用法学习: 1. Dixie Chicks: Lipton, who had signed on as full sponsor of the Dixie Chicks tour, was barraged with complaints from consumers threatening to boycott their products (along with those of their parent co-sponsors, Unilever and Pepsi). Lipton fully honored ( I. to show your respect or admiration for someone, especially by giving them a prize or title, or by praising them publicly. She will be honored for her work in promoting friendship between the two countries. We are here today to honor the men and women who gave their lives for their country. II. to do what you said you would do or what you promised to do. honor a promise/pledge/commitment: The government will honor its promise to give this land back to the Native Americans. honor a contract/agreement: Once a contract has been signed, it has to be honored. honor a check/credit card if a bank honors a check or a store honors a credit card, they accept the check or credit card as if it were money. dignify 长脸 to make something or someone seem more important than they really are. If you say that a particular reaction or description dignifies something you have a low opinion of, you mean that it makes it appear acceptable. I'm not going to dignify that with a response 懒得理你, 懒得回答. We won't dignify this kind of speculation with a comment. It was a technique later dignified by the term 'info-tainment'. I won't dignify his abuse by reacting to it. have the decency to
If you say that someone did not have the decency to do something, you
are criticizing them because there was a particular action which they
did not do but which you believe they ought to have done. Nobody had the decency to inform me of what was planned. She didn't even have the decency to apologize. the decencies UK old-fashioned the acceptable or expected ways of doing something: I hate going to funerals, but you must observe the decencies (= it is something you should do). glory [ˈɡlɔri] I. admiration and praise that you get because you have done something impressive. He is at the height of his fame and glory. bask in the glory of something (=enjoy it): The studio is still basking in the glory of its 14 Oscar nominations. reflected glory (=glory because of someone else's success): She enjoyed the reflected glory of her daughter's fame. get (all) the glory: I did the hard work and someone else got all the glory. II. a good quality that makes you admire someone or something. glory of: The town meeting is one of the glories of New England. III. great beauty. It will cost millions of dollars to restore the mansion to its former glory. IV. praise that you give when you worship God. in all its/their etc. glory looking very beautiful or impressive. The road to the west reveals the forest in all its glory. glorify [ˈɡlɔrəˌfaɪ] I. to make someone or something seem more impressive than they really are. Politicians have complained that the media constantly glorify drugs. II. literary to praise someone. Her sole purpose in life was to honor and glorify God. ) its sponsorship and financial commitment to the Dixie Chicks, but had to readjust specific local aspects of the sponsorship activation where research polls determined that public sentiment was particularly damaging. In one famous anti-Dixie Chicks display, former fans were encouraged to bring their CDs to a demonstration at which they would be crushed by a bulldozer. One exception to the list of Dixie Chicks opponents 对手, 敌手 was country musician and vociferous ( [voʊˈsɪfərəs] I. someone who is vociferous expresses their opinion loudly and with force. II. a vociferous opinion, reply, protest, etc. is expressed loudly and with force. ) Iraq war opponent Merle Haggard, who in the summer of 2003 released a song critical of U.S. media coverage of the Iraq War. On July 25, 2003, the Associated Press reported him saying: I don't even know the Dixie Chicks, but I find it an insult for all the men and women who fought and died in past wars when almost the majority of America jumped down their throats for simply voicing an opinion. It was like a verbal witch-hunt and lynching. jump down someone's throat to suddenly speak very angrily to someone, in a way that seems unfair. to react angrily to something that someone says or does: I made the mildest of criticisms and he jumped down my throat. 2. a figment of your imagination something that you have imagined or invented and therefore does not really exist. If you say that something is a figment of someone's imagination, you mean that it does not really exist and that they are just imagining it. The attack wasn't just a figment of my imagination. Otherwise, it's lonely up there. Even the man she says she's seeing is a figment in this movie, cropped from images, a hand-holding blur, a ghost. perturbed [pərˈtɜrbd] worried or upset by something. If someone is perturbed by something, they are worried by it. He apparently was not perturbed by the prospect of a police officer coming to call. She was really quite perturbed at the prospect. William looked more than a little perturbed at the suggestion. On Grammy nomination day in the winter of 2018, a camera watches from a low angle as Swift sits in sweats alone on a sofa and hears from her publicist that her perturbed sixth album, "Reputation," has been omitted from three of the big categories. She's stoic = stoical 逆来顺受的 ( [ˈstoʊɪk] someone who accepts things without complaining. If you say that someone is a stoic, you approve of them because they do not complain or show they are upset in bad situations. They tried to be as stoic as their parents in this tragic situation.). She's almost palpably hurt. But Swift's songwriting treats hurt as an elastic instrument, and she resolves in that moment of snubbing, "I just need to make a better record." And the movie watches as she writes and records "Lover," another album eventually rejected by the string-pullers at the Grammys. Along the way, Swift does a lot of ruminating 反思, 沉思 ( [ˈrumɪˌneɪt] I. formal to think about or discuss something very carefully. He ruminated on the terrible wastage that typified American life. Obsessional personalities commonly ruminate excessively about death. ruminate on something: In the article, Alex Ross ruminates on the differences between live and studio recordings. II. 反刍 biology if an animal ruminates, it brings food back from its stomach into its mouth and chews it (=breaks it into small pieces with its teeth) a second time. ) and recounting, a lot of arguing and apologizing on her own behalf. She's rueful 遗憾地, 后悔地, 懊悔的 ( [ˈruf(ə)l] showing that you are sorry about something. If someone is rueful, they feel or express regret or sorrow in a quiet and gentle way. He shook his head and gave me a rueful smile. 'Our marriage was a mistake,' she said, looking rueful. ) about sitting out the 2016 presidential election and failing to mobilize her millions of fans and followers against Donald Trump's candidacy. So "Miss Americana" is also about an apolitical star waking up to herself 觉醒 as a woman and a citizen. She wants to spend her "good girl" credit to decry the scorched-earth-conservative Senate campaign that Marsha Blackburn was running in Tennessee, Swift's adopted home. Her management team deems this unwise. The team, at that symbolic point, is two slouchy ( slouchy lazy. slouch [slaʊtʃ] to sit, walk, or stand with your shoulders bent forward and your head low so that you look lazy. Don't slouch – stand up straight. be no slouch to be very good at something She was a great swimmer and no slouch on the tennis court.), old white men who counter their client's raging passion with financial and prehistoric umbrage ( [ˈʌmbrɪdʒ] take umbrage (at something) to be offended by something. 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. They're liable to take umbrage if we don't invite them.). Bob Hope and Bing wouldn't let their politics dent ticket sales 50 percent. It's part of strong stretch of the movie that argues that Swift's own experience with a handsy (and consequently litigious 爱起诉的, 动不动就起诉的 ( [lɪˈtɪdʒəs] always ready to deal with disagreements by suing (=starting a legal case) rather than by discussion). litigate [lɪtɪgeɪt] 起诉 To litigate means to take legal action. ...the cost of litigating personal injury claims in the county court. If we have to litigate, we will. litigation [lɪtɪgeɪʃən] Litigation is the process of fighting or defending a case in a civil court of law. The settlement ends more than four years of litigation on behalf of the residents. vexatious litigant 起诉人 [vekˌseɪʃəs ˈlɪtɪɡənt] in England and Wales, someone who has often taken people to court in the past for no reason other than to cause annoyance. A person classified as a vexatious litigant has to get permission from a judge to start a new legal action. ) radio personality helped push her off the fence — a passage that culminates with the most stressful sending of an Instagram post you're likely to see from a star. vexation [vekseɪʃən] Vexation is a feeling of being annoyed, puzzled, and frustrated. He kicked the broken machine in vexation. And all she did that night was win. It‘s the winning, of course, that vexes 惹恼人, 惹火, 恼怒. vexatious [vekˈseɪʃəs] I. vexing. making you feel annoyed, confused, or worried. II. LEGAL vexatious legal action has no purpose other than to cause annoyance. 3. This guy adore her so much that they need her as an unwitting (unknowingly, being completely blindsided 没有被告知, 毫不知情) ( I. 无端被卷进来的, 无端卷入的. not conscious or deliberate. If you describe a person or their actions as unwitting, you mean that the person does something or is involved in something without realizing it. We're unwitting victims of the system. It had been an unwitting blunder on the Prime Minister's part. He was unwittingly caught up in the confrontation. II. used about someone who becomes involved in something without intending to. ) accessory to their surprise marriage proposal. We're supposed to call these people fans. But the ones who turn up here tend toward the most disturbing adulation ( [ˌædʒəˈleɪʃ(ə)n] great praise or admiration, especially for someone who is famous. Adulation is uncritical admiration and praise of someone or something. The book was received with adulation by critics. adulate [ˈædjʊˌleɪt] 无条件无底线的吹捧 to flatter or praise obsequiously. obsequious [əbˈsikwiəs] 溜须拍马的, 谄媚的 too eager to please someone, in a way that does not seem sincere. If you describe someone as obsequious, you are criticizing them because they are too eager to help or agree with someone more important than them. Perhaps your mother was very obsequious to doctors. He smiled and bowed obsequiously to Winger. His tone quickly changed from obsequiousness to outright anger. obsequious waiters. ). She tells the singer Brendon Urie that a man broke into her apartment and slept in her bed. Her departure that day from her fan-barnacled 沾满, 挂满 building leads her to ruminate, minutes later, about the toll that level of attention has taken on her psyche. 4. skol (UK) = skull (US) 一口干 It seems that when Tony Abbott downed a glass of beer in a Sydney pub, he triggered a discussion on the rights and wrongs of seeing our prime minister apparently encouraging binge drinking. A second conversation followed as to whether he had skolled or sculled his beer. In the 1980s the scull spelling would have been regarded as an ignorant respelling of skol based on pronunciation, but it appears to have settled in to the extent where most people would use the word to mean 'to consume (a drink) at one draught', as a synonym for knocking back a drink or chug-a-lugging it. While not exactly regarding it as a formal word, because the activity is inherently informal, they would not think that there was any problem with the scull spelling, or indeed necessarily relate it to skol. 5. calling card 名片. hepatitis [hepəˈtaɪtɪs] 肝炎 an infectious disease of the liver that can be very serious. tonsillitis [ˌtɑns(ə)lˈaɪtɪs] 扁桃体炎 an illness in which your tonsils become infected, swollen, and painful. trailer trash poor, lower-class white people, typified as living in mobile homes. Some people use trailer trash to refer to poor people who live in trailer parks and who they think are vulgar or worthless. This use could cause offence. "their parenting style has moved the family from upper-middle-class suburban to trailer trash in one generation". 通缉犯网上对于自己被通缉照片的评论: Let's calm down on the comments guys, it's not every day I look like trailer trash. Let's just say it wasn't a good angle. basket case I. someone who is extremely nervous or anxious and is therefore unable to organize their life. If you describe someone as a basket case, you think that they are insane. You're going to think I'm a basket case when I tell you this. By the end of the course I was a complete basket case. II. a country or company that is very unsuccessful financially. If someone describes a country or organization as a basket case, they mean that its economy or finances are in a seriously bad state. The country is an economic basket case with chronic unemployment and rampant 肆虐丛生的 crime. 20 years ago the country was an economic basket case. things are looking any better on the sprite. 6. What are you looking at him for? Hey, you think I could get that Sprite, Sean? Sure. Oh, I get it. You're the good cop. How about a meatball sub while you're at it? I ain't your bitch, Dave. Looks like you'll have to wait. Yeah, but you're someone's bitch, aren't you, Sean? The blood on your front seat, Dave. Answer the sergeant. We got a chainlink fence in our back yard. Me and my kid play Wiffle Ball every afternoon after school. He's getting good, so most of the balls are on the other side of the fence. So I climb it. Except I slip... ...slice 划破, 划伤 myself where the links curl in, right here. Bled like hell. Ten minutes later, I gotta pick up Michael at school. Probably was still bleeding when I got in the front seat. What blood type are you? B-negative. Things looking any better on 有没有进展 the Sprite, Sean? 7. Mystic River: 'Raymond Matthew Harris, born 9-6, 1957. First child, Brendan Seamus, born 1983.' Same year that Just Ray is indicted in a scam to embezzle 侵吞 subway tokens. Charges are dropped, and he's fired. Does odd jobs 零工, 散工 ( a casual or isolated piece of work, especially one of a routine domestic or manual nature. "he takes odd jobs, but nothing that would lead to a career") after that, including clerking at Looney Liquors. Questioned in that robbery. Questioned in another, same year, Blanchard Liquors... ...released on lack of evidence again. Beginning to become known, though. He's getting popular. 'A known associate, one Edmund Reese, fingers Raymond... ...in the 1985 heist of a rare comic-book collection.' Comic books? You go, Ray. Hey, excuse me, $150,000 worth of comic books. Oh, excuse me. 'Raymond returned said literature unharmed 完好无损的, 安然无恙的, 毫发无损的.' Does a year solid inside. Comes out with a chemical-dependency problem. Gets honest work 真正的工作, 正经的工作 to support the habit, though? Evidently not. Picked up in a joint MCU-FBI sting operation... ...trafficking stolen goods across state lines. Stole a truckload of cigarettes. The boy's got style 有范 ( It goes it's own way. Style is democratic. It's about each person creating their own unique identity in how they carry themselves, how they groom and what they put on. ... It shows others that you're a person of interest and that life is worth making the effort forBut you can't have style without taking risks. 例子: In Jeffery Archer's new mystery, "False Impression," there was the following conversation between senior FBI agent, Jack Delaney and his subordinate, Tom Crasanti, both of whom are pursuing after the heroine, Anne Petrescu who took a priceless "self-portrait of Van Gogh without an ear" out of the Art Location of the custom house of Heathrow Air Port, and ran away: "Where's Petrescu?" was Jack's first question. "She landed in Bucharest." "And the painting?" "She wheeled it out of customs on a baggage trolley," said Tom. "That woman's got style 好有范." "Agreed," said Tom, "but then perhaps she has no idea what's she's up against." "She has style" is a complementary idiom that usually means the woman did something "in her own unique way" or "in an unexpected way."). Got a boatload of grief too. Stole the truck in Rhode Island, drove it into Massachusetts. Hence, the federal interstate rap. Hence, they got him by the balls, but... ...he does no time. He rolled on someone 告发(rat someone out). Looks that way. After that, he's clean. August 1989, he disappears. One, he's dead, two, in Witness Protection. Three, he goes deep underground, then pops back up... ...to murder his son's 19-year-old girlfriend? We got nothing. A prime suspect in a robbery 18 years ago, during which the murder weapon was used. The guy's son dated the victim. I say we got a lot. Anything about Just Ray's known associates? Let's take a look. 8. So did Harris ever testify in open court? Never went. Markum dummied up on ( dummy up 拒绝交代, 装聋作哑, 只字未提, 没有供出 I. to say nothing. keep quiet; give no information. To suddenly stop talking; shut up. To suddenly stop talking or refuse to speak, typically due to a particular reason. Naturally, everyone dummied up as soon as the check came. Our usual informant dummied up when he realized there was a mole in the department. When he couldn't think of any more good lies, he just dummied up. Everyone was discussing the new teacher, but when she entered the room they all dummied up. II. To make a mock-up or prototype version of something, without some or all off its intended functionality. The carpenters dummied up a set of simple props for the rehearsals.) the guys he was working with... ...DA was afraid he wouldn't be able to convict. So he cut a deal 达成交易. Two years inside, couple more suspended. So Jimmy Markum never knew that Ray Harris ratted him out? Ray Harris disappeared about two months... ...after Markum rotated back into the free world. What's that tell you? 9. you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar = honey catches more flies than vinegar It is easier to persuade others with polite requests and a positive attitude rather than with rude demands and negativity. You can win people to your side more easily by gentle persuasion and flattery than by hostile confrontation. 10. assiduous [əˈsɪdjʊəs] 工作认真细致的, 工作辛苦勤奋的 hard-working and thorough. Someone who is assiduous works hard or does things very thoroughly. ...an assiduous student. Podulski had been assiduous in learning his adopted language. They planned their careers and worked assiduously to see them achieved. imposing [ɪmˈpoʊzɪŋ] 惹人注意的, 吸引眼球的, 耀眼, 醒目的 large and impressive He was an imposing figure on stage. an imposing building. disarm I. to take weapons away from someone, or to give up weapons or armies: With one movement, she disarmed the man and pinned him against the wall. Many politicians argued that this was no time to disarm (= give up the country's weapons and army). Experts successfully managed to disarm the bomb 拆弹, 拆线 (= stop it from exploding). II. to make someone like you, especially when they had not expected to: His frankness completely disarmed 失去警惕, 放下警惕心, 放下戒心 her. to make someone feel less angry or unfriendly because of the way you behave or talk to them Interviewers are disarmed by her straightforward approach. mercurial [mərˈkjʊriəl] = moody, fickle = capricious = flighty 情绪多变的, 情绪化的, 一会儿一个样的 adj likely to change your mood or opinion unexpectedly. petty I. 微不足道的. 不值一提的. usually before nounnot important and not worth worrying about. He could be furious about the prettiest thing I'm not interested in their petty squabbles. Village life is full of gossip and petty jealousies. II. unpleasant to someone because you care too much about something that is not really important. It was a bit petty 睚眦必报的, 小家子气. 不大气, 不大方, 心胸狭小的, 心胸狭窄的 to make me apologize to everyone. III. only before noun minor. petty bureaucrats/officials. a petty criminal/thief/offender. 11. 致死率, 死亡率: death rate, fatality rate, mortality rate. The Wuhan coronavirus seems to have a low fatality rate, and most patients make full recoveries. Experts reveal why it's causing panic anyway. The pneumonia like virus, which originated in Wuhan, China, has infected more than 9,700 people and killed 213. So far, the virus does not seem to be as deadly as SARS, which killed 774 people from 2002 to 2003. SARS had a mortality rate of 9.6%, whereas about 2% of people infected with the new coronavirus have died. But the number of people infected after one month has already surpassed the SARS outbreak's eight-month total. Public-health experts say that for the most part, panic over the Wuhan coronavirus outside of China is unproductive and unwarranted. The public should take precautions to avoid getting sick, but the most effective preventative measures are everyday actions like increased handwashing and not touching your face. 12. Dog-whistle politics is political messaging employing coded language that appears to mean one thing to the general population but has an additional, different, or more specific resonance for a targeted subgroup. The analogy is to a dog whistle, whose ultrasonic tone is heard by dogs but inaudible to humans. dog whistle used for referring to political messages that are aimed at particular groups and will only be fully understood by them. He's playing dog whistle politics and stoking irrational fears of government repression. He should apologize for his dog whistle racism. Archipelago [ɑrkɪˈpeləɡoʊ] 列岛, 群岛 I. a large group of small islands. II. a sea or area of ocean with many islands in it. arraign [əˈreɪn] to order someone to go to a court of law, to be formally charged with a crime. A 52-year-old Detroit man has been arraigned on charges of murder. If someone is arraigned on a particular charge, they are brought before a court of law to answer that charge. She was arraigned today on charges of assault and kidnapping. He was arraigned for criminally abetting a traitor. abet [əˈbet] I. to help or encourage someone to do something immoral or illegal. If one person abets another, they help or encourage them to do something criminal or wrong. Abet is often used in the legal expression ' aid and abet 怂恿, 撺掇'. His wife was sentenced to seven years imprisonment for aiding and abetting him. II. To abet something, especially something bad or undesirable, means to make it possible. The media have also abetted 帮凶 the feeling of unreality.
The Man Who Stole Bird Feathers: In June 2009, Edwin Rist, a 20-year-old American flutist studying at the Royal Academy of Music, smashed a window at the Museum of Natural History in Tring, near London, and pulled off one of the more bizarre robberies of recent decades. Under the nose of 在眼皮底下 a hapless security guard( a hapless 倒霉的 person is someone who you feel sorry for because bad things have happened to them. haphazard [hapˈhazəd] 乱糟糟的, 无组织, 无纪律的 adj. lacking any obvious principle of organization. done in a way that does not seem to be carefully planned or organized. If you describe something as haphazard, you are critical of it because it is not at all organized or is not arranged according to a plan. The investigation does seem haphazard. He had never seen such a haphazard approach to filmmaking as Roberto's. She looked at the books jammed haphazardly in the shelves. "the music business works in a haphazard fashion". ), Rist ransacked storage drawers and absconded 逃跑 with the preserved skins of 299 tropical birds, including specimens collected by the legendary naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace in the mid-19th century. He intended to fence 销赃 the birds' extravagantly colored plumage at high prices to fellow aficionados = aficionado 爱好者, 同好 ( [əˌfɪʃiəˈnɑdoʊ] someone who is very interested in something and knows a lot about it. If someone is an aficionado of something, they like it and know a lot about it. I happen to be an aficionado of the opera, and I love art museums. ...a jazz aficionado. The wine and opera afficionado owns two Hunter Valley vineyards and last year hosted an exclusive soiree for opera singer Kiri Te Kanawa at his home. ) in hopes of raising enough cash to support both his musical career and his parents' struggling Labradoodle-breeding business in the Hudson Valley. Kirk Wallace Johnson's "The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century" recounts Rist's odd crime and its even more curious aftermath. Johnson, a former U.S.A.I.D. employee in Falluja, Iraq, and the founder of the List Project (a nonprofit organization that resettles Iraqis marked for death after working with the American military), first heard about Rist's robbery during a trout-fishing holiday in New Mexico: "I don't know if it was Edwin's Victorian sounding name, the sheer weirdness of the story or the fact that I was in desperate need of a new direction in life, but I became obsessed with the crime within moments." So he set out to learn all he could about Rist, unspooling 敞开, 打开 a complex tale of greed, deception and ornithological sabotage. Rist's feather obsession turns out to have rich antecedents ( [ˌæntɪˈsid(ə)nt] I. something that happened or existed before something else and is similar to it in some way. II. antecedents the members of your family who lived a long time ago. III. the antecedent of a word is the noun or phrase nearer the beginning of the sentence that it refers to. In the sentence "I threw the keys to him and he caught them," "keys" is the antecedent of "them." ). Johnson describes Wallace's 1854 expedition through the Malaysian jungle in pursuit of the Bird of Paradise, which "had an otherworldly beauty. … From its tail emerged two wiry feathers that spiraled tightly into two glittering emerald coins." Walter Rothschild, the eccentric scion 富家子, 富家公子 ( [ˈsaɪən] I. literary a young member of a rich or important family. II. biology a part that is cut from a plant and attached to another plant in order to grow there. ) of the banking family, eagerly took in the specimens from the expedition and assembled the largest private collection of bird skins in the world at his Tring mansion, which later became a branch of the Natural History Museum. At around the same time, an insatiable demand for feathers among fashion-conscious Europeans and Americans set off a mass killing of birds for profit. This "slaughter of innocents," as one activist described it in 1875, led to the banning of the feather trade and the birth of the animal conservation movement. Decades later, the pursuit of rare feathers, by legal or illegal means, was taken up by salmon fly-tying experts( fly I. a common small insect with wings. Flies eat food, are often found near garbage, and are responsible for spreading many diseases. A trapped fly buzzed against the window pane. a new spray to kill flies and mosquitoes. a swarm/cloud/plague of flies: There were clouds of small flies over the river. II. the opening at the front of a pair of pants that is fastened with buttons or a zipper. The British word is flies. Your fly is open! III. 鱼饵. a small hook made to look like an insect, fixed to the end of a fishing line and used for catching fish. IV. a flysheet for a tent. ), whose creations have become ever more esoteric ( [ˌesəˈterɪk] known about or understood by very few people. a rather esoteric debate about European tax rules. ) and elaborate. One master, Paul Schmookle, according to a 1990 profile cited by Johnson, "will use up to 150 different materials, ranging from polar bear and mink fur to the feathers of wild turkeys, golden and Reeves pheasants, the African speckled bustard and the Brazilian blue chatterer." Rist became adept at tying flies as a teenager, but as a criminal he proved less successful. He made no effort to cover his internet footprint, and the British police busted him about a year after the robbery. In court, his lawyer argued that he suffered from Asperger's syndrome and had trouble distinguishing right from wrong 没有对错观念, 分不清对错, a dubious defense that the judge nevertheless accepted, handing Rist a one-year suspended sentence. Soon after the trial, Johnson embarked on a quest to track down Rist, identify his network of buyers and recover for the museum thousands of still-missing feathers, vital tools for DNA extraction and other important zoological research. Johnson draws a fascinating portrait of Rist as a self-rationalizing con man and exposes the culture of secrecy and opportunism that marks his fellow fly-tiers. Still, Johnson's self-aggrandizing ( Self aggrandizement [əˈɡrændɪzmənt] 自我英雄化 is defined as exaggerating one's own importance or power. An example of self aggrandizement is a candidate stretching the truth about his accomplishments to win the position. aggrandize [əˈɡrændaɪz] 自吹自擂. to increase the power or importance of someone or something when this is not deserved or reasonable. They use religion to aggrandize themselves. self-aggrandizing nonsense. ) pronouncements ( [prəˈnaʊnsmənt] an official public statement. ) ("no one else was going to hunt them down but me") can be grating 烦人的, 恼人的( noun. a metal frame with bars across it, used for covering a hole or window. adj. a grating voice, laugh, or sound is unpleasant and annoying. ), as is his tendency to lapse into pumped-up, cliché-ridden prose. "I hopped in my car and bombed up the I-95 to Boston, the revelation setting my imagination on fire," he writes after uncovering the identity of one of Rist's possible accomplices, a Norwegian fly-tier known as Goku. In the end, Johnson fails to make much headway in ( make headway to begin to succeed: Has the city made any headway in attracting new businesses? ) recovering the dispersed treasures. "We're a tightknit community, fly-tiers," one man tells him as he is digging into the crime, "and you do not want to piss us off." Beneath their artistry and collegiality 同事情谊 ( [kəˌlidʒiˈæləti] the quality of being relaxed, friendly, and cooperative, as is typical among a group of close colleagues. The regular meeting schedule builds a sense of collegiality among the teachers. ), Johnson suggests, many of these craftsmen seem primarily interested in feathering their own nests ( to feather one's nest If you say that someone is feathering their nest, you mean that they are getting a lot of money out of something, so that they can lead a comfortable life. to make yourself rich, especially in a way that is unfair or dishonest. To achieve benefits, especially financial ones, by taking advantage of the opportunities with which one is presented; to amass a comfortable amount of personal wealth. Mary's much more interested in doing things for other people than feathering her own nest.). outdoorsy [aʊtˈdɔrzi] adjective enjoying outdoor activities like camping and walking kid. indoorsy 足不出户的, 宅在家里的, 不爱出门的 (informal) Favouring, or pertaining to, indoor life. flush adj with I. Lit. even with something; sharing a surface with something. The edge of the sink is flush with the counter. The wood flooring is flush with the carpet so people won't trip. Fitting snugly or evenly next to something else. The drywall isn't flush with the jamb, that's why you're having trouble opening the door all the way. II. 有钱. having a lot of money. If you are flush with money, you have a lot of it, usually only for a short time. He's still young, not flush with cash to buy beautiful but expensive feathers. At that time, many developing countries were flush with dollars earned from exports. If we're feeling flush we'll probably give them champagne. I've just been paid so I'm feeling flush. flush VERB I. [of a face] 脸红. red with anger, embarrassment, rage, etc. When you flush, you become red in the face, especially as a result of strong emotions, heat, or alcohol. Mark flushed with annoyance, but said nothing. someone's face/cheeks flush (with something): Her cheeks flushed with embarrassment. She flushed with pleasure as she accepted the prize. The champagne had caused his face to flush. He faced the woman he had dreamed about all his life. His face flushed with recognition and his heart pounded. Ellen's face flushed with embarrassment. II. If you flush a toilet, or if a toilet flushes, its contents empty and it fills with water again: My children never flush the toilet after them. I can't get the toilet to flush. flush sth down the toilet to get rid of something by putting it in the toilet and operating the toilet: I tend to flush old medicines down the toilet. III. If you flush a part of your body, you clean it or make it healthier by using a large amount of liquid to get rid of dirt or harmful substances. Flush 冲刷, 冲洗 the eye with clean cold water for at least 15 minutes. Water is ideal to flush the kidneys and the urinary tract. ...an 'alternative' therapy that gently flushes out the colon to remove toxins. IV. If you flush dirt or a harmful substance out of a place, you get rid of it by using a large amount of liquid. That won't flush all the sewage out, but it should unclog some stinking drains. V. If you flush people or animals out of a place where they are hiding, you find or capture them by forcing them to come out of that place. They flushed them out of their hiding places. Police conduct raids to flush out illegal traders. break faith with If you break faith with someone you made a promise to or something you believed in, you stop acting in a way that supports them. If we don't, we're breaking faith with our people! case = scope out 勘察, 勘查, 考察, 侦查, 查看 if a criminal cases a place, such as a bank, they watch it and look around it to help them plan their crime. He saw McVeigh casing the Oklahoma City federal building before it was bombed. He went to the museum to case it.
Big Bang Theory: 1. I don't like bugs, okay? They freak me out. Interesting. You're afraid of insects and women. Ladybugs must render you catatonic. It was a joke. I made it to lessen your discomfort. 2. Don't knock. Just walk in. Why be polite to the world's leading expert on the dung beetle? Excuse me, are you Professor Crawley? Who wants to know? I'm Dr. Cooper, from the Physics Department. Couldn't wait, huh? I'm sorry? I haven't even packed yet and you're already measuring my lab for one of your godless laser machines. No, you don't understand. We just wanna ask you a question. Let me ask you one first. What's a world-renowned entomologist ( entomology [ˌentəˈmɑlədʒi] 昆虫学家 the scientific study of insects.) with a doctorate and 20 years of experience, to do with his life when the university cuts off the funding for his lab, huh? Ask rhetorical questions that make people uncomfortable? What's your deal? Are they planning to outsource my job to Bangalore? I'm from New Delhi. We should find another entomologist. Toby, what did you do in a past life to be so disgusting now? His name isn't Toby. Toby is an absurd name for a cricket. 3. Flashlight went out. I need some batteries. Fellas? Hello? It's really dark down here. Oh, sweetie, you really can't hold your liquor 不胜酒力, 不能喝酒, can you? I'm okay. Just a little mouthwash and then I'm gonna rock your world. 4. Sheldon, you can't train my girlfriend like a lab rat. Actually, it turns out I can. Well, you shouldn't. Oh, ugh. There's just no pleasing you 难以取悦, 难伺候, is there? You weren't happy with my approach with her so I decided to employ operant conditioning techniques building on the works of Thorndike and B.F. Skinner. Next week, I believe I can have her jumping out of a pool balancing a beach ball on her nose. No, this has to stop now. I'm not suggesting we really make her jump out of a pool. I thought the "buzzinga" was implied 不言而喻的, 不言自明的. I'm just tweaking her personality, sanding off 磨掉, 打磨掉, 去掉 the rough edges, if you will. No, you're not sanding Penny. Are you saying that I am forbidden from applying a harmless scientifically valid protocol that will make our lives better? Yes, you're forbidden. Bad Leonard. 5. What could she possibly be talking about for so long? Obviously, waitressing at the Cheesecake Factory is a complex socio-economic activity that requires a great deal of analysis and planning. Buzzinga. You know, using positive reinforcement techniques I could train that behavior out of her in a week. No. If you let me use negative reinforcement I can get it done before we go to bed. You're not squirting 喷水 ( I. to make a liquid move with a lot of force. Nick squirted 挤出来 a few blobs of ketchup onto his burger. a. transitive to make someone or something wet by squirting a liquid. squirt someone/something with something 喷射, 扫射: He's just squirted us with the hose! b. intransitive if a line of liquid squirts somewhere, it moves somewhere with a lot of force. Juice squirted onto his shirt as he bit into the pear. ) her in the face with water. No, of course not. We're talking very mild electric shocks. No tissue damage whatsoever. Forget it. Oh, come on. You can't tell me that you're not intrigued about the possibility of building a better girlfriend. I'm not. Penny's qualities, both good and bad, are what make her who she is. You mean like that high-pitched irritating laugh? Yes. You wouldn't prefer a throaty chuckle? You're not changing how Penny laughs. No, that would be incongruous ( [ɪnˈkɑŋɡruəs] 不和谐的. 不协调的. strange because of being very different from other things that happen or exist in the same situation. Someone or something that is incongruous seems strange when considered together with other aspects of a situation. This seemed both incongruous and irritating against a background of severe poverty. The Indian temple is an incongruous sight in the Welsh border country. ...buildings perched incongruously 突兀的 in a high green valley. ). I was going to lower the whole voice to a more pleasing register. Ugh, sorry, guys. 6. I'm leaving too. Not that anyone cares. When we tell this story, let's end it differently. What are you thinking, maybe a big musical number? Well, I'm going to make some warm milk and then turn in. I trust if you two are planning on engaging in amorous activities you'll keep the decibel level to a minimum. Of course.
