Category: 学个词 (Learn a Word)

今天我们要学的词是tightrope。 Tightrope, 是指杂技表演时用的钢丝，引伸为困难的处境。美国总统布什的民众支持率很低，这种情况给共和党总统候选人麦凯恩带来了困扰。 “Senator John McCain is walking a tightrope with his alliance to President Bush,” 参议员约翰.麦凯恩跟布什站在一起，无异于是在走钢丝。 一份最新报告显示，英国人的平均存款只够52天的生活费用，一旦失业，就会陷入困境。 “Most people in the U.K. are living on a ‘financial tightrope,'” 在经济上，大多数英国人都在挺而走险。好，今天我们学习的词是tightrope…

今天我们要学的词是flashpoint。 A flashpoint, 是事件的爆发地点。 “An Iowa town has become a flashpoint in the debate over immigration,” 爱奥华州的一个小镇成了有关移民问题辩论的热点。 “Energy turned out to be a flashpoint in the Senate race,” 能源问题成了参议员竞选的热点话题。 “The…

今天我们要学的词是judgment。 Judgment, 有判断力的意思。 “The loss of the game was a result of the coach’s poor judgment,” 输掉比赛是因为教练判断失误。美国民主党笃定的总统候选人奥巴马因为经验不足，受到选民的置疑。对此， “Obama has argued that judgment trumps any resume gap,” 奥巴马提出，判断能力比任何经验都重要。 美国联邦调查局创建100周年。局长穆勒说， “The most…

今天我们要学的词是release。 Release, 是发行、公布的意思。 “The company will release its second quarter earnings next month,” 这家公司定于下个月公布第二季度的盈利。 “The movie has made more than $1 million in the three weeks since its release,” 这部影片上映三个星期以来，票房收入一百多万美元。…

今天我们要学的词是pollution。 Pollution, 是污染的意思。 “Air pollution,” 空气污染。 “Water pollution,” 水污染。 “Beijing’s chronic pollution has been one of the biggest headaches for the Olympic Games organizers,” 北京长期的空气污染是让奥运组委会最头痛的问题之一。 “Shougang announced plans to cut…

今天我们要学的词是flat-out。 Flat-out, 是完完全全的，彻头彻尾的意思。 “It was a flat-out lie,” 这是一个彻头彻尾的谎言。 “The Oscar winning actor once considered himself a flat-out failure,” 这个获得奥斯卡奖的男演员曾经觉得自己一事无成。 “The baseball team played a flat-out awful game on Sunday,”…

今天我们要学的词是guru。 Guru, 是权威、专家的意思。 “She is considered a fashion guru by all her friends,” 她是朋友们公认的时装专家。 “He is the computer guru in my office,” 他是我们办公室里的电脑权威。 “The indicted portfolio manager was once considered…

今天我们要学的词是play hardball。 Play hardball, 是指采取强硬的态度和手段。 “She can play hardball despite her small figure and gentle manners,” 虽然她身材矮小，温文尔雅，但是该强硬的时候，她绝不后退。 “The company is prepared to play hardball with the union,” 公司决定跟工会硬碰硬。 “A good…

今天我们要学的词是scoop。 Scoop, 有独家新闻，内部消息的意思。 “The newspaper got a major scoop and broke the corruption scandal before the general election,” 报社得到了重要的内部消息，在大选前将这一腐败丑闻公诸于世。 “The reporter got an inside scoop from a reliable source, but…

今天我们要学的词是stereotype。 Stereotype, 有成见的意思。 “Stereotypes based on gender, race and age are all wrong,” 基于性别、种族和年龄的成见都是错误的。美国最近的好几项研究都显示，老年人其实要比年轻人更快乐。 “The finding overturns one of the most stubborn American stereotypes: the belief that this is a…

今天我们要学的词是overweight。 Overweight, 超重。随着生活水平的上升和食品结构的调整， “More than a quarter of the adult population in China is overweight or obese,” 如今中国四分之一以上的成年人都超重或是肥胖。上面句子中的Obese是肥胖的意思。英国研究人员对1999年和2007年的两组数据进行比较后发现，1999年超重人口中，81%都意识到自己体重超标，但是2007年， “Only 75 percent of them correctly classified themselves as overweight,” 超重人口中只有75%的人把自己归入了超重一类。好的，今天我们学习的词是overweight…

今天我们要学的词是kidnap。 Kidnap, 劫持、绑架。 “Three German tourists were kidnapped by the Kurdistan Workers’ Party on July 8th,” 库尔德斯坦工人党7月8号绑架了三个德国游客。 “The kidnapped boy was reunited with his family,” 被绑架的男孩跟家人团聚。委内瑞拉小姐当选今年的环球小姐。 “She was once kidnapped…

今天我们要学的词是debunk。 Debunk, 是揭穿的意思。 “The police debunked the hoax,” 警察揭穿了这场骗局。 “The website is committed to debunking urban myths,” 这个网站就是要揭穿各种骗人的传说。这里的urban myths, 都市传说，一般是指大家都信以为真，但其实是编造出来骗人的说法。 “Barack Obama’s campaign established a website to debunk rumors about…

今天我们要学的词是rule of thumb。 Rule of thumb, 经过反复实践，得出的一般规律。一项最新研究指出，少吃能长寿。 “The rule of thumb is that by eating 15 % less starting at age 25 you could add 4.5 years to your life,”…

今天我们要学的词是shady。 Shady, 有可疑，见不得人的意思。 “A shady deal,” 一项见不得人的交易。 “Shady activities,” 可疑的行动。 “He played a shady character in the new movie,” 他在这部新影片中扮演了一个十分可疑的角色。 为了防止眼下房贷危机的再度发生， “The Fed will adopt rules cracking down on a…