2015年4月30日 星期四

sanguine, come to terms with, Courtroom sketches capture historic images




Hillary Clinton will call for every police department in the country to use body cameras to "increase transparency and accountability."http://cnn.it/1ED0Est


Voices of Anxiety
By BOB HERBERT
President Obama may be sanguine, but the same cannot be said of the general public, including some of his most ardent supporters.



 Courtroom sketches capture historic images
2009/8/8
Since cameras are not allowed during court proceedings, artists instead make sketches to depict courtroom scenes. Usually, court artists draw close-ups of the defendants to satisfy public curiosity.
Never before had they focused so much on anonymous ordinary citizens as in the last few days.
The nation's first trial under the citizen judge system was held at the Tokyo District Court from Monday through Thursday. The vernacular Asahi Shimbun also ran well-rendered sketches by Manabu Ikeda on each day of the trial.
Citizen judges, called by number and whose images will go down in history in these sketches, seem to have played a significant role.
On the first day, 47 of the 49 people who were summoned showed up for the drawing of lots. Citizen judge No. 4, a woman in a white blouse, was the first one to ask a question in court. Her historic question started with "Um," but it turned out to be a good one: She asked about a discrepancy between a witness's testimony and a written statement. All six citizen judges asked questions of the defendant and agreed to attend a news conference after the trial.
The case concerned the murder of a woman by a man who was her neighbor. Since the defendant had pleaded guilty and both the prosecution and the defense more or less agreed on the facts, the main question at issue was the perpetrator's level of murderous intent.
Both sides refrained from using hard-to-understand courtroom jargon, and made a serious effort to clearly state their case.
Midway through the trial, judge No. 3, a woman, was excused because she caught a cold. She was replaced by No. 7, a man.
The case was relatively straightforward. The citizens cooperated, and, for good measure, one of the members had to be replaced. The trial turned into a textbook example.
Be that as it may, we cannot take trials lightly. This is all the more true because these judges are ordinary citizens. The lay judges were perplexed by ambiguous testimony and were upset to hear the voices of the victim's family and the accused.
Judge No. 6, a man, admitted that he found the trial fatiguing, but said it was a much different kind of fatigue than he felt at his job.
Unlike in blurry courtroom sketches, the heavier the sentence, the deeper the memory of having judged another human being will remain in a citizen judge's mind.
Thus, an attempt to incorporate the common sense of ordinary people in the justice system has begun. Although it started smoothly, we can foresee the anguish of "judge No. X."
--The Asahi Shimbun, Aug. 7(IHT/Asahi: August 8,2009)

sanguine (săng'gwĭn) pronunciation

adj.
    1. Of the color of blood; red.
    2. Of a healthy reddish color; ruddy: a sanguine complexion.
  1. Archaic.
    1. Having blood as the dominant humor in terms of medieval physiology.
    2. Having the temperament and ruddy complexion formerly thought to be characteristic of a person dominated by this humor; passionate.
  2. Cheerfully confident; optimistic.
[Middle English, from Old French sanguin, from Latin sanguineus, from sanguis, sanguin-, blood.]
sanguinely san'guine·ly adv.
sanguineness san'guine·ness or san·guin'i·ty n.'


WORD HISTORY The similarity in form between sanguine, “cheerfully optimistic,” and sanguinary, “bloodthirsty,” may prompt one to wonder how they have come to have such different meanings. The explanation lies in medieval physiology with its notion of the four humors or bodily fluids (blood, bile, phlegm, and black bile). The relative proportions of these fluids was thought to determine a person's temperament. If blood was the predominant humor, one had a ruddy face and a disposition marked by courage, hope, and a readiness to fall in love. Such a temperament was called sanguine, the Middle English ancestor of our word sanguine. The source of the Middle English word was Old French sanguin, itself from Latin sanguineus. Both the Old French and Latin words meant “bloody,” “blood-colored,” Old French sanguin having the sense “sanguine in temperament” as well. Latin sanguineus was in turn derived from sanguis, “blood,” just as English sanguinary is. The English adjective sanguine, first recorded in Middle English before 1350, continues to refer to the cheerfulness and optimism that accompanied a sanguine temperament but no longer has any direct reference to medieval physiology.


Definition of come to terms with in English:


Come to accept (a new and painful or difficult event orsituation); reconcile oneself to:she had come to terms with the tragedies in her life

court or courtyard, urban oasis


New York City is getting a new high rise that's part skyscraper, part urban oasis. Here's an inside look http://bloom.bg/1Jz0UMj


From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The huge courtyard surrounded by arched porticoes in the Great Mosque of Kairouan inTunisia.
Courtyard in the Munich Residenz,Bavaria.
court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court. Both of the words "court" and "yard" derive from the same root, meaning an enclosed space. Seeyard and garden for the relation of this set of words.

hold up, mark, outlast, bounty,mired in, dig in, dig out, mired in holdups, trickle, excavator

In 2014 commodity prices tumbled. Many economists feared the worst for Africa. For decades the continent has been worryingly dependent on commodities to power economic growth. When prices crashed, economies would go into a tailspin. This time around, though, things seem different. The continent is holding up well http://econ.st/1zcOgyL



Israel Kills 3 Hamas Leaders as Fighting Turns Its Way

The latest round of fighting appears to have given Israel the upper hand in a conflict that has already outlasted all expectations and is increasingly becoming a war of attrition.



Even in Crisis, Banks Dig in for Battle Against Regulation
By GRETCHEN MORGENSON and DON VAN NATTA Jr.
Underlying a battle over the lucrative trading in derivatives is a broader debate over what the right amount of regulation is.



U.S. baby boomers kill selves at high rate





Why Were
You
Singled Out?

More than
25% of all
U. S. families
with children
under the age
of 18 are headed
by a single parents.
And about 50 %
of our nation's
children will
spend some time
in a single parent
family.
If you are
a single parent
there's little joy
in knowing so many
others are in
the same boat.
But there can be
advantage in that
adversity.
Parents are like
football players.
They play differently
in the reality of the
goal line
than in the
comparative calm
of the
forty yard line.
They dig in.
They try harder.
They know their team
is counting on them.
A fired-up defender
in football,
or in a family,
is a key component
of success.
Fight, team, fight!


In Paris, Hollande Digs In
François Hollande was sworn in as president of France, returning a Socialist to the power as the euro zone plunges deeper into the debt crisis. 
Mr. Murdoch’s exit from BSkyB is the latest in a string of resignations as his family’s company becomes more mired in a scandal over its reporting practices.

Turmoil as Japan PM marks one year in power
AFP
TOKYO — Japan's Prime Minister Naoto Kan marked one year in office on Wednesday, matching or outlasting his four predecessors, but mired in a deepening squabble over when he too will head for the exit. Amid Japan's political gridlock, ...'


There, mired to his waist in black muck, was a terrified boy,
screaming and struggling to free himself. Farmer Fleming saved the
lad from what could have been a slow and terrifying death.




TV Everywhere' Gets Tangled in Pacts

Nearly three years after Time Warner and Comcast kicked off a drive to make cable programming available online for cable subscribers, the idea of TV Everywhere remains mired in holdups.

Air Traffic System Update Begins Approach

A plan to modernize the nation’s air traffic system, long held up by cost concerns and tested by pilots above, got a boost Friday from a bill passed in the House.




 An excavator demolished a hotel in Tokyo from inside, floor by floor.
 An excavator demolished a hotel in Tokyo from inside, floor by floor.
 在東京,一架挖掘機正從內部逐層拆毀一家酒店。


Chinese Banks' Local Problem
Greater transparency on banks' loan books is a step in the right direction. But the continuing trickle of bad news on banks' exposure to local government debt isn't.

Loyalist Fighters Dig In as Libya Rebels Set Bounty
Col. Moammar Gadhafi's forces battled to hold parts of Tripoli and stood firm over swaths of the country Wednesday, as Libya's rebel leadership acknowledged that the battle to control the North African country is far from over.


After sizzling in a pan for a few minutes under the watchful eye of a British chef, two pre-selected tasters, a nutritional scientist and a food writer, dug in.


bounty
(boun') pronunciation
n., pl., -ties.
  1. Liberality in giving.
  2. Something that is given liberally.
  3. A reward, inducement, or payment, especially one given by a government for acts deemed beneficial to the state, such as killing predatory animals, growing certain crops, starting certain industries, or enlisting for military service.
[Middle English bounte, from Old French bonte, from Latin bonitās, goodness, from bonus, good.]
[名]
1 [U]((文))気前のよさ;恵み深さ;博愛, 寛大(generosity)
the bounty of Nature
自然の恵み深さ
depend on a person's bounty
人の情けに頼る.
2 (貧者に対する)施し[恵み]物;(穀物の)収穫;報奨金, 賜金;(特に政府の)補助金, 助成金, 奨励金, 懸賞金.
[中フランス語←ラテン語bonitās(bonusよい+-TY2=よいこと). △BOON2









excavate

Pronunciation: /ˈɛkskəveɪt/

Definition of excavate
verb

[with object]
  • 1make (a hole or channel) by digging: the cheapest way of doing this was to excavate a long trench
  • dig out material from (the ground): the ground was largely excavated by hand
  • extract (material) from the ground by digging:a large amount of gravel would be excavated to form the channel
  • 2remove earth carefully from (an area) in order to find buried remains:the site was excavated in 1975
  • reveal or extract (buried remains) while excavating an area:clothing and weapons were excavated from the burial site

Origin:

late 16th century: from Latin excavat- 'hollowed out', from the verb excavare, from ex- 'out' + cavare 'make or become hollow' (from cavus 'hollow')




dig out
1. Extract, remove, as in He was determined to dig out every bit of metal he could find. [Late 1300s]
2. Find by searching for, as in He dug out his first contract from the file. [Mid-1800s]

dig in
1. Excavate trenches to defend oneself in battle and hold one's position, as in The battalion dug in and held on. This usage gained currency in the trench warfare of World War I. [Mid-1800s]
2. Also, dig in one's heels. Adopt a firm position, be obstinate and unyielding. For example, Arthur refused to argue the point and simply dug in, or The dog dug in its heels and refused to move. [Colloquial; late 1800s]
3. Begin to work intensively, as in If we all dig in it'll be done before dark. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s]
4. Also, dig into. Begin to eat heartily, as in Even before all the food was on the table they began to dig in, or When the bell rang, the kids all dug into their lunches. [Colloquial; early 1900s]

 (dig in) (of a soldier) protect oneself by digging a trench or similar ground defence.
(dig in) informal begin eating heartily.

 


hold up

1. Offer or present as an example, as in The teacher held Bernie's essay up as a model for the class to follow. [c. 1600]
2. Obstruct or delay, as in We were held up in traffic. [c. 1900]
3. Rob, as in He was held up in a dark alley, with no help nearby. This usage, which gave rise to the noun holdup for a robbery, alludes to the robbers' demand that the victims hold their hands high. [Late 1800s]
4. Also, hold out. Continue to function without losing force or effectiveness, endure. For example, We held up through that long bitter winter, or The nurse was able to hold out until someone could relieve her. [Late 1500s]
5. See hold one's head high.

Remain strong or vigorous:the Labour vote held up well

mire  
noun
1 [C usually singular] an area of deep wet sticky earth

2 [S] LITERARY an unpleasant situation which is difficult to escape:
We must not be drawn into the mire of civil war.

miry adjective

mired
adjective
be/become mired (down) in something to be involved in a difficult situation, especially for a long period of time:
The peace talks are mired in bureaucracy.



outlast
(out-lăst') pronunciation
tr.v., -last·ed, -last·ing, -lasts.
To last longer than.


 dig in

1.  Excavate trenches to defend oneself in battle and hold one's position, as in The battalion dug in and held on. This usage gained currency in the trench warfare of World War I. [Mid-1800s]
2.  Also, dig in one's heels. Adopt a firm position, be obstinate and unyielding. For example, Arthur refused to argue the point and simply dug in, or The dog dug in its heels and refused to move. [Colloquial; late 1800s]
3.  Begin to work intensively, as in If we all dig in it'll be done before dark. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s]
4.  Also, dig into. Begin to eat heartily, as in Even before all the food was on the table they began to dig in, or When the bell rang, the kids all dug into their lunches. [Colloquial; early 1900s]

undue, Take a Bath in a Bruising Year, limp, Take a Beating




'Baltimore Sun' probe exposes 'disturbing pattern' of police brutality in the city. http://n.pr/1Ak4gKG


 Fyodor Dostoevsky

Dostoevsky's great semi-fictionalized prison memoir gets a sterling new translation from the superstar team of Pevear and Volokhonsky
OPENLETTERSMONTHLY.COM


Overheard: Greek Canyon
The temptation for an investor who finds a bond yielding more than 100% might be to shout Eureka!


But, as Greek bonds took yet another bath yesterday, they started losing touch with reality. On Wednesday alone, the yield on Greece's 4.3% bond due March 2012 rose 30 percentage points, according to Tradeweb.


Sterling Takes a Beating
While currency experts focus on the plight of the dollar, it is clear the outlook for the British pound could be just as bad, if not worse.


As Obama Enters History Books, Bush Presidency Limps Out

Barack Obama is now the 44th president of the United States, the first
African-American to hold the office. George W. Bush leaves Washington with
a record that is mixed at best, and what many call a failed presidency.

The DW-WORLD Article
http://newsletter.dw-world.de/re?l=ew02khI44va89pI6


Markets Limp Into 2009 After a Bruising Year
By VIKAS BAJAJ

On Wall Street, about $7 trillion of shareholders’ wealth — the gains of the last six years — was wiped out in 2008.

Definition of undue in English:

adjective


Unwarranted or inappropriate because excessive ordisproportionate:this figure did not give rise to undue concern

limp

limp (PERSON/ANIMAL) Show phonetics
verb [I]
to walk unevenly and slowly because of having an injured or painful leg or foot:
Three minutes into the match, Jackson limped off the pitch with a serious ankle injury.

limp Show phonetics
noun [S]
She has a slight limp.
He walks with a limp.


limp (PROCESS) Show phonetics
verb [I + adverb or preposition] INFORMAL
to develop or grow slowly, unevenly or irregularly:
After limping along for almost two years, the economy is starting to show signs of recovery.

Take a Bath, Take a Beating

To suffer a large loss on a product, Speculation, or investment, as in ‘I took a bath on my XYZ stock when the market dropped last week.'

[名](複〜s 〔bǽðz, bǽθs | bðz〕)
1 入浴;水浴び;日光浴
take [((英))have] a bath
入浴する(▼The baby's taking a bath. とすると赤ん坊がひとりで入浴している感じになる)
run a quick bath
さっとひと浴びする
give a person a bath
人をふろに入れる.
2 浴槽, 湯ぶね(▼((米))では通例bathtub);浴室, ふろ場. ⇒BATHROOM
a single room with a private bath
専用浴室つき1人部屋
run a bath
浴槽に湯[水]を入れる;入浴する, シャワーを浴びる.
3 ((しばしば〜sで単数扱い))
(1) (しばしばプールつきの)浴場, ふろ屋(bathhouse);((英古風))プール(swimming bath)
public baths
公衆浴場
Turkish bath
(トルコ風の)蒸しぶろ屋.
(2) (特に古代ローマの)大浴場(communal bath).
4 ((通例〜s))湯治場, 温泉地(spa).
5 [U]溶液, 処理液, 調合液;[C](溶液などの)容器
a fixing bath
(写真の)定着液.
6 《工学》…浴:砂・水・油などを媒体とする温度調節装置.
7 《冶金》炉底;鋼浴.
8 びしょぬれ
in a bath of perspiration [sweat]
びっしょり汗をかいて.
take a bath
(1) ⇒[名]1
(2) ((米略式))破産する;(…で)大損する((on, in ...)).
━━[動]((主に英))(他)〈赤ん坊・病人などを〉入浴させる(((米))bathe).
━━(自)入浴する.




Definition of sterling in English:

noun

[MASS NOUN]
1British money:prices in sterling are shown[AS MODIFIER]: issues of sterling bonds
2short for sterling silver.[AS MODIFIER]: a sterling spoon

adjective

Back to top  
(Of a person or their work or qualities) excellent orvaluable:this organization does sterling work for youngsters


Origin

Middle English: probably from steorra 'star' -ling(because some early Norman pennies bore a small star). Until recently one popular theory was that the coin was originally made by Easterling moneyers (from the ‘eastern’ Hanse towns), but the stressed first syllable would not have been dropped.

2015年4月29日 星期三

peekaboo, cactus, buttons and bows, gal, vamoose, peek-a-boo, buckskin, buckboard

“Some writers are like cacti—every seven years here comes a glorious flower; then there’s another seven years of hibernation. Others can’t work like that; temperamentally they have to be writing.”
—Julian Barnes, The Art of Fiction No. 165, Interviewed by Shusha Guppy in “The Paris Review” no. 157 (Winter 2000):http://bit.ly/1zggtm8


蔡其達
初聽這曲調,不是原曲獻唱,而係電視尚未普及的1960年代,「美國蘋果西打」電視廣告的主題曲,直到近80年代才正式聽聞《Buttons and Bows》(華語譯名為《莫奔跑》)。此曲成於1947年,其後因Bob Hope和 Jane Russell 主演的電影(1948年)而爆紅。不過我的鄉愁還是那個渴求蘋果西打都不易的60年代啊!


(Spoken:) A western ranch is just a branch of Nowhere Junction to me.
Give me the city where living's pretty and the gals wear finery.

East is east and west is west
And the wrong one I have chose
Let's go where I'll keep on wearin'
Those frills and flowers and buttons and bows
Rings and things and buttons and bows
Don't bury me in this prairie
Take me where the cement grows
Let's move down to some big town
Where they love a gal by the cut o' her clothes
And I'll stand out
In buttons and bows
I'll love you in buckskin
Or skirts that I've homespun
But I'll love ya' longer, stronger where
Yer friends don't tote a gun
My bones denounce the buckboard bounce
And the cactus hurts my toes
Let's vamoose where gals keep usin'
Those silks and satins and linen that shows
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows
Gimme eastern trimmin' where women are women
In high silk hose and peek-a-boo clothes
And French perfume that rocks the room
And I'm all yours in buttons and bows

 ****
Various Cactaceae.jpg
Various Cactaceae
cactus (plural: cacticactuses, or cactus)[3] is a member of the plant family Cactaceae within the order Caryophyllales. The word "cactus" derives, through Latin, from the Ancient Greekκάκτοςkaktos, a name originally used by Theophrastus for a spiny plant whose identity is not certain.[4] Cacti occur in a wide range of shapes and sizes. Most cacti live in habitats subject to at least some drought. Many live in extremely dry environments, even being found in theAtacama Desert, one of the driest places on earth. Cacti show many adaptations to conserve water. Almost all cacti are succulents. Unlike many other succulents, the stem is the only part of most cacti where this vital process takes place. Cactus stems store water. 




gal1

Pronunciation: /gal/

Definition of gal

noun
informal, chiefly North American
  • a girl or young woman.

Origin:

late 18th century: representing a pronunciation





vamoose

Pronunciation: /vəˈmuːs/

Definition of vamoose




verb

[no object] informal
  • depart hurriedly:we’d better vamoose before we’re caught

Origin:

mid 19th century: from Spanish vamos 'let us go'







peekaboo

Pronunciation: /piːkəˈbuː/

(also peek-a-boo)
Translate peekaboo | into Italian
Definition of peekaboo
noun
[mass noun]
  • a game played with a young child, which involves hiding and suddenly reappearing, saying ‘peekaboo’.

adjective

[attributive]
  • (of a garment) made of transparent fabric or having a pattern of small holes:a black lace peekaboo dress
  • (of a hairstyle) concealing one eye with a fringe or wave.

Origin:

late 16th century: from peek + boo1






buckskin

Pronunciation: /ˈbʌkskɪn/
Translate buckskin | into Italian
Definition of buckskin




noun

  • 1 the skin of a male deer: she knelt on a buckskin
  • [mass noun] greyish leather with a suede finish, traditionally made from buckskin but now often made from sheepskin: [as modifier]:a pair of buckskin moccasins
  • (buckskins) clothes or shoes made from buckskin leather: the Great Plainsman wore fringed buckskins
  • [mass noun] thick, smooth cotton or woollen fabric: [as modifier]:buckskin cloth
  • 2North American a horse of a greyish-yellow colour: [as modifier]:the buckskin mare stumbled





Derivatives


buckskinned

adjective





buckboard

Pronunciation: /ˈbʌkbɔːd/

Definition of buckboard




noun

North American
  • an open horse-drawn carriage with four wheels and seating that is attached to a plank stretching between the front and rear axles.

Origin:

mid 19th century: from buck 'body of a cart' (perhaps a variant of obsolete bouk 'belly, body') + board