当时. 4. 足球: Sarri's attempts to downplay the incident as a "misunderstanding", while a ploy to protect his player, hasn't stuck with the football community(I. If you stick with something, you do not change to something else. to continue to do or use something, and not change it. They're going to stick with the same team as last Saturday. stick with it: We had a tough time for a few years, but we stuck with it. If you're in a job that keeps you busy, stick with it. They prefer, in the end, to stick with what they know. II. If you stick with someone 跟着, 亦步亦趋, you stay close to them. to stay close to someone and go with them wherever they go, especially so that they can help or protect you. Stick with me and you'll be all right. She pulled the woman to her side saying: 'You just stick with me, dear.' III. if something sticks with you 深深烙印, 印象很深, you continue to remember it clearly. It was a moment that has stuck with me for years. ) and only serves to dislodge what little grip the Italian had over his squad. To preserve his dignity 保持尊严 Sarri must call out his 24-year-old keeper for what it was; a blatant lack of disrespect, and not submit to 屈服于 a display of petulance 发脾气 that in turn made the 60-year-old look like a child as he flapped about on the sideline. Slipping 滑到第六位 to sixth place on the Premier League ladder, a disgraceful 6-0 loss at the hands of Manchester City and a 2-0 defeat to Manchester United, Arrizabalga's defiance 目中无人 is ultimately the manifestation of a team disillusioned with its leader. "Kepa should never play for Chelsea again," Chelsea legend Chris Sutton told BBC 5Live. "That should be his last performance in a Chelsea shirt. He's a disgrace. I've never seen anything like it. That's a big call, considering the culture that has allowed the $130 million-dollar wonder kid to step out of line 出格 so spectacularly has obviously formed under Sarri's direction, or lack thereof. "How can Kepa play for Chelsea again? How can he play for Sarri again? Something has to give(something has (got) to give 必须要做出改变, 必须要做出改变, 有人必须做出牺牲, 打破僵局 used to say that someone or something has to stop trying to resist or oppose something. Things cannot go on like this.; The stalemate will be broken. The pressure on me is getting to be too much. Something's got to give. For the strike to be settled, something has (got) to give!)." Unfortunately for Sarri, that 'thing' is him. Dressing the situation in a veil of confusion and semantics, Sarri seems to be spelling out his own demise, and there is every possibility that he's attempting to do that in the least confrontational way possible. His statement's hard to read. It's a submission riddled with apologies, culpability and to top it off the apparent admission that he lost his cool. Even the most casual 最不介意的, 最无所谓的, 无可无不可的 football fan will feel the urge to shake Sarri by the collar, grab Arrizabalaga by the ear and escort him off the field themselves. A far cry from the charisma of Antonio Conte and Jose Mourinho, perhaps Chelsea need fiery hand on the helm. 5. A swell 一波儿浪, in the context of an ocean, sea or lake, is a series of mechanical waves that propagate along the interface between water and air and thus are often referred to as surface gravity waves. These series of surface gravity waves are not wind waves, which are generated by the immediate local wind, but instead are generated by distant weather systems, where wind blows for a duration of time over a fetch of water. More generally, a swell consists of wind-generated waves that are not—or are hardly—affected by the local wind at that time. Swell waves often have a long wavelength, but this varies due to the size, strength and duration of the weather system responsible for the swell and the size of the water body. Swell wavelength also varies from event to event. Occasionally, swells which are longer than 700 m occur as a result of the most severe storms. Swells have a narrower range of frequencies and directions than locally generated wind waves, because swell waves have dispersed from their generation area, have dissipated and therefore lost an amount of randomness, taking on a more defined shape and direction. Swell direction is the direction from which the swell is coming. It is measured in degrees (as on a compass), and often referred to in general directions, such as a NNW or SW swell.
适应新鞋, 新车, 新引擎的适应 (house-break (housebroke, housebroken) (toilet-training) train (a pet) to urinate and defecate outside the house or only in a special place; house-train. Humanely used, a dog crate offers many advantages. You can housebreak your dog more quickly by using the close confinement to encourage control. "an elephant is exceedingly difficult to housebreak".): Break-in or breaking in, also known as run-in or running in, is the procedure of conditioning a new piece of equipment by giving it an initial period of running, usually under light load, but sometimes under heavy load or normal load. It is generally a process of moving parts wearing against each other to produce the last small bit of size and shape adjustment that will settle them into a stable relationship for the rest of their working life. One of the most common examples of break-in is engine break-in for petrol engines and diesel engines. A cheeky pilot tasked with testing a new engine has literally spelled out his boredom for all the world to see. The pilot took off, tasked with running-in a plane's engine for two hours before it was used for training on Tuesday. run I. to take someone somewhere in your car. run someone to/into: John kindly offered to run me into town. run someone there/home/back etc.: I'll run you there, it's no trouble. II. 连续上映. if a play, movie, or television program runs, it continues to be performed or shown. a soap opera that has been running for many years. How long did the movie run for? III. if an official agreement or document runs until a particular time, you can continue to use it until that date The contract only has another couple of months to run. IV. to put something such as a wire or thread somewhere. run something under/behind/through etc. something: You could run the cable behind the desk. V. if a feeling runs through you, you experience it. A chill ran through me (=I suddenly felt frightened). to have a particular thought. Our thoughts seem to run along the same lines (=we think the same). run to: His thoughts ran to the first time he had met Matilda. something runs through your mind/head (=you have a particular thought or idea): The thought that she might be lying ran through my mind. VI. if newspapers run an article, advertisement, or photograph, they print it. VII. a. if a piece of clothing or a color runs, the color spreads when you wash it. 褪色, 衣服脱色, 衣服掉色 (color run, color bleeding). I'm not saying I can guarantee how to remove colour bleeds from your washing. But here are the most recommended remedies to get dye from clothes out of your bed sheets. No single colour should technically run more or less than others, but reds and indigos seem to be harder to fix 定色 than other colours. Some fabrics will bleed in hot water if the colour fixer is affected by heat. Also, the hot water opens up natural fibres increasing the opportunity for the colour to run. Alternatively, colours in fabrics will run at a later stage as the colour fastener wears down from washing. So it is best to wash in cool or cold water, and keep colours, whites and darks separate, and to wash any suspicious new fabrics by themselves initially. b. if something such as paint or ink runs, it spreads to where it should not be. Crying had made her mascara run 妆花了. Primer can help keep your makeup from sliding off (running) with your sweat. c. if something such as butter runs 奶油流了, it becomes liquid and spreads because it is warm. d. if tights or pantyhose 长腿袜 run 走线, 跑线, 有洞, a hole in them becomes longer. VIII. 倒卖. 走私. to bring someone or something illegally into a country We know of several groups who are running guns into the country. IX. run your mouth informal to talk without thinking about the impact of what you are saying. I'm sick to death of you running your mouth 满嘴跑火车. X. if something such as a road or wall runs somewhere, it exists in that place run along/around/through etc.: There was a path running through the middle of the forest. run parallel to something: A mountain range runs parallel to the western border. XI. [intransitive] 流经. 流过. if a liquid runs somewhere, it flows there run down/from etc.: Tears were running down his face. Blood ran from a wound in her leg. a. [intransitive] if a river runs somewhere, it flows there. run into/to/from etc.: The Mississippi runs into the Gulf of Mexico. b. [intransitive/transitive] if a faucet runs, or if you run it, water comes out of it. c. [intransitive] if something is running with a liquid, the liquid is flowing down it. run with: His back was running with sweat. d. [transitive] to fill a bath or other container with water from a faucet. I ran a sink full of cold water. run a bath 放洗澡水: Dad offered to run a bath for me. come running 屁颠屁颠的来, 屁颠颠的, 乐滋滋的来, 听话的来了 I. to do exactly as someone tells you in a way that makes you look weak. She just looks at him, and he comes running like a puppy. II. to ask someone for help or sympathy, especially in a way that is annoying. Come running to: Don't come running to me when Linda dumps you. bleed I. If the colour of one substance bleeds into the colour of another substance that it is touching, it goes into the other thing so that its colour changes in an undesirable way. The colouring pigments from the skins are not allowed to bleed into 褪色, 掉色, 染色, 脱色 the grape juice. II. If someone is being bled, money or other resources are gradually being taken away from them. [disapproval] We have been gradually bled for twelve years. They mean to bleed the British to the utmost. bleed sb dry If someone is being bled dry or is being bled white, all of their money or other resources are gradually being taken away from them. The war has bled the once-strong Armenian economy dry. nosebleed 流鼻血 If someone has a nosebleed, blood comes out from inside their nose. Whenever I have a cold I get a nosebleed.
Melbourne chiropractor investigated after performing spinal manipulation on infant: In the video, Dr Arnold can be seen tapping Harvey on the head, using an activator on the baby's spine and dangling him upside down. The video, captioned "Andrew adjusts two-week-old Harvey for the very first time. Frisky(I. 精力充沛的. 活力满满的. A frisky animal or person is energetic and playful, and may be difficult to control. His horse was feeling frisky, and he had to hold the reins tightly. II. informal feeling that you want to have sex. frisk If someone frisks you, they search you, usually with their hands in order to see if you are hiding a weapon or something else such as drugs in your clothes. Drago pushed him up against the wall and frisked him. ) little chap", caught the attention of other chiropractors and the state's health minister Jenny Mikakos. "This vision 场景 is deeply disturbing" Ms Mikakos said on Wednesday. She's referred the practitioner to the Chiropractic Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency "to take the necessary action". "It's appalling that young children and infants are being exposed to potential harm," Ms Mikakos said in a statement. The minister called on the CBA to condemn the practice of treating infants, saying it was "unprofessional and unacceptable". The minister said a range of peak expert groups — including the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Royal Australian College of Physicians and other similar groups overseas — have cautioned against spinal manipulation in infants. The Chiropractic Board of Australia said it is aware of the videos and is assessing the concerns raised. "The board has made a strong statement about the care of children and has written to every chiropractor in Australia to warn them to comply with 遵守 their professional and ethical obligations 责任, which are clearly outlined in the board's code of conduct for chiropractors," a spokeswoman said. The spokeswoman said the board has acted against chiropractors who fail to meet their obligations, by limiting their registration when they fail to meet expected standards. "The board is always concerned if there are any chiropractors not practising in accordance with these obligations and welcomes advice about such practitioners," she said. There has been a mixed reaction to the video on social media, with some expressing support for the tratement and others their shock. It was removed this morning after backlash followed the video being published by the Herald Sun. In the five-minute video, Dr Arnold can be seen walking the parents through his techniques. "All you want to do is really gently lift his legs up … and you're just feeling for a click," Dr Arnold tells the parents. "Don't force it but be sort of gently firm". In another manipulation, Dr Arnold tells the parents to "tap on both sides of the head … wiggle and tap". The Melbourne chiropractor also asks Harvey's mother to briefly hold her baby's head when he grabs his legs and holds him upside down. When Dr Arnold uses his activator, a spring-loaded chiropractic device, the baby immediately bursts into tears. "He's going to squawk ((of a bird) make a loud, harsh noise. "the geese flew upriver, squawking". ) a bit," Dr Arnold tells the parents. "Sorry mate … A bit of a cry is a good thing." While infant chiropractic treatments are not explicitly 明确的 illegal in Australia, they are divisive [dɪˈvaɪsɪv] 有分歧的 ( Something that is divisive causes unfriendliness and argument between people. Abortion has always been a divisive issue. A referendum would be divisive. We live in a world that seems ever more full of rancor and divisiveness. division [dɪˈvɪʒ(ə)n] I. The division of a large unit into two or more distinct parts is the act of separating it into these parts. ...Czechoslovakia's division 分裂, 分体, 分解 into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. [+ into] II. The division of something among people or things is its separation into parts which are distributed among the people or things. The current division of labor between workers and management will alter. division of: Civil war eventually led to a permanent division 解体 of the country. division of something into something 分班: Many parents opposed the division of the classes into different sets. division of: the division of the land after the previous owner died. division of something between/among someone: a fair division of responsibilities among the members of the committee. III. Division is the arithmetical process of dividing one number into another number. I taught my daughter how to do division at the age of six. IV. 分歧 (disagreement, split, breach, feud). A division is a significant distinction or argument between two groups, which causes the two groups to be considered as very different and separate. a disagreement between people, especially between people who belong to the same group. The argument revealed deep divisions in the ranks of the Republican Party. The division between the prosperous west and the impoverished east remains. [+ between/among]. V. In a large organization, a division is a group of departments whose work is done in the same place or is connected with similar tasks. ...the bank's Latin American division 分公司, 分部, 部门. ...the sales division. VI. A division is a group of military units which fight as a single unit. Several armoured divisions are being moved from Germany. VII. In the British Parliament, a division is a vote where the Members of Parliament go into separate rooms in order to record their vote. VIII. 分级联赛制度 In some sports, such as football, baseball, and basketball, a division is one of the groups of teams which make up a league. The teams in each division are considered to be approximately the same standard, and they all play against each other during the season. Villa had just been relegated from the First Division. ...the Scottish Premier Division leaders, Dundee United. IX. 分立. 对立. a difference in the way that people within the same community or country live, how much money they have, how educated they are, etc. the growing division between rich and poor. divisiveness [dɪˈvʌɪsɪvnəs] a tendency to cause disagreement or hostility between people. "transparency will enhance development rather than social divisiveness". divide I. [transitive] to separate people or things into smaller groups or parts. Divide the dough and roll out one part. divide something into pairs/groups/parts etc.: Divide the class into three groups. a. [intransitive] to have separate parts, or to form into separate groups. divide into: The movie divides into two distinct halves. b. [transitive] to separate something into smaller parts and share the parts between people. Work out how you would like to divide the money. divide something between/among someone: After his death his property was divided among his children. II. [transitive] to keep two or more areas or parts separate. The wall that divides the playground and the playing field. divide something from something: The railroad divides their family’s land from the plains below. III. [intransitive/transitive] maths to do a mathematical calculation to find out how many times a number contains a smaller number. This is usually shown by the symbol ÷. divide something by something: Divide 9 by 3. 10 divided by 2 is 5. divide by: Add 50 to your original number, then divide by six. 12 can be divided by 3 可以整除, 可以除尽. IV. 分立, 对立. [transitive] to be the cause of disagreement between people, especially within a group. a subject that divided the nation. The ruling class was divided by internal conflicts. a. [intransitive] to disagree and form smaller groups. divide along party/religious/ethnic etc. lines (=according to your political party, religion, race, etc.): The Senate looks certain to divide along party lines. V. [intransitive] 一分为二, 分叉. if a road divides, it separates into two roads. When the road divides, take the left-hand route. VI. [intransitive] biology 细胞分裂. if a cell in a plant or animal divides, it separates into two cells so that a new cell is formed. ) in the medical community. In July 2017, former president of the Australian Chiropractors Association Laurie Tassell defended his profession's work with infants. "There is nothing more rewarding than a mum bringing a baby in with colic and then coming in the next day to thank you for the transformation you have made. Colic impacts on the whole family," Mr Tassell said. "We use a very different technique on babies — it's not the way we treat adults. There is some evidence emerging that a chiropractor can help with colic (colic [kɒlɪk] Colic is an illness in which you get severe pains in your stomach and bowels. Babies especially suffer from colic. The doctor said it was colic and that she would grow out of it. wiki: Colic is a form of pain that starts and stops abruptly. It occurs due to muscular contractions of a hollow tube (colon, ureter, gall bladder, etc.) in an attempt to relieve an obstruction by forcing content out. It may be accompanied by vomiting and sweating. Baby colic, a condition, usually in infants, characterized by incessant 无休无止的, 不停歇的 crying.)."
Kardashians cancelled? At $500,000 per Instagram post they won't care: If rumours circulating at the moment are to be believed – and the foundation stone of the whole Kardashian enterprise is rumour spiced with gossip plus a soupçon ([ˈsuːpsɒn] a very small quantity of something. "a soupçon of mustard".) of mischievous fibs – then the show that launched a zillion products may be cut by the E! TV channel because of declining audiences. If the show disappears, the family certainly won't. Kim and the rest of the clan are as ubiquitous 无处不在 as air and as famous as any rock star, actor, supermodel or entrepreneur-cum-TV-host-turned-US president. Since Keeping Up With the Kardashians (KUWTK to aficionados) first aired in 2007, every member of the family has annexed ( annex [æneks] 攫取, 夺取, 抢去, 抢夺, 夺去 If a country annexes another country or an area of land, it seizes it and takes control of it. Rome annexed the Nabatean kingdom in 106 AD. Hitler was determined to annex Austria to Germany. ...the Nazi annexation of territories in the run up to the Second World War. [+ of] ) our consciousness and infiltrated our lives, usually in a way that persuades us to part with our money. In the process they have all become multimillionaires – 20-year-old Kylie Jenner is set to become the youngest self-made billionaire in history. People idolise Kim almost as much as she seems to idolise herself, but without quite knowing why. She's uncoupled greatness from achievement 和成就无关的伟大(uncouple I. If two vehicles or pieces of equipment are uncoupled, they have been unfastened and are no longer joined together. They uncoupled the passenger cars from the train engine. II. If two things that were connected or combined are uncoupled, they have been separated from each other. to separate two things, or to become separate. The government uncoupled the peso from the dollar yesterday for the first time in 11 years.) in the sense that she's acknowledged as one of the best known and distinct women in the world – she has a certain eminence and aura([emɪnəns] I. importance because of impressive achievements, character, or status. Eminence is the quality of being very well-known and highly respected. Many of the pilots were to achieve eminence in the aeronautical world. Beveridge was a man of great eminence. II. You use expressions such as Your Eminence or His Eminence when you are addressing or referring to a Roman Catholic cardinal. 'Your Eminence,' Pantieri broke in, 'I wonder if you would allow me a word.'. His Eminence the Cardinal celebrated Mass. aura [ɔːrə] 光环 An aura is a quality or feeling that seems to surround a person or place or to come from them. a quality that seems to surround or come from a person, place, or situation. aura of: an aura of innocence. the aura of history that surrounds the place. She had an aura of authority. [+ of] ), yet boasts few tangible 说得出口的, 可以说的 achievements beyond her own gravitational sphere; she appears and sells stuff, but not much else. (Though she did release a 2015 book called Selfish.) Then there is the feeling of intimacy with others who are, at once, proximate and remote. Other celebrities of the early 21st century created bonds of digital familiarity but none exploited the possibilities offered by web 2.0 interactivity more fully 更充分的 than Kardashian and her family. When audiences were drawn to the Twitter feeds of Rihanna, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears in the 2000s, Kim Kardashian was studying Paris Hilton. Kim and her family were sovereign and unrivalled for their craft and ingenuity; but if they'd surfaced in, say, the 1990s, the Kardashians would be greeted with shrieks of derision ( [dɪˈrɪʒ(ə)n] the opinion that someone or something is stupid, unimportant, or useless. There were shouts of derision from the audience. deride [dɪˈraɪd] to criticize someone or something by suggesting that they are stupid, unimportant, or useless. ) and dismissed as unwholesomely talentless, self-adoring exhibitionists – or probably not greeted with anything at all. The whole family would likely have been totally ignored in an era of Madonna and Michael Jackson, artists who somehow managed to provoke and disturb audiences and produce entertainment of the first magnitude. Kim Kardashian also produced entertainment; in fact, she fascinated people, though exactly how and why was not abundantly clear – at first. But in 2007, the year when KUWTK started on TV, something was happening to culture, alongside the rise and rise of social media sites such as Twitter. "Why is she famous?" has an obvious answer: no woman in history has ever been afforded such lavish media coverage. Maybe Diana, Princess of Wales. For now, Kim Kardashian is never out of the media. And we continue to scratch our heads. This is a woman from a family we know about basically from watching them sitting on sofas, eating salads and taking pictures of themselves (a practice Paris Hilton modestly claims she invented in 2006). When KUWTK launched, it seemed just another derivative of the countless reality TV shows that had been populating the broadcasting landscape for the previous 15 years. But since then it has grown to be arguably the most formidable force in television history. And, if you think (as you doubtless will) I'm exaggerating, think of how much of the world's attention the Kardashian family collectively commands. And how much money they encourage the world to spend – mostly on inessentials. It's not known whether the Kardashian family members are adherents 实践者 of the school of thought that propounds advertising is at its most effective when recipients aren't aware it's advertising (its earliest proponent was Walter Dill Scott, 1869-1955, whose book The Psychology of Advertising was first published in 1913). But they probably wouldn't have opposed it. Even if they did, they couldn't argue with the money ad agencies offered them to commend, approve, allude to, hint at, speak favourably of or just name a product. Kim can reach 9.4m Instagram followers with one tap of her manicured index finger. Cost-benefit calculations lead advertisers to believe that paying Kim up to US$500,000 a time is decent value. Sisters Kendall and Kylie Jenner boast 76.4m and 89.1m followers each (at the time of writing) and can only command US$400,000 per post. Khloé, who has over 64m followers, and Kourtney, with 54.3m, limp by on US$250,000 a time. Kardashian product endorsements aren't so much advertisements as cattle prods (A cattle prod, also called a stock prod, is a handheld device commonly used to make cattle or other livestock move by striking or poking them. An electric cattle prod is a stick with electrodes on the end which is used to make cattle move through a relatively high-voltage, low-current electric shock). In a world where the ownership of commodities is synonymous with the Good Life, the Kardashians have every legitimate claim to being major talents. Talent isn't, as popularly assumed, a gift or natural ability we possess: it's an attribution. If we, the audience, think Kim et al have talent, they have. It's like beauty: a subjective benefaction. In a properly run world, you might suppose a successful long-running TV programme would address issues such as injustice, inequality, poverty, racism, sexism, violence or other issues of concern. But this is not a properly run world – whatever that might be – and the Kardashians authentically draw on audience's real-life experiences. The family's almost defiant success also hints at a future for celebrity amid the decline of old media. In the digital age, the skill set required of anyone who aspires to celebrity-level influence is uncertain, but involves relatability. If people identify with you, then you have a shot at greatness. Social media, like art, journalism and entertainment, contributes to our understanding: it is there to inform audiences but not necessarily with responsibility. The Kardashians will endure. You might not like them; you might even despise 鄙视 the misplaced 不值得的 devotion of their global following. We're used to middle-aged males controlling our media, not upstart young hellions with limitless influence.
