option, whirlwind, on the rise, reap the whirlwind

‘There was no other option’: Prince Harry explains decision to quit royal duties in emotional speech

Editors' Picks

NEW YORK The $119 Billion Sea Wall That Could Defend New York … or Not By ANNE BARNARD A six-mile-long barrier would help protect the city from floodwaters during fierce storms like Sandy, but critics say rising seas make the option inadequate.

Medicare for All or Public Option: Can Either Heal Health Care?

A public insurance option could use its scale to hold prices down, but only if the approach avoids the financing gimmicks that are undermining Medicare, say Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace.

Our scientific flowchart will help ease the decision-making process in this whirlwind era of retail riches.

"Authors so often find films of their books a mixed blessing. My novel Madame Doubtfire had been under option for more than 10 years when Robin Williams finally closed the deal. I heard on the grapevine that a child's easy access to the noncustodial parent was an issue close to his heart. He certainly put a vast amount of feeling and energy into the film"

My hero: Robin Williams by Anne Fine

Anne Fine: The author of Madame Doubtfire remembers 'a hypnotising whirlwind of manic energy'

THEGUARDIAN.COM

Cellphone Service by the Day, Month or Tankful

By THOMAS J. FITZGERALD

Offering greater freedom and long-term savings, no-contract plans are on the rise, with many options available and a growing clientele.

on the rise,

崛起

2008年9月20日 星期六

strudel, option, altogether

Zimbabwe: Give a bad deal a chance

• Robert Mugabe is no longer omnipotent, but it will still be hard to get rid of him altogether

Investors Seek Asian Options to Costly China

By KEITH BRADSHER

A number of multinationals are creating or expanding other Asian bases, particularly in Vietnam.

option

noun

1 [C or U] one thing which can be chosen from a set of possibilities, or the freedom to make a choice:

The best option would be to cancel the trip altogether.

There are various options open to someone who is willing to work hard.

They didn't leave him much option - either he paid or they'd beat him up.

2 [C] SPECIALIZED the right to buy something in the future:

a share option

The publishers decided not to take up their option on the paperback version.

optional 

adjective

If something is optional, you can choose whether to do it, pay it, buy it, etc:

English is compulsory for all students, but art and music are optional.

op・tion

  

━━ n. 選択（権・の自由）; 選択可能なもの［事］; 〔英〕 選択科目; 【商業・株】オプション, 選択売買権 ((on)).
 have no option but to do　…するよりほかない.
 keep [leave] one's options open　態度（決定）を保留する.
 make one's option　選択する.
 op・tion・al　━━ a. 随［任］意の.
op・tion・al・ly　ad.
optional dividend　【株】選択式配当 ((株主の意向で配当の形を選択できるもの)).
 option key　【コンピュータ】オプションキー ((Macintoshのキーボード上のキーの一つ；他のキーと同時に押して命令を送出する)).
 option money　【株】オプション料 ((optionの購入料)).
 option switch　【コンピュータ】オプション・スイッチ.
 option to purchase　【株】買い取り選択権 ((（大手）株主に与えられる，特定の企業の株式を安値で買い取る権利)).

option

Line breaks: op¦tion

Pronunciation: /ˈɒpʃ(ə)n /

NOUN

1A thing that is or may be chosen:choose the cheapest options for supplying energy

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCESSYNONYMS

1.1[IN SINGULAR] The freedom or right to choose something:she was given the option of resigning or being dismissedhe has no option but to pay up

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

1.2A right to buy or sell a particular thing at a specified price within a set time:Columbia Pictures has an option on the script

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VERB

[WITH OBJECT]Back to top  

Buy or sell an option on:his second script will have been optioned by the time you read this

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCES

Origin

mid 16th century: from French, or from Latin optio(n-), from the stem of optare 'choose'. The verb dates from the 1930s.

Phrases

keep (or leave) one's options open

Not commit oneself:he aims to keep his options open by also trying for the export market

not be an option

Not be feasible:

travelling by road is not an option here

whirlwind

Pronunciation: /ˈwəːlwɪnd /

Definition of whirlwind in English:

NOUN

1A column of air moving rapidly round and round in acylindrical or funnel shape.

EXAMPLE SENTENCESSYNONYMS

1.1Used with reference to a very energetic person or a tumultuous process:a whirlwind of activity[AS MODIFIER]: a whirlwind romance

MORE EXAMPLE SENTENCESSYNONYMS

Phrases

(sow the wind and) reap the whirlwind

1

Suffer serious consequences as a result of one’s actions.

[with biblical allusion to Hos. 8:7]

粗略地意譯一下可能應該是「德國發動了戰爭，我們惡有惡報」（reap the whirlwind）

Reap the whirlwind is a term derived from the proverbial phrase "They that sow the wind, shall reap the whirlwind", which in turn comes from the Book of Hosea in the Hebrew Bible, Hosea 8-7.

Historical use[edit]

It was famously used by Arthur "Bomber" Harris in response to the Blitz of 1940 when he said:

The Nazis entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everybody else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and half a hundred other places, they put that rather naive theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now, they are going to reap the whirlwind.^[1]

The phrase was also used by Norman Tebbit in a 1985 lecture when he condemned the permissive society saying:

Bad art was as good as good art. Grammar and spelling were no longer important. To be clean was no better than to be filthy. Good manners were no better than bad. Family life was derided as an outdated bourgeois concept. Criminals deserved as much sympathy as their victims. Many homes and classrooms became disorderly - if there was neither right nor wrong there could be no basis for punishment or reward. Violence and soft pornography became accepted in the media. Thus was sown the wind; and we are now reaping the whirlwind.^[2]