用法学习: 1. day release = day-release a system in which people who work can study one day a week at a college. Day release is a system in which workers spend one day each week at a college in order to study a subject connected with their work. a program in hospitals, prisons, and jails in which patients or prisoners are permitted to spend part of the day outside their institution of confinement studying, training, or working My boss wants me to do a day-release course in computing. He went to college on day release and attended night school. known quantity 已知量 I. an algebraic quantity whose value is given, usually represented by an early letter of the alphabet, as a, b, or c. II. A person or thing whose nature or value is well known. We try to hire people who are a known quantity in the field of human interface design. Kani, US officials said, is a known quantity and one example of why the Biden administration largely expects little to change in Iran following the sudden deaths of its president and top officials. 2. 伊朗总统坠机: For hours on Sunday after the US received the first reports that a helicopter had crashed while carrying some of Iran's most senior leaders, including President Ebrahim Raisi, US officials weren't sure how bad the accident was. But even once it became clear that Raisi and the others aboard had perished, the consensus view across the US government was that Iran's foreign and domestic policy were likely to remain consistent. That's because Iran's true leader is its Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Raisi was, in many ways, a functionary( a person who has official duties, especially in a government or political party. a person with an official job in a government or political party, especially one whose job you do not consider to be interesting or important. A functionary is a person whose job is to do administrative work, especially for a government or a political party. Now they are increasingly poorly paid functionaries in a declining industry. government/party functionaries. The visitors were met by a functionary who escorted them to the director's office. a government functionary. ). Raisi was widely seen as a possible successor to Khamenei, and his death has sparked a spirited debate in Washington intelligence and policy circles over how it will jumble the field ( jumble [dʒʌmbəl] noun. A jumble of things is a lot of different things that are all mixed together in a disorganized or confused way. an untidy and confused mixture of things, feelings, or ideas: He rummaged through the jumble of papers on his desk. a jumble of thoughts/ideas. The shoreline was made up of a jumble of huge boulders. ...a meaningless jumble of words. verb. If you jumble things or if things jumble, they become mixed together so that they are untidy or are not in the correct order. He's making a new film by jumbling together bits of his other movies. His thoughts jumbled and raced like children fighting. The events of the last few weeks are all jumbled up in my mind. ). 3. I furrow 眉毛倒竖 my brows, purse 紧抿嘴 ( purse VS pout VS pucker up 三个词的区别在于带的感情: I've never seen a female pout her lips to put on lipstick. I pout 噘嘴表示不满不高兴 when I'm sulky, you might pucker your lips up for a kiss, and purse your lips 嘴唇只是紧闭, 并不是撅起来 in disapproval or deep thought or to put lipsticks on. When you purse, your lips are drawn together like the mouth of an old-fashioned purse with a drawstring at the opening. ) my lips, scrunch 皱成一团, 皱鼻子 my nose, bite my lip, squint 眯缝眼 my eyes. 4. adulate [ˈædjʊˌleɪt] 崇拜, 膜拜, 无限吹捧 verb to flatter or praise obsequiously. to admire or praise someone very much, especially when this is more than is deserved: The boxer was convicted of rape, and yet is still adulated by many. adulation [ædʒʊleɪʃən] 崇拜 Adulation is uncritical admiration and praise of someone or something. very great admiration or praise for someone, especially when it is more than is deserved: As a born performer, she loves the excitement and she loves the adulation. The book was received with adulation by critics. While casting a big star used to guarantee some level of success at the box office, the adulation which was once reserved for movie stars now seems to be directed at pop stars. adulatory [ˌadjʊˈleɪt(ə)ri] showing great admiration or praise for someone, especially when it is more than is deserved. If someone makes an adulatory comment about someone, they praise them and show their admiration of them. ...adulatory reviews. I found myself irritated by the adulatory tone of her biography. The Mother Teresa article is adulatory. vocabulary: To adulate is to flatter someone. A lot. Like, drop-on-your-knees-and-clasp-your-hands-and-say-"you-are-the-greatest-ever-to-walk-the-earth" a lot. The most interesting syllable in adulate is the ul-, which comes from ulos, a Latin word meaning "tail." The idea is that if you're heaping flattery on someone, you might as well be a dog wagging its tail 摇尾乞怜, panting for a treat. Not that there's anything wrong with a little flattery. Or dogs. adulterate [ədʌltəreɪt] 掺水, 掺杂, 掺假 verb If something such as food or drink is adulterated, someone has made its quality worse by adding water or cheaper products to it. to make food or drink weaker or to lower its quality, by adding something else: There were complaints that the beer had been adulterated with water. The food had been adulterated to increase its weight. There is a regulation against adulterated cosmetics. ...the adulteration of tobacco. Saffron is very expensive, and is often adulterated with other plants. vocabulary: If you adulterate something, you mess it up. You may not want to adulterate the beauty of freshly fallen snow by shoveling it, but how else are you going to get to work? The verb adulterate comes from the Latin word adulterare, which means "to falsify," or "to corrupt." Whenever something original, pure, fresh, or wholesome is marred, polluted, defaced, or otherwise made inferior, it has been adulterated. A vitamin company might issue a recall if they learn that one of their products was adulterated during production. And if you hate dried fruit, you might complain that your grandma adulterates her oatmeal cookies with raisins. mar 破坏, 毁掉, 毁坏 verb. To mar something means to spoil or damage it. to spoil something, making it less good or less enjoyable: Sadly, the text is marred by careless errors. It was a really nice day, marred 破坏掉 only by a little argument in the car on the way home. I hope the fact that Louise isn't coming won't mar your enjoyment of the evening. A number of problems marred the smooth running of this event. That election was marred by massive cheating.
Midsomer murders: 1. You know your mother does not like surprises. Well, she'll like this one. Will she? Why? Is it a good one? No. You're not catching me out ( catch someone out I. 说漏嘴. detect that someone has done something wrong or made a mistake. To catch someone out means to cause them to make a mistake that reveals that they are lying about something, do not know something, or cannot do something. I suspected he wasn't telling me the truth, and one day I caught him out when I found some letters he'd written. Detectives followed him for months hoping to catch him out in some deception. He did not like to be caught out on details. The government has been caught out by the speed of events. "his tone suggested he'd caught her out in some misdemeanour". II. dismiss a batter by catching the ball before it touches the ground. "the wicketkeeper caught him out easily". III. to trick someone into making a mistake: The examiner will try to catch you out, so stay calm and think carefully before you speak. IV. to put someone in a difficult situation. to unexpectedly cause difficulty for someone: The interest rate is very competitive and fixed for the term, so borrowers won't get caught out by rising interest rates. A lot of people were caught out by the sudden change in the weather. ) like that. I couldn't ask a couple of questions? I'm not obliged to say anything unless I wish to do so. Well, feel obliged. I'm taking you to dinner. Are you? Somewhere nice? Mmm. The Crown. Tonight. I have to suspend this interview. But she'll crack if we give her some breakfast. So is it a special occasion? 2. Can you tell us what happened? That's what bothers me. He'd been in a fight, but I'd say it had more to do with these. They look like electrical burns. There's 12 more across his scalp. Small traces of adhesive on the skin. There's a phenomenal amount of alcohol in his blood. I had the brain scanned and the dark area looks like an embolism ['embəlɪzəm] 血块 ( An embolism is a serious medical condition that occurs when an artery becomes blocked, usually by a blood clot. He died from a pulmonary embolism. a bubble of air, a mass of blood that has become hard, or a small piece of fat that blocks an artery. ) to me. Is that what killed him? Never seen anything like it. My guess is somebody got him drunk, stuck electrodes in his head and deep-fried his brain. 3. So you're saying this bloke attacked you? I'm saying he went berserk. Scott. Where's your tie? Sir? We are investigating the death of a man. You could wear a tie. I'm not sure it goes with the shirt, sir. The landlord's in there. He reckons he threw the bloke out. Then he just turned on him. Mr Kirby? I'm Detective Chief Inspector Barnaby. He must've put up quite a fight. Sir, I am not accusing you or anyone else here of anything. I am, however, anxious to establish one or two facts. I threw him out. I closed the door, he started wailing like a banshee. 4. When did you last see your son? About 2:00 yesterday afternoon. He took my car. To go where? If he was true to form 说得是实话, 没有说瞎话, some pub, where he would've stayed until he got into a fight or was too drunk to start one. John had no love for me, or anyone else, for that matter. His only concerns were for himself. For his appetites. Let's just say my feelings for John were conditioned. Conditioned? By the fact that I knew him for what he was. 5. Looking for a bloke called Lol Tanner. Don't where he is, do you? I've been trying to tempt him in so I can ask. But this village is more interested in simple superstition than complex belief. If he's not in his shop, then try the pub. 6. John's natural ability to guess at hidden cards was way above average. It increased tenfold after producing alpha. It's what we're investigating. Precognition. ESP ( extrasensory perception). The way that some people seem to be luckier than others and some have what we call second sight ( the capacity to see remote or future objects or events. If you say that someone has second sight, you mean that they seem to have the ability to know or see things that are going to happen in the future, or are happening in a different place. an unusual ability that some people are thought to have that allows them to know without being told what will happen in the future or what is happening in a different place But no forecaster is blessed with second sight. sixth sense, or cryptaesthesia: Extrasensory perception (ESP), also known as a sixth sense, or cryptaesthesia, is a claimed paranormal ability pertaining to reception of information not gained through the recognized physical senses, but sensed with the mind. Second sight is an alleged form of extrasensory perception, whereby a person perceives information, in the form of a vision, about future events before they happen (precognition), or about things or events at remote locations (remote viewing). precognition [ˌpriːkɒɡˈnɪʃən] the alleged ability to foresee future events. knowledge of a future event, especially when this comes from a direct message to the mind, such as in a dream, rather than by reason. clairaudience [ˌklɛərˈɔːdɪəns] the postulated ability to hear sounds beyond the range of normal hearing. clairvoyance [klɛəˈvɔɪəns] I. the alleged power of perceiving things beyond the natural range of the senses. II. keen intuitive understanding. ). The ability to predict events which should be unpredictable. 6. My little cousin, yeah, he's got a bit of a temper. He's a bit too ready with his fists 爱动拳头. 7. Two families, Sergeant. Two great houses. Both alike in their deep-seated objection to my baptising the child. John wanted the baptism stopped. Ben and Emma have accepted Christ as their saviour. Neither family is happy or likely to do the same. When people turn their face from the light, Inspector... ..there's really nothing left. Utter darkness. So how come you fetched up ( fetch up to arrive somewhere, especially without intending to. If you fetch up somewhere, you arrive there, especially when you have not planned to go there. He spent the first few months on a walking and sketching tour, before fetching up in Dublin. After a whole hour of driving, we fetched up back where we started.) in Midsomer Mere? I was sent here by the bishop at Emma Kirby's request. She heard me preaching in Birmingham but grew up in Midsomer Mere and wanted to bring something back. She feels she owes her life to an act of God. I've been given 12 months to bring real religion to this village instead of the false religion of scientific reason. And just plain paganism. Whatever Ben did... ..you shouldn't judge him. He's simply trying to hold a baptism. In a village with a resident palmist ( palmistry [pɑːmɪstri] 掌纹看相 Palmistry is the practice and art of trying to find out what people are like and what will happen in their future life by examining the lines on the palms of their hands. The probable reason owes nothing to palmistry. palmist = palm reader a person who looks at the lines on the palm of your hand and tells you what these lines say about your character and your future. ). If you do happen across Ben Kirby... I will. The church needs rewiring. I tried it myself. Yow! Apart from being a third of my current congregation - excuse the terrible pun - Ben Kirby's a first-class electrician. 8. You're a teacher, Mrs Kirby? Midsomer Mere Primary. We've just broken up 放假 for half-term. The vicar says that the Ransoms and the Kirbys are like two great houses. I do know my Romeo and Juliet. I also know that John wanted to stop the baptism of your daughter. Why? Why was that so important? Because of something John had. Something we don't. Are you talking about second sight? Ben doesn't have it? As a Kirby, he should. But he doesn't. He wouldn't want any part of it if he did. Neither would I. We have faith, Inspector, go to church, believe in the gospel, the intercession ( 干预. 干涉. Intercession is the act of interceding with someone. the act of using your influence to make someone in authority forgive someone else or save them from punishment: Several political prisoners have been released through the intercession of Amnesty International. His intercession could be of help to the tribe. Many claimed to have been cured as a result of the Madonna's intercessions. ) of Christ. Why do both the families want to stop the baptism? Cos it puts Christine out of reach. My family are scientists, pure and simple. Ben's are con artists. Can you imagine Christine's life if they thought she had second sight? 9. What are you doing down there, Max? Max, what are you playing at 玩什么鬼把戏? 10. Broken neck. Let's say he either fell from the top of the steps or was pushed. Front door was wedged open, sir. Same as before. Just about anybody could walk in. 10. I ran Ben Kirby through the computer, sir. Did you? Excellent work. Hold onto that thought. Lend us your torch. Someone trying to destroy evidence. Or scientific data. Or trying to obliterate the memory of John Ransom. Why would you want to do that? I don't know. Righteous anger. Tell us about Ben Kirby. One piece of previous, sir. Aggravated assault on holiday when he was 17. Knocked out a couple of local lads with a pool cue ( sports implement consisting of a tapering rod used to strike a cue ball in pool or billiards. cue, cue stick, pool stick. ). Not one to turn the other cheek ( refers to responding to insult without retort. )? Tell uniform we need to find Max Ransom. Ask Forensics to look at this, see if they can lift prints. And when you've done that, get yourself over to Emma Kirby's. Make sure she's informed. Wait for me there. 11. Causton was never a way of life ( I. the habits, customs, and beliefs of a particular person or group of people. A way of life is the behaviour and habits that are typical of a particular person or group, or that are chosen by them. Mining activities have totally disrupted the traditional way of life of the Yanomami Indians. Unhampered development is threatening these farmers' way of life. II. 一种生活. 生活方式. an important activity, job, etc., that affects all parts of someone's life. the manner in which a person lives: Sleeping in doorways, begging for food and money - it's not an enviable way of life. She loved travel, meeting people from other cultures and finding out about their way of life. For me, tennis is not just a sport, it's a way of life. If you describe a particular activity as a way of life for someone, you mean that it has become a very important and regular thing in their life, rather than something they do or experience occasionally. She likes it so much it's become a way of life for her. ...cities where violence is a way of life. ). It was just meant to tide me over 过渡. I do think we ought to hear Cully out. It's ten shows to begin with. Ten more if we get funding. I understand. It's not the most wonderful job in the world. Not the National. It'll be hard for her, but it's what she wants to do. 12. You told me that John had a talent for precognition. You cleaned out ( clean out If someone cleans you out, they take all the money and valuables you have. If they clean out a place, they take everything of value that is in it. They cleaned me out. I need to go to a cashpoint. When they first captured the port, they virtually cleaned out its warehouses. John Ransom put him out of business and spent the afternoon in the pub. That explains the level of alcohol in his blood. ) the local bookies, presumably meaning that your experiment was a great success. Who burned your research? I did. Did you notice the way the kid behaved? Were there floods of tears when I knocked on the door? Come on! You're coppers! Good observational skills. Did you notice if Christine started crying BEFORE I knocked? 13. Are you all right? Yeah, yeah. Well, I say that. I almost ran over a chap on the way to you at the pub. I only just managed to stop before I hit him. You're sure you're all right? Oh, yeah. I just thought I'd seen him somewhere before. 14. I think I've figured out what this precognition, this second sight, is all about. A lot of over-fertile [ˈfəːtʌɪ] ( I. Fertile land can produce a large number of good quality crops. Land or soil that is fertile is able to support the growth of a large number of strong healthy plants. ...fertile soil. ...the rolling fertile countryside of East Cork. He was able to bring large sterile acreages back to fertility. II. A fertile mind or imagination 丰富的想象力 is able to produce a lot of good, original ideas. ...a product of Flynn's fertile imagination. A chess player must have a fertile imagination and rich sense of fantasy. III. A situation or environment that is fertile in relation to a particular activity or feeling encourages the activity or feeling. ...a fertile breeding ground for disharmony of one kind or another. IV. A person or animal that is fertile is able to reproduce and have babies or young. The operation cannot be reversed to make her fertile again. Doctors will tell you that pregnancy is the only sure test for fertility. ) imaginations engaged in wishful thinking. 15. How's Max? Well, he's mad, sir. He wants a solicitor and threw his breakfast over the custody sergeant. An odd manifestation of grief for a man who lost his father and brother. 16. Hello, gorgeous. Now, you've got a lucky face. And I also have one of these. The penalties for gaining pecuniary [pɪˈkjuːn(jə)ri] ( relating to money. Pecuniary means concerning or involving money. She denies obtaining a pecuniary advantage by deception. pecuniary interest/loss/benefit. a pecuniary matter. ) advantages through deception can be very severe. I am a bona fide psychic. Well, there's a lot of that here. It's funny that a medium to the crowned heads of Europe couldn't spot that I am with the CID. 17. What I wanna know, sir, is what genius wired this up. The electrician reckons that whoever it was wants to be doing serious jail time. Don't sit there, whatever you do. The juice goes down the wires into the back of the chair. Someone rewired the chair? And blew every fuse in the place. Only now the transformer goes up as high as whatever's coming in off the mains. 18. You were using electrical shocks to reinforce correct answers. Or to put it another way, you'd shock whoever was in the chair every time they got an answer wrong. But then you started upping the voltage, didn't you? Your brother John was given a severe electrical shock just before he died. Severe enough to leave burns 烧伤 on his body. You started with 50 volts and then you worked your way up, didn't you? But you were so determined to get him to give you the right answers, you ended up giving him enough electricity to kill him. I assume your dad wasn't best pleased when he found out what you'd done. Is that why you killed him, cos he'd found out what you'd done? If you trust science, second sight might help you find your killer. I'll tell you what. Why don't we run a little test, eh? I was so inspired by your demonstration the other day. I thought I'd come equipped to do a little experiment. Now... Find me the nine of diamonds. How about the nine of any suit? You, you're a scientist, aren't you? Not a very good one. Lost inside something you don't understand at all. But I understand. It must be very frustrating to be surrounded by all that talent and realise that you haven't got any. Ask the custody sergeant for the full 48 hours while we gather enough evidence to charge him with double murder. How much do you know about Salieri, Scott? Salieri? Antonio Salieri. I don't bother about the Italian sides. Antonio Salieri was suspected of murdering Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on December 5th 1791 out of a great jealousy for the great genius he himself did not possess. But the operative word here, Scott, is murder. 19. Sorry. I'm trying to understand why a man with second sight needs that and a Stevenson screen to tell him about the weather. You listen to me. I don't use it. Second sight's nothing... nothing to smile about and joke. It's not a blessing neither and if I don't choose to use it, that's up to me. Scott. I want you to go down to the cashpoint at the garage. Take out £100 on expenses. Then I want you to spend the rest of the afternoon in that pub, losing every penny you've got. I want to find out once and for all whether second sight is for real or a hoax. 20. How long's a limited period, then? That depends on what God has in mind. This church has been empty for years. No congregation. No believers. I've got to pluck Midsomer Mere like a burning brand ( a brand from the burning A rescued person, a convert; originally with biblical allusion, as to Amos 4:11 and Zechariah 3:2. Human branding or stigmatizing is the process by which a mark, usually a symbol or ornamental pattern, is burned into the skin of a living person, with the intention that the resulting scar makes it permanent. This is performed using a hot or very cold branding iron. It therefore uses the physical techniques of livestock branding on a human, either with consent as a form of body modification; or under coercion, as a punishment or to identify an enslaved, oppressed, or otherwise controlled person. It may also be practiced as a "rite of passage", e.g. within a tribe, or to signify membership of or acceptance into an organization. ) from the fire. From what I've seen, that could take quite some time. They said that in Birmingham. I quadrupled [kwɒdˈruː.pəl] the congregation. They needed a PA for all the folk who couldn't get in. That's why they call me Preaching Pete. I said I'd do the same here. So, a baptism, that'll be quite a victory. Well, it's a symbol of a hope-filled future. Has Mal Kirby caused you any trouble? Little Mal? Little Mal won't even set a foot inside church. He's ducked 躲避, 回避 every wedding, every funeral, every christening for the last 20 years. He's what's wrong with this village, Inspector. No faith. This won't take long. 21. But Mal, I cannot make the other connection. Between what? Between a man responsible for an act of integrity and bravery... ..and a compulsive, obsessive recluse, always making notes about the air pressure. Why aren't you in the pub with Jimmy? Second sight's not to be celebrated. If I choose not to use it, that's up to me. 22. It's you. You've nicked him, then? I'm psychic, remember. If you mean Mr Tanner, he is helping us with our enquiries. I'm going to do you a deal. Let him go and I'll give you all the help you need to solve the murders. How do you intend to do that? Like I said... I'm a clairvoyant. You're a clairvoyant. And I am a policeman. I'm afraid I have had it up to here with all this hocus-pocus ( hocus-pocus [ˌhəʊ.kəsˈpəʊ.kəs] I. tricks used to deceive, or words used to hide what is happening or make it not clear. tricks used to deceive or words used to hide what is happening, esp. by making the actual situation difficult to understand. If you describe something as hocus-pocus, you disapprove of it because you think it is false and intended to trick or deceive people. It is unlikely he would have mistaken hocus-pocus for genuine knowledge. Like so many politicians, he relies on a lot of statistical hocus-pocus. So much of what politicians say is just hocus-pocus. II. words said by a magician (= a performer who pretends to do magical things) when they are doing a trick. vocabulary: Hocus-pocus is an illusion or a meaningless distraction that tricks you in some way. Some people believe in astrology, while others think horoscopes are nothing but hocus-pocus. A car salesman might use smooth-talking hocus-pocus to distract you from the fact that you're paying way too much for your new convertible, and similarly, a magician uses hocus-pocus to draw her audience's attention away from the rabbit behind her back or the card up her sleeve. The word hocus-pocus originally came from magic shows, in fact — it's fake Latin, probably copied from the Latin Mass invocation, Hoc est corpus meum, "this is my body.")( hokum [ˈhəʊkəm] I. 一派胡言, 胡言乱语. nonsense. If you describe something as hokum, you think it is nonsense. The book is enjoyable hokum. "they dismissed such corporate homilies as boardroom hokum". II. trite, sentimental, or unrealistic situations and dialogue in a film or other work. "classic B-movie hokum". 用例: Sheldon:
I thought this was supposed to be a guided meditation. Raj: Fine.
You're in Sheldon Square. Sheldon: Really? This time of year? It's a bit
nippy. Raj: Then, put on a sweater. Sheldon: Suppose I could run
downtown and pick up something at Shel-Mart. Raj: Yeah, whatever. Just
go buy a sweater. Sheldon: You know, the nice thing about Shel-Mart is I
own it, so I get a 15% discount. Raj: You own the damn thing. Just take
a freaking sweater! Sheldon: Look, I didn't turn a profit last quarter by taking product off the shelves willy-nilly 随心所欲的, 随意的.
Raj: All right. You've paid for a sweater, and you're in Sheldon
Square. Sheldon: Hang on. It's a cardigan. I have to button it. Oh, no.
Raj: What now? Sheldon: A Godzilla-like monster is approaching the city.
I have to get my people to safety. People of Sheldonopolis, this is
your mayor. Follow me. If the children can't run, leave them behind. Oh,
the simulated horror! (Sound of door slamming) Raj? Just as I
suspected. Meditation is nothing but hokum. 用例: Leonard,
this is Tom. Hi, Tom. Sheldon. Didn't I explain to you about your
little mistake in the cafeteria? Yes, you were very clear, as was
everyone else at the table. Tom, however, has been chosen by science as a
suitable mate for Penny. Chosen by science. Well, what passes for science on dating sites. They may claim to use heuristic algorithms, but it may well be 很可能是 hokum. You got Penny to sign up for online dating? No, no, of course not. No, see, I used trickery and deceit.
This is bad. Tom is a paramedic with the fire department. He's going to
med school. Uh, he likes the outdoors and, uh, strong women who
initiate sex. Really, really bad. I'm surprised you struck out with 失败, 没能成功 Penny. Apparently, she's a big old five. locum [ˈloʊkəm] 代理, 替代(医生或牧师) [mainly British] A
locum is a doctor or priest who does the work for another doctor or
priest who is ill or on holiday. a doctor or priest who does the job of
another doctor or priest temporarily, for example while the usual one is
ill or on vacation.). My sergeant took the trouble to look you up on the computer. Romany Rose, Flower of the Carpathians. Alias Gloria Pitt from Audenshaw, Manchester, with convictions for deception, fraud, theft. Wanted for interview by every police force from here to Blackpool. I'll give you one hour's head start before I start phoning them. And I'd be very grateful if you'd let ME solve these murders. Yeah, well, I might be all the things you say I am, lover, but at least I know how policemen think. I'd say rational deduction is not cracking this, is it? 23. I'm praying for all those, who through stupidity or ignorance, or lack of faith, stand in the way of God's work on Earth. So you were doing God's work when you were laying in wait for John Ransom outside The Luck In The World? You've been expecting this for some weeks, haven't you? A letter from your bishop to tell you something you knew but couldn't face. That Preaching Pete Kubatski was, indeed, for a limited period only. Because you've failed in Midsomer Mere, haven't you? The Lord my God is a jealous God. Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. John Ransom came to see you the day he died. He was upset. Liked to torment people. And he tormented you, didn't he? He used his precognitive powers to tell you that letter was on its way, didn't he? Despite a lifetime believing the future was known only to God, you believed John Ransom. Go on! And when he died from his injuries, you tried to place the blame on Max and his experiment. You told me you tried rewiring your church. I think you used the little knowledge you gained to rewire the chair. 24. I'm not scared by you. I answer to a higher authority. 25. Preaching Pete, eh? Could no more cope with the idea of failure than he could second sight. You two still planning to baptise this one? That church is going to be full one day. A baptism's not a bad way to start.
