用法学习: 1. tide someone over to supply someone for a short time with something that is lacking. to help someone through a difficult period, especially by lending them money Could you lend me £10 to tide me over till next week? Can you lend me some money to tide me over till next month? Clarkson, who was finishing her second studio album at that time, recorded "Breakaway" to tide her fans over until the first single from her new album was released. However, the song's success prompted its inclusion on Clarkson's second album where she decided to name the album after the song. get [the hell] out of Dodge (US, idiomatic) To leave, especially to leave a difficult or dangerous environment with all possible haste. To leave or depart from a place, especially quickly or with marked urgency. A reference to Dodge City, Kansas, the clichéd setting of cowboy and western films from the early to mid-1900s. It looks like things are getting pretty tense in here, let's get out of Dodge! With our creditors becoming increasingly aggressive, we decided to just get the hell out of Dodge and leave it all behind. Usage notes: Often used with the hell as an intensifier. (See also the hell out of.) Etymology: An allusion to Dodge City, Kansas, a busy cattle town in the late 19th century. Possibly inspired by the radio and television series Gunsmoke (1952-1975). 2. corporate [ˈkɔːpərət] noun a company, especially a large one He has managed design teams in large corporates in Australia. adj. I. relating to large companies, or to a particular large company. Corporate means relating to business corporations or to a particular business corporation. ...top U.S. corporate executives. ...the U.K. corporate sector. ...a corporate lawyer 企业律师. This established a strong corporate image 企业形象, 公司形象. Our corporate headquarters are in Madrid. a powerful group that represents corporate America (=big businesses in the U.S.). Some companies are introducing ethics into their corporate culture in a big way. II. formal shared by or including all the members of a group. Is there a corporate identity shared by all Asian countries? pierce/lift the corporate veil legal to treat the rights and duties of a company as being the same as the rights and duties of its shareholders. In order for the corporate veil to be pierced there must be some skulduggery, in the absence of which the legal personality of the company will remain intact. skulduggery [skʌldʌgəri] 欺骗 Skulduggery is behaviour in which someone acts in a dishonest way in order to achieve their aim. secret activities that are intended to trick or cheat people. political intrigue and skulduggery. ...accusations of political skulduggery. wiki: Usually a corporation is treated as a separate legal person, which is solely responsible for the debts it incurs and the sole beneficiary of the credit it is owed. Common law countries usually uphold this principle of separate personhood, but in exceptional situations may "pierce" or "lift" the corporate veil. A simple example would be where a businessman has left his job as a director and has signed a contract to not compete with the company he has just left for a period of time. If he sets up a company which competed with his former company, technically it would be the company and not the person competing. But it is likely a court would say that the new company was just a "sham", a "cover" or some other phrase, and would still allow the old company to sue the man for breach of contract. corporate ladder The hierarchy of authority and earning power within a large business or corporation, likened to the rungs of a ladder. Usually used with some variable verb or phrase referring to ascension. Although you're starting at an entry-level position, this company prides itself on giving employees the opportunity to climb the corporate ladder if they prove their abilities and determination. She proved early on that she had unique business smarts, and she's been making her way up the corporate ladder ever since. corporate welfare bum A corporation or executive who makes money (or is thought to make money) through tax breaks or legal loopholes. Primarily heard in Canada. These corporate welfare bums can afford to pay the taxes, but they just get their accountants to make it so they don't have to. tax break 税务减免, 减税: a reduction in the tax that you must pay. If the government gives a tax break to a particular group of people or type of organization, it reduces the amount of tax they have to pay or changes the tax system in a way that benefits them. Today they'll consider tax breaks for businesses that create jobs in inner cities. a tax break for college students. corporation [ˌkɔrpəˈreɪʃ(ə)n] 大企业, 大公司 I. a large company or business organization. ...multi-national corporations. ...the Seiko Corporation. American tobacco corporations. II. British the local government of a city. In some large British cities, the corporation is the local authority that is responsible for providing public services. ...the corporation's task of regenerating 900 acres of the inner city. 3. scrumptious [skrʌmpʃəs] 好吃的, 美味的 adj If you describe food as scrumptious, you mean that it tastes extremely good. ...a scrumptious apple pie. slanderous [slɑːndərəs , slæn-] 诽谤的 adjective A spoken statement that is slanderous is untrue and intended to damage the reputation of the person that it refers to. He wanted an explanation for what he described as 'slanderous' remarks. scurrilous [ˈskʌrɪləs] 故意抹黑的 ( slanderous, scandalous, defamatory, low ) I. making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation. Scurrilous accusations or stories are untrue and unfair, and are likely to damage the reputation of the person that they relate to. Scurrilous and untrue stories were being invented. ...scurrilous rumours. "a scurrilous attack on his integrity". "a scurrilous attack on her character". II. humorously insulting. "a very funny collection of bawdy and scurrilous writings". scurry [skʌri , US skɜːri] I. When people or small animals scurry somewhere, they move there quickly and hurriedly, especially because they are frightened. [written] The attack began, sending residents scurrying for cover. [+ for] The rats scurry around, searching for scraps of food in the rubbish. II. If people scurry to do something, they do it as soon as they can. Pictures of starving children have sent many people scurrying to donate money. scandalous [skændələs] I. Scandalous behaviour or activity is considered immoral and shocking. They would be sacked for criminal or scandalous behaviour. He spoke of scandalous corruption and incompetence. He asked only that Ingrid stop behaving so scandalously. II. Scandalous stories or remarks are concerned with the immoral and shocking aspects of someone's behaviour or something that has happened. Newspaper columns were full of scandalous tales. A jealous colleague could spread scandalous gossip about you. III. You can describe something as scandalous if it makes you very angry and you think the people responsible for it should be ashamed. It is absolutely scandalous that a fantastic building like this is just left to rot away. ...a scandalous waste of money. ...scandalously over-priced Beaujolais Nouveau. scrupulous [skruːpjʊləs] I. Someone who is scrupulous takes great care to do what is fair, honest, or morally right. You're being very scrupulous, but to what end? I have been scrupulous about telling them the dangers. [+ about] The Board is scrupulous in its consideration of all applications for licences. [+ in] He is scrupulously fair, and popular with his staff. Namibia has scrupulously upheld political pluralism. II. Scrupulous means thorough, exact, and careful about details. Both readers commend Knutson for his scrupulous attention to detail. The streets and parks were scrupulously clean. Hillsden scrupulously avoided any topic likely to arouse suspicion as to his motives. scruples [ˈskruːpəlz] doubts or hesitation as to what is morally right in a certain situation. a man with no moral scruples. He had no scruples about appropriating other people's property. It took time to overcome my scruples. unscrupulous [ʌnskruːpjʊləs] 恬不知耻的, 臭不要脸的, 无耻的 If you describe a person as unscrupulous, you are critical of the fact that they are prepared to act in a dishonest or immoral way in order to get what they want. These kids are being exploited by very unscrupulous people. ...the unscrupulous use of hostages. 4. beyond compare If you describe something as beyond compare, you mean that it is extremely good or extremely great. [literary, emphasis] She was a storyteller beyond compare. ...riches beyond compare. without a murmur 毫无怨言的 If someone does something without a murmur, they do it without complaining. demur [dɪˈmɜr] If you demur, you say that you do not agree with something or will not do something that you have been asked to do. Hunt asked me to take over the whole operation. At first I demurred. The doctor demurred, but Piercey was insistent. without demur 没有抱怨, 没有抗议, 没有反对 If you do something without demur, you do it immediately and without making any protest. His plan was accepted without demur. without ceremony 随意的 in a quick, informal, and sometimes impolite way. Dumping the report on his desk without ceremony, she turned and walked out. without fail I. 从不间断. used for emphasizing that something always happens in the same way or at the same time. He calls me every Sunday night without fail. II. used for emphasizing that someone must do something. I want to see you here at 8 o'clock without fail! 4.
obelisk 方尖碑: An obelisk [ˈɒbəlɪsk] is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Obelisks played a vital role in their religion and were prominent in the architecture of the ancient Egyptians, who placed them in pairs at the entrance of the temples. The obelisk symbolized 象征着 the sun god Ra, and during the religious reformation of Akhenaten it was said to have been a petrified ray of the Aten, the sundisk. It was also thought that the god existed within the structure. Obelisks were set in pairs, at the entrances of temples, and to some Old Kingdom tombs and closely related to the cult of the Sun God Ra also known as Atum. Obelisks symbolized the stability and the creative force of Atum. Obelisks were believed to act as magical protection to the monuments such as temples and tombs. Around 30 B.C., after Cleopatra "the last Pharaoh" committed suicide, Rome took control of Egypt. The Ancient Romans were awestruck 惊呆了 by the obelisks, and looted the complex to the extent that they destroyed walls at the Temple of Karnak to haul out obelisks. There are now more than twice as many obelisks that were seized and shipped out by Rome as remain in Egypt. A majority were dismantled during the Roman period over 1, 700 years ago and the obelisk were sent in different locations. The largest standing and tallest Egyptian obelisk is the Lateran Obelisk in the square at the west side of the Lateran Basilica in Rome at 105.6 feet (32.2 m) tall and a weight of 455 metric tons (502 short tons). Not all the Egyptian obelisks in the Roman Empire were set up at Rome. Herod the Great imitated his Roman patrons and set up a red granite Egyptian obelisk in the hippodrome of his new city Caesarea in northern Judea. This one is about 40 feet (12 m)tall and weighs about 100 metric tons (110 short tons). It was discovered by archaeologists and has been re-erected at its former site. In 335 A.D., Constantine I ordered the removal of two of Karnak's obelisks. One was sent to Constantinople, the Eastern Emperor Theodosius took the obelisk and had it set up in a hippodrome, where it has weathered Crusaders and Seljuks and stands in the Hippodrome square which is now called Istanbul. This one stood 95 feet (29 m) tall and weighing 380 metric tons (420 short tons). Its lower half reputedly also once stood in Istanbul but is now lost. The Istanbul obelisk is 65 feet (20 m) tall. The other was transported to Rome and is probably the most well-known 25 metres (82 ft), 331-metric-ton (365-short-ton) obelisk at Saint Peter's Square in the world. The obelisk had stood since AD 37 on its site and on the wall of the Circus of Nero, flanking St Peter's Basilica: "The elder Pliny in his Natural Historyrefers to the obelisk's transportation from Egypt to Rome by order of the Emperor Gaius (Caligula) as an outstanding event. The barge that carried it had a huge mast of fir wood which four men's arms could not encircle 合拢, 围起来. One hundred and twenty bushels of lentils were needed for ballast. Having fulfilled its purpose, the gigantic vessel was no longer wanted. Therefore, filled with stones and cement, it was sunk to form the foundations of the foremost quay of the new harbour at Ostia." Re-erecting the obelisk had daunted even Michelangelo, but Sixtus V was determined to erect it in front of St Peter's, of which the nave 大殿 ( The nave of a church is the long central part where people gather to worship. ) was yet to be built. He had a full-sized wooden mock-up 模型 erected within months of his election. Domenico Fontana, the assistant of Giacomo Della Porta in the Basilica's construction, presented the Pope with a little model crane of wood and a heavy little obelisk of lead, which Sixtus himself was able to raise by turning a little winch with his finger. Fontana was given the project. The obelisk, half-buried in the debris of the ages, was first excavated as it stood; then it took from 30 April to 17 May 1586 to move it on rollers to the Piazza: it required nearly 1000 men, 140 carthorses, and 47 cranes. The re-erection, scheduled for 14 September, the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross, was watched by a large crowd. It was a famous feat of engineering, which made the reputation of Fontana, who detailed it in a book illustrated with copperplate etchings, which itself set a new standard in communicating technical information and influenced subsequent architectural publications by its meticulous precision. Before being re-erected the obelisk was exorcised. It is said that Fontana had teams of relay horses to make his getaway if the enterprise failed. When Carlo Maderno came to build the Basilica's nave, he had to put the slightest kink in its axis, to line it precisely with the obelisk.
Theresa May announces she will resign on 7 June: Theresa May has bowed to intense pressure from her own party and named 7 June as the day she will step aside as Conservative leader, drawing her turbulent three-year premiership to a close. Speaking in Downing Street, May said it had been "the honour of my life" to serve as Britain's second female prime minister. Her voice breaking 声音哽咽, she said she would leave "with no ill will, but with enormous and enduring gratitude to have had the opportunity to serve the country I love". The prime minister listed a series of what she said were her government's achievements, including tackling the deficit, reducing unemployment and boosting funding for mental health. But she admitted: "It is and will always remain a matter of deep regret 憾事 to me that I have not been able to deliver Brexit." May's announcement came after a meeting with Graham Brady, the chair of the backbench Tory 1922 Committee, which was prepared to trigger a second vote of no confidence in her leadership if she refused to resign. Her fate was sealed after a 10-point "new Brexit deal", announced in a speech on Tuesday, infuriated Tory backbenchers and many of her own cabinet – while falling flat with 反响平平( go down a storm) the Labour MPs it was meant to persuade. The leader of the House of Commons, Andrea Leadsom, resigned on Wednesday, rather than present the Brexit bill to parliament. In particular, they rejected May's promise to give MPs a vote on a second referendum as the Brexit bill passed through parliament, and implement the result – which they felt came too close to endorsing the idea. The prime minister will remain in Downing Street, to shoulder the blame for what are expected to be dire results for her party from Thursday's European elections – and to host Donald Trump when he visits. The 1922 Committee will set out the terms of a leadership contest, to kick off on 10 June, which is expected to last perhaps six weeks. The former foreign secretary Boris Johnson is the frontrunner to be Britain's next prime minister, but more than a dozen senior Tory figures are considering throwing their hats into the ring. In the cabinet, Rory Stewart has already said he will stand, while Jeremy Hunt, Michael Gove, Penny Mordaunt and Sajid Javid are all likely contenders 竞争者. May's departure came after three years of wrangling with Brexiters on her own backbenches about what future relationship with the European Union they would be prepared to accept. That became considerably more difficult when she lost her majority at the 2017 general election, after spearheading what was widely regarded as a disastrous campaign, promising "strong and stable leadership in the national interest". Brexit is likely to dominate the race to succeed May, with time increasingly tight for a new team to set out any new direction before the deadline of 31 October for Britain's departure from the EU. May's longtime friend Damian Green, the former first secretary of state, defended her record on Friday. He said: "All prime ministers, in the end, take responsibility for what happens on their watch, but I think that it's undeniable that suddenly and unexpectedly becoming prime minister after the seismic shock of the Brexit referendum meant that she was dealt an extremely difficult hand to play(play the hand (one) is dealt 因地制宜的做事, 兵来将挡, 水来土掩, 竭尽所能 To use the resources which one actually has available; to operate realistically, within the limits of one's circumstances. To accept, deal with, and make the most of one's current situation or circumstances; to make use of that which one is afforded or has available. I know you feel unsatisfied with your life at the moment, but we all have to play the hand we're dealt. Just keep working hard and things are bound to improve! I never asked to be responsible for the business, but I'm going to play the hand I was dealt.). And the truth is that having an election a year later, which cut the Conservative party's majority, then [made it] impossible." Green told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "The fact that parliament has not been able to get a Brexit deal through has led to the impatience, bordering into contempt, for the political class and the amount of hostility and borderline violence is something we have not known for a very very long time." A legacy of failure: Theresa May was a disaster as Prime Minister: Three years after voters in the UK mandated their government to take Britain out of the European Union, Theresa May's failure to do so has finally caught up with her 承受不住, 受不了了, 不堪重负( someone needs to get out more 多出去走走
If you say that someone needs to get out more, you mean that they are
boring or that they are spending too much time concentrating on one
particular thing. I found myself reading The Inner Game Of Tennis the other day (I really do need to get out more). get to somebody/something to make someone feel annoyed or upset. to cause feelings, esp. suffering or disgust, in someone: The heat was beginning to get to me so I went indoors. I'm under a lot of pressure at work, and sometimes it gets to me a bit. Don’t let things get to you. get to thinking/wondering something informal to start thinking something He got to thinking how disappointed his parents would be. catch up to (something or someone)
To make up the difference between oneself and someone or something, so
as to be at an equal level, status, or point of progress. If
we speed up, we might be able to catch up to the car ahead of us!
You're going to have to study really hard to catch up to the rest of the
class. catch someone/something up = catch up with someone I. to go faster so that you reach the person or vehicle in front of you. We left before them, but they soon caught us up again. catch up with: If you hurry, you should catch up with them at the bridge. II. to improve in order to reach the same standard or rate as someone or something. He's missed so much school that he's going to find it hard to catch up. catch up with: Pressure grew for salaries to catch up with inflation. III. [intransitive] to do something that should have been done before. The deadline's tomorrow. How are we ever going to catch up in time? catch up on: I just want to go home and catch up on some sleep. catch up with: Staff are struggling to catch up with the backlog. IV. [intransitive] to talk to someone you have not seen for some time and find out what they have been doing. Come over tomorrow and we can catch up. catch up with: I'll catch up with you another time, Kevin. It'll give them a chance to talk and catch up with all their news. V.
When people catch up with someone who has done something wrong, they
succeed in finding them in order to arrest or punish them. The law caught up with him yesterday.
VI. If something catches up with you, you are forced to deal with
something unpleasant that happened or that you did in the past, which
you have been able to avoid until now. How
can I crack the habit of being a procrastinator. I'm the worst
procrastinator and it's really starting to catch up to me (一般说 catch up
with me: cause me problems: the consequences of my actions – procrastination, in this case – are starting to cause problems in my life. ). Although he subsequently became a successful businessman, his criminal past caught up with him. catch me up it's a phrase that means you should fill me in, you say it when you're missing out on something and you want to be filled in. "Have you heard the gossip?" "No not yet, catch me up". procrastinator 拖拖拉拉的人, 做事总是拖后的人
A procrastinator is a person who delays or puts things off — like work,
chores, or other actions — that should be done in a timely manner. A
procrastinator is likely to leave all the Christmas shopping until
December 24th. break the habit of 戒掉习惯, 戒掉毛病 (catch a habit, take up [a habit/ doing something], take up the habit of. 染上习惯, 沾染上毛病, 染上癖好) a. To give up (a habit). to get rid of (a habit). To interrupt; to destroy the continuity of; to dissolve or terminate. I've got to break this habit I have of biting my nails. to break silence; to break one's sleep 打扰睡眠; to break one's journey. I had won four games in a row, but now you've broken my streak of luck. b. To cause to give up a habit: They managed to break themselves of smoking. If you are in the habit of doing something 有...的习惯, you do it regularly or often. If you get into the habit of doing something, you begin to do it regularly or often. They
were in the habit of giving two or three dinner parties a month. I got
into the habit of calling in on Gloria on my way home from work. break the mould 打破传统, 打破藩篱, 破旧出新, 破旧立新
If you say that someone breaks the mould, you mean that they do
completely different things from what has been done before or from what
is usually done. Memorial services have
become tedious and expected. I would like to help break the mould. When
they first started, they said they were going to break the mould of
British politics. break a/the code 破解密码 To determine or decipher a secret code. It
is imperative that we break the enemy code and access their plans. She
definitely broke the code on my phone—her picture is suddenly my new
background! catch up with someone I. to find and arrest someone who has committed a crime after searching for them or chasing them. The police will catch up with you sooner or later. IV. to begin to have an effect on someone (take its/a toll on). 开始影响到, 开始显现效果, 开始有影响. The lack of sleep caught up with her, and she began to doze off. "With hindsight 现在来看, 回头来看, 回头看来, our rate of geographic expansion was too rapid and as a result the quality of execution
has suffered," chairman Paul Pindar said, as he apologised to
shareholders for disappointing performance over the last year. A
challenging market in Britain caught up to it 抵不过, 抵抗不过, 抵抗不住 and the company was forced to issue a revenue warning in February. With the retail landscape 零售市场, 零售环境, 零售业 changing rapidly, the 31-year-old building will likely soon be subject to a major redevelopment as the commercial realities of the site catch up to it 无奈, 无法对抗. The extremely valuable but underutilised airspace above the centre will one day cause it's redevelopment. catch me up it's a phrase that means you should fill me in, you say it when you're missing out on something and you want to be filled in. "Have you heard the gossip?" "No not yet, catch me up". catch up to (something or someone)
To make up the difference between oneself and someone or something, so
as to be at an equal level, status, or point of progress. Banzai
skydive: the act of throwing a parachute out of a plane and trying to
catch up to it mid fall, put it on, and deploy it before hitting the
ground. If we speed up, we might be able to catch up to the car ahead of us 追上, 赶上! You're going to have to study really hard to catch up to the rest of the class). "I have done my best," she said in an emotional statement on the steps of Downing Street. But as she admitted, it wasn't enough. Her predecessor, David Cameron, quit the morning after 52% of the UK voted to leave the EU, having presided over his own political miscalculation 失算, 误算, 误判. Under her leadership, the Conservative Party has gone from being seen as the natural party of government to the exploding clown car of politics(A clown car is a prop in a circus clown routine, which involves an implausibly large number of clowns emerging from a very small car.). Worse than being unable to govern, the Conservative's mishandling of Brexit has led to the public humiliation of the UK's oldest and most successful political organization, suffering electoral losses to a rival party that didn't exist six weeks ago. May had previously said that she would stand down if her deal was approved, letting someone else take control of the next stage of Brexit. It turns out that top-to-bottom rejection of her deal and her leadership from pretty much everyone involved in politics would also do the trick. May's legacy will be defined by failures, public humiliations and catastrophic political miscalculations. Some of these were out of her hands. Some were the result of poor advice from those she chose to surround herself with. Some were because of the unprecedented political crisis that would come to dominate her time in Downing Street. But much of it was her own fault. Many of her decisions had a directly negative impact on her ability to lead. The problem for May wasn't just that British politics has been deadlocked for the best part of three years, but that she repeatedly engineered ways to erode her own authority. By the time she accepted her number was up, she had lost the confidence of MPs, members of her own party and even her own Cabinet. Before taking the job, May had long been tipped for high office. In 2002, while serving as chair of the Conservative Party, May addressed the faithful at their annual party conference. At the time, the Conservatives had been out of power for five years. Tony Blair had successfully won over some traditional conservative voters and the party had an image problem. This also meant it had an electoral problem: "Our base is too narrow and so, occasionally, are our sympathies. You know what some people call us -- the nasty party," May said. The speech went down a storm ( go down a storm 引起热烈反响, 好评如潮, 反响热烈, 反响强烈 fall flat 反响平平 be enthusiastically received by an audience. "the film went down a storm at Cannes". ) and paved the way for a new era. In 2005, the party would elect David Cameron as leader. Cameron knew the importance of May's support, so made her a close ally and, along with other Tory moderates, oversaw a sweeping 全面的, 彻底的, 彻头彻尾的 modernization of the party. It would come to be a party that believed in helping communities, the "Big Society", and would eventually be the party that legalized same-sex marriage in the UK. Cameron became Prime Minister in 2010, albeit as leader of a coalition government with the center-left Liberal Democrats. Again, knowing May's importance and her appeal to the more conservative members of the party's base, he made her Home Secretary. May was always considered one of the toughest members of Cameron's Cabinet. As Home Secretary, she accused the Police Federation -- the association that represents rank-and-file police officers in the UK -- of "crying wolf" over budget cuts. She presided over a policy of creating a "hostile environment" for illegal immigrants. She even took on the EU on matters ranging from immigration to the deportation of high-profile terrorists. She was a force to be reckoned with 不可忽视的力量(someone who is strong and cannot be ignored When he won his first three matches, the other players realized that he was a force to be reckoned with.) and seen as one of the cornerstones of conservatism in a coalition compromised by liberals. It was a shock to some when in 2016, May announced that she would be backing David Cameron's Remain campaign. But her decision to do so, it turned out, was a masterstroke ( 巧计 妙计, 妙招A masterstroke is something you do which is unexpected but very clever and which helps you to achieve something. The company played a masterstroke in promoting her to be director of innovation. ) in triangulation ( a key manoeuvre in the endgame in which the king moves thrice in a triangular path to leave the opposing king with the move and at a disadvantage ). When Cameron resigned in the wake of the result of the Brexit referendum, May was seen as a safe pair of hands. She backed Remain, but her track record in the Home Office meant she was tough enough to stand up to the EU. She was the best candidate to unite two sides of the Conservative Party that voted for different things. However, from the moment she became Prime Minister, she began alienating people whose loyalty she would later regret not being able to depend upon. In the months that followed May's ascension to the top job, her Brexit position 立场 hardened. Rather than reach across the political divide within her own party, the Prime Minister's embrace of Brexit was similar to that of the evangelism of a born-again Christian. Her new, ardent Brexiteer persona won her support on her own backbenches and in the Brexit-supporting media. The Daily Mail, an anti-EU newspaper, declared that May would "crush the saboteurs 坏事者, 破坏者, 搞破坏的人 ( [ˌsæbəˈtɜr] A saboteur is a person who deliberately damages or destroys things such as machines, railway lines, and bridges in order to weaken an enemy or to make a protest. In Britain, people who try to stop blood sports such as fox hunting are also referred to as saboteurs. The saboteurs had planned to bomb buses and offices. ...a confrontation between huntsmen and saboteurs.)" who sought to frustrate Brexit. While her new position as the defender of Brexit Britain won her some friends, it put off those who wanted a softer Brexit or no Brexit at all. But May and her advisors didn't seem to realize how she was seen outside of the Brexit bubble. This new confidence led to May and her inner circle making their first catastrophic mistake. In June 2017, despite having made little progress on Brexit plans, May held a snap election, convinced she could to increase her parliamentary majority of 13 to something north of 100. A result like that would have given May an unassailable ( unassailable [ʌnəseɪləbəl] If you describe something or someone as unassailable, you mean that nothing can alter, destroy, or challenge them. That was enough to give her an unassailable lead. His legal position is unassailable. Liverpool football club are still looking unassailable. ) position from which to push through her Brexit strategy. Her plan backfired. A limp election campaign in which May seldom appeared in public -- and seemed hellbent on avoiding any members of it -- made her look out of touch and power-hungry. The opposition Labour Party took advantage. It managed to position itself not only as the more pro-Europe option, but its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, seemed more human. The Conservatives emerged as the largest party in Parliament, but May was stripped of her working majority. From then, May couldn't catch a break. Less than a week after her unnecessary humiliation, Britain was struck by tragedy. The fire that ripped through Grenfell Tower in London left 72 people dead and a community shattered. May's response was widely criticized. She visited the site, but didn't meet with any of the survivors. It made her look cold and unsympathetic. While no one seeks to use a disaster like this for political gain, May's woes were compounded 加重 by images of Corbyn hugging survivors. Even the Queen put on a better show. Worse for May was that the Grenfell tragedy came to be viewed by many as the result of Conservative policies under David Cameron. Whether this was true or not didn't matter: Labour was on the side of the people; May simply didn't care. Less than a week after Grenfell, the UK was struggling with another tragedy. A British man with a history of violence and fascination with anti-Islam ideas drove a van into a crowd of Muslims, leaving the Finsbury Park Mosque in London after evening prayers. When May visited the scene of the attack, she was heckled by bystanders. The political atmosphere in the country was becoming febrile 神经兮兮的, 神经过敏的([fiːbraɪl] adj Febrile behaviour is intensely and nervously active. The news plunged the nation into a febrile, agitated state.). May's authority was under increasing pressure. Her election failure had forced her to sack her political advisers and enter into a supply and confidence agreement ( A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parliament will support the government in motions of confidence and appropriation or budget (supply) votes, by either voting in favour or abstaining. However, parties and independent members normally retain the right to otherwise vote in favour of their own policies or on conscience on legislative bills. A coalition government is a more formal arrangement than a confidence-and-supply agreement, in that members from junior parties (i.e. parties other than the largest) gain positions in the cabinet, ministerial roles and may be expected to hold the government whip on passing legislation. ) with the Northern Irish Democratic Unionist Party, who in theory prop up her minority government. May was forced to face the music at the annual conference of her Conservative Party in October 2017. Her now infamous speech, in which she suffered a coughing fit, was confronted by a stage invader who handed her a P45 (the UK equivalent of a pink slip) was topped off with the set falling apart behind her. It came after days of mutiny from within her party, which numerous of the not-so-faithful publicly saying that it was time for May to go. At this point, one might be tempted to feel sorry for the PM. But hold on a second. Sure, she can't help a cough, a stage invader or bad set design. It's very unlucky. But she could have avoided her fate of having to stand before a room of people utterly sick of her. It was around this time that her Brexit plan started to go badly. Meeting after meeting in Brussels resulted in EU officials and leaders publicly admonishing the UK's Brexit negotiators. Over time, May's Brexit position softened as talks with the EU became friendlier and common ground was reached. But this is where May made another political error. While talks had been going well in Brussels, May's Brexit plan was still a secret to many in London. It did not matter that the government and EU officials agreed on obscure but important details, whether the British public or political class would accept it was another thing altogether. That failure to carry a divided House of Commons with her resulted in a deal being agreed that parliament came to detest. And that's why, every time it was put to a vote, it failed. This created problems for May both in London and on the continent. Over time, EU leaders simply stopped believing anything she said. The same goes for Brexiteers, who once saw her as their champion. The low point of trust in her own party perhaps came at a meeting of hardline Brexiteers last year, when members of her own party were heard chanting "Theresa the appeaser," a reference to former Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, infamous for striking a deal with Adolf Hitler in 1938. Outside of Brexit, her time in the Home Office came back to haunt her more than once. First, the Windrush scandal. Her "hostile environment" policy had created legislation which required immigrants to prove their status by providing paperwork when trying to do everyday things like renting an apartment or taking a job. Unintentionally, this hit a generation of immigrants from the Caribbean, who came to the UK in the post-war years to make up for a shortage in the workforce. Many of them were without paperwork and suddenly faced the threat of deportation, despite having lived in the country for decades. Public outrage once again made May look out of touch and unsympathetic. It also meant that one of her arch-loyalists, Amber Rudd, was forced to quit as Home Secretary, the government department that oversees immigration. Other decisions made during her earlier period in Cameron's government have caused problems for May. The UK's knife crime crisis has been blamed on cuts to police budgets she implemented. While the veracity ( Veracity is the quality of being true or the habit of telling the truth. We have total confidence in the veracity of our research. [+ of] He was shocked to find his veracity questioned. ) of this claim is unclear, defending a policy of cutting police funding while parents are seeing their children murdered is not a good look. But it was her mishandling of Brexit and poor political decisions that made governing impossible for May. At the end of March, the PM made her final move. She told her Conservative lawmakers that if they backed her deal, she would go. May was throwing the kitchen sink at Brexit -- and staking her entire career on it. It didn't work. Nothing May could offer was enough to avoid her final humiliation, as her own party tried to change its own rules to force her from office. Another British Conservative politician, the divisive Enoch Powell, once said: "All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure." While May might be in good company on that front, it's hard to think of another politician whose legacy will be so defined by catastrophe.
