2011年9月27日 星期二

brewski, spread, baobab, ruling class



Facebook Launches Own PAC


The move is the social media giant's latest bid to spread its influence from Silicon Valley to Washington.






Practical Traveler

B & Bs Seek to Be a Guy Thing

By MICHELLE HIGGINS
Bed-and-breakfasts are starting to man up, doing away with the lace bedspreads and trading high tea for brewskies.


The loss of a baobab

The Nobel peace prize winner took on Kenya's ruling class


Adansonia
African Baobab (Adansonia digitata) tree in BagamoyoTanzania near the Kaole ruins
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
(unranked):Angiosperms
(unranked):Eudicots
(unranked):Rosids
Order:Malvales
Family:Malvaceae
Subfamily:Bombacoideae
Genus:Adansonia
L.[1]
Species
See Species section
Adansonia is a genus of eight species of tree, six native to Madagascar, one native to mainland Africa and the Arabian Peninsula and one to Australia. The mainland African species also occurs on Madagascar, but it is not a native of that island.

brewski
n. Slang, pl., -skies, or -skis.
  1. Beer.
  2. A serving of beer.
[BREW + -ski, -sky, n. suff. (from Russian -skiĭ , perhaps modeled on RUSSKY).]

Russky
n., pl., -skies.
Offensive. A Russian.

[Russian russkiĭ, Russian, from Rus', Rus. See Rus.]

2011年9月24日 星期六

uncork, consolidate, raise hackles

China Consolidates Grip on Rare Earths
New York Times
By KEITH BRADSHER BEIJING — In the name of fighting pollution, China has sent the price of compact fluorescent light bulbs soaring in the United States. Matt Rourke/Associated Press The price of compact fluorescent light bulbs has risen drastically in ...


WASHINGTON — President Obama met with the Dalai Lama on Thursday, welcoming the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader to the White House for a low-profile meeting that nonetheless raised the hackles of China.
Google Voice may raise more hackles with privacy advocates, and perhaps regulators, than it does with competitors. The service would allow Google, which already collects vast amounts of data about the behavior of Internet users, to gather information on their calling habits.
“It raises two distinct problems,” said Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. “In the privacy world, it is increased profiling and tracking of users without safeguards. But the other problem is the growing consolidation of Internet-based services around one dominant company.”




Taiwan
to consolidate DRAM makers; China offers PC subsidy as part of stimulus; and EU negotiations on telecom rules stall. ...



“I would hesitate to uncork the Champagne just yet,” Professor McGlinchey said by telephone. “What he is doing is typical of any new leader trying to remove the legacy of a predecessor and consolidate his hold on power.”




uncork
verb [T]
to open a bottle by pulling out its cork (= cylindrical piece of soft wood used to close it):
"Who's for some more wine?" asked Polly, uncorking another bottle.

consolidate
verb [I or T]
1 to become, or cause something to become, stronger and more certain:
The success of their major product consolidated the firm's position in the market.
She hoped that marriage would consolidate their relationship.
The party consolidated its hold on power during its term of office.
The company has been expanding rapidly and I feel it's now time to consolidate (= stop growing and make our present position stronger).

2 to combine several things, especially businesses, so that they become more effective, or to be combined in this way:
The two firms consolidated to form a single company.

consolidated
adjective
consolidated trading/accounts

consolidation
noun [C or U]
The company is entering a period of consolidation (= becoming better and stronger at what it does).
We have seen a similar consolidation (= joining together) of booksellers and distributors.

consolidate[con・sol・i・date]
  • 発音記号[kənsɑ'lədèit | -sɔ'l-]

[動](他)
1 〈権力・地位などを〉固める, 強固にする, 強化する;〈人望を〉高める
consolidate one's leadership
指導力を強化する.
2III[名]([副])]〈会社・土地などを〉合併する, 統合整理する;…をまとめて(…に)する((into ...));〈借金などを〉まとめて整理する
consolidate one's profits [debts]
収益[負債]を整理統合する.
━━(自)(←(他))
1 固まる, 強固になる.
2I([副])]合同[合併]する.
━━[形]=consolidated.
[ラテン語. con-共に+solidus固定した+-ATE1=合わせて固定する]
con・sól・i・dà・tor
[名]

hackle
n.
  1. Any of the long, slender, often glossy feathers on the neck of a bird, especially a male domestic fowl.
  2. hackles The erectile hairs along the back of the neck of an animal, especially of a dog.
    1. A tuft of cock feathers trimming an artificial fishing fly.
    2. A hackle fly.
tr.v., -led, -ling, -les.
To trim (an artificial fishing fly) with a hackle.

idiom:
get (one's) hackles up
  1. To be extremely insulted or irritated.
[Middle English hakell, cloak, skin, plumage, possibly from Old English hacele, cloak, mantle.]
━━ n. すきぐし; (鶏・犬などの)首の回りの毛.
get …'s hackles up / make …'s hackles rise 人をいきり立たせる.
with one's hackles up [rising] いきり立って; 戦おうと身構えて.
━━ vt. (麻・亜麻を)すきぐしですく.

2011年9月23日 星期五

snowboarder, named for, minty

The Olympic gold medalist Shaun White will endorse   Whitemint gum, an addition to the Stride line.

A Minty Chewing Gum, Named for a Snowboarder

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN

The Olympic gold medalist Shaun White will endorse Whitemint gum, an addition to the Stride line.






snowboard
(snō'bôrd', -bōrd') pronunciation
n.
A board resembling a small surfboard and equipped with bindings, used for descending snow-covered slopes on one's feet but without ski poles.

intr.v., -board·ed, -board·ing, -boards.
To use a snowboard.

snowboarder snow'board'er n.



open up, score, lively, all over, out-of-home, mess up

Paul McCartney Opens Up About Classical Projects, Musical Training

In advance of his first-ever ballet score premiere, Sir Paul McCartney gets to the heart of his musical processes in a lively conversation with WQXR's David Garland. The former Beatle considers the challenges and appeal of writing the orchestral score for Ocean’s Kingdom which opens at New York City Ballet on Thursday night.


In Advertising

An ad from BAM's new campaign.

An ad from BAM's new campaign.

Campaign Spotlight
New Campaign Lets BAM Hit You All Over
By STUART ELLIOTT

To mark its 150th anniversary, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, known as BAM, is introducing a campaign using print, out-of-home and online advertising as well as social media.

Netflix to Break Business in Two

By ELIZABETH A. HARRIS

Reed Hastings said Netflix's DVD-by-mail service would be split apart and renamed Qwikster, and he said he "messed up" in handling recent changes to pricing and subscription services.

mess up

1. Create disorder in; muddle or ruin. For example, On rainy days the children really mess up the house, or He had a way of messing up his own business. [c. 1900]
2. Make a mistake, especially from nervousness or confusion, as in He messed up and took the wrong dossier to the meeting, or Jill swore she would never mess up again. [Colloquial; early 1900s]
3. Beat up, manhandle, as in Joe got messed up in a barroom brawl. [Slang; early 1900s]




out-of-home

Term describing advertising media that must be viewed outside the household and is not available in the home, such as bus-shelter advertising, shopping-cart displays, billboards, painted displays, transit advertising and sky writing. See also in-home.




all over
adv.
  1. Over the whole area or extent: a cloth embroidered all over with roses.
  2. Everywhere: searched all over for her missing key.
  3. In all respects: Carefree and fun-loving-that's him all over.
idiom:

be all over

  1. To attack verbally; reprimand severely.

open up

1. Spread out, unfold, as in A green valley opened up before us. [Early 1800s]
2. Begin operation, as in The new store opens up next month. [Late 1700s]
3. Begin firing, begin attacking, as in The artillery opened up at dawn, or, figuratively, The speaker opened up fiercely on the opposition. [1930s] Also see open fire.
4. Speak freely and candidly, as in At last the witness opened up and told what happened. " Colloquial; c. 1920]
5. Make an opening by cutting, as in The surgeon opened up the patient's chest.
6. Become available or accessible, as in With new markets opening up all the time we hope to see our revenues increase dramatically. [Mid-1800s]
7. Increase the speed of a vehicle, as in Let's see how fast the car will go if you open it up. [Colloquial; c. 1920]
8. Open the door, let me (or us) in, as in Open up! This is the police. [Mid-1900s] Note that in all of these usages except def. 4 and 7, up serves as an intensifier, that is, it emphasizes the verb open.

badminton, knocked out of , shuttlecock

Wang Shixian knocked out of badminton's Japan Open
AFP
TOKYO — World number two Wang Shixian crashed out to Juliane Schenk in the women's singles quarter-finals at the Japan Open on Friday as her top seeded compatriot Wang Yihan battled her way into the semis. The Asian Games gold medallist let a narrow ...


Badminton is a racquet sport played by either two opposing players (singles) or two opposing pairs (doubles), who take positions on opposite halves of a rectangular court that is divided by a net. Players score points by striking a shuttlecock with their racquet so that it passes over the net and lands in their opponents' half of the court. Each side may only strike the shuttlecock once before it passes over the net. A rally ends once the shuttlecock has struck the floor.

shúttlecòck[shúttle・còck]


[名]
1 (バドミントン・羽根突きの)羽根, シャトルコック.
2 [U]羽根突き遊び.
━━[動](他)…を行ったり来たりさせる.
━━(自)やりとりされる.

Battledore and Shuttlecock. 1854, from the John Leech Archive[1]




beat back, arms measure

US Senate beats back Taiwan arms measure
AFP
WASHINGTON — The US Senate on Thursday defeated an effort to force President Barack Obama to sell Taiwan some 66 F-16 fighter jets instead of upgrading the island's existing fleet of combat aircraft. Senators voted 48-48 on a proposal by Republican ...



beat back

Force to retreat or withdraw, as in His findings beat back all their arguments to the contrary. This phrase was often used in a military context (and still is), as in Their armies were beaten back. [Late 1500s]


2011年9月20日 星期二

stand to gain, beat back, arms measure




Sergio Moraes/Reuters

Americas Stand to Gain from New Fields

Western oil companies looking to exploit untapped fields will find plenty throughout countries in the Americas, like Brazil, above, that offer greater political stability.

2011.10
US Senate beats back Taiwan arms measure
AFP
WASHINGTON — The US Senate on Thursday defeated an effort to force President Barack Obama to sell Taiwan some 66 F-16 fighter jets instead of upgrading the island's existing fleet of combat aircraft. Senators voted 48-48 on a proposal by Republican ...



beat back

Force to retreat or withdraw, as in His findings beat back all their arguments to the contrary. This phrase was often used in a military context (and still is), as in Their armies were beaten back[Late 1500s]


stand to gain 一定獲利

stand to (自)
(1) 《軍事》(敵の夜襲にそなえて)(戦闘)待機する.

n. 1. the state of readiness for action or attack.
2. the formal start to a day of military operations.


[stand to ...] (2) 〈主張などに〉固執する, 〈約束などを〉守る.
(3) 〈人・主義などを〉支持する.
(4) 〈仕事などに〉励み続ける.


━━(他)
[stand ... to]
《軍事》〈部隊を〉(夜襲にそなえて)部署につかせて待機させる.

2011年9月19日 星期一

take-home, take home five Emmys

'Modern Family' Takes Home Five Emmys

By BRIAN STELTER

The Emmy Awards telecast on Sunday night ended the same way it did last year, with "Modern Family" and "Mad Men" being named the best comedy and drama, respectively, on television.




take-home

pronunciation

IN BRIEF: adj. - (of salary or wages) remaining after all deductions including taxes.

2011年9月18日 星期日

pigin, japanese speaking party


Breakthrough in Belgian government deadlock

Feuding political parties in Belgium have had a major development in talks
to form a government. Fifteen months after elections, Dutch and
French-speaking parties have reached a crucial agreement on electoral
boundaries.


洋涇濱、火星文

基礎教育必須以本國語文為最根本最重要的教學重點,先學好中文再論其他。趕時髦,啟蒙階段教英語,台灣一無英語環境,更缺乏合格師資,徒增孩子們的負擔和煩惱。出發點或是想讓孩子們具備雙語能力,結果他們學會了兩種語文:洋涇濱、火星文。

洋涇濱、
pidg·in (pĭj'ən) pronunciation
n.
A simplified form of speech that is usually a mixture of two or more languages, has a rudimentary grammar and vocabulary, is used for communication between groups speaking different languages, and is not spoken as a first or native language. Also called contact language.

[From PIDGIN ENGLISH.]

pidginization pidg'in·i·za'tion n.
pidginize pidg'in·ize' v.

2011年9月17日 星期六

gauge of gloom, The R-word index



recess
n.
    1. A temporary cessation of the customary activities of an engagement, occupation, or pursuit.
    2. The period of such cessation. See synonyms at pause.
  1. A remote, secret, or secluded place. Often used in the plural.
    1. An indentation or small hollow.
    2. An alcove.

v., -cessed, -cess·ing, -cess·es. v.tr.
  1. To place in a recess.
  2. To create or fashion a recess in: recessed a portion of the wall.
  3. To suspend for a recess: The committee chair recessed the hearings.
v.intr.
To take a recess: The investigators recessed for lunch.

[Latin recessus, retreat, from past participle of recēdere, to recede. See recede1.]

[名](複 〜・es)
1 [U][C]休み;休憩, 休廷, 休会, 休校;(法廷・議会などの)休会[休廷]期間;((米))(学校の)休憩時間(((英))break)
a spring recess
春休み
an hour's recess for lunch
一時間の昼休み
at recess
休憩時間に
during the noon recess
昼休み中に
be in recess
休暇[休会, 休廷]中である
take a [go into] recess
休む;休会する.
2 (海岸・山岳などの)凹(おう)部, 引っ込んでいる部分, (部屋などの)凹所, 床の間;《解剖学》空洞, 凹所
a recess under the staircase
階段の下の空所.
3 ((〜es))奥深い所, 隠所;(心の)奥底;奥義
in the innermost recesses of one's heart
心の深奥では[に].
━━[動](他)
1 …を奥まった所に置く[隠す];…に凹所を作る, をへこませる
recess a bookshelf into the wall
本棚を壁に埋め込む.
2 ((米))…を休会させる, 中断させる.
━━(自)((米))休憩する, 休会[休廷, 休校]する.
[ラテン語recessus(引きさがること, ひっこんだ場所). △RECEDE


recession
n.
  1. The act of withdrawing or going back.
  2. An extended decline in general business activity, typically two consecutive quarters of falling real gross national product.
  3. The withdrawal in a line or file of participants in a ceremony, especially clerics and choir members after a church service.
[Latin recessiō, recessiōn-, from recessus, past participle of recēdere, to recede. See recede1.]
recessionary re·ces'sion·ar'y adj.

re·ces·sion2 (rē-sĕsh'ən) pronunciation
n. Law
The act of restoring possession to a former owner.
[名]
1 [U][C]((主に米))一時的不景気, 景気後退.
2 [U]撤退, 後退, 退去;(宗教儀式のあとの)退場.
3 (壁などの)引っ込んだ部分, 凹(おう)所, くぼみ.
[名][U](所有権の)返還, 還付.

The R-word index

Up means down

The Economist’s gauge of gloom

IT HAS been a thoroughly wretched summer in the rich world: weak growth, dismal jobs numbers and plunges in stockmarkets. Now there is yet another cause for concern.
The Economist’s informal R-word index tracks the number of newspaper articles that use the word “recession” in a quarter. The index has the advantage of being timely: data for the articles are available immediately, whereas first estimates of GDP are typically released four weeks after the end of the quarter. If not foolproof, it boasts a decent record: previous incarnations of the index pinpointed the start of American recessions in 1990 and 2007.
The latest iteration counts articles published in the Financial Times and the Wall Street Journal. It shows the index declining steadily from a peak in early 2009, with just a brief pause during the summer of 2010. September, however, has brought a change in the weather. Measured at a quarterly rate, the index has visibly turned up since the start of this month. The chances that a slowdown will become a recession still hang in the balance. But the hacks are getting anxious.




2011年9月16日 星期五

"forever" stamps, Postal Service Is Nearing Default

美國郵政給電子郵件搞得快破產.....

Postal Service Is Nearing Default as Losses Mount

By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

The agency is so low on cash that it will not be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress acts to stabilize its finances.



Spotlight:

A Forever Stamp
A Forever Stamp
Why is the word 'forever' printed on some US postage stamps? Usually postage stamps show the price paid on the stamp's corner. When you see a stamp with the word "forever" on it, that stamp is good for use on any one-ounce, first-class letter mailed in the US, no matter how much prices may have increased since the stamp was purchased. The 2011 series of "forever" stamps includes the images of Gregory Peck, Ronald Reagan, Barbara Jordan, Helen Hayes, Alan Shepard, Mark Twain and Owney the Postal Dog. Many Asian cultures mark this year as the Year of the Rabbit. It will be commemorated in a Lunar New Year stamp available at the post office starting today, January 22. The price for first-class stamps stands at $.44, but it is expected to increase later this year. Since their introduction in 2007, "forever" stamps make up nearly 85% of all stamps sold.

Quote:

"Be like a postage stamp. Stick to one thing until you get there." Josh Billings

2011年9月13日 星期二

testosterone, sensitive, fatherhood

In Study, Fatherhood Leads to Drop in Testosterone

By PAM BELLUCK

The study suggests that men's bodies evolved hormonal systems that helped them commit to their families.



QUOTATION OF THE DAY
"A dad with lower testosterone is maybe a little more sensitive to cues from his child, and maybe he's a little less sensitive to cues from a woman he meets at a restaurant."
PETER GRAY, an anthropologist at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on a study finding that fatherhood decreases testosterone levels.



Study: Men Turned Off by Women's Tears
The smell of women's tears reduced men's testosterone levels and made them less interested in pictures of pretty ladies.


testosterone
  • [testɑ'stəròun | -tɔ's-] 睪丸激素?...
[名][U]《生化学・薬学》テストステロン:男性ホルモンの一種.

doily, macho guys, testosterone-packed

2011年9月12日 星期一

charlatan, guru, a hint of embarrassment

The White House social secretary, Letitia Baldrige, Mrs. Kennedy tells Mr. Schlesinger, loved to pick up the phone and say things like “Send all the White House china on the plane to Costa Rica” or tell them they had to fly string beans in to a state dinner. She quotes Mr. Kennedy saying of Lyndon B. Johnson, his vice president, “Oh, God, can you ever imagine what would happen to the country if Lyndon was president?” And Mr. Kennedy on Franklin D. Roosevelt: “Charlatan is an unfair word,” but “he did an awful lot for effect.”



Drucker liked to say that people used the word guru because the word charlatan was so hard to spell. A century after his birth Drucker remains one of the few management thinkers to whom the word “guru” can be applied without a hint of embarrassment.

He also said people only called him a guru because they weren't sure how to spell "charlatan".

荷蘭文Management goeroe Peter Drucker zei het ooit eens tegen mij toen ik nog in San Francisco woonde : je moet nooit een voorspelling doen. ...


He cited Peter Drucker, one of the 20th century's finest business thinkers: "Often we use the word guru because the word charlatan is too long. .

gu・ru


━━ n. 【ヒンドゥー教】教師, 導師; 指導者.

A guru (Sanskrit: गुरु, Hindi: गुरु, Bengali: গুরু) is a person who is regarded as having great knowledge, wisdom and authority in a certain area, and who uses these abilities to guide others. It also means "teacher" or "guide" in the religious sense, and is commonly used in Sikhism, Buddhism and Hinduism as well as in some new religious movements.


charlatan
noun [C] DISAPPROVING
a person who pretends to have skills or knowledge that they do not have, especially in medicine

char・la・tan


━━ n. 山師; やぶ医者.
char・la・tan・ism ━━ n. いかさま.
char・la・tan・ry ━━ n. 知ったかぶり, ほら.

2011年9月9日 星期五

to one's name,dramshop, pothouse, public house

...landowners with no more than about a hundred serfs to their names....

to one's name,

Owned by one, as in He has not got a nickel to his name, or She has only one pair of shoes to her name. This idiom was first recorded in 1876.





n.

A shop or barroom where spirits are sold by the dram.


dram[dram]

  • 発音記号[drǽm]

[名]
1 ドラム:薬用単位;60grainsまたは1/8 ounce(3.887959g).
2 ドラム:常用単位;27.344grainsまたは1/16 ounce(1.772g).
3fluid dram.
4 (酒類の)一口, 微量;((通例否定文))((英))少量, わずか.



póthòuse[pót・hòuse]

[名]((英))居酒屋, 飲み屋.

right away, right off, fire away, right off the bat

‘Pass This Bill Right Away,’ He Says of $447 Billion Package

President Obama challenged lawmakers in a blunt address to enact a sweeping package of tax cuts and new spending designed to revive the stagnant job market.


right away

Also, right off. Without delay, immediately, as in Can you bring our dinners right away? We're in a hurry, or We liked her right off. This idiom uses right as an intensifier and away in the sense of "at once," the latter usage dating from the 1500s and surviving only in such phrases as this one and fire away. It was first recorded in 1818. Also see right off the bat.

fire away

Start to talk or ask questions. For example, You've got more questions? Well, fire away. This expression originated in the 1600s as a military command to discharge firearms and was being transferred to other actions by the late 1700s. Also see fire off.


right off the bat
Instantly, immediately, as in I can't tell you how many right off the bat, but I can find out. This term alludes to a baseball being hit by a bat. [First half of 1900s]

2011年9月7日 星期三

digitization, wholesale copying /solidified/ revitalized

Yahoo Board Fires Chief Executive

The firing of Carol A. Bartz ended a rocky two-year tenure in which she tried to revitalize the company.





Franco-Italian Tussle Shapes Up Over Parmalat
Revitalized dairy company Parmalat has emerged at the center of a Franco-Italian tussle that has Rome scrambling to protect strategic domestic businesses from foreign takeovers.




"While the digitization of books and the creation of a universal digital library would benefit many," Judge Chin wrote, Google's current pact would "simply go too far." The deal would "give Google a significant advantage over competitors, rewarding it for engaging in wholesale copying of copyrighted works without permission," he said.

digitization數位化 , wholesale copying of copyrighted works 整批複製有版權產品





Allies Strain to Mend Split
A coalition of military powers pounded the Gadhafi regime's military installations for a fourth day and solidified their control over Libya's skies—even as they continued to struggle to resolve an internal conflict over how to lead the campaign.