slicing, safety net, take a loss, salami, Iron Curtain

Sliced Bread

As Job Loss Rises, Obama Aides Act to Fix Safety Net
By JACKIE CALMES
Administration officials said that a new effort to combat unemployment would not add up to a second stimulus package, only an extension of the first.

U.K. Loss on Northern Rock

The U.K. sold nationalized lender Northern Rock to Virgin Money, taking a loss in the government's first sale of a bailed-out British bank.

States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable

By ERIK ECKHOLM

A large majority of states are slicing into their social safety nets, often crippling preventive efforts that officials say would save money over time.

Their meeting will not have anything to do with Iraq’s national sovereignty, but instead will involve slicing up billions of dollars in work for the defense contractors that support the American military’s presence in the country.

When those agents set out to produce not only a friendly sphere of Soviet influence but also a cordon of dictatorships reliably responsive to Russian orders, Winston Churchill was moved to warn, just days after the Nazis’ surrender in 1945, that an Iron Curtain was being drawn through the heart of Europe. (He coined the metaphor in a message to President Truman a full year before he used it in public in Fulton, Mo.) And Matyas Rakosi, the “little Stalin” of Hungary, was well known for another apt metaphor, describing how the region’s political, economic, cultural and social oppositions were to be destroyed by “cutting them off like slices of salami.”

 1945年，納粹剛剛投降不久，溫斯頓·丘 吉爾(Winston Churchill)就警告說，一道鐵幕已經在歐洲的心臟地帶降下（他首先在給杜魯門總統[President Truman]的一封信里使用這個比喻說法，整整一年之後，他才在密蘇里州富爾頓公開用這個詞）。匈牙利的“小斯大林”馬加什·拉科西(Matyas Rakosi)做過另外一個恰當的比喻，也非常出名，他說這個地區政治、經濟、文化和社會上的反對勢力會“像薩拉米香腸切成片”那樣被摧毀。

Salami - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ Salami - CachedShare

Salami is cured sausage, fermented and air-dried meat, originating from one of a variety of animals. Historically, salami has been popular among Southern ...

slice

n. - 薄片, 一份, 切片
v. tr. - 切成薄片, 切下
v. intr. - 切, 劃破, 切開, 斜擊球

v., sliced, slic·ing, slic·es. v.tr.

1. To cut or divide into slices: slice a loaf of bread.
2. To cut from a larger piece: slice off a piece of salami.
3. To cut through or across with or as if with a knife: The harvester sliced the field.
4. To divide into portions or shares; parcel out.
5. To spread, work at, or clear away with a bladed tool such as a slice bar.
6. Sports. To hit (a ball) with a slice.

v.intr.

1. To move like a knife: The destroyer sliced through the water.
2. Sports. To hit a ball with a slice.

[Middle English, splinter, from Old French esclice, from esclicier, to splinter, of Germanic origin.]

sliceable slice'a·ble adj.
slicer slic'er n.

idioms:
a slice of the action 一部分活動, 一份好處

slice of life 如實反映現實生活的一個側面的
A film, piece of literature or a play might be described as a slice of life if it describes or shows the ordinary details of real life.

slice up 切片
the best thing since sliced bread 極好的東西



日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 一切れ, 一部分, スライス, フライ返し, 薄刃包丁
v. - 切る, 切り取る, スライスさせて打つ, スライスして飛ぶ, 刃物で切る, 薄く切る
idioms:

• a slice of the action 分け前
• slice of life 人生の一断面
• slice up 薄く切る

slice (PIECE) Show phonetics
noun
1 [C] a flat, often thin, piece of food that has been cut from a larger piece:
a slice of bread/cake
cucumber/lemon slices
Would you like another slice of ham/beef?

2 [S] a part of something, such as an amount of money:
We agreed before we did the deal that we'd both take an equal slice of the profit.
The film presents us with a fascinating slice of history.

3 [C] a kitchen utensil with a wide blade which is used for serving pieces of food:
a cake/fish slice

slice Show phonetics
verb
1 [T] to cut something into thin, flat pieces:
Slice the mushrooms thinly and fry in butter.
[+ two objects] Could you slice me a very thin piece of cake/slice a very thin piece of cake for me?
See picture .

2 [I + adverb or preposition] to easily cut into or through something with a sharp knife:
He screamed as the blade sliced into his leg.
FIGURATIVE She watched his slim strong body as it sliced effortlessly through the water.

sliced Show phonetics
adjective
cut into thin flat pieces:
sliced bread/ham/tomato

slicer Show phonetics
noun [C]
a machine or tool for slicing particular types of food:
an egg/bread/meat slicer