【旧词新义】
1.club
A Zulu driver got out with aniwisa, a large, traditional Zulu weapon—a war club, basically.
2.smoke
to defeat sb, win by a lot, beat them badly
The men stopped the minibus and got out and tried to chase us, but they didn’t stand a chance. We smoked them.
3.charge
If you charge towards someone or something, you move quickly and aggressively towards them.
When the colonial armies invaded, the Zulu charged into battle with nothing but spears and shields against men with guns.
【词组】
1.be at ˈodds (with sb over/on sth) / (with sth)
not agreeing with each other: in a state of disagreement
Then these groups were given differing levels of rights and privileges in order to keep them at odds.
2.pride yourself on
to be proud because of having (an ability, quality, etc.)
The Xhosa, on the other hand, pride themselves on being the thinkers.
I pride myself on my math skills. [=I am proud of my math skills]
The restaurant prides itself on having the best pizza in town.
3.hold in check
to keep sth under control so that it does not spread or get worse
For decades those feelings were held in check by a common enemy.
He's trying to hold his emotions in check.[=he is trying to control his emotions]
The government has lowered interest rates in an attempt to keep inflation in check.
4.walk free
to be allowed to leave court, etc, without receiving any punishment
Then apartheid fell, Mandela walked free, and black South Africa went to war with itself.
5.dust sb/sth off
If someone dusts down something or dusts dirt off something, they remove dirt or dust from it.
Then they come to a stop and pop up and dust themselves off, like it was no big deal.
He stood and dusted down his suit and folded the letter away.
Use loose powder to set your makeup, dusting the excess off with a brush.
6.be beside the point
not related to the main idea that is being discussed: not important
The white man was quite stern with the native.“You need to pray to Jesus,” he said. “Jesus will save you.” To which the native replied, “Well, we do need to be saved—saved from you, but that’s beside the point. So let’s give this Jesus thing a shot.”
No one knows what we did, but that's beside the point. What we did was wrong.
7.kick sb's ass
to punish or defeat sb
There were Bible games and quizzes every week at white church, and I kicked everyone’s ass.
8.double back
If you double back you go back in the direction that you came from.
Then, if that wasn’t bad enough, some Sundays we’d double back to white church for a special evening service.
I'm going to double back to see if I dropped the ring on the way here.
We drove past it and had to double back.
9.be strapped in 系好安全带
Then we went out to the driveway, but once we were finally all strapped in and ready to go, the car wouldn’t start.
Are you strapped in(= wearing a seat belt in a car, plane, etc.)?
10.next to
almost but not quite
My mom had this ancient, broken-down,bright-tangerine Volkswagen Beetle that she picked up for next to nothing.
It's next to [=nearly, practically] impossibleto drive in this snow.
You ate next to nothing at dinner. Aren'tyou hungry?
We were next to last in line. [=there wasone person or group behind us]
He finished next to last in the race.
the next to last day of our vacation [=theday immediately before the last day of our vacation]
11.up against
in a very difficult situation, or with a serious problem to deal with
Whenever I found myself up against my mother’s faith-based obstinacy, I would try, as respectfully as possible, to counter with an opposing point of view.
The process could take weeks, but I’m up against a deadline.
Teachers are up against some major problems these days.
The problem we are up against [=the problem that we have to deal with] is a difficult one.
12.be in control
someone who is in control has the power to make decisions and decide what should happen
“No, because Jesus is in control, and if Jesus is in control and we pray to Jesus, he would let the car start, but he hasn’t, therefore—”
Dr Marion is the person in control of all medical decisions at the hospital.
The governing board is in control of the school’s budget.
13.hole up
If you hole up somewhere, you hide or shut yourself there, usually so that people cannot find you or disturb you.
Whenever the riots broke out, all our neighbors would wisely hole up behind closed doors.
The criminals holed up in a downtown motel for a few days.
The band holed up in the recording studio to record their album.
14.take off
to leave a place, especially in a hurry
I’d take off out the door and through the dusty streets of Eden Park, clambering over walls, ducking through backyards.
When he saw me coming he took off in the opposite direction.
15.talk smack
to say things that are intended to annoy or insult people, especially sporting opponents or rivals
There were times I could talk smack to my mom—this was not one of them.
We argue and fight and talk smack to each other.
16.smash sth in
to hit (something) hard so that you break it or make a hole in it
They’re used to smash people’s skulls in.
I smashed in the window.
I was so mad I felt like smashing his face in.
17.set sb off (doing sth)
If something sets a person off, it makes them angry, or makes them remember something and they start talking a lot.
She told him to mind his own business, and when he heard her speaking in Xhosa, that really set him off.
The smallest thing sets him off, and he can't stop talking about his
childhood.
18.no less
used to suggest that sth is surprising or impressive
Zulu women were well-behaved and dutiful. Xhosa women were promiscuous and unfaithful. And here was my mother, his tribal enemy, a Xhosa woman alone with two small children—one of them a mixed child, no less.
He insists on being driven to the airport, and in a limousineno less! [=it is surprising that he insists on being driven in a limousine]
She was contacted by the president,no less!
19.tell sb off
to yell at or insult (someone who did or said something that made you angry)
My mom kept telling him off and he kept calling her names, yelling at her from the front seat, wagging his finger in the rearview mirror and growing more and more menacing until finally he said, “That’s the problem with you Xhosa women. You’re all sluts—and tonight you’re going to learn your lesson.”
He wished that he could tell his boss off.
— often +for
She told him off for spreading rumors about her.
20.reason with sb
to talk with (someone) in a sensible way in order to try to change that person's thoughts or behavior
Plus my mom stayed very calm. She didn’t panic, so I didn’t know to panic. She just kept trying to reason with him.
I have watched parents trying to reason with their children and have never seen it work.
It’s no use trying to reason with people like that.
21.nod off
to fall asleep for a short time while you are sitting in a chair
I didn’t hear a word of what she was saying,because by that point I’d completely nodded off.
I nodded off during his speech.
22.stand a chance (of doing sth)
to have a possibility of succeeding, — often used in negative statements
The men stopped the minibus and got out and triedto chase us, but they didn’t stand a chance.
The team stands a chance of doing well this year.
I think she stands a good chance of winning the election.
He doesn't stand a chance against the champion.
She stands no chance of winning. [=she has no chance of winning]
23.cut sb up
to injure sb badly by cutting or hitting them
I was cut up and bleeding all over.
He was very badly cut up in the fight.
24.write sb/sth off (as sth）
If you write someone or something off, you decide that they are unimportant or useless and that they are not worth further serious attention.
The British abolished slavery in name but kept it in practice. They did so because,in the mid-1800s, in what had been written off as a near-worthless way station on the route to the Far East, a few lucky capitalists stumbled upon the richestgold and diamond reserves in the world, and an endless supply of expendable bodies was needed to go in the ground and get it all out.
Most voters care more about jobs and therefore the Government can write off voters motivated by environmental issues...
He is fed up with people writing him off because of his age...
His critics write him off as too cautious to succeed...
25.back at it (again)
doing sth again (usu. said in criticism)
“No, Trevor! That’s not how the Devil works. This is part of God’s plan, and if He wanted us here then He had a reason…”
And on and on and there we were, back at it, arguing about God’swill.
I thought you stopped smoking, but I see you are back at it again.
26.couple sb/sth with sb/sth
to join or combine (something) with (something else)
— usually used as(be) coupled with
In America you had the forced removal of the native on to reservations coupled with slavery followed by segregation.
An oil spill coupled with [=combined with, together with] strong winds brought disaster.
The team's win,coupled with a loss by their rivals, put them in first place.
Overproduction, coupled with falling sales, has led to huge losses for the company.