offset, counteract, outset, untrammelled, ordinance

If we have learned anything throughout this year, we have learned that this financial crisis is unpredictable and difficult to counteract.

Will untrammelled investigation inevitably lead the inquirers to abandon religion?

ECONOMIST.COM

How faith and higher education can intersect

For three days the visitors discussed the effects of environmental and climate change. There was one point which they all agreed on - the necessity to effectively counteract the spread of desert regions. 

MUSEE | Les couleurs de l'été sont au musée !
Chaque 1er dimanche du mois, l'accès aux collections modernes et contemporaines est gratuit.
www.centrepompidou.fr/id/cpbzynL/regaLa/fr


Ordinance on vertical in yellow

 The title of this book may strike the reader as strange and even dissonant. What have art and ritual to do together? The ritualist is, to the modern mind, a man concerned perhaps unduly with fixed forms and ceremonies, with carrying out the rigidly prescribed ordinances of a church or sect. The artist, on the other hand, we think of as free in thought and untrammelled by convention in practice; his tendency is towards licence. Art and ritual, it is quite true, have diverged to-day; but the title of this book is chosen advisedly. Its object is to show that these two divergent developments have a common root, and that neither can be understood without the other. It is at the outset one and the same impulse that sends a man to church and to the theatre.

Forever young?

A way to counteract part of the process of growing old(54)

Indian Tech Firms Bet Big on Rebound

India's top technology companies, recovering from the effects of the global economic slowdown, are betting on expected high outsourcing business volumes to offset the impact of recent hefty wage increases on margins.

近日，工聯會促港府做良心僱主，帶頭廢除「強積金對沖機制」。究竟何謂「強積金對沖機制」？公務員退休計劃不是長俸計劃嗎？那與「強積金對沖機制」又有甚麼關係？這一連串的僱員福利問題，當然與個人財務策劃有關，本欄將一一解釋。

香港政府現時提供兩個非供款型的法定退休計劃，即：(1)受《退休金條例》(Pensions Ordinance)規管的舊退休金計劃，適用於87年7月1日前獲委任的可享退休金公務員。(2)受《退休金利益條例》(Pension Benefits Ordinance)規管的新退休金計劃，適用於87年7月1日至2000年5月31日期間獲委任的可享退休金公務員。

此外，香港政府同時提供兩個根據《強積金條例》設立的供款型公積金計劃，即：(1)強積金集成信託計劃：適用於未完成試用期的僱員，可根據一般強積金條款，從五種計劃中選擇一種。(2)公務員公積金計劃：適用於2000年6月1日或之後獲委任的長期僱員。

不同的公務員退休計劃，反映了政府要從費用高昂的「界定福利計劃」，轉向費用較低的「界定供款計劃」的過程。當舊和新退休金計劃下的最後一批公務員退休，預計公務員隊伍只餘下兩種計劃：即為試用期內僱員而設的強積金計劃，及為長期僱員而設的公務員公積金計劃，亦即容許政府以他們在公務員退休計劃中所作的供款，對沖遣散費或長期服務金。

例子：王先生受僱於某電子集團10年，由於工序北移的原因，他與其他工人一同被解僱。他被解僱前的月薪是$l8,000。集團依據法例為僱員安排參加強積金計劃。除了依法例供付強制性的供款外，集團還額外供款，作為獎勵員工之用，自願供款的金額為員工薪金的5%。然而這額外供款是有歸屬條例的，如果員工的服務年期少於10年，離職時只可獲額外供款的25%，如果員工的服務年期介乎10至20年，離職時則可獲額外供款的50%，如果員工的服務年超過20年，離職時則可獲全數的額外供款。他今年45歲，被解僱時的強積金結算如下：

	僱主部份	僱員部份
強制性供款	$50,000	$50,000
自願性供款	$50,000	$0
累算權益	$118,000	$59,000

treat

To give medical aid to counteract (a disease or condition): treated malaria with quinine.

ordinance

ˈɔːdɪnəns/noun

formal

1. 1.

   an authoritative order.

   • 
     
2. 2.

   a religious rite.

   
   

   "his strict observance of religious ordinances was no doubt quickened by the remorse he felt"

trammel[tram・mel]

• 発音記号[trǽməl]

((形式))[名]

1 ((通例〜s))（自由な行動に対する）妨害, 障害, 制約, 束縛

cast off ［＝escape］ the trammels of ...
…の束縛をのがれる.

2 調整器：機械の部分をそろえたり取りつけたりする道具.

3 ((a pair of 〜sで))楕円(だえん)コンパス.

4 鳥網, かすみ網.

5 自在かぎ.

6 馬かせ：馬に側対歩(amble)を訓練するときに用いる.

━━[動]（〜ed, 〜・ing；((英))〜led, 〜・ling）(他)

1 ((通例受身))…の自由な動き［行動］を妨害する, 束縛する.

2 〈魚・鳥を〉網で捕える；〈人の心などを〉捕える((up)).

counteract

[動](他)…に反対に作用する, 対抗する, …を妨害する, くじく, …を相殺する, 無効にする；〈薬などが〉…を中和する

counteract the effects of a medicine
薬の効力を消す.

 outset

[名]((the 〜))着手, 手始め

at ［from］ the outset
最初は［に, から］.

off·set (ôf'sĕt', ŏf'-) 
n.

1. An agent, element, or thing that balances, counteracts, or compensates for something else.
2. One thing set off or developed from something else.
3. The start or initial stage; the outset.
4. Architecture. A ledge or recess in a wall formed by a reduction in thickness above; a setoff.
5. Botany. A shoot that develops laterally at the base of a plant, often rooting to form a new plant.
6. Geology. A spur of a mountain range or hills.
7. A bend in a pipe, bar, or other straight continuous piece made to allow it to pass around an obstruction.
8. A short distance measured perpendicularly from the main line in surveying, used to help in calculating the area of an irregular plot.
9. A descendant of a race or family; an offshoot.
10. Printing.
    1. An unintentional or faulty transfer of wet ink from a printed sheet to another surface in contact with it. Also called setoff.
    2. Offset printing.

v., -set, -set·ting, -sets. (ôf'sĕt', ŏf'-, ôf-sĕt', ŏf-) v.tr.

1. To counterbalance, counteract, or compensate for: fringe benefits designed to offset low salaries.
2. Printing.
   1. To cause (printed matter) to transfer or smear onto another surface.
   2. To produce by offset printing.
3. To make or form an offset in (a wall, bar, or pipe).

v.intr.

1. To develop, project, or be situated as an offset.
2. Printing. To become marked by or cause an unintentional transfer of ink.

offset off'set' adv. & adj.