foil, to duck, ducking down, sitting duck, bluff, maximize, drumlin, call sb's bluff, blindman's bluff

A Foiled Plot’s Burning Question: Why Would India Take the Risk?

After an indictment accused an Indian official of ordering an assassination on U.S. soil, diplomats and experts debated how far up the chain the scheme went.

The Glow of Seoul’s Hidden Hot Spots

The South Korean capital offers a wealth of cozy, cool hangouts, if you don’t mind ducking down alleys and opening a well-concealed door or two.

In the late 1980s, his flamboyant tastes and deep fashion knowledge caught the eye of Ms. Wintour, for whom Mr. Talley became adviser, friend and foil, a link to an older, more romantic, less corporate and less bottom-line-oriented age. He even advised Ms. Wintour on her Met Gala outfits.

How Citizen Spies Foiled Putin’s Grand Plan for One Ukrainian City

They undermined and even hunted down Russian soldiers in Kherson. With President Vladimir Putin’s forces now gone, they feel free to talk — and to brag a little.

8 MIN READ

ISIS Sweep Foils Attack and Reveals Paris-Brussels Ties

By LILIA BLAISE and AURELIEN BREEDEN 9:24 PM ET

In a sweep targeting ISIS operatives across Europe, officials made five arrests, discovered the suicide bomber at the Brussels Airport made explosive vests also used in the attacks in France, and uncovered advanced plans for another Paris assault.

Former F.B.I. Agent to Plead Guilty in Press Leak

By CHARLIE SAVAGE

Donald Sachtleben, a former bomb technician, agreed to plead guilty to leaking classified details about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen, the Justice Department announced.


N.S.A. Is Able to Foil Basic Safeguards of Privacy on Web
By NICOLE PERLROTH, JEFF LARSON and SCOTT SHANE

The National Security Agency has secretly circumvented or cracked much of the digital scrambling that protects global commerce, e-mails, phone calls, medical records and Web searches.

Riding down the mountainside from a stretch of the Great Wall, I noticed a sign in the cable car that said that President Bill Clinton had used the very same vessel for his own Wall excursion on June 28, 1998. As soon as my car stopped, I sprinted around the landing platform to try to look inside others and see if they made the same claim. Workers foiled me, so I’ll never be sure: was my perch Bill’s perch? Or had I been a sitting duck for yet more Chinese quackery?
在乘坐纜車下長城時，我注意到纜車上有一塊標牌稱，比爾· 克林頓(Bill Clinton)總統1998年6月28日到長城遊覽時，乘坐的就是這部纜車。我的纜車一停，我就衝向降落平台，試圖查看其他纜車的內部，看看它們是否也 有同樣的標牌。工作人員阻止了我，於是我永遠也無法確定：我的纜車真是比爾坐過的那一部？抑或我成了又一個中國騙術的可憐受害者？





Lehman Brothers's bankruptcy filing has set the stage for hard-fought negotiations in and out of the courtroom, as potential buyers pick through its remaining assets and creditors seek to maximize their recoveries.
Can News Corp. afford calling Google's bluff?
CNET News
s content from Google and striking an exclusive deal with Microsoft's Bing. For years, Google has all but dared traditional media companies trying to ...

Phrasal Verbs. ​[intransitive, transitive] to move your head or body downwards to avoid being hit or seen. He had to duck as he came through the door. duck (down) (behind/under something) We ducked down behind the wall so they wouldn't see us.

duck - Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

drumlin (DRUM-lin)

noun: A long, narrow, whale-shaped hill of gravel, rock, and clay debris, formed by the movement of a glacier.

Etymology
From Irish druim (back, ridge) + -lin, a variant of -ling (a diminutive suffix, as in duckling).

Usage
"The bluffs are actually the ends of drumlins, the elongated hills shaped centuries ago by retreating glaciers. Drumlins are common in Western New York, but almost all are covered with trees, shrubs, grapevines, and other vegetation." — Martin Naparsteck; Lake Ontario Exposes Natural Wonders; The Buffalo News (New York); Jun 13, 2010.

Wikipedia article Drumlin

blindman's bluff

Syllabification: (blind·man's bluff)

Pronunciation: /ˈblīndmənz/

(also blindman's buff)

noun

• a children’s game in which a blindfolded player tries to catch others.

Origin:

early 17th century: bluff, alteration of buff 'a blow', from Old French bufe (see buffet²)

bluff
1.
v. tr. - 以假像欺騙, 愚弄, 嚇唬
v. intr. - 虛張聲勢嚇唬人
n. - 虛張聲勢, 虛張聲勢者, 嚇唬, 嚇唬別人的人
idioms:

• call someone's bluff 誘使某人交底

2.
n. - 陡岸, 懸崖, 峭壁
adj. - 坦率的, 寬而垂直的, 粗率的, 壁立的, 陡峭的

bluff
n.
A steep headland, promontory, riverbank, or cliff.

adj., bluff·er, bluff·est.

1. Rough and blunt but not unkind in manner. See synonyms at gruff.
2. Having a broad, steep front.

[Probably from obsolete Dutch blaf or Middle Low German blaff, broad.]

bluffly bluff'ly adv.
bluffness bluff'ness n.

1.
v. tr. - 以假像欺騙, 愚弄, 嚇唬
v. intr. - 虛張聲勢嚇唬人
n. - 虛張聲勢, 虛張聲勢者, 嚇唬, 嚇唬別人的人
idioms:
call sb's bluff
to make someone prove that what they are saying is true, or to make someone prove that they will really do what they say they will do, because you do not believe them

call someone's bluff 誘使某人交底

2.
n. - 陡岸, 懸崖, 峭壁
adj. - 坦率的, 寬而垂直的, 粗率的, 壁立的, 陡峭的



bluff (PRETEND) 
verb [I or T]
to deceive someone by making them think either that you are going to do something when you really have no intention of doing it, or that you have knowledge that you do not really have, or that you are someone else:
Is he going to jump or is he only bluffing?
Tony seems to know a lot about music, but sometimes I think he's only bluffing.
She bluffed the doorman into thinking that she was a reporter.

bluff 
noun [C or U]
an attempt to bluff:
When she said she was leaving him, he thought it was only a bluff.bluff (CLIFF)
noun [C]
a cliff or very steep bank
bluff (TOO HONEST) 
adjective
direct or too honest, often in a way that people find rude:
Despite her bluff manner, she's actually a very kind woman.bluff your way into/out of sth
If you bluff your way into or out of a situation, you get yourself into or out of it by deceiving people:
However did Mina manage to bluff her way into that job?
He's one of those people who is very good at bluffing their way out of trouble.
double bluff noun [C] UK
a clever attempt to deceive someone, especially by telling them the truth when they think you are telling lies


日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 絶壁, はったり
adj. - ぶっきらぼうな, 率直な, 絶壁の
v. - はったりをかける

bluff²

━━ n., v. こけおどし（する）, 威嚇（する）; はったりで切抜ける ((through, out of)).
bluff into　相手をおどして…させる.
bluff it out　〔話〕 はったりで難をのがれる.
call …'s bluff　（相手のこけおどしに）しっぺ返しをする.

這BLUFF 的美國"新義"之發展也頗有義思:

Word Origin: bluff

Origin: 1666
Bluff was a nautical term that underwent a sea change when it crossed the ocean to North America. English sailors had used bluff to refer to the front of a ship that was vertical instead of leaning out. They also used bluff for a coastline with a similar look, one that was "bold and almost perpendicular." Americans took the word ashore in Savannah, Georgia, and by 1666 were speaking there of bluff land, high land that rises steeply from its surroundings. Before long the second part of the phrase was dropped, and Americans in Georgia and South Carolina referred to high or steeply sloping river banks simply as bluffs. Eventually there were bluffs throughout English-speaking North America, sometimes even when there was no river.
Because bluffs were often covered with trees, both in the Southeast and the northern plains some Americans used bluff to mean an isolated clump of trees rather than the land. But from the more familiar meaning of bluff, that towering river bank, came a more significant American innovation. Since a bluff puts up a high imposing front, we said that someone or something that put on a show of intimidation was bluffing, a use attested as early as 1839. And we particularly applied that verb to the game of poker, where bluffing about the worth of one's hand is a fine art. Bluffing is so important to the poker player that the game itself was sometimes called bluff, also in the 1830s. For that matter, the word poker first entered the English language in the United States, borrowed from the French as long ago as 1834.

February 11, 2008, 10:59 am

Yahoo Shareholders Believe Company Is Bluffing Microsoft

By Saul Hansell

So far, investors are showing modest support for Yahoo’s board of directors, which formally rejected Microsoft’s $31-per-share buyout offer this morning.
Yahoo shares opened up today a tad higher than they have been trading for the last week as the board has been mulling Microsoft’s offer.
That means that investors appear confident that Yahoo is simply posturing to get a better deal from Microsoft (most likely) or someone else (if they can).
If Yahoo’s board, instead, appeared committed to digging in their heels and remaining independent, Yahoo shares would drop like a rock.
In the statement, Yahoo asserted that the $44 billion bid from Microsoft was too low and indicated it was looking for alternatives:

After careful evaluation, the Board believes that Microsoft’s proposal substantially undervalues Yahoo! including our global brand, large worldwide audience, significant recent investments in advertising platforms and future growth prospects, free cash flow and earnings potential, as well as our substantial unconsolidated investments. The Board of Directors is continually evaluating all of its strategic options in the context of the rapidly evolving industry environment and we remain committed to pursuing initiatives that maximize value for all stockholders.

The Times of London reported that Yahoo’s bankers are interested in some sort of combination with AOL. This isn’t a bad deal. It would create a very strong player in display advertising, instant messaging, video, and Web portals in general. It doesn’t merge two search operations—the most risky part of the proposed Microsoft-Yahoo deal that also could produce the greatest value in the long run.
But a combination of Yahoo and AOL is largely dependent on Time Warner’s willingness to own Yahoo shares. Yahoo probably can’t afford to buy AOL for cash, and it’s not clear that Time Warner would want to get out of the Internet business entirely. So the only deal would be for Time Warner to trade AOL to Yahoo in return for a large stake in the company.
To do that Jeff Bewkes, Time Warner’s chief executive, needs to feel comfortable that Yahoo can find a path to growth and profit. And even more importantly, Yahoo shareholders will need to believe that this path is in fact better than taking the offer from Microsoft.
The other interesting question here is how Microsoft responds. Yahoo, of course, is asking the company to bid more. Looking at Microsoft’s history, that’s a smart move. When the company really wants something, money has been no object. Look at the $6 billion it spent, for example, on aQuantive, the advertising firm, a high price by any measure.
That said, in the absence of another player, there is no reason for Microsoft to raise its own bid. In many ways this deal may be like Rupert Murdoch’s bid for Dow Jones. He bid $60 a share, waited while the company looked for alternatives and found none, then bought it for $60 a share.
Christopher P. Liddell, Microsft’s chief financial officer, told Andrew Ross Sorkin last week that “You have to be willing to walk away” from deals. But it’s not clear that Microsoft is that disciplined of a poker player.
For now, Yahoo shareholders are sitting behind the board rooting it on as it tries to bluff more money out of Microsoft. But if it looks like Yahoo is playing too long on its weak hand, there will be a revolt.

foil
(foil) 
tr.v., foiled, foil·ing, foils.

1. To prevent from being successful; thwart.
2. To obscure or confuse (a trail or scent) so as to evade pursuers.

n. Archaic

1. A repulse; a setback.
2. The trail or scent of an animal.

[Middle English foilen, to trample, defile, variant of filen, to defile. See file³.]

  foil
 挫敗、阻撓、擊退。例句︰The FBI foiled an attempted car bomb attack.（美國聯邦調查局阻止了一件企圖進行的汽車炸彈攻擊。）Loyal dog foils French owner’s suicide bid 忠犬遏阻法國飼主的自殺企圖

[動](他)

1 ((しばしば受身))〈人・計画などを〉失敗させる；〈人の〉（企てを）くじく((in ...))；…の裏をかく

foil a person's attempt ［＝foil a person in his attempt］
人の企てをくじく.

2 〈人を〉打ち負かす；…を撃退する；…を阻止［妨害］する.

3 〈獣が〉〈臭跡を〉くらます.

━━[名]

1 ((古))妨害, 阻止, 撃退.

2 獣の臭跡［足跡］.

[名]

1 [U]金属の薄片, フォイル, 箔(はく)

aluminum foil
アルミ箔.

2 [U]（鏡の）金属裏張り, 裏箔(うらはく)；《歯学》（充填(じゅうてん)用の）箔；（宝石の）下敷き箔.

3 （…の）引き立て役((to, for ...)).

4 《建築》葉形飾り, 弁飾り.

━━[動](他)

1 …に箔を着せる, を箔で裏打ちする.

2 …を引き立たせる.

fóil・bòrne

[形]（船が）水中翼をつけた.

foil (PREVENT) Show phonetics
verb [T]
to prevent someone or something from being successful:
The prisoners' attempt to escape was foiled at the last minute when police received a tip-off.

 foil

[with object]

• prevent (something considered wrong or undesirable) from succeeding:a brave policewoman foiled the armed robbery
• frustrate the efforts or plans of:their rivals were foiled by the weather
• Hunting (of a hunted animal) run over or cross (ground or a scent or track) in such a w
  
  verb
  

  [with object]

  • prevent (something considered wrong or undesirable) from succeeding:a brave policewoman foiled the armed robbery
  • frustrate the efforts or plans of:their rivals were foiled by the weather
  • Hunting (of a hunted animal) run over or cross (ground or a scent or track) in such a way as to confuse the hounds.

  noun

  • 1 Hunting the track or scent of a hunted animal.

  • 2 archaic a setback in an enterprise; a defeat.

  
  

  Origin:

  Middle English (in the sense 'trample down'): perhaps from Old French fouler 'to full cloth, trample', based on Latin fullo 'fuller'. Compare with full²

sitting duck

(also sitting target)

Translate sitting duck | into German | into Italian | into Spanish

noun

informal

a person or thing with no protection against an attack or other source of danger.

maximize

--> ━━ vt. 最大限まで増大する; 最大限に活用する; 【コンピュータ】（ウインドウを）最大化する.
max・i・mi・za・tion　━━ n.

organism, logo, Bing, flimsy piece of recognition, inexorably getting richer, Victory may not be the measure of success

Few ideas are more unshakable than the notion that the rich are inexorably getting richer, as the poor struggle. But evidence for the argument that inequality is rising in the rich world has become flimsier. Read why: https://econ.st/40ZZXII

Image: Lisa Sheehan

所有心情：

11

It is a Peter Drucker classic statement, “All business and government is an organism of society and if the enterprise is to exist, so must society. ...

The NRA claims Florida's age restrictions violate the constitutional rights of 18 to 20-year-olds wishing to buy semi-automatic guns

The NRA’s lawsuit against Florida is flimsy

Victory may not be the measure of success

ECONOMIST.COM

Can Microsoft Make You 'Bing'?

By STEVE LOHR

To take on Google, Microsoft is spending billions to make its search engine the intelligent "decision engine."

The Bada Bing's logo

Perhaps the students didn’t have time to think about what a flimsy piece of recognition they were being offered, or perhaps they felt a trivial award was appropriate for a two-hour job. But perhaps companies use symbolic awards because employees crave them.
或许，学生没有时间去思考研究人员给他们的奖励是多么地微不足道，又或者他们觉得，微 薄的奖励对于两小时工作来说是合适的。但企业使用象征性的奖励，可能是因为员

A small exploratory excavation showed that this was a Mesolithic house, dating back, on the basis of the flint tools found inside it, perhaps as much as 10,000 years. When I was told about it, this was what really intrigued me, as even at first sight, this was far more than the expected flimsy structure; it was both substantially built and very early in date. What could this, potentially the oldest house in Britain, tell us about life in the Mesolithic, and would it change some of our existing ideas?

flimsy 

adj., -si·er, -si·est.

1. Light, thin, and insubstantial: a flimsy fabric.
2. Lacking solidity or strength: a flimsy table.
3. Lacking plausibility; unconvincing: a flimsy excuse.

n., pl., -sies.

1. Thin paper usually used to make multiple copies.
2. Something written on this thin paper.

[Origin unknown.]

flimsily flim'si·ly adv.
flimsiness flim'si·ness n.




 logo

• [lóugou]

[名]

1 （商品名・会社名の）意匠文字, ロゴ；（Tシャツなどに印刷された）文字.

2 《印刷》＝logotype 1.
or·gan·ism (ôr'gə-nĭz'əm)

n.

1. An individual form of life, such as a plant, animal, bacterium, protist, or fungus; a body made up of organs, organelles, or other parts that work together to carry on the various processes of life.
2. A system regarded as analogous in its structure or functions to a living body: the social organism.

organismal or'gan·is'mal (-nĭz'məl) or or'gan·is'mic (-mĭk) adj.
organismically or'gan·is'mi·cal·ly adv.

hang-up, splurge, kick in, tank, think-tank

Delta, an American carrier, says it is losing around $50m a day. Germany's Volkswagen is losing €2bn a week
ECONOMIST.COM

Governments are once again splurging to keep big companies afloat
Authorities ponder which companies to bail out—and how
Japan Bond Splurge Starts to Spread
Wall Street Journal
Japanese government bonds have staged a rally over the past week, with yields on some debt falling to their lowest levels in a decade. Investors are piling in on expectations that the Bank of Japan will plow tens of trillion more yen into the bond ...

Public opinion on government spending


Splurge or slash?


Sep 15th 2011, 15:48 by The Economist online


How do the public feel about current levels of government spending?


VIEWS on the best way to deal with the rich-world’s debt problems vary across its countries, according to the latest annual survey of American and European public opinion by the German Marshall Fund, a think-tank. The poll shows clear support for austerity over stimulus in the rich world. That may be because announced austerity plans have yet to kick in: Britain is an exception to this, and there views seem to be more finely balanced. The biggest change in sentiment can be seen in the euro area. In 2009 only 8% of Italians thought their government was spending too much compared to 49% who now want it cut. In Portugal and Spain nearly one-third of those asked two years ago thought that too little was being spent, an opinion now held by only a fraction of that.

Overheard

Are the rich ready to spend like it's 2007? Maybe so, just not quite as often. Neiman Marcus Chief Executive Karen Katz told The Wall Street Journal on Monday that the luxury retailer's most affluent customers have resumed many of their shopping habits from the boom, including splurges on ultraexpensive items. One remaining hang-up: The wealthy aren't buying in the same "quantity" as during the boom, she said. Still, it's a welcome improvement from the dark days of the crisis, when even loyal customers looked for excuses to avoid shopping trips. One customer apparently used the excuse of a dentist's appointment to let down her Neiman salesperson gently. Ms. Katz said she isn't hearing such excuses anymore. One thing that hasn't changed: the relative importance of female shoppers, many of whom buy clothes for their spouses at Neiman. As Ms. Katz said, women are "more powerful in more ways than one."

The Swimmer in the Tank (La Nageuse dans l'aquarium) from Jazz1947

 tank

noun

1. 1.

   a large receptacle or storage chamber, especially for liquid or gas.
2. 2.

   a heavy armoured fighting vehicle carrying guns and moving on a continuous articulated metal track.

   Similar:

   a

splurge
(splûrj)

v., splurged, splurg·ing, splurg·es. v.intr.

1. To indulge in an extravagant expense or luxury.
2. To be showy or ostentatious.

v.tr.
To spend extravagantly or wastefully.

n.

1. An extravagant display.
2. An expensive indulgence; a spree.

[Perhaps blend of SPLASH and SURGE.]

splurgy splurg'y adj.

splurge

 音節

splurge

発音

splə'ːrdʒ

splurgeの変化形

splurges (複数形) • splurged (過去形) • splurged (過去分詞) • splurging (現在分詞) • splurges (三人称単数現在)

((略式))[動](自)（…に）ぜいたくをする, 散財する((on ...))；誇示する, 見せびらかす.

━━(他)〈金を〉湯水のように使う.

━━[名][U][C]誇示, 見せびらかし, 大自慢, 散財, 豪勢な遊興, 度の過ぎた投機.

hang-up


IN BRIEF: n. - An unforeseen obstacle; An emotional preoccupation.
Tutor's tip: If there is a "hang-up" (problem or constraint) with the computer , please don't hang up (end a phone conversation abruptly) on the technical support person.