exclamation, prop up, exclamation points/ marks, ace, ruble, nordic, yikes, shore up, long-serving ,

According to Chad's army, President Déby had died in clashes with rebels. Read our article from the archive on how America and France have been propping up the authoritarian leader




Amazon’s new boss is “Nice!” or maybe “Nice!!!!”: Karen Weise and Dai have a fun glimpse at Andy Jassy, who in a few months will become the chief executive of Amazon. Jassy was a “brain double” of Jeff Bezos, one person said, and staff obsessed over Jassy’s email replies of “Nice,” followed by a seemingly random number of exclamation points.

The Borowitz Report: “Our social-media trolls did some of their finest work to put Rick over the top, but, in the final analysis, we were a day late and a ruble short,” the Russian President said.

A Quantum Computer Aces Its Test

By QUENTIN HARDY May 10, 2013

Nordic telecom operators that flocked to Russia in recent years could face a big earnings hit from the plunging value of the ruble as the downturn worsens.


Russian Declaration Hits Markets

Investors sold Russian equities and the ruble as Moscow recognized Georgia's regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent.





For a country where half of all grandparents look after their grandchildren every day – one in eight for more than nine hours a day – the strike call threatens to disrupt the working lives of a significant proportion of the population and expose the extent to which this unpaid work is propping up the economy.
對於一個半數祖父母都得每天照顧孫兒的國家而言──8分之1的祖父母每天當保母的時間超過9小時──這項罷工號召可能威脅到全國大部份人口的正常職場生活，同時也暴露出這份無給職工作對支撐國家經濟的重要程度。

Moscow Moves to Calm Investors

Top Russian officials sought to reassure investors alarmed by the sudden removal of long-serving Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, predicting a rebound for the ruble even as the central bank said it spent $2.36 billion on Monday to shore up the slumping currency.

prop
To support by placing something beneath or against; shore up.

prop up 助ける, 支える, 支持する

exclamation

Pronunciation: /ˌɛkskləˈmeɪʃ(ə)n/

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Definition of exclamation

noun

• a sudden cry or remark expressing surprise, strong emotion, or pain:an exclamation of amazement

Origin:

late Middle English: from Latin exclamatio(n-), from exclamare 'shout out' (see exclaim)

Grammar

A remark expressing surprise, delight, pain, anger, or other strong emotion, often spoken with extra force or emphasis:How wonderful! In writing, exclamations are often shown by the use of an exclamation mark. Exclamation sentences can have a special grammatical construction, which involves changing the normal sentence order and starting the sentence in one of two ways: The sentence begins with how + adjective:How strange it looked from below! (instead of It looked strange from below.) The sentence begins with what + noun phrase:What an incredible confidence trick the election polls have turned out to be. (instead of The election polls have turned out to be an incredible confidence trick.)In speech particularly, exclamations frequently contain no verb:How stupid of me!

yikes

Pronunciation: /jʌɪks/

exclamation

informal

• expressing shock and alarm, often for humorous effect:I had a dip in the 40 degree pool (yikes!)

Origin:

1970s: of unknown origin; compare with yoicks

Exclamation marks, also known as exclamation points, were originally called the "note of admiration." They are used to exclaim something. They are commonly used after interjections (words or phrases that are used to exclaim, command or protest like “wow” or “oh”).

ru・ble

--> ━━ n. ルーブル ((ロシアの通貨単位)).

北欧区最大寿险公司首脑伊达尔•克罗伊策(Idar Kreutzer) 受美国某大型银行高管之邀，最近在纽约进行一次简谈。谈话很快发展成一场历时两小时、有关北欧商业模式与公司差异的探讨。克罗伊策先生称：“对北欧模式的 关注与好奇令我吃惊。”克罗伊策先生是挪威保险公司Storebrand的首席执行官。
资本主义在瑞典、挪威、丹麦和芬兰的实践模式，被某些人视为当前经济和金融危机中为数不多的赢家。从上一次应对银行危机的反应，到提升女性在董事会的比例，北欧模式激发了全世界的好奇心，这与人们对上世纪80年代日本与60年代德国的资本主义潮流的好奇如出一辙。
正如那些体系要面临功成身退后的挑战，北欧模式亦如是。同时也存在这样的疑问：将这一模式输出到世界其它地区是否简单易行。不过，新近任命爱立信 (Ericsson)的思文凯(Carl-Henric Svanberg)为英国石油(BP)董事长，另两位北欧商业领袖加盟大型英国公司，这些事实表明，人们对北欧资本主义及其商界领袖的尊崇与日俱增。
Just as those systems faced challenges after their time in the limelight, so does the Nordic model. There are doubts, too, about how easy it would be to export it to other parts of the world. But the recent appointment of Ericsson's Carl-Henric Svanberg as chairman of BP, joining two other Nordic heads of big UK companies, demonstrates the growing respect for Nordic capitalism and its leaders.

nordic
adj.

1. Of, relating to, or characteristic of Scandinavia or its peoples, languages, or cultures.
2. Of or relating to a human physical type exemplified by the tall, narrow-headed, light-skinned, blond-haired peoples of Scandinavia. Not in scientific use.
3. Sports. Of or relating to ski competition featuring ski jumping and cross-country racing.

n.
A person of the Nordic physical type.

[French nordique, from nord, north, from Old French nort, from Old English north.]

ace

Pronunciation: /eɪs/

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Definition of ace

noun

• 1a playing card with a single spot on it, ranked as the highest card in its suit in most card games:the ace of diamonds figurativelife had started dealing him aces again

• 2 informal a person who excels at a particular sport or other activity:a motorcycle ace
• a pilot who has shot down many enemy aircraft: a Battle of Britain ace

• 3(in tennis and similar games) a service that an opponent is unable to return and thus wins a point: Nadal banged down eight aces in the set
• Golf, informal a hole in one: his hole in one at the 15th was Senior’s second ace as a professional

adjective

informal

• very good:an ace swimmer [as exclamation]:Ace! You’ve done it!

verb

[with object] informal

• 1(in tennis and similar games) serve an ace against (an opponent): he can ace opponents with serves of no more than 62 mph
• Golf score an ace on (a hole) or with (a shot): there was a prize for the first player to ace the hole

• 2North American achieve high marks in (a test or exam):I aced my grammar test
• (ace someone out) outdo someone in a competitive situation: the magazine won an award, acing out its rivals

Phrases

an ace up one's sleeve (or North American in the hole)

a plan or piece of information kept secret until it becomes necessary to use it: the prime minister has several other aces up his sleeve

hold all the aces

have all the advantages: he held all the aces: he was the Director, he could lecture on whomever he liked

play one's ace

use one’s best resource:deciding to play her ace, Emily showed the letter to Vic

within an ace of

British very close to:they came within an ace of death

Origin:

Middle English (denoting the ‘one’ on dice): via Old French from Latin as 'unity, a unit'