【#逐字學英文國際日報】19：frailties, frail, widowed, strengths, bask in sth, closed-door, bigwig, up to a point

轉The Economist 的成都的世界最大綜合商城建築物：從農民手中廉價取得土地，大蓋其中國夢，腐敗調查 (轉手)，負債不愁？
從我初次到成都"開發市場"，已27年過去了。那位在錦江大飯店問我投資機會的女台商 (該酒樓的第2層，不少台商獨資企業租房，我笑這些是"臺獨"，官員說我思想複雜.......)，不知近況？

The world’s biggest building reveals a lot about China’s economic strengths. It is also a microcosm of the country’s financial frailties. https://econ.st/2SfQ7R2

Google, Mozilla and the European Committee for Interoperable Systems, a group based in Brussels representing the other Microsoft rivals, each plan to testify during the closed-door hearing next month before Michael Albers, a hearing officer in the European Commission’s competition section.


BASKING in its 2008 Olympic glow, no longer shy at counting itself among the world's greats and blessed with a still booming economy, China looks the coming power. And so it is, up to a point. Yet as the Communist Party's bigwigs assemble behind closed doors in Beijing for their five-yearly congress, it is China's frailties, not its strengths, that preoccupy them.



frail elderly population

On that spring morning in April, in black cotton slippers and socks that barely covered his ankles, Drucker seemed unusually frail and tired -- not at all in a mood to ponder his legacy.As for Ruma, the heroine of the title story, she realizes during a visit from her widowed father that they rarely talk about matters of real importance; they do not speak about her mother or her brother, they do not discuss her pregnancy or her marriage, or her father’s new relationship with a woman he met on vacation. This has been their history as long as she can remember: “Somehow, she feared that any difference of opinion would chip away at the already frail bond that existed between them.”

frail
adjective
weak or unhealthy, or easily damaged, broken or harmed:
a frail old lady
I last saw him just last week and thought how old and frail he looked.
the country's frail economy

frailty 
noun
1 [U] weakness and lack of health or strength:
Though ill for most of her life, physical frailty never stopped her from working.

2 [C or U] moral weakness:
Most of the characters in the novel exhibit those common human frailties - ignorance and greed.
Tolerant of human frailty in whatever form, she almost never judged people.


widow 
noun [C]
1 a woman whose husband has died and who has not married again

2 INFORMAL HUMOROUS fishing/football/golf widow a woman whose husband is often not at home because he is fishing or playing football or golf

widowed
adjective
describes a person whose husband or wife has died:
He was widowed at the age of 52.

widowhood
noun [U]
the fact or period of being a widow




bask in sth phrasal verb
to take pleasure from something that makes you feel good:
He basked in his moment of glory, holding the trophy up to the crowd.

coming 
adjective [before noun]
happening soon:
We look forward to greater success in the coming year.
I'll be back this coming Friday.up to a point
partly, or to a limited degree:
Of course there is some truth in all this, but only up to a point.
The new traffic scheme worked up to a point, but it had its problems.

bigwig 
noun [C] INFORMAL 〔話〕 えらい人, 要人.
a person who has an important or powerful position:
We were invited to a lunch with local bigwigs.