automata, automatic, gyroscope, battleship, ammunition, outlet, viewership

Obituary in The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/…/20…/apr/25/sue-jackson-obituary

Sue Jackson obituary

Artist who founded the Cabaret Mechanical Theatre and turned automata into a contemporary art form

THEGUARDIAN.COM|由 MARTIN PLIMMER 上傳

When Pineapple Races Hare, Students Said to Lose

By ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS

An eighth-grade English test has baffled students and given ammunition to anti-standardized testing activists.

On Feb. 15, 1898, the U.S. battleship Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, killing 260 crew members and escalating tensions with Spain.

kill him with an automatic.



The report represents the clearest American acknowledgment of fault in connection with the attacks. It will give new ammunition to critics, including many Afghans, who complain that American forces too often act indiscriminately in calling in airstrikes, jeopardizing the United States mission by turning the civilian population against American forces and their ally, the Afghan government.



NBC Universal plans to use its coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games to launch a new system for measuring viewership across an array of different media, including video-on-demand, cellphones and the Web, as well as traditional television.

N

BC Universal計劃利用報道北京奧運會的機會啟用一個用於計算各種不同媒體的觀眾人數的新系統﹐包括視頻點播(VOD)、手機、網絡及傳統的電視。



NBC hopes the new system -- which will be offered to advertisers at the start of the new fall season -- will give it ammunition to persuade advertisers to buy ad time on newer media such as VOD and cellphone video. That's a big issue for media companies, facing an erosion of audiences and ad dollars at their traditional outlets.
NBC希望將於秋季伊始提供給廣告商的新系統能有助於說服廣告商購買VOD和手機視頻等新媒體上的廣告時間。這對在傳統渠道方面面臨觀眾減少和廣告收入縮水的媒體公司來說可謂大事。

viewership

(vyū'ər-shĭp') 
n.
The people who watch a television program or motion picture: a largely male viewership.



ammunition 
noun [U]
1 (INFORMAL ammo) objects that can be shot from a weapon such as bullets or bombs:
a good supply of ammunition
a shortage of ammunition

2 facts that can be used to support an argument:
His bad behaviour provided plenty of ammunition for his opponents.

outlet

(out'lĕt', -lĭt) 
n.

1. 1. A passage for escape or exit; a vent.
   2. A means of release or gratification, as for energies, drives, or desires: exercised as an outlet for frustration.
2. 1. A stream that flows out of a lake or pond.
   2. The mouth of a river where it flows into a larger body of water.
   3. The point of intersection of a driveway and a road, especially in a rural area.
3. 1. A commercial market for goods or services.
   2. A store that sells the goods of a particular manufacturer or wholesaler.
4. A receptacle, especially one mounted in a wall, that is connected to a power supply and equipped with a socket for a plug.

automatic,
(ô'tə-măt'ĭk)
adj.

1. 1. Acting or operating in a manner essentially independent of external influence or control: an automatic light switch; a budget deficit that triggered automatic spending cuts.
   2. Self-regulating: an automatic washing machine.
2. 1. Acting or done without volition or conscious control; involuntary: automatic shrinking of the pupils of the eyes in strong light. See synonyms at spontaneous.
   2. Acting or done as if by machine; mechanical: an automatic reply to a familiar question.
3. 1. Capable of firing continuously until ammunition is exhausted or the trigger is released: an automatic rifle.
   2. Semiautomatic: an automatic pistol.

n.

1. An automatic machine or device.
2. 1. An automatic firearm.
   2. A semiautomatic firearm.
3. A transmission or a motor vehicle with an automatic gear-shifting mechanism.
4. Football. See audible.

idiom:
on automatic

1. Functioning by or as if by automatic machine or device.

[From Greek automatos : auto-, auto- + -matos, willing.]

automatically au'to·mat'i·cal·ly adv.
automaticity au'to·ma·tic'i·ty (-mə-tĭs'ĭ-tē) n.

WORD HISTORY The words automatic pilot or automatic transmission bring to mind mechanical devices that operate with minimal human intervention. Yet the word automatic, which goes back to the Greek word automatos, "acting of one's own will, self-acting, of itself," made up of two parts, auto-, "self," and -matos, "willing," is first recorded in English in 1748 with reference to motions of the body, such as the peristaltic action of the intestines: "The Motions are called automatic from their Resemblance to the Motions of Automata, or Machines, whose Principle of Motion is within themselves." Although the writer had machines in mind, automatic could be used of living things, a use we still have. The association of automatic chiefly with machinery may represent one instance of many in which we have come to see the world in mechanical terms.

Spotlight:

A Simple Gyroscope

What is a gyroscope used for? A gyroscope — a kind of spinning top that is held in two or more circular frames, each oriented along a different axis — is used in compasses, in automatic pilots on aircraft and ships, in the steering mechanisms of torpedoes and in antiroll equipment on large ships. In the mid-nineteenth century, Jean Bernard Léon Foucault invented the Foucault pendulum, which helped him explain that the earth rotates on its axis. This work also led to his development of the gyroscope. Foucault took the name from the Greek words gyros and skopien, meaning "rotation" and "to view." Some fifty years later, American scientist Elmer Ambrose Sperry perfected the use of gyroscopes. In 1909, he developed the first automatic pilot, which uses the gyroscope's sense of direction to maintain the course of an airplane. His gyrocompass was installed on the US battleship Delaware in 1911.

automaton 

Pronunciation: /ɔːˈtɒmət(ə)n/ 

NOUN (plural automata /ɔːˈtɒmətə/ or automatons)

1A moving mechanical device made in imitation of a human being:a collection of 19th century French automata: acrobats, clowns, and musicians

More example sentences

1.1A machine which performs a range of functions according to a predetermined set ofcoded instructions:sophisticated automatons continue to run factory assembly lines

More example sentences

1.2Used in similes and comparisons to refer to a person who seems to act in amechanical or unemotional way:like an automaton, she walked to the door

More example sentences

Origin

Early 17th century: via Latin from Greek, neuter of automatos 'acting of itself', from autos'self'.

ammunition[am・mu・ni・tion]

• レベル：大学入試程度
• 発音記号[æ`mjuníʃən]

[名][U]

1 弾薬.

2 武器, 飛び道具.

3 ((略式))自分に有利な情報［助言］, 攻撃［防御］手段.

4 ((俗))トイレットペーパー.

5 ((米俗))アルコール飲料, 酒.

［フランス語. la（定冠詞）munition（軍需品）を誤ってl'amunitionと分析したもの. ⇒APRON］