2013年2月27日 星期三

small-minded, serious-minded, high-minded, high-risk power plays

High-Stakes Move by Greek Leader
The referendum idea that surprised most of Europe was characteristic of Papandreou, who combines high-minded democratic idealism with a penchant for high-risk power plays.


It virtually disappeared from Europe after the early 1960s because children had access to antibiotics, he explained. But in Africa, where many people have "never seen a nurse or a doctor in their life", Strada said, rheumatic fever is endemic and leads to the continent’s most common form of heart disease, causing an estimated 300,000 deaths a year.(AFP)
該疾病實際上在1960年代初期後,已從歐洲消失,因為兒童可獲取抗生素,他解釋。但在許多人「未曾看過護士或醫生」的非洲,史特拉達說,風濕熱盛行,從而成為這塊大陸上最普遍的心臟病,每年估計造成30萬人死亡。(法新社)



discussion which became endemic among serious-minded Oxford undergraduates
small-minded critics in 1950s.

'Solar'

By IAN McEWAN
Reviewed by WALTER KIRN
Certain books are so bad that they're actually rather good. Ian McEwan's new novel is just the opposite: it's so ingeniously designed, irreproachably high-minded and skillfully brought off that it's actually quite bad.


high-minded
('mīn'dĭd)
adj.
Characterized by elevated ideals or conduct; noble.

high-mindedly high'-mind'ed·ly adv.
high-mindedness high'-mind'ed·ness n.


small-minded
(smôl'mīn'dĭd)
adj.
  1. Having a narrow or selfish attitude.
  2. Characterized by pettiness or selfishness.
small-mindedly small'-mind'ed·ly adv.
small-mindedness small'-mind'ed·ness n.


en·dem·ic (ĕn-dĕm'ĭk) pronunciation
形容詞,地方性的、某地(或某些人中)流行的
 adj.
  1. Prevalent in or peculiar to a particular locality, region, or people: diseases endemic to the tropics. See synonyms at native.
  2. Ecology. Native to or confined to a certain region.
n. Ecology
An endemic plant or animal.

[From Greek endēmos, native, endemic : en-, in; see en-2 + dēmos, people.]
endemically en·dem'i·cal·ly adv.
endemism en·dem'ism n.

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