2012年11月5日星期一

find groove, synergy, furrow, operative, facts on the ground

Taiwan firm finds groove by recycling coffee for fabrics

Each day, trucks from textile maker Singtex Industrial Co travel throughout Taipei, scouring 7-Eleven convenience stores and Starbucks cafes for up to 500 kilograms of their main refuse - coffee grounds.

It was a classic case of an ensemble of actors creating a synergy, finding their grooves, so to speak, so that one plus one added up to three or four.

Crime

Strangers Abroad

By MARILYN STASIO

In Chris Pavone's "The Expats," a burned-out C.I.A. operative moves to Luxembourg and begins investigating her husband's activities there.

Over the last decade, however, economics has begun to get its groove back. Armed with newly powerful tools for analyzing data, economists have dug into real-world matters and tried to understand human behavior. Economists have again become storytellers, and, again, they matter.

No Big Cost Rise in U.S. Premiums Is Seen in Study

By ROBERT PEAR and DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

The eagerly awaited report gave Democrats ammunition against Republicans who have criticized the bill on the ground that it would raise costs for most Americans.

Facts on the ground is a diplomatic term that means the situation in reality as opposed to in the abstract. It can often be heard in discussions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

be stuck in a groove
to be bored because you are doing the same things that you have done for a long time:
We never do anything exciting any more - we seem to be stuck in a groove.

synergy
n., pl. -gies.

The interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
Cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.

[From Greek sunergiā, cooperation, from sunergos, working together. See synergism.]

groove

A long narrow furrow or channel.
The spiral track cut into a phonograph record for the stylus to follow.
Slang. A settled routine: got into the groove of a nine-to-five job.
Slang. A situation or an activity that one enjoys or to which one is especially well suited: found his groove playing bass in a trio.
Slang. A very pleasurable experience.

n.
v., grooved, groov·ing, grooves. v.tr.

To cut a groove or grooves in.
Baseball. To throw (a pitch) over the middle of home plate, where it is likely to be hit.

v.intr. Slang

1. To take great pleasure or satisfaction; enjoy oneself: just sitting around, grooving on the music.
2. To be affected with pleasurable excitement.
To react or interact harmoniously.

idiom:
in the groove Slang.

Performing exceptionally well.

[Middle English groof, mining shaft, probably from Middle Dutch groeve, ditch.]

furrow
n. - 犁溝, 皺紋
v. tr. - 犁, 弄縐, 耕
v. intr. - 犁田, 形成車轍, 開溝, 犁出浪跡

n.

A long, narrow, shallow trench made in the ground by a plow.
A rut, groove, or narrow depression: snow drifting in furrows.
A deep wrinkle in the skin, as on the forehead.

v., -rowed, -row·ing, -rows. v.tr.

To make long, narrow, shallow trenches in; plow.
To form grooves or deep wrinkles in.

v.intr.
To become furrowed or wrinkled.

[Middle English forwe, from Old English furh.]

idioms:

plough a furrow 行動
plough one's own furrow 做自己的事

<– Back to results

be in the groove INFORMAL
to be operating or performing successfully:
Alex Popov proved he was back in the groove by winning the 100 metres freestyle.