2009年7月7日星期二

precept, enshrine, received wisdom

BEIJING — In the wake of Sunday’s deadly riots in its western region of Xinjiang, China’s central government took all the usual steps to enshrine its version of events as received wisdom: it crippled Internet service; blocked Twitter’s micro-blogs; purged search engines of unapproved references to the violence; saturated the Chinese media with the state-sanctioned story.

Its secret kick for a subversive like Shchukin was precisely that it violated every sacred Beaux-Arts precept enshrined in the flawless public nudes that filled the Paris salons.

Landmark Ruling Enshrines Right to Own Guns
By LINDA GREENHOUSE
The ruling embraced the view that the Second Amendment protects the personal right to own a gun and seemed certain to usher in litigation around the U.S

The word received conveys its original meaning of accepted or approved – as in "
received wisdom".

enshrine

1 to contain or keep as if in a holy place
Almost two and a half million war dead are enshrined at Yasukuni.
A lot of memories are enshrined in this photograph album.

2 be enshrined in sth

If a political or social right is enshrined in something, it is protected by being included in it

The right of freedom of speech is enshrined in law/in the constitution.

precept

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noun [C] FORMAL
a rule for action or behaviour, especially obtained from moral consideration:
This policy goes against common precepts of decency.