2020年2月14日 星期五

profile, high-profile, low profile, wily, wiles, intriguing, Bond Girl, in a row, encroaching effects, pat ending in chiaroscuro


During the crisis, Xi has maintained an unusually low profile, perhaps because he doesn’t want to step in publicly until it is clear the health authorities have gained control of the situation and new infections start to fall.
For a man whose propaganda apparatus has recently begun to promote him as the “people’s leader”, it has been a humbling moment.

007 影片系列的女角色("小姐")稱為 "Bond Girl"--不過她們有的只是秀色可餐

(Bond Girls are a type of character featured in James Bond movies. They are often victims rescued by Bond, fellow agents or allies, villainesses or members of an enemy organisation; sometimes they are mere eye candy and have no direct involvement in Bond's mission, other Bond Girls play a pivotal role in the success of the mission. Other female characters such as Judi Dench's M and Miss Moneypenny are not typically thought of as Bond Girls.
The role of a Bond Girl is typically a high-profile part that can give a major boost to the career of unestablished actresses, although there have been a number of Bond girls that were well-established prior to gaining their role. For instance, Diana Rigg and Honor Blackman were both Bond Girls after becoming major stars for their roles in the television series, The Avengers. Additionally, Halle Berry won an Academy Award in 2002 - the award was presented to her while she was filming Die Another Day.)




而有的很有本事--這正是"聯合國女使者"的說法--她們"出生入死"執行任務

Diplomats With A Difference: Tracy Burford - The UN's Bond Girl

Diplomats move in rarefied circles and enjoy many perks. They often travel to exotic places to attend conferences, to negotiate deals and to oversee important development projects. But sometimes the environment in which they move is unsafe. And so the United Nations employs security guards, whose job it is to protect the UN facilities and to provide close protection for particular individuals. The UN security force is 250 strong and male-dominated...but included in this group, is a big, blonde Australian bombshell. Tracy Burford is one of only 12 women employed in the UN protection detail. She's been called a healer, a clairvoyant, a peacemaker, and a witch. But she has no problems holding her own amongst her male colleagues, thanks to her mental powers of persuasion rather than brute force. Lisa Schlein met Tracy Burford in Geneva.


Author Daniel Mark Epstein, author of 'The Lincolns: Portrait of a Marriage,' discusses one of the most intriguing First Couples in American history.
(Daniel Mark Epstein, washingtonpost.com)


Worlds Outfoxed by a Wily Inner Child 

By EDWARD ROTHSTEIN
William Steig, the New Yorker cartoonist and illustrator, had an astonishing career writing children’s books.


In one of our meetings, Stoppard posed the quandary: "One of the questions that haunts me — it's a question for philosophers and brain science — is, if you've forgotten a book, is that the same as never having read it?" With just a slight twist, you could put the question another way and it would contain all the intrigue and wily psychic machinations that have accompanied Stoppard throughout his blazing achievements and rich personal life: if you forget the unpleasant experiences you've once lived through — if you choose to begin the tape at 1946 instead of 1937 — does that mean they never happened?


The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times lead, and the Washington Post off-leads, with word that the U.S. lost fewer jobs than expected last month, as the unemployment rate rose to 8.9 percent in April. The NYT notes that stock prices were up yesterday as a result, and the LAT points out that consumer spending and pending home sales were on the uptick for the second month in a row.



Yesterday was the first Friday of the month. That means the lead stories in today's newspapers are all about the Department of Labor's latest monthly statistics, bad ones for the tenth time in a row: The U.S. unemployment rate jumped to 6.5 percent as American employers cut more than 240,000 jobs.

Rising among the derelict warehouses and hip boutiques of the rapidly changing neighborhood, the museum’s monumental exterior forms are conceived as a barrier against the area’s increasingly amusement-park atmosphere. It makes a powerful statement about the encroaching effects of the global consumer society. Inside, Mr. Piano has created a contemplative sanctuary where art reasserts its primary place in the cultural hierarchy.

紐約時報專欄 作家Columnist Maureen Dowd opined back in 1999 that lighting was the reason Warren Beatty wouldn't run for president: he needs to control the light he's cast in, but a campaign would force him to surrender that control to the media and the public.

"He can instruct the technicians on the Larry King show about the best way to light him. Once, while I was interviewing the star at his candle-lit dinner table in Hollywood, he wanted to read me something about Tennessee Williams. Instead of turning on a lamp, he fetched a tiny flashlight. You've got to like a guy who cares about chiaroscuro."


Bear Stearns sought rescue financing from Singapore's Temasek in the days before its sale to JPMorgan Chase but was rebuffed, underscoring the growing reluctance of sovereign wealth funds to make high-profile investments, The Financial Times reported.


profile: 名詞,外形、形象、一個人的生平簡介;動詞,描繪輪廓、概要描述。例句:Foreign tourists are advised to keep a low profile in this conservative country.(建議外國觀光客在這個保守的國家保持低調。)

high-profile
adjective [before noun]
attracting a lot of attention and interest from the public and newpapers, television, etc:
high-profile politicians
He resigned from a high-profile job as economic adviser to the Prime Minister.


pat (WITHOUT THOUGHT) 
adjective USUALLY DISAPPROVINGdescribes an answer or remark that someone has previously prepared, so that they say it quickly and without any real thought:
The minister came out with a pat answer/response.
pat
1. adj. - 非常恰當的, 過分巧合的, 不自然的, 適時的, 熟練的, 陳腔爛調的, 滾瓜爛熟的
adv. - 非常恰當地, 立即, 適時地, 熟練地
pat ending
Tuesday’s voting showed only that the voters, like moviegoers, don’t want a pat ending. Even though Hillary reasserted her strength, corraling New York, California and Kennedy country Massachusetts, she and Obama will battle on in chiaroscuro.


    Chiaroscuro (English pronunciation: /kiˌɑːrəˈskjʊəroʊ/; Italian: [ˌkjaroˈskuːro]; Italian for light-dark) in art is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition.
chiaroscuro

[It.] n. 【美】(絵画・文芸上の)明暗の配合[対照](法); 明暗法による絵画など.

n., pl. -ros. In all senses also called claire-obscure.
The technique of using light and shade in pictorial representation.
The arrangement of light and dark elements in a pictorial work of art.
A woodcut technique in which several blocks are used to print different shades of a color.
A woodcut print made by this technique.
[Italian : chiaro, bright, light (from Latin clārus, clear) + oscuro, dark (from Latin obscūrus).]



encroach on/upon sth phrasal verb
1 to gradually take away someone else's rights, or to take control of someone's time, work, etc:
What the government is proposing encroaches on the rights of individuals.
I resent it that my job is starting to encroach on my family life.

2 to gradually cover more and more of an area of land:
They have promised that the development will not encroach on public land.

encroachment 
noun [C or U]
The new censorship laws are serious encroachments on freedom of expression.
in a row

one after another without a break:

She's been voted Best Actress three years in a row.


wily
 
adjective
(of a person) clever, having a very good understanding of situations, possibilities and people, and often willing to use tricks to achieve an aim:
a wily politicianIts heroine, the little white flame Fiammetta Bianchini, has been envisioned by Ms. Dunant as the languid nude model for Titian's "Venus of Urbino." Fiammetta has unabashed confidence, male friends in high places and many exotic wiles.

wiles
plural noun FORMAL
methods of persuasion that cleverly trick someone into doing something:
She'll have to use all her feminine wiles to get him to agree.

intrigue (INTEREST) 

verb [T]
to interest someone a lot, especially by being strange, unusual or mysterious:
Throughout history, people have been intrigued by the question of whether there is intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

intriguing
adjective
an intriguing possibility/question
She has a really intriguing personality.


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