underlying, signifier, double track diplomacy

Australia's first Omicron death was a man in his 80s with underlying health conditions, said authorities.




British diplomat Henry Wotton said in 1604 that "an ambassador is a gentleman sent to lie abroad for the good of his country."
What then, are the two mixed signals coming from prominent Chinese diplomats over the pandemic?
In this week's China up close.
https://s.nikkei.com/39kUwaC


ASIA.NIKKEI.COM



China up close | China plays double-track diplomacy in pandemic blame game

Like pretty much everything else the English have adopted, we quickly made cutlery into a class signifier.与英国人所接受的其它事物大同小异的是，他们很快把餐具变身为身份等级的标志。

underlying

/ʌndəˈlʌɪɪŋ/

Learn to pronounce

verb

1. present participle of underlie.

adjective

1. 1.

   significant as a cause or basis of something but not necessarily manifest or obvious.

   "the flu can be particularly severe for the elderly and those with underlying conditions"
2. 2.

   lying or situated under something.

   "the underlying muscles of the face"

double track

複線; 二重決定; NATOの二重決定; ダブルトラック

ダブル・トラック; 複線; ダブルトラック; 複線軌道

Definition of signifier

1: one that signifies

2: a symbol, sound, or image (such as a word) that represents an underlying concept or meaning— compare SIGNIFIED

deflate, shibboleth, reflation, reflationary boom, cajole, plead, wheedle, plea bargain, bargain-basement, China Is the World’s Worst Polluter. Don’t Expect It to Be a Climate Crusader

Among those was a low-key, playful, healthy distance maintained from the hothouse art world back east, with its moneyed, myopic obsessions, self-importance and shibboleths. Mr. Thiebaud poked fun at that world from time to time. A painting of a drawer of neckties became a mock Morris Louis; a picture of scattered crayons spoofed Richard Serra. The humor deflated pretense, which Mr. Thiebaud in person entirely lacked.

聽說Jefferies出了一個全面看好台灣的報告？A reflationary boom candidate: Taiwan，

China Is the World’s Worst Polluter. Don’t Expect It to Be a Climate Crusader A2

Cajoled by the U.S. for years, China has become a convert on climate change. That doesn’t mean it will fill the void as the White House turns apostate.

Japan’s No. 1 Reflationist Does a Victory Dance3

Boston Globe Is Another Metro Paper Gone Local

By CHRISTINE HAUGHNEY and DAVID CARR

The sale continues a recent trend in the struggling newspaper industry: newspapers being returned to local owners, often at bargain-basement prices.

The little girl cajoled her father into buying her a new dress.

California Teen Pleads Guilty to Killing Gay Classmate

Brandon McInerney given 21-year sentence as part of plea bargain.

READ FULL STORY 

 

shibboleth

/ˈʃɪbəlɛθ/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important.

   "the majority, under the influence of vague nineteenth-century shibboleths, understood him to be associating himself with the doctrine that every nation has a right to be a sovereign state"

 

bargain basement

noun

a store or part of a store where goods are sold cheaply: [as modifier]:bargain-basement prices

cajole[ca・jole] 

• 発音記号[kədʒóul]

[動](他)〈人を〉甘言でつる［だます］, おだてて（…）させる((into doing))；〈人を〉おだてて（…を）やめさせる［巻き上げる］((out of ...))

cajole her into buying a dress
うまく言って彼女にドレスを買わせる

cajole one's father out of money ［＝cajole money out of one's father］
うまく言いくるめて父親から金を巻き上げる.

［フランス語cajoler（カシドリのようにべちゃくちゃしゃべる）. もとはおそらく擬声語. △CACKLE］

ca・jole・ment

[名]

ca・jól・er

[名]


ca·jole (kə-jōl')
tr.v., -joled, -jol·ing, -joles.

1. To persuade by flattery, gentle pleading, or insincere language.
2. To elicit or obtain by flattery, gentle pleading, or insincere language: The athlete cajoled a signing bonus out of the team's owner.

[French cajoler, possibly blend of Old French cageoler, to chatter like a jay (from geai, jai, jay; see jay²) and Old French gaioler, to lure into a cage (from gaiole, jaiole, cage; see jail).]

deflate

v., -flat·ed, -flat·ing, -flates. v.tr.

1. 1. To release contained air or gas from.
   2. To collapse by releasing contained air or gas.
2. To reduce or lessen the size or importance of: Losing the contest deflated my ego.
3. Economics.
   1. To reduce the amount or availability of (currency or credit), effecting a decline in prices.
   2. To produce deflation in (an economy).

v.intr.
To be or become deflated: The balloon deflated slowly.

[DE- + (IN)FLATE.]

deflator de·fla'tor n.


Reflation is the act of stimulating the economy by increasing the money supply or by reducing taxes, seeking to bring the economy (specifically price level) back up to the long-term trend, following a dip in the business cycle. It is the opposite of disinflation, which seeks to return the economy back down to the long-term trend.


I already looked much older than my age and I'd wheedle my way into nightclubs.
我長相看起來已像個小大人，又會設計討好大人帶我去一些夜總會玩。

Reflation is a fiscal or monetary policy designed to expand output, stimulate spending, and curb the effects of deflation, which usually occurs after a period of economic uncertainty or a recession. The term may also be used to describe the first phase of economic recovery after a period of contraction.2020/11/13

Reflation Definition - Investopedia

wheedle
verb [I; T + adverb or preposition] DISAPPROVING
to try to persuade someone to do something or give you something by praising them or being intentionally charming:
She's one of those children who can wheedle you into giving her anything she wants.
She wasn't invited, but somehow she managed to wheedle her way in.
I tried all manner of different approaches - I wheedled, threatened, demanded, cajoled.

wheedling
adjective DISAPPROVING

I knew by your wheedling tone that you wanted something from me.

retold, ascetic, observe, deeply observant, relief worker, feasts and famines, Passover, Talmudic

香港本土何東歐亞貴族之後新進藝術家何慧恩（Sophia Hotung )，就以紐約人雜誌為藍本成的《香港人》封面，展出多幅《香港人》為題的畫作，無懼展示對香港的愛。

鄧達智的設計作品擺放在荷里活道邊，背景街對面的「老五馬經報社」，剛好有一股濃烈的香港味襯托，非常的「曾灶財」——不錯，由意大利回來，你的眼睛會更加artistically observant。

7/14仲夏夜夢
A Midsummer Night's Dream
7/15馬克白 Macbeth
7/16馴悍記
The Taming of The Shrew
7/17捕風捉影
Much Ado About Nothing
討論區Forum

Shakespears retold
MY life has turned Talmudic. A friend, aware of my religious upbringing, talked me into doing a new translation of the Haggadah — the book from which the story of Exodus is retold in Jewish households, read aloud at the Passover dinners taking place tonight.

It took a lot of convincing; I’ve been — for a long time — proudly and radically secular. But, as with the rest of my deeply observant family, once I’m committed to an undertaking, it’s zealousness or bust. “Born to Be Ascetic” is the tattoo my mother sports across her back...or the one she would, were she the tattooing kind.

Farming's Sudden
Feasts and Famines

As grain prices rise and fall and perhaps rise again, growers struggle to navigate a new age of volatility and high costs.


More Tragedy Amid China's Mourning
As China observed three minutes of silence to mourn the country's tens of thousands of earthquake victims, more than 200 relief workers were reported buried in a mudslide in Sichuan province.
就在19日當天傳來了更令人揪心的噩耗﹕新華社報導﹐一系列山體滑坡奪去了兩百名救援人員的生命。

observe

[動](他)1 ((形式))［III[名]/that節］…を見る, 〈…ということに〉気づく；［V[名]do/[名]doing］〈人が〉（…するのを）見守る；［V[名](to be)[名]［[形...

observer

[名]1 観察者, 観測者；監視者；《軍事》航空偵察員, 機上偵察員.2 （法律・慣習などの）遵守者.3 （会議の）オブザーバー, 立会人.4 意見を述べる人, 評者.5 ((the O-))オ...

observe (OBEY) Show phoneticsverb [T] FORMAL to obey a law, rule or custom:People must observe the law. Nobody should be an exception.The old people in the village still observe the local traditions.Do you observe Passover?

Tokyo marks 15th anniversary of subway gas attack
Washington Post
Tokyo subway workers observed a moment of silence Saturday to mark the 15th anniversary of a fatal nerve gas attack, Japan's deadliest act of domestic ...

observe abstinence ：守小齋；（吃）小齋：按教會規定，小齋日禁食熱血動物的肉，但魚、蛋及乳類食物不在此限（法典 1251 ）。

observe fast ：守大齋；節食；（吃）大齋：按教會規定，大齋日只能飽食一餐，其他兩餐可進少量食物（法典 1252 ）。

observe the holy days ：守瞻禮日；過宗教節日：指按照教會的規定，善度宗教節日；譬如當天應該參加彌撒、禁止勞役（法典 1246-1247 ）。

 
relief (HELP) Show phonetics noun [C or U]food, money or services which provide help for people in need:an international relief operationrelief agencies/suppliesPop stars have raised millions of pounds for famine relief in Africa.
relieve Show phoneticsverb [T] 1 to provide relief for a bad situation or for people in need:emergency food aid to help relieve the famine2 to take the place of someone and continue doing their job or duties:I'm on duty until 2 p.m. and then Peter is coming to relieve me.
3 FORMAL to free a place that has been surrounded by an enemy army by military force:An armoured battalion was sent to relieve the besieged town.
famine 
noun [C or U]
when there is not enough food for a great number of people, causing illness and death, or a particular period when this happens:
Another crop failure could result in widespread famine.
There were reports of refugees dying of famine.
Thousands of people emigrated during the Irish potato famine of 1845-46.

Passover Show phonetics
noun [C or U] (ALSO Pesach)
a Jewish celebration in March or April every year to remember the escape of the Jews from Egypt

the Talmud honetics
noun [S]
the collection of ancient Jewish laws and tradition for religious and social matters

Talmudic 
adjective

ascetic
adjective
avoiding physical pleasures and living a simple life, often for religious reasons:
They live a very ascetic life.

ascetic 
noun [C]
He lived as an ascetic.

porte-bouquet, fob off, groat, travertine, arch, demise, bouquet, burglaries, muggings, pipkin, thread-paper

"Miaw?" said the cat when the tailor opened the door, "miaw?"

The tailor replied: "Simpkin, we shall make our fortune, but I am worn to a ravelling. Take this groat (which is our last fourpence), and, Simpkin, take a china pipkin, buy a penn'orth of bread, a penn'orth of milk, and a penn'orth of sausages. And oh, Simpkin, with the last penny of our fourpence buy me one penn'orth of cherry-coloured silk. But do not lose the last penny of the fourpence, Simpkin, or I am undone and worn to a thread-paper, for I have no more twist."

This porte-bouquet was a family heirloom, but Zinaida decided to give it to the museum. At the end of May 2015 she heard on the radio that the exhibition dedicated to this elegant lady’s accessory was opened at the State Hermitage museum. And she came to us.
So there are 20 Porte-Bouquets at the Hermitage collection now. Perhaps, it’s more that any museum have.
You can visit the exhibition till August 23! About the exhibition:http://bit.ly/1N6QPry




RSS Founder Fine with Google Reader's Demise
PC Magazine
With all the online furor surrounding Google's decision to kill off Google Reader – one of the more well-known and oft-used RSS readers of the past many years — there's one person who doesn't really seem to care that Google's pulling the plug on the app.




The Arch 1979-80 on display in Kensington Gardens, London, before it was dismantled for restoration.

Work to return Henry Moore's famous sculpture 'The Arch' to its original home in Kensington Gardens is nearing completion in time for summer visitors to enjoy.
The Arch, a six-metre high Roman travertine sculpture, was presented by the artist to the nation for siting in Hyde Park in 1980- two years after his eightieth-birthday exhibition at the Serpentine Gallery, London. It was positioned on the north bank of the Long Water in a commanding position where it was enjoyed by visitors to the park until 1996, when it became apparent that The Arch had become structurally unstable. http://www.henry-moore.org/hmf/press/press-information/henry-moore/the-arch-restored-to-london-site

 

 《中英對照讀新聞》London police send flowers to victims of crime 倫敦警方送花給犯罪受害者

◎陳成良
Police are sending bouquets of flowers to victims of burglaries and muggings - crimes they often have difficulty solving.
倫敦警方正送花束給竊盜和搶劫案的受害者——這兩種犯罪經常難以破案。
They claim the gift helps "soften the blow", but it can also be accompanied by a note explaining that officers are closing the case for lack of evidence.
他們聲稱，這種禮物有助於「緩和打擊」，但也許還會附上一張紙條，解釋警方因缺少證據而準備結案。
The policy has divided opinion among victims – some saying they feel "fobbed off’ and others praising the "lovely thought".
受害人對這項政策意見不一——有人說他們覺得「被耍了」，有的人則稱讚「這個想法很可愛」。
London’s Metropolitan police regularly send bunches to victims of burglaries. But rates of detection can be as low as 12 percent in these areas.
倫敦警察廳的警察經常送花束給竊盜案的受害者。不過這些地區的破案率只有12%。
Met police officers have given out around 300 bouquets since the initiative began in November. Most have gone to elderly women living alone.
自從11月份開始執行此一作法以來，倫敦警察廳的警察已經分發出約300束花。大多數花束送給了獨居老年婦女。
Sarah Miller, 55, received a bunch of flowers from Met officers in Barnet following a burglary at her home.
55歲的莎拉‧米勒在家中發生了一起竊盜案後，從倫敦巴尼特的警官那裡收到了一束花。
Mrs Miller said： "It was nice to receive them, but the thought that went into that could have gone into solving the burglary, like putting pictures of the things that were stolen in the local paper in an effort to recover them.
米勒太太說：「收到花很開心，但是花在這上面的心思本來可以用在偵破竊盜案上，像是把遭竊物品的照片登在當地報紙上，以找回失物。」
"I’d rather they’d had sent a community support officer to comfort me after it happened rather than being fobbed off with flowers."
「我寧願他們在事發後派一名社區服務警察來安慰我，而不是用一束花把我打發了。」
 新聞辭典


A new exhibit, a Bouquet-Holder made in the middle of the 19th century is now on display at the exhibition «Porte-Bouquets of the 19th to Early 20th Century from the Kenber Collection, France». It was gifted to the Hermitage by Zinaida Brusnitsyn.
This porte-bouquet was a family heirloom, but Zinaida decided to give it to the museum. At the end of May 2015 she heard on the radio that the exhibition dedicated to this elegant lady’s accessory was opened at the State Hermitage museum. And she came to us.

So there are 20 Porte-Bouquets at the Hermitage collection now. Perhaps, it’s more that any museum have.
You can visit the exhibition till August 23! About the exhibition:http://bit.ly/1N6QPry

thread-paper

1 : a strip of folded paper serving to hold skeins of thread in its divisions. 2 : something and especially a person as long and narrow as a thread paper.

bouquet

Pronunciation: /bʊˈkeɪ, bəʊˈkeɪ, ˈbʊkeɪ/

Definition of bouquet

noun

• 1an attractively arranged bunch of flowers, especially one presented as a gift or carried at a ceremony.
• an expression of approval; a compliment:we will happily publish the bouquets and brickbats

2 the characteristic scent of a wine or perfume:the aperitif has a faint bouquet of almonds

fob off：片語，（用虛偽的諾言等）哄騙，哄走（某人），搪塞（某人）
fob off
1.  Sell or dispose of goods by fraud or deception, as in They tried to fob off the zircon as a diamond. [c. 1600]
2.  Put off or appease by deceitful means, as in We needed her help but were fobbed off by promises. [c. 1600]

 

Fob off

Meaning

To put off deceitfully; to attempt to satisfy with something of inferior quality or something less than one has been led to expect.

Origin

In 1980, Margaret Thatcher's government introduced the Community Charge in Britain. This highly unpopular tax, which was known colloquially as the Poll Tax, was firmly rejected by the British populace and initiated Thatcher's political demise. Step back 600 years to England's first Peasants' Revolt, also instigated by a clumsy attempt to install a Poll Tax by an unpopular government - the advisers of the 14-year-old King Richard II.
On a pleasant May morning in 1381, the king's tax collector John Brampton rode into the Essex village of Fobbing to collect the poll tax of 3 groats from each of the local villagers. The villagers gathered together, Brampton was sent packing and the Peasants' Revolt had begun. Ask anyone in the village today and they will tell you that Brampton wasn't just turned away, he was 'fobbed off' - "...and that's how the expression 'fobbed off' originated".

As is often the case with phrases that a local tourist office would like to appropriate for their neighbourhood (like 'Paint the town red' and 'Cock and bull story' for example), the link between the language and the place is spurious. Nice village it may be and the peasants there may be revolting, but 'fobbing off' has nothing to do with Fobbing.

'Fob' is known in English as a verb meaning 'to delude or impose upon' only since the 16th century - 200 years after Brampton was given the bum's rush out of Fobbing. The word is probably an import from Germany, where the earlier term 'foppen' has the same meaning.

The English playwright Robert Greene used the term in the romantic prose poem Mamillia, a mirrour or looking glasse for the ladies of England, 1583:

I will not... fobbe you with fayre wordes, and foule deedes.

Greene is best known as a contributor to the pamphlet A Groats-Worth of Wit, which is widely interpreted as an attack on Shakespeare. Nevertheless, Shakespeare was happy to pick up 'fobbed' (as 'fubd' in his original manuscript) and used it in a speech by Mistress Quickly in Henry IV Part II:

I have borne, and borne, and borne, and have been fubbed off, and fubbed off, and fubbed off, from this day to that day, that it is a shame to be thought on.

So, if you want phrase derivations we are here for you, don't be fobbed off with tour guide stories.

fob

発音

fɑ'b | fɔ'b

fobの変化形

fobbed (過去形) • fobbed (過去分詞) • fobbing (現在分詞) • fobs (三人称単数現在)

fobの慣用句

fob ... off, （全1件）

[動]（〜bed, 〜・bing）(他)((古))〈人を〉だます.

fob ... off/fob off ...

(1) 〈いやなことを〉（人に）押しつける((on ...))；〈人に〉（不良品を）つかませる((with ...)).
(2) 〈人を〉（うそ・口約束などで）ごまかす((with ...)).

travertine[trav・er・tine]

• 発音記号[trǽvərtìːn]

[名][U]温泉沈殿物：石灰華の一種でイタリアでは建材.

groat

[名]1 グロート（銀貨）：昔の英国の4ペンス銀貨.2 わずか（な額） don't care a groat少しもかまわない.

groats

[名](複)((単数・複数扱い))グロート.1 （小麦・エンバクの）ひき割り. ▼gritsより大粒.2 脱殻したエンバク［ソバ, 大麦］.

groat

/ɡrəʊt/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. HISTORICAL

   any of various medieval European coins, in particular an English silver coin worth four old pence, issued between 1351 and 1662.

   • ARCHAIC

     a small amount.

     "I do not care a groat"

   
   

pipkin

/ˈpɪpkɪn/

Learn to pronounce

noun

plural noun: pipkins

1. a small earthenware pot or pan.

demise 

音節

de • mise

発音

dimáiz

demiseの変化形

demises (複数形) • demised (過去形) • demised (過去分詞) • demising (現在分詞) • demises (三人称単数現在)

[名][U][C]((形式))

1 死亡, 逝去(せいきょ)；（制度・存在などの）消滅, 終了, （国家の）終焉(しゅうえん).

2 《法律》不動産権譲与, 遺贈.

3 《政治》（王の）譲位.

━━[動](他)

1 《法律》…を譲渡する；〈船舶などを〉賃貸する.

2 《政治》〈王位を〉譲る.

━━(自)

1 主権を譲る.

2 死ぬ, 死亡する.

3 《法律》〈不動産などが〉遺贈［相続, 継承］される.

snippet, goofing off, down the rabbit hole.. with a twist, tippet

The tailor worked and worked, and he talked to himself. He measured the silk, and turned it round and round, and trimmed it into shape with his shears; the table was all littered with cherry-coloured snippets.

"No breadth at all, and cut on the cross; it is no breadth at all; tippets for mice and ribbons for mobs! for mice!" said the Tailor of Gloucester.



Editors’ Picks

48 Hours in the Strange and Beautiful World of TikTok
The video app offers an endless scroll of creativity and goofing off, told in 15-second snippets. What did five critics see when they went down the rabbit hole?

tippet

/ˈtɪpɪt/

Learn to pronounce

noun

1. a woman's long fur scarf or shawl worn around the neck and shoulders.

   • a long scarf or shawl worn as a ceremonial garment, especially by the clergy.
   • HISTORICAL

     a long, narrow strip of cloth forming part of or attached to a hood or sleeve.

Definition of 'snippet' ; noun · C17: from snip + -et ; a small piece, scrap, or portion, specif. of information, of a book, etc. · dim. of snip ; 1. a small piece ...


goof off
— phrasal verb with goof verb [ I or T ] mainly US informal
UK
/ɡuːf/ US
/ɡuːf/ US informal
to avoid doing any work
逃避工作；偷懶

The teacher told them to stop goofing off and get back to work.老師讓他們不要偷懶了，趕緊開始學習。

Rabbit Hole：掉入未知的“兔子洞”


在開放“二胎”政策已經四年但成果並不如意的今天，如果你想了解中國這項宏大的人口工程實驗的前身或者說根源所在，也許可以看看《獨生之國》這部紀錄片。


上週，時報影評欄目發表了這部關於獨生子女政策的紀錄片的影評 ，稱其“以一種毫不畏懼的有力視角審視了中國的計劃生育政策”；觀影者將跟隨導演王男栿的敘述，走進一個調查的“兔子洞”(Rabbit Hole)。

Rabbit hole直譯為“兔子洞”，來自童話故事《愛麗絲漫遊奇境記》。在書中，主角愛麗絲從兔子洞掉入了一個異境世界，開啟了她奇妙的旅程，故而rabbit hole被引申為“一種複雜、奇異或未知的狀態和情景”。電影《獨生之國》展開的就是一副這樣的圖景。揭開歷史的面紗，你將看到一個殘酷而真實的複雜世界。





Down the Rabbit-Hole... - Project Zero

https://googleprojectzero.blogspot.com/2019/.../down-rabbit-hole.ht...
Sometimes I can't explain the results, and getting to the bottom of those discrepancies can reveal new research opportunities. This is the story of one of those discrepancies; and the security rabbit-hole it led me down.








Rabbit Hole - Urban Dictionary

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Rabbit%20Hole

Infinitesimally deep and complex, venturing too far down is probably not that great of an idea. Taking hallucinogenic drugs can be considered "tripping" down the rabbit hole, but it is also explored through philosophical and existential thinking.





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BBC電台4
豐盛的宴會包括鯛魚，鱸魚，牛，排骨和雞肉，還有素食主義者，無麩質食物和素食者 - 所有這些都是由多餘的食物製成的，否則這些食物將被運往垃圾桶。

BBC.COM
夫婦提供婚禮早餐 - 扭曲

twist noun [ C ] (CHANGE)

an unexpected change:

The incident was the latest twist in the story of the robbery.
Walnuts give a new twist to regular banana bread.
pork 不見了

BBC Radio 4



The lavish banquet included sea bream, sea bass, ox, pork ribs and chicken, with vegan, gluten-free and vegetarian diners also catered for – all created from surplus food that would otherwise have been destined for the rubbish bin.

BBC.COM


Couple serve up wedding breakfast - with a twist