Elon Musk CH10 3/3

Words

1.spruce up

Then I went in for a one-year service, and they spruced up everything so that the car was better than new.

to make someone or something cleaner and tidier or to improve the way they appear generally把…收拾整洁；打扮

例：The city is sprucing up its museums and galleries.

这座城市正在美化自己的博物馆和美术馆。

造句：She spruced up for the first date.

2.Couple with

The enthusiasm coupled with Musk's ability to generate attention was emblematic of just how far the little automaker and its eccentric CEO had come.

If one thing is coupled with another, the two things happen or exist together and produce a particular result

造句：His creative idea coupled with his determination leads to his success.

3.baloon

Musk's star shone brighter and brighter as Tesla's market value ballooned to about half that of GM and Ford.

to suddenly become larger in amount

同义：  explode:

造句：The company’s debt has ballooned in the past year.

4.undermine

Musk went after the reporter, using data pulled from the car to undermine the reviewer's claims.

to gradually make someone or something less strong or effective:

undermine sb’s confidence/authority/position/credibility etc

例：The constant criticism was beginning to undermine her confidence.

造句：His always breaking his promise undermined his credibility.

5.virtuous

The solid performance of the stock increased consumers' confidence, creating a virtuous circle for Tesla.

1. formal behaving in a very honest and moral way

反义： wicked:

a virtuous man

例：Sue considered herself very virtuous because she neither drank nor smoked.

造句：There is no perfect virtuous man in this world.

Thoughts

Ford, which neeeded to pump out hundreds of thousands of cars per year and could not afford to stop and reboot. Tesla, by contrast, got to start from scratch and make its own software the focus of the Model S.

福特这家百年车企，正因为已经有一定的规模而无法分心去全心研制新的技术。也许他也不想去全心投入，因为在现有的领域他还是领头羊。就像当年的柯达一样，其实柯达是第一个研制出数码相机的厂家，但当时的他也是胶卷销量最高的公司。数码相机完全是胶卷的天敌，所以柯达决定保住自己的胶卷产业而封杀了数码相机。可是科技的趋势是一个公司无法阻拦的。最后柯达只能被时代给抛下了。

The guy who was always promising was doing spectacular things."I may have been optimistic with respect to the timing on some of these things, but I didn't over-promise on the outcome""I had done everthing I said I was going to do."