用法学习: 1. [a] party to something 与...无关. 介入, 参与了 involved in a particular activity, especially something criminal or dishonest. to be involved in an activity or decision I was not a party to this discussion. I felt certain she was a party to his deception. not a patch on 差远了 INFORMAL BRITISH greatly inferior to. to be much less good than something. If you say that someone or something is not a patch on another person or thing, you mean that they are not as good as that person or thing. He's not a patch on the rest of the Cabinet. Handsome, she thought, but not a patch on Alex. This new washing machine isn't a patch on our old one. "he no longer looked so handsome—he wasn't a patch on Peter". can't hold a candle to = not be able to hold a candle to 不能比肩, 难以望其项背, 提鞋都不配 An expression describing a person or thing that is distinctly inferior to someone or something else: "Senator Nelson is extremely knowledgeable, but as a speaker, he can't hold a candle to Senator Delano." be nearly as good as. "nobody in the final could hold a candle to her". not be in the same league 不一个档次的 to be not as good as someone or something else: Her latest movie is quite watchable but it's not in the same league as her first two epics. pale imitation 廉价版的 (poorman's sth) something that is similar to but not as good as something else: Modern luxury ships are a pale imitation of the glamour and style of the early ocean liners. a shadow of (oneself) = a shadow of one's former self 非同以往, 今非昔比 A person, group, place, etc., that has become dramatically less healthy, vivacious, or robust, often following some traumatic event or negative circumstances. Tom's been nothing but a shadow of himself since that accident, his bubbly, outgoing persona replaced by gloom and seriousness. The mass emigration of workers from the town during the recession has left it a shadow of itself. I felt like the cancer treatment made me into a shadow of myself, sickly and exhausted. 2. lark I. informal an activity done for a joke that is not intended to cause serious harm or damage: The kids hid their teacher's bike for a lark. II. = skylark. a small, brown bird that is known for its beautiful singing. America's political elite assumed his campaign was a lark, and Trump would eventually bow out in exchange for a prime-time speaking slot at the Republican National Convention. on/as a lark 闹着玩的, 逗你玩的, 寻开心的, 找乐的 US, informal just as a way to have fun. In a frolicky or frivolous manner; on a whim. On a lark describes something that is done on the spur of the moment, something that is done spontaneously and for fun. Something done on a lark has not been planned, but may be considered irresponsible in a fun way and childlike. She entered the race on/as a lark. what a lark! British English how amusing! this ... lark 这档子事, 这回事 informal a way of referring to an activity or a situation that you do not take seriously: I don't really think I'm suited to this marriage lark. I've had enough of this commuting lark. be up with the lark mainly UK to get out of bed very early in the morning. bugger, sod, etc. this for a lark! 去他妈的吧, 去死吧 UK offensive used to show that you are extremely annoyed or bored with an activity and that you will not continue doing it: I'd been waiting for him for an hour and I thought, sod this for a lark - I'm going home! be/go on at someone about sth 唠叨, 喋喋不休 to complain to someone again and again about their behaviour or to ask them to do something: My parents are always on at us about having a baby. She's been on at me to get my hair cut. bellyaching informal disapproving the act of complaining: Stop your bellyaching about the long queues - it won't change anything. bellyache 肚子疼 noun. Bellyache is a pain inside your abdomen, especially in your stomach. They may complain of diarrhea or bellyache. verb. If you say that someone is bellyaching, you mean they complain loudly and frequently about something and you think this is unreasonable or unjustified. ...belly-aching about recession. 3. lay off someone I. 裁员 to stop employing a worker, esp. for reasons that have nothing to do with the worker's performance. If workers are laid off, they are told by their employers to leave their job, usually because there is no more work for them to do. 100,000 federal workers will be laid off to reduce the deficit. They did not sell a single car for a month and had to lay off workers. She was laid off along with many others when the company moved to California. II. to stop using or dealing with something, or to stop criticizing someone: You're going to have to lay off salt. If you tell someone to lay off, you mean that they should stop touching or criticizing you or someone else. He went on attacking her until other passengers arrived and told him to lay off. Did he get a job yet? Just lay off of him 别烦他, 别瞎逼逼 tonight, OK? Mom, you realize he's loaded, right? layoff I. When there are layoffs in a company, workers are told by their employers to leave their job, usually because there is no more work for them in the company. Store closures will result in layoffs of an estimated 2,000 employees. II. A layoff is a period of time in which people do not work or take part in their normal activities, often because they are resting or are injured. They both made full recoveries after lengthy injury layoffs. snarl verb. I. When an animal snarls, it makes a fierce, rough sound in its throat while showing its teeth. He raced ahead up into the bush, barking and snarling. The dogs snarled at the intruders. With a snarl, the second dog made a dive for his heel. II. If you snarl something 吼叫, 怒吼, you say it in a fierce, angry way. 'Let go of me,' he snarled. I vaguely remember snarling at someone who stepped on my foot. 'Aubrey.' Hyde seemed almost to snarl the name. His eyes flashed, and his lips were drawn back in a furious snarl. III. to become caught or twisted in something, or to make something do this. To place in an embarrassing situation; to ensnare; to make overly complicated. noun. A snarl is a disorganized mass of things. She was tangled in a snarl of logs and branches. A radio-link automatically advises it of traffic snarls and plots a detour 绕行. snarled = (UK) snarled up I. a situation in which a system or organization does not work properly: A company facing snarl-ups can switch to another scheduling arrangement. Overcrowding and baggage snarl-ups 混乱, 乱局 at Heathrow were beginning to hit the airline's revenues. II. Snarled traffic is a long line of traffic that is unable to travel forward because something is blocking the road. a situation in which a long line of traffic is unable to travel forward because something is blocking the road: Many roadworks have been suspended to avoid further snarl-ups大堵车 大塞车 on the motorways. Thousands of train drivers walked out last night causing London's worst travel snarl-up for two years. The traffic was snarled in both directions for two miles because of the accident. busy, congested, gridlocked 交通阻塞 Chicago is one of the most gridlocked cities in America. backed up There's an accident on the motorway and traffic is backed up for miles. bumper to bumper The road is bumper to bumper as tourists flock up the coast. jammed Traffic is jammed up for miles. snark 尖酸刻薄的批评话 critical comments that are made in order to hurt someone's feelings; a comment of this type. Snark is unkind criticism of someone or something. Of the many funny writers in this newspaper, none regularly uses snark. Her blog was full of snark. This snark blatantly attacks the author. If someone snarks, they criticize another person in an unkind way. Labour MPs snarked that he didn't know what he was talking about. It's a wonderful idea that shouldn't be snarked or sneered at in any way. snarky Snide and sarcastic; usually out of irritation. criticizing someone in an annoyed way and trying to hurt their feelings. There was some idiot at the back of the room making snarky comments. 4. refactor 代码重写, 重构 I. (programming) 重构 To rewrite existing source code in order to improve its readability, reusability or structure without affecting its meaning or behaviour. To restructure software by applying a series of refactoring without changing its observable behavior. The code works, but I must refactor it before it is production quality. II. (writing) 重写. To rewrite existing text in order to improve its readability, reusability or structure without intentionally affecting its meaning. Similar to, but sometimes involving more extensive restructuring than, copy editing. Two significant activities which to contribute to community projects, such as Wikipedia, are to refactor complicated articles into simpler ones, and to refactor duplicated content into reusable templates. Walmart Shooting: "Sorry everyone but I did not plan this I promise things just fell in place 自然而然的发生 like I was led by the Satan," Andre Bing wrote on a note that was left on his phone, the Chesapeake, Virginia Police Department said Friday. It was not clear when the note was written, but in it Bing claimed he was harassed and said he was pushed to the brink by a perception his phone was hacked. He wrote, "My only wish would have been to start over from scratch and that my parents would have paid closer attention to my social deficits( Social deficits range from lack of social-emotional reciprocity and poor nonverbal communication to difficulties in developing and maintaining relationships. Comorbidities such as intellectual disability and anxiety disorders are common (2–5). )". Bing died at the scene of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Coworkers of Bing who survived the shooting said he was difficult and known for being hostile with employees. One survivor said Bing seemed to target people and fired at some victims after they were already hit. Jessica Wilczewski said workers were gathered 聚在 in a store break room to begin their overnight shift late Tuesday when Bing, a team leader, entered and opened fire. While another witness has described Bing as shooting wildly, Wilczewski said she observed him target certain people. "The way he was acting — he was going hunting," Wilczewski told The Associated Press on Thursday. "The way he was looking at people's faces and the way he did what he did, he was picking people out." Former coworkers and residents of Chesapeake, a city of about 250,000 people near Virginia's coast, have been struggling to make sense of the rampage. Bing's death note rambles 啰嗦, 不知所云( ramble I. If you ramble, you go on a long walk in the countryside. ...freedom to ramble across the moors. II. If you say that a person rambles in their speech or writing, you mean they do not make much sense because they keep going off the subject in a confused way. Sometimes she spoke sensibly; sometimes she rambled. It would have been best written in a more concise way as it does tend to ramble.) at times through 11 paragraphs, with references to nontraditional cancer treatments and songwriting. "I don't think he had many people to fall back on 发泄渠道, 发泄管道, 倾吐心事, 说心里话, 有依靠 in his personal life," said Nathan Sinclair, who worked at the Walmart for nearly a year before leaving earlier this month. 5. A tree change 搬到乡下 I. A movement of people from cities to the countryside. II. (countable) An act of relocating from an urban to a rural community. moving inland to live in a country town or a place by the mountains. Before you make the move right for you, make sure you've researched the area you're planning to move to. Curran, the son of former rich-listers Charles and Eva Curran, has taken to his tree-change some 18 months after he sold his long-held Point Piper waterfront duplex for $28 million. 科技界危机: Scaled down 规模缩小的 Christmas parties - and staff being forced to use their accrued ( accrue [əˈkru] 积攒, 积累, 累积, 攒起来的 I. If money or interest accrues or if you accrue it, it gradually increases in amount over a period of time. I owed £5,000–part of this was accrued interest. If you do not pay within 28 days, interest will accrue. Officials say the options will offer investors a longer time in which to accrue profits. II. If things such as profits or benefits accrue to someone, they are added to over a period of time. ...the expectation that profits will accrue. ...a project from which considerable benefit will accrue to the community. In many cases, the fee structure alone will exceed the tax benefits accrued. ) leave during December and January are two that I'm already seeing. In the past six months, Australia's tech industry has been caught in the throes [θroʊz] of ( If someone is experiencing something very unpleasant or emotionally painful, you can say that they are in the throes of it, especially when it is in its final stages. ...when the country was going through the final throes of civil war. ...the agonising throes of transition. the final/last/death throes of something the last stages of something, just before it ends, usually when it is ending badly. The death throes of something are its final stages, just before it fails completely or ends. Their work is a despairing metaphor for a society in its death throes. ...the death throes of the family empire. If a person or animal is in their death throes 垂死挣扎, 死亡边缘, they are dying and making violent, uncontrolled movements, usually because they are suffering great pain. the last throes of my career. in the throes of something I. involved in a difficult or unpleasant situation or activity. If you are in the throes of doing or experiencing something, especially something difficult, you are busy doing it or are deeply involved in it. The country is in the throes of a general election. Despite being in the throes of school exams, Tamsin made the long trek from Liverpool. The country remains in the throes of a bitter conflict. II. if someone is in the throes of passion, they are having sex. III. if someone is in the throes of love, they are in love with someone. She was in the throes of her first serious love affair. ) a crisis as investors have been left spooked by dramatic plunges in valuations making funding harder to find. 6. Screaming obscenities and abuse 骂脏话, the alleged thief appears to push one worker backwards 向后退, resulting in another scuffle over the trolley with both Coles team members. Suzerainty ( [ˈsuːzərənti, ˈsuzəˌreɪnti] 宗主权 ) is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary ( tributary 支流 [ˈtrɪbjəˌteri] noun a small river that flows into a larger river. A tributary is a stream or river that flows into a larger one. ...the Napo river, a tributary of the Amazon. ...a small tributary river. the Columbia River and its tributaries. adj. paid as a tribute. ) state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is called a vassal, vassal state or tributary state 附属国, the dominant party is called a suzerain [ˈsuːzəˌreɪn] 宗主国. While the rights and obligations of a vassal are called vassalage, the rights and obligations of a suzerain are called suzerainty. Suzerainty differs from sovereignty in that the dominant power allows tributary states to be technically independent, but enjoy only limited self-rule. Although the situation has existed in a number of historical empires, it is considered difficult to reconcile with 20th- or 21st-century concepts of international law, in which sovereignty is a binary concept, which either exists or does not. While a sovereign state can agree by treaty to become a protectorate 被保护的国家 of a stronger power, modern international law does not recognise any way of making this relationship compulsory on the weaker power. Suzerainty is a practical, de facto situation, rather than a legal, de jure one. 7. 查尔斯国王的糟心事: That the Metropolitan Police has passed the cash-for-honours 拿钱买荣誉 case that felled ( fell I. to cut down a tree. If trees are felled, they are cut down. Badly infected trees should be felled and burned. II. literary to knock someone down by hitting them. If you fell someone, you knock them down, for example in a fight. ...a blow on the forehead which felled him to the ground. III. to sew a hem on garments with a blind stitch either by hand or with a special machine called a felling machine or a blind stitch machine. The tailor is felling my pants. At the factory the better garments are hand felled. in/at one fell swoop If something is done in one fell swoop or at one fell swoop, it is done on a single occasion or by a single action. In one fell swoop the bank wiped away the tentative benefits of this policy. ) his longest serving aide to prosecutors? Or that Buckingham Palace's social media team had the nifty ( [informal, approval] well designed, effective, or easy to use. If you describe something as nifty, you think it is neat and pleasing or cleverly done. Bridgeport was a pretty nifty place. It was a nifty arrangement, a perfect partnership. a nifty piece of software. ) idea this week to share a video showcasing the royal family's collection of gold plates during the biggest cost-of-living crisis in a generation? Later this week, King Charles III will pass a creepy milestone when he surpasses the 78 days that Edward V managed as king (technically) before the 12-year-old was deposed 废黜 by his homicidal uncle Richard III who shoved he and his brother Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York into the Tower of London. The boys were never seen again. (Lady Jane Grey takes the top spot having only managed to stay queen for nine days before that feminist dream ended with her beheading.) This situation right here sums up the moral and diplomatic minefield that is the vast Royal Collection, with the vast majority of it acquired during Great Britain's colonial forays across the globe where they had no compunction ( compunction [kəmˈpʌŋkʃən] [disapproval] a feeling that you should not do something because it is wrong. If you say that someone has no compunction about doing something, you mean that they do it without feeling ashamed or guilty. He has no compunction about relating how he killed his father. ) about stripping out all the valuable bits and pieces from the nations who made up the Empire. Pillaging, what ho!? Okay, sure, there is a case to be made here that Brits are proud of all the pomp and ceremony and the gilded frippery ( [mainly British, disapproval] something useless but attractive or enjoyable. If you refer to something as frippery, you mean that it is silly or unnecessary, and only done or worn for pleasure. ...all the fripperies with which the Edwardian woman indulged herself. ...a sombre display, with no frills or frippery. ) of the royal family and that being invited behind the closed doors of the Palace will win over some hearts and minds. So, will he be a sovereign who looks the other way while his younger brother canters off ( If a horse canters, it moves at quite a fast but easy and comfortable speed. When a horse canters, it moves at a speed that is slower than a gallop but faster than a trot. The competitors cantered into the arena to conclude the closing ceremony. set off at a canter. The riders cantered round the field a few times. ) to the Gulf States to pal around with human rights abusers? A king who is stumped 无计可施的, 束手无策的 as to how to handle his intractable ( I. Intractable people are very difficult to control or influence. What may be done to reduce the influence of intractable opponents? II. Intractable problems or situations are very difficult to deal with. The economy still faces intractable problems. ) son and daughter-in-law whose new lives and careers seem largely built on anti-palace agitprop ( [ˈædʒɪtˌprɑp] 艺术政治化 art, literature, or music that supports political beliefs. Agitprop is the use of artistic forms such as drama or posters to further political aims. vocabulary: Agitprop appears to be art but is actually political propaganda. A movie that embraces an extreme political position could be called agitprop. Agitprop, first used in 1938, is a portmanteau, or a combination of two words: agitation and propaganda. It was originally used in Soviet Russia, inspired by a Communist Party committee called the "Department for Agitation and Propaganda." The goal of this original agitprop was to spread the ideals of communism throughout the world. Agitprop theater was common in Europe and the US in the 1920s, and the term soon evolved to include political art of all kinds. agitation [ˌædʒɪˈteɪʃ(ə)n] I. a feeling of being worried or upset. If someone is in a state of agitation, they are very worried or upset, and show this in their behaviour, movements, or voice. Danny returned to Father's house in a state of intense agitation. She forced herself to breathe calmly and not show her agitation. He paced up and down the room in agitation. II. mainly journalism an attempt to cause social or political changes by arguing or protesting, or through other activities. III. formal the action of shaking something. agitate 抗议, 示威, 游行 I. If people agitate for something, they protest or take part in political activity in order to get it. The women who worked in these mills had begun to agitate for better conditions. At least seventy students were injured in the continuing agitation against the decision. II. If you agitate something, you shake it so that it moves about. All you need to do is gently agitate the water with a finger or paintbrush. Its molecules can be agitated by microwave energy. Temperature is a measure of the agitation of the molecules of matter. III. If something agitates you, it worries you and makes you unable to think clearly or calmly. The thought of them getting her possessions when she dies agitates her. )? Whose longest serving aide may or may not be about to face charges? And whose communications team is busy showing the public the most absurd, bloated parts of royal life? (What, you don't have handmade inedible decorations on your dinner table occasionally?) 8. mud map noun INFORMAL AUSTRALIAN a simplified diagram or sketch of a route, containing only essential features. "I had a little mud map in my pocket, showing good anchoring spots". get someone back for something = get back at someone for something 报复 to do something unpleasant to someone because they have done something unpleasant to you: I'll get you back for this, just you wait! I think he's trying to get back at her for those remarks she made in the meeting. Leonard: How long have you known Adam? Wil: A few years. Leonard: And what are you getting him back for? exuberant [ɪɡˈzjubərənt] I. 充满活力的. happy, excited, and full of energy. an exuberant crowd. II. showing happiness, excitement, and energy. exuberant designs by a local artist. Charlotte was an exuberant young teen with a "wicked sense of humour" who lived a mostly normal life in the rural town near Geelong. Over time, the illness progressed to the point where she would frequently suffer from debilitating seizures. high point 最好的地方. 最棒的点. 最值得欣赏的地方 the most enjoyable or significant part of an experience or period of time. "the English lesson was the high point of the morning". The high point of an event or period of time is the most exciting or enjoyable part of it. The high point of this trip was a day at the races in Balgriffin. paternity [pətɜːrnɪti] Paternity is the state or fact of being the father of a particular child. He was of unknown paternity.
Donald Trump is running again in 2024: He entered the White House with a hastily assembled 匆忙凑在一起的 transition 过渡 team, thousands of vacant jobs to fill, and few details of how he planned to achieve his campaign promises. But things are different this time around. Trump's grip on the Republican party remains vice-like 钳子一般的, despite a disappointing performance for almost all of the candidates he backed in competitive midterms races. He has millions of dollars in campaign finance ready to be spent and a network of like-minded loyalists at his disposal. A tangle of dwindling job opportunities, stagnant wage growth, racial resentment and misogyny had quietly formed in some key battleground states. Trump himself outlined his agenda for a second term in a speech at the America First Policy Institute in late July. He harked back to the convoluted "deep state" conspiracy theory that roared into the mainstream consciousness during his presidency, of a secretive, elitist — and in extreme versions, reptilian — cabal ( cabal [kəˈbæl] 一小撮, 帮派 [disapproval] a small group of people who secretly work together to get power for themselves. If you refer to a group of politicians or other people as a cabal, you are criticizing them because they meet and decide things secretly. He had been chosen by a cabal of fellow senators. ...a secret government cabal. ) working to undermine the US government. "To drain the swamp and root out the deep state, we need to make it much easier to fire rogue bureaucrats who are deliberately undermining democracy, or at a minimum just want to keep their jobs," Trump said. "Congress should pass historic reforms, empowering the president to ensure that any bureaucrat who is corrupt, incompetent or unnecessary for the job can be told … 'You're fired. Get out, you're fired.'" These "historic reforms" could take the familiar shape of an executive order doled out 发放, 分发( If you dole something out, you give a certain amount of it to each member of a group. to give something, such as food or money, to a particular group of people or to every person in a group The government has agreed to dole out an additional $5 million in education grants. I got out my wallet and began to dole out the money. ) in the twilight 日暮 of Trump's presidency, allowing him to effectively gut the public service. The month before the 2020 election, he signed off on establishing a new category for federal employees that would have stripped away protections and effectively made the positions much easier to terminate. The order would have reassigned thousands of civil servants in policy roles to so-called Schedule F status, paving the way for the administration to purge the public service at will 随意, 随便地. That didn't come to pass, with Joe Biden reversing the order as soon as he took office. But Trump has already hinted that reimposing Schedule F could be on the cards if he steps back into the Oval Office. For years, Trump has called for widespread changes to electoral laws ( Sweeping changes to electoral law and civil liberties ) to eliminate what he calls "voter fraud" that lost him the popular vote in 2016 and the election in 2020 — claims that have been repeatedly debunked. Trump has also foreshadowed ( If something foreshadows an event or situation, it suggests that it will happen. The disappointing sales figures foreshadow more redundancies. The change proposed last month was foreshadowed in the March Budget. ) legislation that would give him total power to stamp out protests. Currently, it is the decision of state governors whether or not to send in the National Guard if a demonstration becomes violent. While in office, Trump wielded his pardon power with enthusiasm, commuting the sentences of several high-profile associates and friends, including former political strategist Steve Bannon, former national security adviser Paul Manafort and long-time ally Roger Stone. He even floated the idea of pre-emptively pardoning his three eldest children — Donald Jr, Eric and Ivanka — as well as his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani.
TBBT: 1. Sheldon: Kripke, you know, of all the people, Barry Kripke. I'm so… Are you folding that like a crazy person to get me to do it for you? Penny: No. Sheldon: Oh, give me that. Just out of curiosity, if I were to let something go, how would I do that? Penny: I don't know, just think about something else. Sheldon: Can I think about the spiny anteater? Penny: Sure. Sheldon: The spiny anteater never went behind my back and worked with Barry Kripke. That didn't help at all. Penny: You know, some people try visualization. Sheldon: How does that work? Penny: Okay, imagine your problems are a pen. Sheldon: Okay. Penny: Now imagine you're holding that pen. Sheldon: Okay. Penny: Now open your hand and let it go. Sheldon: But I just got this pen. It's got my initials on it and everything. Look.
