用法学习: 1. A late bloomer 晚熟者, 大器晚成者 is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual. The term is used metaphorically to describe a child or adolescent who develops slower than others in their age group, but eventually catches up and in some cases overtakes their peers, or an adult whose talent or genius in a particular field only appears later in life than is normal – in some cases only in old age. Stepford wife informal, derogatory a married woman who submits to her husband's will and is preoccupied by domestic concerns and her own personal appearance. have a brush with (something) 擦肩 To encounter, or nearly encounter, someone or something. I had a brush with death when I was in that car accident. Oh, you'll have a brush with the law sooner or later if you keep robbing houses. to have a brief contact with something; to have an experience with something. Have an encounter or come in conflict with When I was younger, I had a brush with scarlet fever, but I got over it. This was not the first time that Bob had a brush with the law. This expression alludes to the noun brush in the sense of "a hostile collision," a usage dating from about 1400. 2. filled with confidence 信心十足, 信心满满. I don't know many people who wake up in the morning filled with confidence and glee. "You want somewhere they come in through the doors and are filled with confidence to work," he explains. blind corner = blind turn ( 死角, blind spot 盲点)(A blind curve is similar to a blind corner, but the view is obstructed because the road is curved. A blind summit occurs on inclined roads where oncoming traffic from the other side of the hill cannot be seen.) a corner where the view of the road ahead is completely obscured or very restricted He tried to overtake on a blind corner and crashed into a lorry. wiki: A blind corner or blind turn is a corner on a road where the view 视野 of what is behind the corner is obstructed 遮挡, 挡住的. The view could for example be obstructed by buildings, hills or trees. Warning signs are often placed on such roads to warn traffic. Vehicle-to-vehicle communication offers the possibility to reduce the risk of accidents on blind corners. Vehicles can use radio signals to see each other even when there is no line-of-sight 视线被遮挡( Your line of sight is an imaginary line that stretches between your eye and the object that you are looking at. the direction in which a person must look in order to see a particular object: The cannon can be linked to the line of sight of the gunner so that it points in the same direction that he is looking in. He was trying to keep out of the bird's line of sight.) and warn the driver. While the Obama administration made a proposal to require vehicle-to-vehicle communication for new cars and light trucks, the Trump administration has set these plans aside. An alternative method that does not depend on all vehicles having radio transmitters is the use of sensitive lasers. The light from the lasers reflects off any nearby objects like people, cars or animals and allows a computer system in the vehicle to image those objects without a line-of-sight. A mirror attached to a lamppost to allow drivers to see around the corner in Paignton, England. For private roads or blind corners inside buildings, the UK government suggests placement of mirrors to prevent accidents. 3. TBBT: Penny: Raj, would you ever try an experiment like that with Emily? Raj: What? I don't need science to win her heart. I have my family's wealth for that. Leonard: I'm telling you, you can't create love in a few hours. Right? Penny: Oh, careful. You're poking at the whole foundation 根基, 基础 of The Bachelor( Sheldon: Stop fighting me on the premise. It's scientifically valid 说得通的, 有效的, 成立的. I'm going to advance propositions, I just want you to challenge me. premise = premiss(UK) [ˈpremɪs] 基石, 基础, 存在的意义, 基本的问题, 最根本的意义
a principle or statement that you consider to be true, that you base
other ideas and actions on. A premise is something that you suppose is
true and that you use as a basis for developing an idea. The
premise is that schools will work harder to improve if they must
compete. The programme started from the premise that men and women are
on equal terms in this society. The conclusions in the report were based on a false premise. We started from the premise that the situation can get no worse. After taking a few zoom classes, he started to question the very premise of school. The premises of a business or an institution are all the buildings and land that it occupies in one place. There is a kitchen on the premises. The business moved to premises in Brompton Road.). Sheldon: Yeah, but we don't have to debate this. We're scientists. We can conduct our own research. I propose that we imprison two street people and... Amy: No. Sheldon: You didn't even let me finish. Amy: Forget it. Sheldon: So, you can experiment on all the apes you want. But I want to manipulate the emotions of two captive human beings, suddenly I'm the monster. TBBT: Penny: So, that's it? We're not going? Leonard: I guess not. Penny: Well, that sucks. Leonard: Yeah. I worked hard on that speech, too. Penny: Oh. You could tell it to me 演讲, 讲给我. Leonard: Oh, thank you, but I'm okay. Penny: Are you sure? I could pretend I'm a high school cheerleader who can't control herself around esteemed alumni. Leonard: Greetings, distinguished cheerleaders. TBBT: Howard: I just want everyone to know, uh, tonight's not a sad occasion. Bernadette: Yeah, we just want to have the kind of dinner that we've all had here so many times before. Howard: Good food, good friends, and sometime around midnight, heartburn that makes you pray for death. Amy: Do you need any help in the kitchen? Bernadette: No, we got it. You guys make yourselves comfortable. 4. Teenage boy flung 甩出去, 甩下来 from moving car after Victoria Park house party: In a dangerous act, a teenage boy was flung from a moving car in Perth after attempting to jump on it. The incident took place in Victoria Park on Friday night after a crowd of young people spilled onto the streets after a house party. Video footage showed the teenage boy attempt to cling onto the back of a white sedan while it was travelling down Berwick Street. He quickly lost grip 抓不住 and fell face down onto the road, fortunately he was not injured. Fights among the young party-goers continued to break out around the car jumper in the middle of the road, holding up traffic. Police were called to the scene by frightened neighbours at about 10.40pm. The police attempted to move the teenagers on which resulted in two 15-year-old boys being detained due to disorderly behaviour. One was held until a responsible adult could collect him, the other was released with a verbal warning and arrangements were made for him to be placed in the care of a responsible adult. 5. vacillate [ˈvæsɪˌleɪt] 左右摇摆 verb. If you vacillate between two alternatives or choices, you keep changing your mind. to keep changing your ideas about something She vacillates between studying economics and languages. We cannot vacillate on the question of the party's leadership. He accused the President of vacillation and retreat. ...Stalin's miscalculations and vacillations. dither [ˈdɪðə] I. 磨叽. 犹豫不决. be indecisive. When someone dithers, they hesitate because they are unable to make a quick decision about something. to be unable to make a decision about something She was dithering about what to wear. We're still dithering over whether to marry. If you have been dithering about buying shares, now could be the time to do it. "I can't bear people who dither 磨叽". II. add white noise to (a digital recording) to reduce distortion of low-amplitude signals. noun. I. a state of agitation. II. informal indecisive behaviour. "after months of dither ministers had still not agreed". be (all) in a dither 激动不已, 紧张万分 to be nervous or excited and unable to concentrate on anything or decide what to do. "all of a dither, he prophesied instant chaos". prophesy [ˈprɑfəˌsaɪ] 预言 ( prophet [ˈprɑfɪt] 预言家) verb. If you prophesy that something will happen, you say that you strongly believe that it will happen. to describe a future event using religious or magic powers. to say that you believe something will happen in the future He prophesied that within five years his opponent would either be dead or in prison. She prophesied a bad ending for the expedition. prophet of doom/disaster 世界末日预言家, 预言失败的人, 持负面看法的人 someone who has a very negative view of life and thinks that only bad things will happen. We're going to prove all the prophets of doom wrong and make this business work. wiki: Dither is an intentionally applied form of noise used to randomize quantization error, preventing large-scale patterns such as color banding in images. Dither is routinely used in processing of both digital audio and video data, and is often one of the last stages of mastering audio to a CD. A common use of dither is converting a grayscale image to black and white, such that the density of black dots in the new image approximates the average gray level in the original. 6. demarcation [ˌdimɑrˈkeɪʃ(ə)n] 勘界, 划定边界 Demarcation is the establishment of boundaries or limits separating two areas, groups, or things. ...the abrupt demarcation between farmland and moorland. Talks were continuing about the demarcation of the border between the two countries. He was unconscious and didn't recognize his own wife afterwards. And then, after that period, there was a demarcation between this strange behavior that started happening. I think he had to be going crazy. I think the craziness started a year before the murder. a. the process of establishing borders or limits between areas, groups, or things. b. countable/uncountable something that establishes borders or limits. string sth together 串起来, 串成句子 If you string words or sentences together, you manage to say something that other people can understand: People tend to be very impressed if you can string together a couple of sentences in Japanese. to arrange a group of things into a series He can hardly string a sentence together, let alone write poetry! (stark) raving mad Totally crazy or eccentric; filled with an excessive amount of emotion, especially anger or excitement. I know you'll probably think I'm raving mad, but I sold all my possessions and am moving to a small village in China. The announcement drove fans stark raving mad, as it will be the first new album the band has released in over 10 years. The boss is stark raving mad after I bungled the expense reports. Cliché totally insane; completely crazy; out of control. When she heard about what happened at the office, she went stark raving mad. You must be start raving mad if you think I would trust you with my car! malinger [məˈlɪŋɡər] 装病 disapproving to pretend to be ill in order to avoid having to work. If someone is malingering, they pretend to be ill in order to avoid working. And is he really ill or just malingering? She was told by her doctor that she was malingering. travesty [ˈtrævəsti] 背离, 正相反, 对立面 If you describe something as a travesty of another thing, you mean that it is a very bad representation of that other thing. a situation, action, or event that shocks you because it is very different from what it should be or because it seems very unfair Jensen called the verdict a travesty of justice. Her research suggests that Smith's reputation today is a travesty of what he really stood for. If he couldn't prepare his case properly, the trial would be a travesty. 7. TBBT: Amy: What are you doing here? Sheldon: I'm here to return your belongings. That's what people who've broken up do. Amy: And you didn't do your compulsive knocking ritual so I would open the door. Sheldon: On the contrary, you no longer get to enjoy my charming eccentricities. We're not friends with benefits. Amy: Just give me the box. Sheldon: Wait. Don't you want to go through it to make sure I haven't forgotten anything? Amy: Fine. My old scarf. Sheldon: You wore it the night we went ice-skating. Remember? Amy: You mean the night that I went ice-skating, and you stood at the rail googling the symptoms of hypothermia? Sheldon: We made one heck of a team, huh?
casserole VS carousel VS cassowary VS carouse: 1. carouse [kəˈraʊz] 大吃二喝. 大声喧哗, 吆五喝六, 买醉, 把酒言欢, 饮酒作乐, 饮酒言欢
to enjoy yourself by drinking alcohol and speaking and laughing loudly
in a group of people. If you say that people are carousing, you mean
that they are behaving very noisily and drinking a lot of alcohol as
they enjoy themselves. He's now more likely to be seen tending his garden than carousing with the stars. The singing and carousing did not end until after midnight. We'd been up carousing till the early hours and were exhausted. Mom's brothers would come up and want to go carousing with Dad. They'd go drinking and chasing women. 2. A casserole [ˈkasərəʊl] is a variety of a large, deep pan or bowl used for cooking a variety of dishes in the oven; it is also a category of foods cooked in such a vessel. To distinguish the two uses, the pan can be called a "casserole dish" or "casserole pan", whereas the food is simply "a casserole". The same pan is often used both for cooking and for serving. 3. carousel [ˌkærəˈsel] I. a moving surface in an airport from which you collect your bags. a conveyor system at an airport from which arriving passengers collect their luggage. "they were waiting for their luggage to appear on the carousel at Heathrow airport". II. mainly American a roundabout. a merry-go-round at a fair. carousel voting the activity of transporting voters to different polling stations so that they can cast their vote for the same candidate more than once. Independent election watchdog Golos said it was hearing reports of so-called carousel voting, with busloads of voters being driven around to different polling stations, in Moscow and the Siberian cities of Novosibirsk and Barnaul. TBBT: Clerk: Mr. and Mrs. Wolowitz? As far as I can tell, your bag arrived in Los Angeles. Bernadette: So, where is it? Clerk: I don't know, perhaps somebody took it off the carousel by mistake? Howard: So, some stranger has my mom? Is that what you're telling me? My poor mother can be anywhere in Los Angeles right now? Clerk: I wish I was telling you that. Um, but the passenger could've gotten on an international flight. Howard: Oh, okay, great. So, your entire job is to find lost luggage, and you've narrowed down the location of my mother to the planet Earth. Clerk: I'm sorry. Would 500 frequent-flyer miles help? That could get you to Sacramento. 4. cassowary [ˈkæsəˌwɛərɪ] any large flightless bird 不会飞的鸟 of the genus Casuarius, inhabiting forests in NE Australia, New Guinea, and adjacent islands, having a horny head crest, black plumage, and brightly coloured neck and wattles: order Casuariiformes. ratite [ˈrætaɪt] adj. I. (of flightless birds) having a breastbone that lacks a keel for the attachment of flight muscles. II. of or denoting the flightless birds, formerly classified as a group (the Ratitae), that have a flat breastbone, feathers lacking vanes, and reduced wings. noun. a bird, such as an ostrich, kiwi, or rhea, that belongs to this group; a flightless bird. wiki: It is classified as a ratite (flightless bird without a keel on its sternum bone) and is native to the tropical forests of New Guinea (Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), Aru Islands (Indonesia), and northeastern Australia. Three species are extant (extant [ˈekstənt] [ekˈstænt] 仍然存世的, 仍然在世的, 仍存活的, 仍然存在的 still existing, usually despite being very old. If something is extant, it is still in existence, in spite of being very old. Two fourteenth-century manuscripts of this text are still extant. The oldest extant document is dated 1492. existent [ɪɡˈzɪstənt] You can describe something as existent when it exists. Their remedy lay within the range of existent technology. non-existent If you say that something is non-existent, you mean that it does not exist when you feel that it should. Hygiene was non-existent: no running water, no bathroom. You'll take everything you're offered yet your own generosity is virtually non-existent. in existence I. Currently existing. This type of bird won't be in existence for much longer if people keep hunting it for sport. II. Currently functioning or operating. Man, that is the worst coffee shop in existence—I've almost spat out their lattes before! III. Having been created or having taken effect. How long has the review panel been in existence? That law wasn't in existence back when I was a cop. existential [ˌeɡzɪˈstenʃ(ə)l] adj. I. Existential means relating to human existence and experience. Existential questions requiring religious answers still persist. II. You use existential to describe fear, anxiety, and other feelings 存在主义的 that are caused by thinking about human existence and death. 'What if there's nothing left at all?' he cries, lost in some intense existential angst. defunct 不复存在的 adj. If something is defunct, it no longer exists or has stopped functioning or operating. ...the leader of the now defunct Social Democratic Party. They bought all their equipment from a defunct brewery in Manhattan. ): The most common, the southern cassowary, is the third-tallest and second-heaviest living bird, smaller only than the ostrich and emu. The other two species are represented by the northern cassowary and the dwarf cassowary. A fourth but extinct species is represented by the pygmy cassowary ( pygmy [ˈpɪɡmi] a pygmy animal or plant belongs to a type that does not grow very big. pygmy hippos/waterlilies. ). Cassowaries feed mainly on fruit, although all species are truly omnivorous and take a range of other plant foods, including shoots and grass seeds, in addition to fungi, invertebrates, and small vertebrates. Cassowaries are very wary of humans, but if provoked, they are capable of inflicting serious, even fatal, injuries to both dogs and people. The cassowary has often been labeled "the world's most dangerous bird".
Anatomy of a Scandal: 1. I was running back to your room, and I collided 撞上, 冲撞 with a woman in the cloisters ( cloister [ˈklɔɪstər] I. often plural 走廊. 回廊. a covered path around an open area in the center of a large building such as a cathedral or monastery. A cloister is a covered area round a square in a monastery or a cathedral. a covered walk, usually around a quadrangle in a religious institution, having an open arcade or colonnade on the inside and a wall on the outside The thirteenth-century cloisters are amongst the most beautiful in central Italy. II. literary a monastery or convent. a place of religious seclusion, such as a monastery. ) who looked familiar. Um, just barely. It was dark. We were both a bit drunk. And it was spontaneous 不由自主的( I. Spontaneous acts are not planned or arranged, but are done because someone suddenly wants to do them. Their spontaneous outbursts of song were accompanied by lively music. I joined in the spontaneous applause. As soon as the tremor passed, many people spontaneously arose and cheered. He was never spontaneously warm or friendly towards us. II. A spontaneous event happens because of processes within something rather than being caused by things outside it. I had another spontaneous 不受控的, 身不由己的 miscarriage at around the 16th to 18th week. ...a spontaneous explosion. Usually a woman's breasts produce milk spontaneously after the birth. These images surface spontaneously in dreams. ). You were spontaneous? Am I to understand a man jumped, or fell, to his death, you ran from the scene, collided with a woman who looked "barely familiar"... and proceeded to have sеx with her? Consensual sеx James: But, um... But what? But... Well, afterwards, she... she seemed... shaken and... She was a virgin, it turns out. James: And my... my sense of it 我感觉, 我直觉觉得 was that the encounter fell short of 不如预期 her romantic expectations. And I was perhaps... a bit... Brutish ( brutish [ˈbrutɪʃ] I. 粗暴的. 粗野的. [disapproval] violent and cruel. If you describe a person or their behaviour as brutish, you think that they are brutal and uncivilized. The man was brutish and coarse. ...brutish bullying. He was brutish and rough, and he terrified his opponents. II. lacking intelligence or other signs of being human. )? Abrupt ( I. An abrupt change or action is very sudden, often in a way which is unpleasant. Rosie's idyllic world came to an abrupt end when her parents' marriage broke up. The recession brought an abrupt halt to this happiness. His abrupt departure is bound to raise questions. He stopped abruptly and looked my way. II. Someone who is abrupt speaks in a rather rude, unfriendly way. He was abrupt to the point of rudeness. Cross was a little taken aback by her abrupt manner. 'Good night, then,' she said abruptly. I think Simon was hurt by your abruptness this afternoon. ). 2. James: The impeccable timing of one Chris Clarke. How do you know? Just got off the phone with Tom. Now that we've regained our sure footing 脚下稳了, 站稳了脚跟, he's bringing me back into the Home Office. Undersecretary of State in charge of drug policy. Are you joking? James: No. Do you remember when I said your luck had run out? How wrong I was. You sound a bit ambivalent [æmˈbɪvələnt] 拿不定主意的, 不知所以, 不知道该怎么办, 不知如何是好的, 拿不准的, 犹豫的, 不置可否的, 犹豫不决的, 不情愿的, 不热衷的 ( If you say that someone is ambivalent about something, they seem to be uncertain whether they really want it, or whether they really approve of it. feeling two different things about someone or something at the same time, for example that you like them and dislike them. Leigh's response was ambivalent. Most of us have an ambivalent attitude toward technology. Joe was ambivalent about taking the job. She remained ambivalent about her marriage. He maintained an ambivalent attitude to the Church throughout his long life. I've never lied about my feelings, including my ambivalence about getting married again.Five years ago the book was ambivalently received. circumspect [ˈsɜː(r)kəmˌspekt] 多加小心的 慎重的, 小心谨慎的, If you are circumspect, you are cautious in what you do and say and do not take risks. thinking carefully about something before you say or do it. a circumspect response. We should have been more cicumspect not calling it a drowning especially when we didn't find the body. circumspect about 谨言慎行的, 谨慎的: Officials were very circumspect about possible causes of the accident. The banks should have been more circumspect in their dealings. Are you saying, in your usual circumspect manner, that it isn't be a good idea? You should behave as circumspectly as possible in political matters. ), darling. Sophie: Impressed. It's almost like you're being rewarded. Rewarded, no. Restored. 3. I saw a woman and I thought, "My God, that's Holly." It was just my mind... playing tricks 精神恍惚. James: And look, I'm just trying to be honest with myself. I'm trying to be honest with you. But if that was Holly that I was with, it is possible that we were not in sync 想得不一样, and maybe I got it wrong. I don't wanna hide anything from you. Oh my God, are you saying there's more? You know most of it. I told you about that night at the Libertine's party. I just left out one small detail. What? Alec, the one who jumped or fell. Tom supplied him with the hеrοin, and I disposed of the evidence. That is not a small detail, James. Alec died. It was a tragedy, but I lied for Tom. I lied for you. I was your alibi the next morning without knowing the full facts. I am so, so sorry. I was protecting you. I didn't want you to carry that weight 负累. Oh God. I could have decided for myself. Honestly, Soph, you didn't seem that interested in the full set of facts. All of your stories keep changing. I've told you everything now. There is nothing else. I swear it. 4. Should I confess? No, you'd end your career. Better to do it before he does. If he outs you, he outs himself. That's mutually assured destruction 一死俱死, 一亡俱亡( Mutual assured destruction (MAD) is a doctrine of military strategy and national security policy in which a full-scale use of nuclear weapons by two or more opposing sides would cause the complete annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. It is based on the theory of deterrence, which holds that the threat of using strong weapons against the enemy prevents the enemy's use of those same weapons. The strategy is a form of Nash equilibrium in which, once armed, neither side has any incentive to initiate a conflict or to disarm. The term "mutual assured destruction", commonly abbreviated "MAD", was coined by Donald Brennan, a strategist working in Herman Kahn's Hudson Institute in 1962. However, Brennan came up with this acronym ironically, spelling out the English word "mad" to argue that holding weapons capable of destroying society was irrational. ). I'm a fucking liar. 5. What... what can I do? Nothing. Don't be smug, Sophie. You owe me more than that for God's sake. Smug? Me? That is not how I feel, James. I've been a part of it too, complicit, and I hate myself for it. For what? You're speaking in riddles. For the way I've always let you curate the truth. Pick and choose details so they were aligned with the world as you preferred it to be. It's like a toy for you, the truth. And you play with it through elisions, omissions, and half-truths 半真半假( elision [ɪˈlɪʒ(ə)n] I. 含混. the practice of leaving a sound out when you say a word or group of words, for example when you say it quickly in ordinary conversation. the omission of a syllable or vowel at the beginning or end of a word, esp when a word ending with a vowel is next to one beginning with a vowel. II. any act or instance of leaving out or omitting a part or parts. half-truth If you describe statements as half-truths, you mean that they are only partly based on fact and are intended or likely to deceive people. The article had been full of errors and half truths. ). You can't help yourself. Everybody does that. 6. Why did you wanna meet me? James. At Oxford, you fancied him. Kate: He assaulted me. He said it was consensual. He assaulted me. Why didn't you report it to the police? Who do you think they would have believed? I didn't stand a chance. It was rapе. You know, I often wonder what it must be like to know that however you behave, you will always be excused 被原谅 and forgiven. I had no idea at the time. You have to believe me, I did not know. Well, now you do. What are you suggesting? Do you still expect me to do your homework for you, two decades on? I have been simultaneously over and underestimated my entire life. If I have traded on the currency that the world told me was mine, well... that's what I was raised to do. But don't for a second assume I am unaware of the personal cost of those transactions.A lot of people think they know me. You think you know me. Trust me, you don't. What about you? Who are you, Holly or Kate? I guess I'm finally both. Listen, are you gonna expose me? That night he raped you... was the same night that one of the Libertines fell to their death. I remember. It was the only time I'd ever seen him cry. Huh. Well, I doubt his tears were anything to do with me. No. They were because he'd come dangerously close to destroying his golden future. What are you talking about? I made a call today to an acquaintance in the press. A lot of horrible things happened that night, aside from what happened to you. Something that could be prosecuted in court? Yes. Why are you doing this? Course correction 纠偏, 纠正, 整风, perhaps, for the greater good. Her Majesty's government is about to implode.
