2008年3月18日 星期二

cadence, damn, eff and blind

The clips that were aired of Mr Wright’s speeches were damning. Speaking of white racism, and after accusing the government of selling drugs to blacks in order to jail them, the pastor once said that blacks should sing not “God Bless America”, but “God damn America”. He said of the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks that “America’s chickens are coming home to roost.” Words on the page fail to do justice to Mr Wright’s anger; his fierce cadence has been played on television and computer screens all across America, again and again. Middle-of-the-road voters have, understandably, been shocked.





Rochester told the historian Gibert Burnet that "for five years together he was continually drunk; not all the while under the visible effect of it." He was repeatedly banished- and as often recalled- by the King he scurrilously lampooned. Drink made him "extravagantly pleasant"; it also led to disgraces like the smashing of the royal sundial and the brawl at Epsom in which his friend Mr. Downes was killed. Greene plausibly links the most famous of Rochester's masquerades to the aftermath of the Epsom affray: he vanished from London and a mysterious Dr. Alexander Bendo- astrologer, diviner of dreams, dispenser of beauty aids and cures for women's diseases- set up shop on Tower Hill. "Dr. Bendo's" advertisement is one of the most dazzling virtuoso pieces of 17th-century prose. In its impromptu rush of quackery and Biblical cadences, its promises of marvels and its teasing challenge to distinguish the counterfeit from the real. Greene astutely notes "the cracks in the universe of Hobbes, the disturbing doubts in his disbelief, which may have been in Rochester's mind even in the midst of his masquerade, so riddled is the broadsheet with half truths."







DAMN GOOD REASONS FOR EFFING AND BLINDING AT WORK
大家都来讲粗口
作者:英国《金融时报》专栏作家露西·凯拉韦(Lucy Kellaway)
专栏作家凯拉韦:耶胡达?巴鲁克是英国东安格利亚大学教授,他做了一项有趣的研究,得出的结论是:工作中爆粗口可能是件好事,还可能有助于提振员工的团队精神。

eff 
verb UK INFORMAL
eff and blind to swear, using words that are considered offensive by some people

effing 
adjective [before noun]
UK SLANG     used to add force to an expression. Some people might consider this offensive:
He's such an effing nuisance!

ca・dence


n., pl. -denc·es.
  1. Balanced, rhythmic flow, as of poetry or oratory.
  2. The measure or beat of movement, as in dancing or marching.
    1. A falling inflection of the voice, as at the end of a sentence.
    2. General inflection or modulation of the voice.
  3. Music. A progression of chords moving to a harmonic close, point of rest, or sense of resolution.
[Middle English, from Old French *cadence, from Old Italian cadenza, from Vulgar Latin *cadentia, a falling, from Latin cadēns, cadent-, present participle of cadere, to fall.]

-->
━━ n. (詩の)リズム; (声の)抑揚; 【楽】終止法.




damn (BLAME) Show phonetics
verb [T]
to blame or strongly criticize something or someone:
The inquiry into the disaster damns the company for its lack of safety precautions.

damning Show phonetics
adjective
describes a report, finding, remark, etc. which is very critical or which shows clearly that someone is wrong, guilty or has behaved very badly:
He made some fairly damning remarks about the government's refusal to deal with the problem.
The two men were convicted on some extremely damning evidence.come back/home to roost
to return to cause problems:
All his earlier mistakes are coming home to roost.

cadence (VOICE)
noun [C]
the regular rise and fall of the voice

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