一、依照个人学习过程,摘抄几个重要的每日一次
popularize
:《经济学人》在一篇讨论网络媒体的文章中也用到了 popularize:
In 1999 Mr Williams co-founded Blogger. The startup helped popularise the concept of blogging and the word itself by making it simple for people to post their musings without needing to code.
在世界各地的很多酒吧我们都能听到牙买加歌手 Bob Marley 的雷鬼音乐,是他让雷鬼音乐走出牙买加,走向世界,我们在介绍 Bob Marley 的成就时就可以说:
Bob Marley popularized reggae music in the 1970s.
“共享经济”在十多年前还是鲜为人知,人们对这个概念熟悉起来主要应该归功于 Uber 和 Airbnb 等公司,因此我们可以说:
In the past few years, Uber has popularized the idea of sharing economy.
backpedal
一些美国政客的竞选立场摇摆不定。比如有些人为了迎合大众支持实施减税政策,过了一段时间又决定撤销,这时就可以说:
US politicians are backpedaling on the commitment to cut taxes.
再来看一个接决定(decision)的例句:
Under huge pressure from the public, local authorities backpedaled on their decision to open a chemical factory.
backpedal 在有的语境中还相当于“收回某人的话/take one's words back”,比如:
The product manager quickly backpedaled when asked to explain his proposal in detail.
backpedal 还有一个常见的同义词 backtrack,意义和用法都很相似,很多时候都可以互相替换。《经济学人》在 2016 年一篇报道总统竞选的文章中就用到了 backtrack:
“I didn’t mean to attack people in New York. I love New York.” Ted Cruz, campaigning in New York,backtracks from his sneering comments about “New York values”.
Thankfully
我们在举办活动时经常会有这样那样的担心,但如果过程很顺利,我们事后就可以说:
Thankfully, everything went smoothly. (这里的 Thankfully 也可以换成 Fortunately)
有一次我乘坐飞机迟到了,但幸运的是航班晚点了,所以最后还是赶上了飞机。就可以说:
Once I was late for my flight.Thankfully, the flight got delayed, and I was able to board it eventually.
《经济学人》一篇关于政府如何更好地治理垃圾的文章中有这么一句:
Thankfully, rubbish is one environmental issue where there is little need to worry about political incentives.
这句话的言外之意是,政府在解决一些问题的时候,人们会质疑它的动机。
cut-throat
cut-throat 的使用比较简单,常和表示领域(比如 industry, business 和 world)、竞争和价格的词一起搭配使用。我们可以用 cut-throat 来描述某一行业领域的竞争激烈。比如,最近关于锤子科技的报道不断,其中一个关键点是智能手机行业竞争激烈,日趋饱和,就可以说:
The competition in the smartphone industry is cut-throat.
或者
The smartphone business is cut-throat and relentless.(这里的 relentless 和 cut-throat 是同义表达,放在一起起强调作用,这两个词可以一起记下来。)
看看《经济学人》是怎么用 cut-throat 的:
1)Ride-hailing, like many online businesses, is a cut-throat, winner-takes-all market: Didi itself is the product of a 2015 merger of two local firms.
2)Once state support for AT&T's monopoly status was removed, the phone market became cut-throat.
3)Amazon's cut-throat pricing has lowered online inflation by about one percentage point.
二、晨读自我重点总结
1.辅音不是泾渭分明的,比如t和d在结尾的时候听不太出来,sit和seed是根据元音长短来分辨。forget about的连读部分,t与d发音难区分。
2.注意/l/,/n/,/r/音之后出现的元音的连读:
author of,chapter eight,seven/nine/ten o'clock,iPhone XS,special occasion,LA,H&M,M&M
连读就是不重新启动
3.要慢慢读,再耐心一点,再慢一些。
三、写作
没有坚持去写作,时间规划还是太欠缺,有时候追求完美只追求了一个点,失掉的是一整面。很多高手都在英语学习的各方面表现出高超的水准。对于我个人而言,单方面的突破既不长久,效果也差,我需要多反思,多行动,多和同学交流反馈。