2015年1月6日 星期二

concertmaster, rapacious, in league with, shot in the arm, in cahoots with



Minnesota Orchestra music director Osmo Vänskä and concertmaster Erin Keefe have announced via Facebook that they are engaged.
 Google 'not in cahoots with NSA' - chief legal officer answers your questions
The Guardian
Due to this troubling disclosure that Google is providing user data to the NSA, I will cease using Google Mail, and use non-tracked search tools like duckduckgo. I, like millions of other Americans have nothing to hide, but we value our basic privacy ...


That, however, is not how many Chinese see the film, which tells the story of rapacious humans trying to evict the blue-skinned natives of the planet Pandora in order to extract some exceedingly valuable mineral. This is standard politically correct fare for a Western audience, conveying a message of racial sensitivity and environmental awareness. In China, however, it has more rebellious undertones.
但許多中國觀眾對此片的看法卻並非如此。這部電影描述貪婪的人類試圖驅逐潘朵拉星球上的藍皮膚原住民,以便採掘某種極為珍貴的礦物。對西方觀眾而言,這是標準的政治正確觀點,傳達出對種族問題的敏感性及環保意識。然而在中國,這部電影卻帶有更反叛的潛在含意。
That’s because Chinese local governments in cahoots with developers have become infamous for forcibly seeking to evict residents from their homes with little compensation and often without their consent. More often, however, they are driven away by paid thugs. Private property is one of the most sensitive issues in the country today, and "Avatar" has given the resisters a shot in the arm.
這是因為中國的地方政府與建商合夥,在只提供極少補償金、甚至常未經過同意,就把居民強制驅離其住家的作法早已惡名遠播。更常見的情況是,居民被收了錢的惡棍強行趕走。私有財產已成為中國目前最敏感的議題之一,而「阿凡達」等於是替反抗者打了一劑強心針。
Even in Hong Kong, the "Avatar" banner has been taken up by antigovernment activists trying to defeat a plan to demolish a village to make way for a new high-speed railway line. One mysterious benefactor reportedly donated movie tickets to the villagers to stoke their enthusiasm for protests.
即使在香港,反政府運動人士也高舉著「阿凡達」旗幟,試圖阻撓政府為興建新的高速鐵路而打算拆除某村莊的計畫。據說一位神秘金主還捐出了電影票給村民,好激起他們對抗議活動的熱情。





rapacious:形容詞,指貪婪的、強取的,如a rapacious landlord/businessman(貪婪的房東/商人)。
ra·pa·cious (rə-pā'shəs) pronunciation adj.
  1. Taking by force; plundering.
  2. Greedy; ravenous. See synonyms at voracious.
  3. Subsisting on live prey.
[From Latin rapāx, rapāc-, from rapere, to seize.]
rapaciously ra·pa'cious·ly adv.
rapacity ra·pac'i·ty (rə-păs'ĭ-tē) or ra·pa'cious·ness n.
undertone:名詞,指文章、話語或某事件的潛在含意,如I thought her speech had slightly sinister undertones.(我認為她的那番話帶有些許惡意。)
in cahoots with:cahoots為名詞,指合夥、同謀,in cahoots with指與他人合夥圖謀不軌,如It’s reckoned that someone in the government was in cahoots with the assassin.(外界認為政府內部有人與刺客同謀。)

in league with

Also, in cahoots with. In close cooperation or in partnership with, often secretly or in a conspiracy. For example, "For anybody on the road might be a robber, or in league with robbers" (Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859), or We suspect that the mayor is in cahoots with the construction industry. The first term dates from the mid-1500s. The variant, a colloquialism dating from the early 1800s, may come from the French cahute, "a small hut or cabin," and may allude to the close quarters in such a dwelling.

ca·hoots (kə-hūts') pronunciation
pl.n. Informal
Questionable collaboration; secret partnership: an accountant in cahoots with organized crime.

[Perhaps from French cahute, cabin, from Old French, possibly blend of cabane. See cabin, and hutte. See hut.]

a shot in the arm
A stimulus or booster, something vitalizing or encouraging, as in Getting a new concertmaster was a real shot in the arm for the orchestra. This colloquial expression alludes to a stimulant given by injection. [c. 1920]



The Concertmaster (American English) or leader (British English) is the most important violinist in an orchestra. He or she will sit in the front seat, by the conductor's left. The word concertmaster comes from the German Konzertmeister.樂團首席,通常指管弦樂團中的首席小提琴手,也經常是副指揮
首席負責指揮樂團提琴手的弓法。樂隊首席同時也負責樂團的音準調音
管樂隊裡的樂團首席通常由長笛首席或豎笛首席(亦有雙簧管首席)擔任,負責所有的獨奏部,同時也負責樂團的音準與調音。為管樂隊中十分重要的職位,亦多兼任副指揮。

cahoots

Pronunciation: /kəˈhuːts/

Definition of cahoots

noun

(in phrase in cahoots) informal
colluding or conspiring together secretly:the area is dominated by guerrillas in cahoots with drug traffickers

 

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