用法学习: 1. quantitative [ˈkwɒntɪtətɪv,ˈkwɒntɪˌteɪtɪv] 量化的 adj relating to, measuring, or measured by the quantity of something rather than its quality. "quantitative analysis". denoting or relating to verse whose metre is based on the length of syllables, as in Latin, as opposed to the stress, as in English. quarantine [ˈkwɒrəntiːn] 检疫 [UNCOUNTABLE] a situation in which a person or animal that might have a disease is kept separate from other people or animals so that they do not catch the disease. in quarantine 隔离: Animals can be kept in quarantine for up to three months. a. [COUNTABLE] a period of quarantine.VERB to keep a person or animal in quarantine. get/have your ducks in a row 排排站, 排好队, 做好准备, 一切就绪, 万事俱备 to be well prepared or well organized for something that is going to happen. To take action to become well-organized, prepared, and/or up-to-date. We need to get our ducks in a row to ensure that there are no problems at home while we're gone on our trip. Make sure Finance gets their ducks in a row before the audit. They should have had their ducks in a row beforehand, so they were ready to start the job when required. "I think they are making sure all the ducks are in a line before they submit anything formally." 2. Pussy willow is a name given to many of the smaller species of the genus Salix (willows and sallows) when their furry catkins 柳絮, 杨花 ( [kætkɪn] a long soft group of small flowers that hangs from the branches of willows and some other trees. A catkin is a long, thin, soft flower that hangs on some trees, for example birch trees and hazel trees. ) are young in early spring. Before the male catkins of these species come into full flower they are covered in fine, greyish fur, leading to a fancied likeness to tiny cats, also known as "pussies". The catkins appear long before the leaves, and are one of the earliest signs of spring. At other times of year trees of most of these species are usually known by their ordinary names. The many buds of the pussy willow make it a favourite flower for Chinese New Year (Lunar New Year). The fluffy white blossoms of the pussy willow resemble silk, and they soon give forth young shoots the colour of green jade. In Chinese tradition, this represents the coming of prosperity. Towards the Lunar New Year period in spring, stalks 枝条 of the plant may be bought from wet market vendors or supermarkets. Once unbundled within one's residence, the stalks are frequently decorated with gold and red ornaments—ornaments with colours and textures that signify prosperity and happiness. Felt ( n. thick soft cloth made from wool, hair, or fur fibers that have been rolled and pressed flat. Felt is a thick cloth made from wool or other fibres packed tightly together. a felt hat. felt-tip = felt-tip pen a pen that has a piece of felt as its writing point. A marker pen 记号笔, fineliner, marking pen, felt-tip marker, felt-tip pen, flow marker, texta (in Australia), sketch pen (in India) or koki (in South Africa), is a pen which has its own ink source and a tip made of porous, pressed fibers such as felt. Ink brushes 毛笔 are used in Chinese calligraphy as well as Japanese calligraphy, and Korean calligraphy which have roots in Chinese calligraphy. Together with the inkstone, inkstick and Xuan paper, these four writing implements form the Four Treasures of the Study. porous [ˈpɔrəs] I. 透气的. a porous substance has a lot of very small holes in it so that air and water can pass through it. II. 漏洞多多的. 筛子似的. not effective in preventing people from attacking or escaping. a porous border/defense. make your presence felt to have a powerful effect or influence on other people or on a situation. The new man in the Russian government already appears to be making his presence felt.) pieces of red, pink, and yellow are also a common decoration in Southeast Asia. Xie Daoyun's comparison of snow and willow catkins is a famous line of poetry and is used to refer to precocious young female poets. 3. spiel [ʃpiːl, US spiːl] noun Someone's spiel is a well-prepared speech that they make, and that they have usually made many times before, often in order to persuade you to buy something. the things that someone says on a particular occasion, especially things that are not interesting or sincere because they sound like a prepared speech. Taylor: She added that she wanted to use the snakes in her tour to "send a message to you guys that if someone uses name calling to bully you on social media ... [it] doesn't have to beat you. It can strengthen you instead." Some of her fans loved the moment, and things were finally looking up 开始好转 for the singer. But she just wouldn't let the backlash go, and she went on a huge spiel about being "misunderstood" during an acceptance speech at the 2018 Billboard Music Awards. things are looking up 开始好转, 有好转迹象, 开始变好 Things are or appear to be improving or becoming more hopeful. Since I got a salary increase, things are looking up. Things are looking up at school. I'm doing better in all my classes. Things are looking up for families across the country as the economy continues to rebound. I just found out that I got the job I wanted—things are really looking up! take umbrage [ʌmbrɪdʒ] against 不高兴, 不开心, 生气 If you say that a person takes umbrage, you mean that they are upset or offended by something that someone says or does to them, often without much reason. He takes umbrage against anyone who criticises him. In one particular tweet, Minaj expressed her dissatisfaction that videos celebrating women with "very slim bodies" often get nominated over those without, which Swift apparently took umbrage at. 5. boa [boʊə] 紅尾蟒, 巨蚺 (ran2) (python 蟒蛇. anaconda = water boa ) I. A boa is the same as a boa constrictor. red-tailed boa or the common boa. a species of large, non-venomous, heavy-bodied snake that is frequently kept and bred in captivity. II. A boa or a feather boa is a long soft scarf made of feathers or of short pieces of very light fabric. She wore a large pink boa around her neck. python [paɪθən] 蟒蛇 A python is a large snake that kills animals by squeezing them with its body. Boa on the loose: A 2.5m adult boa constrictor is "on the loose" in NSW after freshly shed snake skin was found at a property west of Sydney. Biosecurity officers are scouring 搜寻 the Cascade Estate for the huge reptile, amid fears small pets and even children could be at risk. Locals have been asked to be on the lookout for it and to report any sightings. We're worried it's going to get into a bacykyard and potentially a kid might startle it and then the snake sort of lunges out in defence and grabs them and causes some injuries. While they’re not venomous, the giant serpents strangle or "constrict" prey. constrict [kənˈstrɪkt] to become tighter and narrower, or to make something become tighter and narrower. He hated wearing a tie - he felt it constricted his breathing. When you're dancing, you don't want to wear anything that constricts your movements. The drug causes the blood vessels to constrict. (of a garment) tight 太裹身的, 太紧的. Try to wear loose-fitting clothing rather than constricting clothing. II. (of a snake) coil round (prey) in order to asphyxiate it. "boas constrict and suffocate their prey". III. to limit what someone is able or allowed to do. inhibiting; limiting. I find the office environment too rigid and constricting 限制多多的, 拘束人的. The bill is filled with constricting amendments. Fear of crime constricts many people's lives. Constriction 蛇夹死猎物(勒死) is a method used by various snake species to kill or subdue their prey. Although some species of venomous and mildly venomous snakes do use constriction to subdue their prey, most snakes which use constriction lack venom. The snake initially strikes at its prey and holds on, pulling the prey into its coils or, in the case of very large prey, pulling itself onto the prey. The snake will then wrap one or two loops around the prey, forming a constriction coil. The snake will monitor the prey's heartbeat to ascertain when it is dead. Contrary to myth, the snake does not crush the prey, or break its bones. However, several natural observations exist involving wild Anacondas that show broken bones in large prey. Also, contrary to previous belief, the snake does not cause suffocation by constricting the victim; instead, a study of death caused by boa constrictors showed that constriction "shuts off" blood flow (and therefore oxygen) needed by vital organs such as the heart and brain, leading to unconsciousness within seconds and cardiac arrest shortly thereafter. Further, multiple species of snakes have been shown to constrict with pressures higher than those shown to induce cardiac arrest. In conjunction with observations of oral and nasal hemorrhaging in prey, constriction pressures are also thought to interfere with neural processing by forcing blood towards the brain. In other words, constriction can work by different mechanisms at varying pressures. It likely interferes with breathing at low pressures, can interrupt blood flow and overwhelm the prey's usual blood pressure and circulation at moderate pressures, and can interfere with neural processing and damage tissues at high pressures. 6. Harry Styles stores his couture 战袍, 华服 ( [kuˈtʊr] clothes that a famous designer makes for individual customers, or the design of these clothes. Couture is the designing and making of expensive fashionable clothes, or the clothes themselves. ...Christian Lacroix's first Paris couture collection. haute couture [ˌoʊt kuˈtʊər; (Fr) oʊt kuˈtür] expensive and fashionable clothes, or the business of designing and making them. Someone who makes or sells these clothes is a haute couturier. contoured adj [ˈkɑnˌtʊrd] I. shaped to follow or fit the shape of something else. a contoured handgrip. II. curved or with gentle slopes rather than straight or flat. a wooden cabinet with contoured corners and edges. contour [ˈkɑnˌtʊr] n I. [often plural] the shape of the outside edge of something. The sculpture reproduces the smooth contours 轮廓 of the human body. II. contour = contour line 等高线 a line on a map joining points that are the same height above or below sea level. The lines are used for showing hills, mountains, and valleys. ) outfits in a frozen vault. Fashion plays a huge part in the 25-year-old singer/songwriter's career and he has a secret vault in London where he keeps his most famous outfits cryogenically frozen under 24 hour surveillance. His designer friend Harris Reed, who often creates outfits for the star, told Britain's GQ: "I can't say where it is located, but everything goes to an archive. It's basically like a giant refrigerator - a frozen vault - somewhere in London where I am not going to disclose." 7. back one out 拉一泡屎 to defecate; "poop". I'm going to go back one out. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) 大肠激噪症: An intestinal disorder causing pain in the stomach, wind, diarrhoea and constipation. The cause of irritable bowel syndrome isn't well understood. A diagnosis is often made based on symptoms. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a group of symptoms—including abdominal pain and changes in the pattern of bowel movements without any evidence of underlying damage. These symptoms occur over a long time, often years. It has been classified into four main types depending on whether diarrhea is common, constipation is common, both are common, or neither occurs very often (IBS-D, IBS-C, IBS-M, or IBS-U respectively). IBS negatively affects quality of life and may result in missed school or work. Disorders such as anxiety, major depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome are common among people with IBS. seasoned 老练的 adj having a lot of experience of doing something and therefore knowing how to do it well: a seasoned traveller. a seasoned campaigner for human rights. You can use seasoned to describe a person who has a lot of experience of something. For example, a seasoned traveller is a person who has travelled a lot. The author is a seasoned academic. He began acting with the confidence of a seasoned performer. II. containing seasonings to improve flavour. seasoned food has salt, pepper etc added to it. a highly seasoned piece of fish. 3 seasoned wood has been prepared for use by drying. 7. How Bernard Tomic fell from grace as he faces a battle to qualify for Australian Open: Tomic turns 27 on Monday but must be wishing he could wind back the clock to his heady (A heady drink, atmosphere, or experience strongly affects your senses, for example by making you feel drunk or excited. ...in the heady days just after their marriage. I felt heady and euphoric. I. affecting you in a strong and pleasant way. the heady scent of jasmine. II. very exciting and making you feel that you can achieve anything you want. the heady freedom of the late 1960s. ) days as a prodigiously talented junior. It was after he added the US Open junior crown to his collection a year later that John Tomic urged Tennis Australia to break the bank for his son. John Tomic wanted TA to hire super-coach Darren Cahill to ensure Bernard could maximise his rare potential. Tomic will be flat out even making the draw at his home slam in January. Now ranked No.182 in the world, he faces the ignominy [ˈɪɡnəˌmɪni] 羞辱, 耻辱 ( a situation where you feel embarrassed and lose other people's respect. The army suffered the ignominy of a quick and decisive defeat. Ignominy is shame or public disgrace. ...the ignominy of being made redundant. [+ of]. If they were caught, she would be thrown out in disgrace, dismissed with ignominy. ) of even missing the cut-off mark for the qualifying event if he falls much further. Should he miss the qualifying cut-off mark, Tomic's only other avenue to a main-draw berth would be by contesting the Open wildcard playoff in December. 8. the way to a man's heart is through his stomach Cooking food for a man is a good way to win his affections. 泰王室: Thailand's King Maha Vajiralongkorn has stripped 剥夺, 斥夺 his royal consort 贵妃 of her title and medals for being 'disloyal' to the Crown and disrespecting the royal rank. In August, photos were released by the palace of the newly-anointed royal consort in combat fatigues and piloting a jet, with a royal biography being ordered for her. She was the first woman to be a concubine ([ˈkɒŋkjʊbaɪn] mistress) of the king of Thailand in almost a century, because the previous kings were monogamous. She presented a published conference paper on smoking cessation 戒烟 efforts ( cessation [seˈseɪʃ(ə)n] I. an end to something. cessation of: a cessation of hostilities 对抗. II. MEDICAL the act of stopping smoking. a smoking cessation 戒烟 clinic.) among enlisted soldiers while affiliated with her College. 9. meteoric [ˌmiːtiˈɒrɪk] I. 流星似的 becoming very successful very quickly.
The true story of a millionaire's meteoric rise from poverty. II. from or relating to a meteor. meteor [ˈmiːtiə(r)] Best time to catch tonight's Orionid 猎户座 meteor shower 流星雨 from Australia: The Orionid meteor shower will peak tonight, sprinkling remnants of Halley's Comet in Earth's atmosphere to create a dazzling 令人耳晕目眩的 display. This meteor shower may not be the most spectacular of the year, but it delights ( verb to give someone a lot of enjoyment or pleasure We were all delighted by the news. His laid-back style delights the reader. delight in doing something = take (a) delight in (doing) something to get a lot of pleasure or enjoyment from something He delights in corresponding with his old students. transports of joy/delight/rapture a state of great happiness or excitement. noun. I. [uncountable] a feeling of great happiness and pleasure. delight in: Joe's delight in his children's achievements was beautiful to see. with/in delight: They would slide down the icy slopes, shrieking with delight. to someone's delight: To my great delight, she said yes. II. [countable] something that gives you pleasure or happiness. be a delight: I must say she was a delight to teach. the delights of something: Enjoy the delights of rural Spain. ) in other ways. The Orionids appear each year between October 2 and November 7. The peak occurs when the Earth passes through a debris stream left by the Comet Halley as we intersect its orbit each year at this time. Halley's comet itself was last seen in our sky in 1986 and will reappear in 2061. The comet makes an appearance every 76 years on its journey around the sun, according to NASA. The meteors radiate from the well-known Orion constellation 猎户星系( [oˈraɪən] In Greek mythology, Orion ([əˈraɪən]) was a giant huntsman whom Zeus (or perhaps Artemis) placed among the stars as the constellation of Orion. Ancient sources tell several different stories about Orion; there are two major versions of his birth and several versions of his death. The most important recorded episodes are his birth somewhere in Boeotia, his visit to Chios where he met Merope and after he violated her, was blinded by her father, Oenopion, the recovery of his sight at Lemnos, his hunting with Artemis on Crete, his death by the bow of Artemis or the sting of the giant scorpion which became Scorpio 天蝎座, and his elevation to the heavens. Most ancient sources omit some of these episodes and several tell only one. These various incidents may originally have been independent, unrelated stories, and it is impossible to tell whether the omissions are simple brevity or represent a real disagreement. ), but you don't have to look in the direction of the constellation to see them. In fact, you probably shouldn't because those meteors will have short trails and be harder to see. The best time to see this meteor shower, which could produce 10 to 20 meteors per hour during the peak window, is when the moon isn't dominating the night sky. That's because these meteors are more faint 更暗淡 than the Perseid meteor shower. The meteor shower will peak from midnight tonight. The best view will be during a brief window between the setting of the moon 月落 and the beginning of morning twilight. Allow yourself an hour or two to observe. Orionids are also hard to see because they're so fast. They zip into 划过天空 our atmosphere at 65 kilometres per second, vaporizing in our upper atmosphere about 96 kilometres above the Earth's surface. Some have been clocked at 238,000 kilometres per hour. But there's no danger of these bright meteors colliding with Earth. Some of the meteoroids (meteoroid [ˈmiːtɪərɔɪd] 流星体 a small body moving in the solar system that would become a meteor if it entered the earth's atmosphere. A meteoroid is a small rocky or metallic body in outer space. Meteoroids are significantly smaller than asteroids 小行星, and range in size from small grains to one-meter-wide objects. Objects smaller than this are classified as micrometeoroids or space dust. Larger asteroids have also been called planetoids.) are only the size of a grain of sand. But they leave beautiful gas trails that can stretch out for seconds after the meteor itself is gone. Or they can break up into bright fragments. Find an open area away from the city that will afford you a wide view of the sky, and don't forget to bring a blanket or chair and dress for the weather. Allow yourself time for your eyes to adjust to the dark. And you won't need binoculars or telescopes to enjoy the show. 10. a ray of sunshine someone who is happy and makes a difficult situation seem better. someone or something that makes you feel better because there is something positive and refreshing about them. I am looking forward to the wedding, it's the one ray of sunshine for the future. Someone is a ball of rage (a ball of sunshine): someone is really mad. A (humorous) version of he is really mad. a ball of energy 无限精力, 无穷精力: She's a ball of energy with a new book about her childhood and an ecstatic new love affair. She added: "He's a dreamer, a ball of energy. She's a boundless ball of energy. He was just a ball of energy in the most casual of circumstances. I love this ball of energy and cuteness and I wanna protect it whatever it costs. tin-pan = tin-panny adj harsh, tinny, or clanging; noisy. Tin Pan Alley I. a district in a city concerned with the production of popular music, originally a small district in New York. the people who write, produce, and play popular music, or the part of a city where they work. II. derogatory the strictly commercial side of show business and pop music. The start of Tin Pan Alley is usually dated to about 1885, when a number of music publishers set up shop in the same district of Manhattan. The end of Tin Pan Alley is less clear cut 没那么清楚了. Some date it to the start of the Great Depression in the 1930s when the phonograph, radio, and motion pictures supplanted sheet music as the driving force of American popular music, while others consider Tin Pan Alley to have continued into the 1950s when earlier styles of music were upstaged by the rise of rock & roll, which was centered on the Brill Building. 11. vinegar stroke: (slang) I. The fast strokes during male masturbation, just before ejaculation. The point during sexual intercourse where a man is irreversibly about to blow his load. The very worst time to have to cease coitus in an emergency. II. The facial expression during sex that coincides with the last thrust before coming. Imagine the contorted 'fuck face' being pulled by the male as he's about to come, and compare to the wincing one would experience when sucking a lemon, or tasting vinegar. Hence, the vinegar stroke. Ah man, I was banging this chick, and I was up to the vinegar stroke when my phone rang. Ruined the moment. Shit! I was on the vinegar stroke when Julie's dad burst through the door. Etymology: Perhaps from the idea that the man ejaculating may have a
strained facial expression like that of somebody tasting sour vinegar.
Perhaps from the idea that when a man masturbates his strokes become
faster and shorter when reaching climax similar to shaking vinegar from a
bottle.
I wouldn't know 我怎么知道, 我怎么可能知道, 我怎么会知道 VS I don't know: "I don't know" simply means you don't know the answer to the question. However, "I wouldn't know" means you are not in a position to know the answer to that question. Or, occasionally, you don't want people to *think* you would be in a position to know the answer to that question. For example... "How many miles is Earth from the Sun?" "I don't know". "What is the weather going to be like tomorrow?" "I don't know". "How much does your boss earn?" "I wouldn't know". "When you are rich and famous is it difficult to go to the shops?" "I wouldn't know". Or... if you don't want people to *think* you would know the answer... "What is it like to wake up with a prostitute?" "I wouldn't know" (i.e. I would never put myself in the position to find out). "I bet it's difficult to have a sexually transmitted disease?" "I wouldn't know".
'The great airport chase': Families threatened and preyed upon at one of the country's biggest airports: There are urgent calls for an overhaul of transport legislation in Victoria, after an A Current Affair investigation uncovered widespread evidence of "touting" 黑车司机, 黑出租 ( I. [transitive] to praise someone or something because you want other people to think they are good or important. be touted as something: She's being touted as a possible challenger for the title. II. [intransitive/transitive] to try to persuade people to buy something by telling them about it, especially loudly and in public. tout for business/trade/custom 沿街叫卖: street vendors touting for business. III. [transitive] British to scalp tickets. ) at Melbourne Airport. ACA cameras captured men posing as "taxi drivers" and offering rides to unsuspecting passengers fresh off the plane 刚下飞机. When confronted by ACA, the touters bolted 转身就跑 from the camera. ACA observed dozens of passengers being approached and tricked by touters, who hover near the baggage belts wearing suits. In one case, a Queensland traveller was led all the way out of the airport to the nearby McDonald's carpark. "It's seen as forceful 强迫 and it makes people very uncomfortable," Ms Argus said. While it's technically legal in Victoria following recent changes to the Transport Act, the practise 这种行为 represents a blatant violation 公然违反 of Melbourne Airport's rules and conditions. A female passenger complained to the airport that: "They're only approaching women. They became agitated and have become aggressive towards me."
