2009年3月16日 星期一

unheard-of, avenue (POSSIBILITY) , be much of a muchness

One travel benefit of the economic crisis: It's easier than ever to upgrade, with sales of premium seats drying up and airlines slashing prices to unheard-of levels.



President Obama ordered his administration to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses" that started to go out Friday. Separately, New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said he would subpoena the company to find out details about the bonuses and their recipients.



Obama's Experts Emphasize Talks
Barack Obama is turning to a core group of Middle East experts who have spent more than a decade, in Democratic and Republican administrations, exploring avenues to engaging Iran and Syria.



SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea defied the United States, China and a series of United Nations resolutions by launching a rocket on Sunday that the country said was designed to propel a satellite into space, but that much of the world viewed as an effort to prove it is edging toward the capability to shoot a nuclear warhead on a longer-range missile.




much (AMOUNT) Show phonetics

determinerpronounadverb moremost
1 a large amount or to a large degree:
I don't earn much money.
You haven't said much, Joan - what do you think?
I don't think there's much to be gained by catching an earlier train.
The children never eat (very) much, but they seem quite healthy.
"Is there any wine left?" "Not much."
There's not/nothing much to do around here.
How much (= What amount of) sugar do you take in your coffee?
How much do these shoes cost?
I spend too much on clothes.
I don't have as much time as (= I have less time than) I would like for visiting my friends.
Because of the rain, we weren't able to spend much of the day on the beach.
Have you seen/heard much of Polly (= often seen or heard about her) recently?
I'd very much like to visit them sometime.
One day I hope I'll be able to do as much (= the same amount) for you as you've done for me.
Things around here are much as always/usual/ever (= have not changed a lot).
The two schools are much the same (= very similar).
Much to our surprise, (= We were very surprised that) they accepted our offer.
I'm not much good at knitting (= do not do it very well).
This is a much (= often) discussed issue.
Brian's become a much (= greatly) changed person since his car accident.
I've been feeling much healthier (= a lot more healthy) since I became a vegetarian.
The repairs to our car cost much more than we were expecting.
I'm very much aware of the problem.
She's much the best person for the job (= She is certainly better than everyone else).
would much rather have my baby at home than in hospital.
She is as much a friend to me as a mother (= although she is my mother, she is also a friend).
NOTE: much is used with uncountable nouns. Compare many and see Note many, much or a lot of? at many.

2 INFORMAL used at the end of a negative sentence to suggest the opposite of what you have just said:
I can see you don't like chocolate - much!

muchness
noun UK INFORMAL
be much of a muchness to be very similar and usually of low quality:
The songs you hear on the radio these days all sound much of a muchness.

avenue (POSSIBILITY) 
noun [C]
a method or way of doing something; a possibility:
We should explore/pursue every avenue in the search for an answer to this problem.
Only two avenues are open to us - either we accept his offer or we give up the fight completely.

unheard-of 
adjective
surprising or shocking because not known about or previously experienced:
It was not all that long ago that it was almost unheard-of for an unmarried couple to live together.

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