用法学习: 1. Racial Impostor Syndrome: When you're made to feel like a fake: Some areas are more diverse than others, though. The Upper West Side, sandwiched between 夹在中间 the Hudson river and Central Park, is quiet, residential, and affluent. At school, people often assumed that I would fit the stereotype of the shy Asian girl, and this became a self-fulfilling prophecy(self-fulfilling 怕什么来什么的, 越怕越会成真的 something that is self-fulfilling is certain to happen because people think it is likely and then behave in ways that make it happen. If you describe a statement or belief about the future as self-fulfilling, you mean that what is said or believed comes true because people expect it to come true. Fear of failure can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. self-fulfilling prophecy 预言 [ˈprɑfəsi]: A self-fulfilling prophecy is a prediction that causes itself to be true due to the behavior (including the act of predicting it) of the believer. Self-fulling, here, means "brought about as a result of being foretold or talked about," while prophecy refers to the prediction. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy: traders get scared so the stock market falls because of them.). I was afraid to raise my hand in class discussions, or to reach out to new classmates, and my self-confidence plummeted. I became silent. I thought that I had to withdraw and whitewash myself in order to fit in. I wanted to scrub clean all of the Asian parts of myself. Even though I wasn't white, I wasn't considered fully Korean, either. I was trapped in what felt like an inescapable limbo. After moved to HK, for once I wasn't carefully unpacking the racial undertones of every interaction. We went to the beach on the south side of Hong Kong, went out to eat dim sum and listened to local bands. America has a long history of assigning identity, often making people of colour question themselves. A good example of this is the introduction of "blood quantum 血统( [ˈkwɑntəm] I. a unit used for measuring very small amounts of energy. II. legal a quantum of damages. III. In physics, quantum theory and quantum mechanics are concerned with the behaviour of atomic particles. Both quantum mechanics and chaos theory suggest a world constantly in flux. IV. A quantum leap or quantum jump in something is a very great and sudden increase in its size, amount, or quality. The vaccine represents a quantum leap in healthcare. blood quantum: The proportion of a person's ancestors who have been identified as members of a particular North American Indian people, typically expressed as a fraction. The use of an individual's blood quantum to determine eligibility for tribal membership was originally introduced by the U.S. government; some tribal nations subsequently established their own blood quantum criteria to determine eligibility for enrolment. )" for Native American tribes. The idea of blood quantum was then adopted by some Native Americans themselves. Florida's Miccosukee Tribe, for example, requires someone to have 50% tribal blood in order to qualify as a member. This led many to question their identity, says Brett. Native American children were also separated from their tribes and forced to assimilate with white Americans and adopt their values, he adds. "Which meant that racial impostor syndrome was forced upon them 强加在...身上. People were made to change who they were, and then feel divorced from their tribe." Maybe Hilaria Baldwin's internal identity is in conflict with the way others perceive her? Identity is fluid and people of any race can feel a kinship to a culture that they're not part of. But her experience is clearly very different from the experience of a person of colour in the US, or that of someone who looks Asian but has been brought up in New York. 2. Morrison publicly reprimands Kelly over coronavirus vaccine misinformation: The Prime Minister addressed the matter, unprompted 没人问, 没人提问, after Question Time. Just days earlier, speaking at the National Press Club, he refused to distance himself from Mr Kelly, insisting he was a very good Member for Hughes. Labor leader Anthony Albanese said he was pleased Mr Morrison had made a "belated 迟来的 statement" to distance himself from Mr Kelly. Independent MP Helen Haines described what Mr Kelly has been doing as "heinous ( If you describe something such as a crime as heinous, you mean that it is extremely evil or horrible. Her life has been permanently blighted by his heinous crime. They are capable of the most heinous acts. )" and said he was distributing "serious misinformation". "He's exploiting and aggravating legitimate concerns and anxieties of Australians just to big himself up," she said. "It's appalling in a pandemic — when millions overseas have died, when the entire world has been turned upside down, when people's lives have been disrupted so completely — to throw fuel onto the fire of people's anxieties about their health and security, and, in the process, endanger them." 3. savage [sævɪdʒ] adj. I. 野蛮, 不人道的. 疯狂的 Someone or something that is savage is extremely cruel, violent, and uncontrolled. This
was a savage attack on a defenceless young girl. ...the savage wave of
violence that swept the country in November 1987. ...a savage dog
lunging at the end of a chain. He was savagely beaten. A savage look flitted across his face. She took a savage pleasure in pointing out their mistakes. II. extremely severe. savage cuts in public services. Losing his job had been a savage blow. III. a savage area 荒芜的, 荒凉的 of land has no buildings on it and looks very cold. a bare savage landscape. a savage coastline. IV. criticizing someone or something very much. She wrote a savage review of the book. a savage attack on the government's policies. V. old-fashioned
an insulting way of describing someone or something from a culture that
is not considered to be advanced. This is now considered offensive. noun.
If you refer to people as savages, you dislike them because you think
that they do not have an advanced society and are violent. an insulting
word for someone from a culture that is not considered to be advanced.
This is now considered offensive. ...their conviction that the area was a frozen desert peopled with uncouth savages 野蛮人, 野人. verb. If someone is savaged by a dog or other animal, the animal attacks them violently. if an animal savages someone, it attacks them and injures or kills them. A jogger was savaged by two Rottweilers yesterday. The animal then turned on him and he was savaged to 咬死 death. if an animal savages someone, it attacks them and injures or kills them A jogger was savaged by two Rottweilers yesterday. II. 批评. 猛批. 狂批. 肆虐. 痛批. 狠批. If someone or something that they have done is savaged by another person, that person criticizes them severely. to criticize someone or something severely. Smith's play was savaged by the critics. The show had already been savaged by critics. Speakers called for clearer direction and savaged the Chancellor. ravage [ˈrævɪdʒ] 捣毁, 肆虐, 破坏, 毁坏 ( decimate VS dismantle VS ravage VS demolish VS undermine VS sabotage VS damage VS wreck VS devastate VS subvert VS undercut VS diminish ) to destroy something or damage it very badly. A town, country, or economy that has been ravaged is one that has been damaged so much that it is almost completely destroyed. For
two decades the country has been ravaged by civil war and foreign
intervention. The camerawork makes the ravaged streets of New Orleans
look exquisite. ...Nicaragua's ravaged economy. 4. contravene [ˌkɑntrəˈvin] 违反 to do something that is not allowed by a rule, law, or agreement. Collocations: Adv: clearly, directly. The present proposals, if implemented, would directly contravene European Law. Nouns: convention, guidelines, law, legislation, policy, principle, provision, regulations, requirement, right, rule. This action would contravene the law on discrimination. Chan Han Choi has pleaded not guilty to seven charges, including contravening United Nations sanctions and providing services to assist a weapons of mass destruction program. tell tales out of school = talk out of school 话多, 乱说话, 大嘴巴, 八卦, 说闲话 (idiomatic) To reveal confidential or sensitive information; to gossip. speak/talk out of turn 多话, 多嘴, 多舌, 话多屁稠 to say something that you should not say because you have no right to say it or because it upsets someone. I hope I'm not speaking out of turn, but I preferred the original version. blab [informal] (transitive, intransitive) To tell tales; to gossip without reserve or discretion. If someone blabs about something secret, they tell people about it. Her mistake was to blab about their affair. No blabbing to your mates! She'll blab it all over the school. no...to speak of 值得说的, 少得不值得一提, 少得可怜 不值得一提的少 used for saying that something is so unimportant or so small that it is not worth mentioning. She has no money to speak of. used to indicate that there is so little of something that it is hardly worth mentioning. "I've no capital—well, none to speak of". Nothing to speak of means ' hardly anything' or 'only unimportant things'. They have no weaponry to speak of. 'Any fresh developments?'—'Nothing to speak of.' speak of I. to talk or write about (someone or something) : to mention (a subject) in speech or writing. Speaking of Jill, where is she? It was the first time she spoke of going to law school. She never speaks of her suffering during the war. In the letter, he spoke of feeling ill. speaking of which/that/something 提到, 说到, 提起来, 说起来 used for introducing something new that you are going to say relating to a subject that someone has just mentioned. Speaking of money, have we paid our credit card bills yet? II. to indicate or suggest (something). His diaries speak of a troubled mind. IV. to talk about (someone or something) in a specified way. He spoke well/highly/favorably of both job candidates. V. chiefly US to show that (someone or something) does or does not deserve to be praised, admired, etc. The continued success of the business speaks well of their judgment 体现, 表现. Her bad behavior speaks poorly of her upbringing. in a manner of speaking 说起来, 但实际上 used for saying that something is generally correct, but not exactly. 'So are you retired now?' 'In a manner of speaking, yes. But I still do some work.' talk/speak of the devil 说曹操, 曹操到 used when someone you have just been talking about arrives unexpectedly. 5. epithet [ˈɛpɪθɛt] an adjective or phrase expressing a quality or attribute regarded as characteristic of the person or thing mentioned. An epithet is an adjective or short phrase which is used as a way of criticizing or praising someone. ...the religious issue which led to the epithet 'bible-basher'. "old men are often unfairly awarded the epithet 'dirty'". II. an epithet used as a term of abuse. "people jeered and hurled racial epithets". In a 2011 radio interview, he described Russia's ruling party, United Russia, as a "party of crooks and thieves", which became a popular epithet. Navalny and the FBK have published investigations detailing alleged corruption by high-ranking Russian officials. The rounds of the kitchen: (USA) If you get or give the rounds of the kitchen, you give a verbal blast to someone. to argue with them, or give them a stern dressing down. Scott Morrison gives Craig Kelly the rounds of the kitchen. indemnity [ɪnˈdemnəti] I. uncountable legal insurance or protection against injury or loss. If something provides indemnity, it provides insurance or protection against damage or loss.They were charged with failing to have professional indemnity cover. Political exiles had not been given indemnity from prosecution. The Australian Government has provided an indemnity 担保, 保证 to the suppliers of approved and potential COVID-19 vaccine candidates, covering certain liabilities that could result from the use of the vaccine. security or protection against a loss or other financial burden. "no indemnity will be given for loss of cash". II. countable 赔偿费. 赔偿金. a payment made to someone who has suffered injury or loss. An indemnity is an amount of money paid to someone because of some damage or loss they have suffered. a sum of money paid as compensation, especially one paid by a country defeated in war as a condition of peace. The government paid the family an indemnity for the missing pictures. 6. The ice-cream headache (brain freeze) is also known as a cold-stimulus headache or trigeminal headache. It is thought to be caused by rapid constriction of the blood vessels in the roof of the mouth (palate). Cures commonly involve warming the roof of the mouth to prevent this rapid constriction and relieve the headache. A brain freeze is a short, intense pain behind the forehead and temples that occurs after eating something cold too fast. If you get one, don't worry – your brain isn't actually freezing. The sensation feels like it's happening inside your skull, but it really has to do with what's going on in your mouth. stress headache = Tension headaches occur when neck and scalp muscles become tense or contract. The muscle contractions 肌肉收缩 can be a response to stress, depression, head injury, or anxiety. They may occur at any age, but are most common in adults and older teens. It is slightly more common in women and tends to run in families. probate [ˈproʊˌbeɪt] the process of proving that a will (=a document with the details of who gets your property when you die) can be accepted as legally correct. apply for probate: The executors must formally apply for probate. grant (someone) probate: Once probate has been granted, the will can be fully executed. Probate is a court order made by the Supreme Court of NSW which confirms that the will of the deceased is valid and gives permission to the executor to distribute the estate as described in the deceased person's will. wiki: Probate is the judicial process whereby a will is "proved" in a court of law and accepted as a valid public document that is the true last testament of the deceased, or whereby ( used for saying that something is done according to the method, arrangement, rule, etc. that has been referred to. a regulation whereby an employer is held responsible for any accident. There is a standard method whereby officers are selected for promotion.) the estate is settled according to the laws of intestacy 无遗嘱的 ( [ɪnˈtestəsi] the state of not having made a will. If the deceased does not leave a valid will then the rules of intestacy will apply. Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estate; the remaining estate forms the "intestate estate". Intestacy law, also referred to as the law of descent and distribution, refers to the body of law (statutory and case law) that determines who is entitled to the property from the estate under the rules of inheritance. ) in the state of residence of the deceased at time of death in the absence of a legal will. The granting of probate is the first step in the legal process of administering the estate of a deceased person, resolving all claims and distributing the deceased person's property under a will. A probate court decides the legal validity of a testator's (deceased person's) will and grants its approval, also known as granting probate, to the executor. The probated will then becomes a legal instrument that may be enforced by the executor in the law courts if necessary. A probate also officially appoints the executor (or personal representative), generally named in the will, as having legal power to dispose of the testator's assets in the manner specified in the testator's will. However, through the probate process, a will may be contested. 7. inimical [ɪˈnɪmɪk(ə)l] 不利的, 有害的, 有伤害的 adj I. formal causing harm, or stopping the development of something. Conditions that are inimical to something make it difficult for that thing to exist or do well. harmful or limiting: Excessive managerial control is inimical to creative expression. ...a false morality that is inimical to human happiness. ...goals inimical to 损害, 伤害 Western interests. actions inimical to peace. Now police have filed criminal charges - including sedition and making statements inimical to national integration - against eight journalists who covered the protests in Delhi. III. mainly literary unfriendly. browbeat [ˈbraʊˌbit] 强迫, 迫使 to make someone do something by asking or threatening them until they agree. If someone tries to browbeat you, they try to force you to do what they want. ...attempts to deceive, con, or browbeat the voters. When I backed out of the 100 metres, an older kid tried to browbeat me into it. ...the browbeaten employees. browbeat someone into (doing) something: She wasn't going to let him browbeat her into agreeing to go. The police cases, the Editors Guild of India said, were "an attempt to intimidate, harass, browbeat, and stifle the media". dock 克扣, 扣薪水, 扣工资, 扣钱 If you dock someone's wages or money, you take some of the money away. If you dock someone points in a contest, you take away some of the points that they have. to take money out of someone's salary, especially as a punishment. They dock your wages if you're late more than twice. He threatens to dock her fee. To dock points would be wrong. Mr Panda says police have filed complaints against journalists in a "couple of recent cases" because there have "been serious criminal allegations of fake news peddling 兜售, 推销 in a riot-like situation, with the intent of fanning violence". He pointed to the case of a senior anchor of a leading news network who was taken off air and his pay docked because of an "incorrect" tweet relating to the death of a protester. "This was not just blatant peddling of a false narrative, but one that had real and imminent potential to inflame large-scale violence. The said journalist and others of his ilk ( of its/that/their ilk [ɪlk] 同样的, 同类型的 of its/that/their particular type or kind. A proposal of that ilk seems reasonable to me. The show is by no means the worst of its ilk. lot 一伙人 I. a particular group of people. You can refer to a specific group of people as a particular lot. Future generations are going to think that we were a pretty boring lot. I thought this lot might have been a bit more sympathetic to my approach. II. You can use lot to refer to a set or group of things or people. He bought two lots of 1,000 shares in the company during August and September. We've just sacked one lot of builders. someone's lot (in life) 命运, 现状 someone's general situation in life, especially when this is not very good. Your lot is the kind of life you have or the things that you have or experience. Sometimes you just have to accept your lot in life. Miss Wilkinson was never satisfied with her lot in life. that's your lot used for telling someone that they have had all of something and there will be no more. OK folks, time to go home. That's your lot. throw in/cast your lot with someone to decide to support or work with a particular person or group of people. If you throw in your lot with a particular person or group, you decide to work with them and support them from then on, whatever happens. He has decided to throw in his lot with the far-right groups in parliament. Once he had thrown in his lot with the rebels, there was no going back. ) have also had a pattern of promoting such false narratives on earlier instances, and in fact have had to apologise on the record after being taken to court by affected parties," Mr Panda said. unabashed [ˌʌnəˈbæʃt] 不以为耻的, 不知耻的, 不知羞耻的 adj. not ashamed or embarrassed. If you describe someone as unabashed, you mean that they are not ashamed, embarrassed, or shy about something, especially when you think most people would be. He seems unabashed by his recent defeat. He's an unabashed, old-fashioned romantic. He said some state governments, run by political parties opposed to Mr Modi's government, and "for whom these journalists have shown unabashed sympathy, have in fact been hounding journalists with the blatant misuse of power". 印度镇压媒体Why journalists in India are under attack: Opposition politicians, students, journalists, authors and academicians have borne the brunt of the repressive law 首当其冲的受到镇压法律的 攻击. The protection afforded to freedom of expression in India has never been robust 强大的, according to Tarunabh Khaitan, vice-dean of law at Oxford University. Although this is a constitutionally guaranteed freedom, its scope was drastically restricted by the First Amendment under Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1951. It was then that India's government "discovered that mouthing platitudes ( platitude 废话, 老生常谈的话, 套话 disapproving a remark or statement that may be true but is boring and has no meaning because it has been said so many times before. a statement that has been repeated so often that it is meaningless. something that has been said so often that it is not interesting anymore and shows a lack of imagination. The conversation between the two leaders went beyond platitudes and got into real issues. They nodded at every platitude about making sacrifices today for a better tomorrow. He doesn't mouth platitudes about it not mattering who scores as long as the team wins. Why couldn't he say something original instead of spouting the same old platitudes? ...a stream of platitudes, outlining many problems but offering few solutions. ) to civil liberties was one thing, and upholding them as principles was quite another," notes Tripurdaman Singh in his book Sixteen Stormy Days. And the colonial police and criminal justice system inherited from the Raj continues to see "human rights as an obstacle rather than their first duty to defend", says Prof Khaitan. India's Supreme Court, too, has had a poor track record on protecting civil liberties in comparison with courts in many other democracies, he says. "The biggest sufferers are the two truth-seeking institutions whose autonomy 自治, 自主, 独立 from political as well as corporate power is critical to a democracy: the media and the universities. The role of these knowledge institutions is to challenge power and seek discursive 离题的, 不切中主题的 ( [dɪsˈkɜrsɪv] I. 离题的. 不切题的. digressing from subject to subject. including information that is not relevant to the main subject. If a style of writing is discursive, it includes a lot of facts or opinions that are not necessarily relevant. "students often write dull, second-hand, discursive prose". ...a livelier, more candid and more discursive treatment of the subject. II. relating to discourse or modes of discourse. "the attempt to transform utterances from one discursive context to another". vocabulary: If people accuse you of rambling from topic to topic in your speech or writing, they may say you have a discursive style — with changes in subject that are hard to follow. But it's okay because unicorns are shiny. The adjective discursive is often used to describe speech or writing that tends to stray from the main point, but the word can also have almost the opposite meaning. Discursive can also be used to describe an argument based on reason instead of intuition: "Her discursive dissertation on Colonial American women was well-argued and well-reasoned. Her professors were most impressed with her work.") accountability from power. But once captured, they serve as the instruments 爪牙 ( I. 设备, 工具. An instrument is a tool or device that is used to do a particular task, especially a scientific task. ...a thin tube-like optical instrument. ...instruments for cleaning and polishing teeth. The environment itself will at the same time be measured by about 60 scientific instruments. II. A musical instrument is an object such as a piano, guitar, or flute, which you play in order to produce music. Learning a musical instrument introduces a child to an understanding of music. III. An instrument is a device that is used for making measurements of something such as speed, height, or sound, for example on a ship or plane or in a car. ...crucial instruments on the control panel. ...navigation instruments. IV. Something that is an instrument for achieving a particular aim is used by people to achieve that aim. The veto has been a traditional instrument of diplomacy for centuries. ) of power instead. Weak protection of free expression makes it relatively easy to capture or compromise them," Prof Khaitan told me. India's media was gagged 禁言 for 21 months when then prime minister Indira Gandhi suspended civil liberties and imposed a nationwide Emergency in 1975. "What is unusual about our current political moment is that, unlike a formal emergency that undermines rights openly, all our rights are supposed to still be functional. There is no formal suspension of rights. But their corrosion in practice has become overwhelming. We are living in an extra-legal, informal, emergency. During a formal emergency, a citizen can perhaps hope that things will go back to normal once it is lifted," says Prof Khaitan. "How do you even 'lift' an informal emergency, one that was never promulgated ( [ˈprɑməlˌɡeɪt] I. 公开宣布. 公告. 昭告天下. 公示. to make an idea or belief known to as many people as possible. If people promulgate a new law or a new idea, they make it widely known. The shipping industry promulgated a voluntary code. II. 法律法规等, 正式生效. 正式实施. to make an official announcement introducing a law or rule. If a new law is promulgated by a government or national leader, it is publicly approved or made official. A new constitution was promulgated last month. ...the promulgation of the constitution. vocabulary: To promulgate is to officially put a law into effect. Your state may announce a plan to promulgate a new traffic law on January 1st. Laws aren't the only things you can promulgate. The word promulgate comes from the Latin word promulgatus, meaning "make publicly known." Someone can promulgate values, belief systems, and philosophies — it just means they're promoted or made public. For example, you might write an article to promulgate the benefits of eating only organic foods. ) in the first place?" 8. Gingrich rips Kerry, Pelosi, Newsom, de Blasio over 'contempt for mere citizens': Kerry, who is President Biden's newly minted climate czar, flew across the Atlantic Ocean aboard a private jet to accept an award for his environmental activism. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich likened the former Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry to a modern day Marie Antoinette Wednesday, painting his jet-setting climate advocacy as the latest example of liberal elitism. "People should quit picking on John Kerry for taking a private plane to Iceland for an environmental award," Gingrich tweeted Wednesday. "Do you really expect a political Prince like Kerry to sit in an Icelandair seat with mere citizens 普通老百姓, 普罗大众, 平民百姓, 老百姓 ( mere [mɪə(r)] I. used for emphasizing that something is small or unimportant. I've lost a mere two pounds. Her comments are mere opinion, not fact. You use mere to emphasize how unimportant or inadequate something is, in comparison to the general situation you are describing. ...successful exhibitions which go beyond mere success. There is more to good health than the mere absence of disease. In Poland, the faith has always meant more than mere religion. She'd never received the merest hint of any communication from him. II. used for emphasizing the importance or influence of something, although it seems like only a small thing. You use mere to indicate that a quality or action that is usually unimportant has a very important or strong effect. The mere mention 只是简单的 of food had triggered off hunger pangs. The merest sight of a car sent him into a panic. The team manager has been quick to clamp down on the merest hint of complacency. The mere fact that he came to see her made her feel loved. the merest: Robert detected the merest sign of disapproval in her face. III. You use mere to emphasize how small a particular amount or number is. Sixty per cent of teachers are women, but a mere 5 percent of women are heads and deputies. Tickets are a mere £7.50 at the door. Its online business increased sales by a mere 1 per cent. ) (Callista and I found the salmon they serve was superb)? of course not." Kerry also noted that he had "offset" 抵消 the emissions, a process that usually involves planting trees or cutting emissions elsewhere in exchange for a flight. It's not so much about carbon footprint hypocrisy, Gingrich argued in a follow-up tweet. It was another example of the alleged do as I say, not as I do "arrogance" of some of the nation's most visible Democrats. Gingrich pointed to Bill de Blasio, the far-left New York City mayor who refuses to take public transportation and drives across the city to his gym every morning, while many others have been closed for months, and wealthy California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose recent lunch at the fancy French Laundry restaurant flouted his own coronavirus dining regulations and cost more than the monthly income of many California families. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ruffled feathers too, after Fox News exclusively obtained surveillance video showing her at a hair salon during the height of the country's coronavirus shutdowns. Ginrich tweeted: "Kerry joins Governor Newsom's French Laundry, Nancy Pelosi's beauty shop, Mayor De Blasio's gym another symbol of the political aristocracy and its contempt for mere citizens. One rule for them, a different rule for us. Until we defeat them the arrogance will get worse." 9. swathe [sweɪð] someone/ something in something 包裹起来, 包住 ( = swath [swɑθ] ) to completely cover someone or something with something. To swathe someone or something in cloth means to wrap them in it completely. She swathed her enormous body in thin black fabrics. His head was swathed in bandages made from a torn sheet. The moon was swathed in mist. noun. I. a long narrow piece of cloth, especially one that is wrapped around someone or something. A swathe of land is a long strip of land. On May 1st the army took over another swathe of territory 长条地. Year by year great swathes of this small nation's countryside disappear. Teams prepare to deliver Pfizer vax to swathes of regional Victoria. II. A swathe of cloth is a long strip of cloth, especially one that is wrapped around someone or something. swath [swɑθ] a large number of people or things or a large area of something The disease killed huge swaths of the population. ...swathes of white silk. cut a (wide/big) swath through something I. to move through something and cause a lot of change or damage. It seems that the high winds cut a wide swath through our neighborhood last night, blowing down trees and power lines on nearly every street. Severe malnourishment has certainly cut a swath through this part of the globe. II. to make an ostentatious display or forceful impression. ttract a great deal of attention by trying to impress others. To behave in an expansive, flagrantly showy, or pushy manner, especially in public venues; to exert sweeping influence. In social matters, Mrs. Smith cuts a wide swath. Bob cuts a big swath whenever he appears in his military uniform. Although he was new to the company, he cut a wide swath. This metaphoric use of making a big sweep of the scythe [saɪð] 镰刀 in cutting grass survives despite the mechanization of farming and the declining use of the noun swath. crass [kræs] 臭不要脸的 ( brass[bræs] ) adj. Crass behaviour is stupid and does not show consideration for other people. The government has behaved with crass insensitivity. Pop records can be crass and cynical. ...one of the most crassly stupid political acts of modern times. These teachings can be crassly misinterpreted. ...the crassness of his conversation. I LOVE how when Jim Parsons won his Golden Globe earlier this year for playing Sheldon, he stood up and started to thank "my" writers before correcting himself and going, my writers, how crass, the writers - oh, now the truth comes out ... vocabulary: A crass comment is very stupid and shows that the speaker doesn't care about other people's feelings. In today's day and age, you don't have to wear black to a funeral, but to show up in clown pants is simply crass. The source of this adjective is Latin crassus "thick, dense, fat." A similar development of meaning can be seen in English dense in the sense of "stupid, slow to understand," from Latin densus "thick, dense," and in English thick, which can also be used to mean "stupid." brass [bræs] (copper 纯铜, brass 铜锌混合物, 黄铜, bronze 铜和tin混合物 ) I. uncountable a shiny yellow metal that is used for making musical instruments and objects such as door handles. It is a mixture of copper and zinc. a faucet made of brass. doors with brass hinges. a. countable a flat piece of brass with a picture or writing cut into it, for example on a grave or in a church. II. the brass 老大们, 大佬 American informal important and powerful people. The ceremony was attended by a stunning array of military brass. III. uncountable music 铜管. musical instruments made of brass such as trumpets and trombones. a piece of music for woodwind and brass. the brass ring if someone tries to get the brass ring, they try hard to achieve success in a situation where many people are competing against each other. get down to brass tacks to start discussing the most important issue. start to consider the basic facts or practical details. "we've had a meeting as to the general terms, and now we're going to get down to brass tacks". bronze I. a hard brown metal used for making statues and objects for decoration. It is made by mixing copper and tin. II. uncountable a red-brown color. III. countable a statue of a person or animal, made of bronze. IV. countable a bronze medal.
Labor wants levy on redress scheme dodgers: Institutions who deliberately restructure their organisations so they can't be held accountable to the national child abuse redress ( redress [rɪˈdres] to improve a bad situation that you are responsible for by doing something for someone or by giving them money. We want to redress some of the injustices of the past. redress the balance to change a situation in order to make things fair and equal. noun. something that you do for someone or money that you give to them as a way of improving a bad situation that you are responsible for. Employees with complaints may seek redress through the courts.) scheme should face levies(an amount of money that you have to pay, for example as a tax. verb If a government or organization levies a tax or other sum of money, it demands it from people or organizations. They levied religious taxes on Christian commercial transactions. Taxes should not be levied without the authority of Parliament.), federal Labor says. The opposition's social services spokeswoman Linda Burney has introduced a raft of amendments to a government bill that makes technical changes to the scheme. Ms Burney says it's a lost opportunity to improve the scheme and put abuse survivors first, so is instead attempting to make changes. She's been told Jehovah's Witnesses has restructured itself to dodge the scheme. "I find (it) absolutely abhorrent that institutions that have responsibility of past trauma actually are going about restructuring themselves so they cannot be accountable to this scheme," Ms Burney told parliament on Wednesday. "In these rare cases we are calling on the government to consider placing a levy on such institutions in order to cover the cost of redress and collect funds from these institutions through the tax system, if need be ( if need be/if needs be 需要的话, 必要的话 If you say that you will do something, especially an extreme action, if need be, you mean that you will do if it is necessary. In British English, you can also say if needs be. They will now seek permission to take their case to the House of Lords, and, if need be, to the European Court of Human Rights. if necessary. "I'll work from morning till night if need be" ). "Survivors should not miss out on the opportunity to get redress because an institution refuses to take responsibility." The multibillion-dollar scheme was designed to deliver redress to the tens of thousands of people sexually abused as children in Australian institutions. It provides access to counselling, a redress payment and a direct personal response such as an apology from an institution, if the survivor wants it. But they can't be given redress unless the institution they were abused by has joined the scheme. Kenja Communications and the Lakes Entrance Pony Club are also holding out on joining the scheme. Ms Burney has met Social Services Minister Anne Ruston to discuss Labor's proposals. Labor's amendments include making governments the "funder of last resort" if an institution is defunct or doesn't have the capacity to join the scheme. It also includes increasing the cap on payments from $150,000 to $200,000 and ensuring survivors have access to ongoing psychological counselling and support. As of mid-January there had been a little over 9200 applications to the scheme, with close to 5500 decisions made. More than 4600 applications have been finalised, with payments totalling about $385.2 million. Liberal MP Bridget Archer says she's supportive of her government's move to strip institutions of their charity status if they refuse to join the scheme, but more needs to be done. "Our responses to the issues of child sexual abuse must go further," she told parliament. "We must make greater efforts to prevent abuse happening in the first place. And we must have a more wholistic approach to recognising and addressing trauma to mitigate the lifelong damage caused to victims and survivors." The federal government has given institutions until 2028 to join the scheme.
