每日一词学英语(33): prosthetic

以前在什么地方看到有个盲人登山者写的文章，说有读者写信说，如果他眼睛看不见了，他也一样可以登顶，因为眼睛看不见的话就不会恐惧掉下山崖，从而可以顺利登顶。还有人怀疑残奥会上短跑名将的成绩之所以比许多健全人还要好，乃是因为他所安装的假肢富有弹性，有助于提高运动成绩。

“假肢”的“假”(形容词)实际上是artificial, acting as a substitute for part of the body。我们还是引用Times Online上的文章来引出每日一词：
Shams Kareem, who was blinded and disfigured by a bomb that killed her mother in November 2006, had just been fitted with prosthetic eyes in the culmination of a first round of treatment funded by Sunday Times readers who donated £128,000 to give her a new chance in life.
prosthetic eyes是假眼，人造眼。prosthesis (plural prostheses)(名词)是假肢，中文维基上是“義肢”，日语是“義肢(ぎし)”。还搜到“義眼(ぎがん)”(日语)，中文维基对应为“义眼”，英文对应是“ocular prosthesis or artificial eye”，和“prosthetic eye”是一回事。

每日一词学英语(32): catapult

今晚的Britain's Got Talent谁会胜出？Susan状态良好，要和众强手一决高下(Susan Boyle in good spirits for talent final)。

Her outstanding performances in singing I Dreamed a Dream and Memory have catapulted her to global stardom.预赛和半决赛中的良好表现令她一炮而红，星途顺畅。catapult作动词在这里的意思是：to increase the status of something rapidly，是“发射炮弹”的引申意。

补记：Susan最终获第二名，Diversity (street dance troupe)力拔头筹。

每日一词学英语(31): rain check

Times上介绍了20大省钱密技(20 money saving tips you've never heard before)，第4条是：Ask for a "rain check" voucher。

Rain check: Any voucher or note from a merchant to a customer to provide an item the merchant has run out of at a later date for the item's current price, or (in a more literal sense) to provide a service at a later date. 延期、留作下次继续用的票根。源于1889年以前，因下雨比赛延期而发给美国棒球迷的新票。可以指任何可以让过期的票券重新有效的票根。

I'll take a rain check (American, British & Australian informal); also I'll get a rain check (American informal)是一种引申用法，指something that you say when you cannot accept someone's invitation to do something but you would like to do it another time (often + on )，再给一次机会。

I'll take a rain check on that drink tonight, if that's all right.
I won't play tennis this afternoon but can I get a rain check? (American informal)

每日一词学英语(30): ornithology

那个集美好(叫声预示着春天来临)与邪恶(挤占其它鸟巢)于一身的cuckoo(布谷鸟、杜鹃)在英国上了濒危鸟类名单了(Cuckoo is added to growing Red List of endangered birds in Britain)。

The Times Online的报道中提到了一个组织：British Trust for Ornithology。Ornithology是鸟类学。记住词根ornith(o)-，表示“鸟”之意。

背单词时记词根很重要，有助于记忆和举一反三。比如，pedicurist是修脚者，记住其中的词根pedi-(表示“足”之意)，整个单词也就好记了。不过，举一反三不能跑偏，pedia-一个字母之差，表示“儿童”之意，如pediatrician儿科医师。跑题了，打住。

每日一词学英语(29): toe the line

这个词指径赛开始前足尖或手抵在起跑线上，引申义为to conform to a rule or a standard，遵从。

例句选自The Times Online: Such is public indignation over Ms Deng’s fate that usually docile newspapers and websites have largely ignored a government directive ordering all reports to toe the official line. "docile"和"toe the official line"呼应。也可以用“toe the mark”。

In modern usage, it appears often in the context of partisan or factional politics, as in, "He's toeing the party line."
Wikipedia说这个词在现代用法中多少和政治有点关系，例句如上。

每日一词学英语(28): row

婚姻的秘诀是什么？今天的The Times Online报导，Longest married couple reveal secret of success: regular rows (Times在第二天(May 27, 2009)将标题修改为：Couple married 81 years reveal secret of their success: regular rows)

Good news for couples everywhere: the secret to a long and happy marriage, according to the pair about to celebrate Britain’s longest and happiest marriage of them all, is “a little argument every day”. 对已婚男女来说真是个好消息，如果你们想让婚姻幸福、长久，不妨分享一下101岁老爷爷和100岁老奶奶的秘诀吧，今天是他们结婚81周年纪念日。(第一段话也作了修改：The secret to a long and happy marriage is a little argument every day, according to the couple who should know best.)

"Regular rows"等于“a little argument every day”。
金山词霸里列举了跟吵架有关的几个词，从例句中体会意思吧：
brawl， broil， donnybrook， fracas， fray， free-for-all， melee， row， ruction

The central meaning shared by these nouns is “a very noisy, disorderly, and often violent quarrel or fight”:
这些名词的中心意思都是“非常嘈杂、混乱和通常较激烈的争吵或吵架”：
a barroom brawl;
酒吧间的喧闹；
a protest march that degenerated into a general broil between the demonstrators and the police;
一次升级成示威者与警察全体对骂的示威游行；
an incident that turned into a vicious legal donnybrook;
演化成为恶意的法律大混战的事件；
putting down a violent fracas among prison inmates;
镇压监狱犯人间的暴力争斗；
eager for the fray;
对争吵感兴趣；
a regular free-for-all in the schoolyard;
校园内一次定期的任何人均可参加的竞赛；
police plunging into the melee;
警察插手互殴；
a terrific domestic row;
一次可怕的家庭争执；
a senseless ruction over trivia.
为区区小事的无意义争吵

看来吵架拌嘴是人之常情，要用这么多词来表达。从Times的报导中看到，至少有两个词金山词霸在同义比较中没有列出：daily squabbles，odd cross word。当然，光拌嘴是不行的，还要体谅、关心对方，时不时地制造浪漫......

祝所有希望婚姻幸福、长久的人都能终偿所愿。

补记：经网友提醒，英国另一家报纸Metro也报导了这条消息，标题是：Daily tiffs secret to 81yr marriage。"Daily tiffs"等于“a little argument every day”。

每日一词学英语(27): loophole

今天是Bank Holiday，没信，门口塞进一张纸，多看了两眼，讲的是最近闹得沸沸扬扬的MPs Expenses的问题。其中有一句：

How the system has failed: the loopholes that have been discovered

“漏洞”这个词，要翻译成英语还真不一定能马上想起来，可见语言是需要长期积累、反复实践的。
Wikipedia上是这么解释的：A loophole is a weakness or exception that allows a system, such as a law or security, to be circumvented or otherwise avoided. Loopholes are searched for and used strategically in a variety of circumstances, including taxes, elections, politics, the criminal justice system, or in breaches of security.
“钻空子”中的“空子”也是这个词。

钻空子是人的天性，哪个国家都一样。关键看怎么应对。

每日一词学英语(26): hone

今晚Susan大妈有望进入Britain's Got Talent决赛了。SUSAN BOYLE will tonight face the biggest challenge of her singing career as she battles for a place in the final of Britain’s Got Talent.

Boyle, who honed her skills in a church choir, is poised to record an album with the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and has been tipped to appear in a London musical. Boyle的演唱技巧是在教堂里磨练出来的，她还要和捷克国家交响乐团合作出专辑。

Hone是磨刀石，作动词在这里的意思是：to refine or master (a skill)。有个近义词polish，比如：The band has polished its performance since the last concert.

磨刀不误砍柴工，经过教堂里多年修炼打磨，Susan大妈终于得以有今日的成就。祝她今晚好运。

补记：Susan顺利进入决赛。

每日一词学英语(25): lick

这个词可作动词，也可作名词。别的意思不论，今天集中学习这个意思(from Wiktionary)：
(colloquial) To overcome. 这是口语里的用法，写正式文章一般不用，除非是引用别人说的话(from The Timesonline)：

“We all want to lick this problem — there's been a burst of confidence over the last few months, but really it's not based on any news. A lot of people think this recession is coming to an end. But I'm not so sure. A resurgence in confidence may not translate into new jobs. We are still in uncertain times.”
我们都想尽快战胜这场金融危机，虽然目前还不确定衰退是否结束。

下次讲英语时可以试试用“lick”替代你想说的“overcome”。

每日一词学英语(24): succumb

这个词在Wiktionary上有三个意思，都是不及物动词：
1.(intransitive) to yield to an overpowering force or overwhelming desire
2.(intransitive) to give up, or give in
3.(intransitive) to die

可能很多人已经知道它“屈从”的意思，后接“to”加名词，比如succumb to temptation，金山词霸译为“受惑”。今天介绍它“to die”的意思。看Economist.com上的一句话：

Some 100,000 stock animals succumbed and about 90,000 people were infected—hundreds fatally—in five countries.
讲的是1997年非洲爆发的一场瘟疫，导致很多牲畜和人染病死亡。

英语是个海洋，“每日一词”每天给你一滴“海水”，不仅记住这个词的意思，也要背下例句，掌握用法。

每日一词学英语(23): scupper

提高信用等级有很多方法，其中有一点需要注意的是要及时缴纳各种费用，否则：
Mobile phone bill could scupper your mortgage 不交手机费可能毁了你想要的房贷

Scupper做动词是thwart, destroy的意思，这是英国英语的用法。做名词有排水孔等意思。

每日一词学英语(22): out of the blue

英国37岁飞行员Timothy Peake最近碰到一件意外的事儿，对他来讲是件天大的好事。
The British pilot named by the European Space Agency (ESA) today as one of its six new astronauts said that his selection had come out of the blue but is a dream come true. 梦想成真，而且是意外之喜。

这个词的意思一查就知道了：(idiomatic) unexpectedly; without warning or preparation
After I hadn’t heard from her in six months, she called me out of the blue to meet for lunch. 有六个月没联系了，有一天她忽然约我一起吃饭。
I really can't understand how something like this could simply pop up out of the blue. 实在想不明白这样的事情怎么一下子就发生了，连声招呼都不打？

Out of the blue这个词似乎很有吸引力，有很多影视剧、歌曲、专辑等文艺作品以它命名。

每日一词学英语(21): Zeitgeist

这个词源于德语，对应的日语是“時代精神(じだいせいしん)”，中文的“时代精神”应该是外来语，来自日语，因为中文的“时代”和“精神”好像都是日语外来语。英文解释：The spirit of the age; the taste, outlook, and spirit characteristic of a period.

Google每年要举办“时代精神会议”(Google’s annual Zeitgeist conference), where movers and shakers go to discuss the big ideas of the day, share important insights and, as a general rule, not wear ties.业界精英在会上讨论新点子、分享新见解，并且有个惯例，就是都不打领带。今年的会上，有位来自亚马逊热带雨林的酋长不光没打领带，甚至戴了一顶镶着羽毛的帽子。

查尔斯王子出席了会议并发表讲话，他西装革履，独树一帜(Prince Charles addresses Google Zeitgeist conference... in a tie)。在会上他做了主题演讲，打破了外界对他不喜欢网络技术的看法。

Until recently the world assumed that the Prince was the sort of technophobe who scarcely knew what the internet was and thought that Twitter was how birds communicated. Not any more: this invitation, and the launch of the Prince’s rainforest video on MySpace, has revealed that he is almost as media-savvy as his mother, who is 83.
看来查尔斯和他83岁的妈妈一样，与时俱进，对新鲜事物不甘落后，颇具时代精神(Zeitgeist)。

每日一词学英语(20): phase out

有一条消息不知道大家注意过没有，伯明翰市政府从今年1月起，在街道标牌上不再使用标点符号“'”(apostrophe)。缘起是很多人一直在争论“Kings Norton”应该是“King's(国王的)”还是“Kings'(国王们的)”，把市政府的人整得头都大了；还有人说，现在没有King(只有Queen)，所以“King's”和“Kings'”都不合适。于是决定干脆废掉这个撇号。

Martin Mullaney, a councillor who chairs the city's transportation scrutiny committee, pointed out that Birmingham had been quietly phasing out apostrophes since the 1950s. However, he admitted that the new official city-wide policy would distress many residents.
Martin Mullaney说，其实伯明翰从上世纪五十年代就悄无声息地开始一步步废除撇号了。

Phase out意思是'to remove or relinquish the use of something little by little'.
Leaded petrol was phased out in the course of the 1990s.
从上世纪九十年代开始逐步不再使用含铅汽油。

Obama: Time To Phase Out Combat Role In Iraq
从伊拉克分阶段撤兵也可以用这个词。

撇号在伯明翰正在淡出(phase out)，而争议(详见网上报道及专栏作家的文章)还在继续......

每日一词学英语(19): caesarean section

以前还真没想过“剖腹产”用英语怎么说，今天才见到。The Times Online今天报道了a businesswoman set to become Britain’s oldest mother at 66。

Munro, who is understood never to have given birth before, is set to have her baby by caesarean section at an NHS hospital next month. She was given her IVF treatment at a clinic in Ukraine.

这个词在美国英语里拼写略有不同：cesarean section，读音一样。在日语里叫“帝王切開(ていおうせっかい)”。跟罗马皇帝凯撒(Caesar)有关，详细情况可参看Wikipedia。

每日一词学英语(18): drum up

英国在近几年的欧洲歌唱大赛(Eurovision)上成绩差强人意，今年摆出哀兵的姿态，说我们不会赢，但出了明星就足够了(Andrew Lloyd Webber: we won't win Eurovision but we do have new star)。这个明星指代表英国参赛的21岁伦敦姑娘Jade Ewen。

说是不想赢，该做的准备和公关还是一个也不少。

Ewen has been dispatched on a tour of 13 European countries to raise awareness of her song and drum up support.

Drum up的意思是：to generate or encourage; to campaign for。
Ewen跑了13个欧洲国家巡回演出，以便让人对她的歌声留下印象，寻求支持。Drum up和中文的“鼓吹”在字面上比较接近，意思也差不多。

补记：Jade Ewen最终取得第5名，这是英国2002年以来在Eurovision上的最好成绩。

每日一词学英语(17): cocktail

Cocktail最常见的意思是“鸡尾酒”，今天要讲的是它的另一个意思：

(Noun)A mixture of other substances.
Scientists found a cocktail of pollutants in the river downstream of the chemical factory.

另一个例子在这儿：
......, almost all the smaller types, along with their cocktail of toxic substances, such as mercury, nickel and cadmium, are chucked in the bin and end up in landfill.

这个“cocktail”意思好理解，就是指一些混合物，但要翻译起来还真没那么容易。译成“混合物”有点别扭，译成“许多”又怕漏掉什么意思。以上两段文字分别试译成：

科学家在化工厂旁边那条河的下游发现许多污染物，混杂在一起。

......，而小型电池，连同混在其中的汞、镍、镉等有毒物质一起，差不多统统被丢进了垃圾桶，最后被填埋。

每日一词学英语(16): take with a pinch of salt

BBC Learning English网站有一个栏目叫“6 Minute English”，每星期出一期节目。5月7号这期讲的是Horoscopes and astrology。其中Kate说：

Well, astrology and horoscopes are very popular here in the UK, even though they are often taken with a pinch of salt. To take something with 'a pinch of salt', means that we don't believe something to be entirely accurate or true.
占星和星象在英国十分流行，虽然并没多少人真把它当回事。

Take with a pinch of salt (British & Australian)也可以说，take with a grain of salt (American & Australian)。
Examples:
1) You have to take everything she says with a pinch of salt. She has a tendency to exaggerate.
2) It's interesting to read the reports in the newspapers, but I tend to take them with a grain of salt.

每日一词学英语(15): once bitten, twice shy

这个和“一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳”对应。例子如下：

This has resulted in a feeling of "once bitten, twice shy" among certain investors, while the lack of a dividends from three major banks has been a further reason to avoid the shares.
一些投资者由此产生“一朝被蛇咬，十年怕井绳”的心理，缺少红利更让这些人不敢碰这三家银行的股票。

类似的说法还有：the burnt child dreads the fire；the scalded dog/cat fears cold water等，例子暂时没见到。

每日一词学英语(14): phlebotomist

去社区医院预约GP(general practitioner, 家庭医生)，前台有时会给你写一张卡片，上面有GP的名字；如果预约抽血，在卡片上除了日期和时间外，写的是这么个单词：phlebotomist，意思是抽血师。中文里不分这么细，一律叫护士或大夫。

这个词对应的行为是phlebotomy(名词): the opening of a vein, either to withdraw blood (抽血) or for letting blood (放血). 同义词有好几个：venesection, venipuncture, venepuncture, blood draw, drawing blood or taking blood.这通常指在胳膊上抽取静脉血。如果是从指尖抽血则叫fingerprick。

每日一词学英语(13): Cassandra

最近股市虽然牛气冲天，但很多人对此持一种谨慎的态度，比如今天的The Times Online上有人发表署名文章：This bullish spirit may lack legs for the long run 近期牛市可能好景不长
Two paragraphs are excerpted as follows:

There is certainly no shortage of eager Cassandras around ready to warn that the present round of fireworks will soon fizzle. The gloom-mongers expect the recent upward march of shares to amount to no more than a “bear market rally”, with resurgence seen as all but certain to give way to renewed slump - just as happened repeatedly in the Great Depression.

The pessimists could yet be vindicated. Yet, in the short term, there are some convincing reasons to be rather more hopeful. Over the past month or more, an initial trickle of indications that the global downturn has finally bottomed out has swollen into a torrent.

这些持谨慎甚至悲观态度的人就是Cassandra: somebody who makes predictions which are never believed but turn out to be true. 文章中对Cassandras的解释在第二段第一句，指"the pessimists yet to be vindicated". Cassandra是希腊神话中的女预言家。这种用法有点像中文里的“诸葛亮”，典故变成了新词汇。不过诸葛亮料事如神人人信，Cassandra料事如神却没人信她。

上世纪the Great Depression时大概出过不少Cassandras，但愿这次的预言家们不是Cassandras。

每日一词学英语(12): watchdog

把watchdog解释为“看门狗”显然不能令人满意。媒体上经常出现的watchdog应该是监察机构的意思。Wikitionary上的解释是：
A person or organization that monitors and publicizes the behavior of others (individuals, corporations, governments) to discover undesirable activity.

BBC网站有个Watchdog频道。今日头条讲的是watchdog调查各个公司的客户服务电话，看哪家让客户等待的时间最长。从这个角度看，watchdog相当于“曝光台”，是个替老百姓说话的地方。有了watchdog，某些人/机构就会有所顾忌，不至于为所欲为了。

在英文报道中经常见watchdog这个词，不知中文怎么翻译。也许用的多了，watchdog所对应的中文词就会渐渐为大家所熟悉。

每日一词学英语(11): sanguine

先看下面这段话：
Yesterday’s late collapse by the London stock market raised fears that the market’s recent good run could be about to come to an abrupt end, but it’s a case of onwards and upwards this morning after a well-received trading update from Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and a sanguine response to yesterday’s US banking ‘stress tests’ which revealed that ten of the US's largest banks need to raise a further $74.6bn in capital towithstand the current recession.
伦敦证券市场收盘大跌，引发市场恐慌，不过美国银行业的“压力测试”结果很快又提振了乐观情绪。sanguine在这里的意思是cheerfully confident, optimistic。今天的重点是学习它表示“乐观”的用法，比如：a sanguine nature/disposition, be sanguine of, etc.。

Sanguine的字面意思是红色，就是达芬奇自画像的那种颜色(见上图)。在心理学上是四种气质(four temperament types)中的一种，热情奔放的多血质型。另外三种是胆汁型(Choleric)，抑郁型(Melancholic)和黏液型(Phlegmatic)。分别起源于中世纪生理学中的四种体液(four humors): blood, bile, black bile, phlegm。可能很多人都知道了，这里温习一下英文说法。

每日一词学英语(10): penultimate

知道“倒数第二名”怎么说吗？今天就要讲讲这个词。

penultimate源于拉丁语的paenultimus，pen-对应paene("almost")，ultimate对应ultimus("last")。接近最后一名，意思自然就是倒数第二名，看起来复杂的单词，其实很好记。在表达“倒数第二行/段/页”的意思时也可以用这个词。

在这个词前面加上ante-(meaning before)，就变成antepenultimate，是“倒数第三名”的意思。“最后一名”自然是ultimate。

penult和antepenult是另外两个单词，分别指倒数第二、第三个音节，是语言学里的术语。

说完倒数的，再看看正数的：第一名是champion或winner，第二名是runner-up，第三名(不算"the third place")和第四名好像各对应一个单词，想不起来了，以后再补充吧。

“最后一名”还有两个词，一个源于剑桥大学，叫"wooden spoon"；另一个源于赛马，叫“whipper-in”。

每日一词学英语(9): ditch

这个词最常见的意思是“沟渠”(名词)，“开沟筑渠”(动词)。
今天学的是它的另一个意思：(transitive verb) to discard or abandon，尤其是学会用它，争取下次写文章时用上。

看一个新闻标题：
Government urged to ditch biofuel subsidies 呼吁政府取消生物燃料补贴
注意到正文中“..., which urges the government to abandon its subsidies and targets for biofuels and...”abandon和标题中的ditch呼应。

另一个例子：
Ditch the mortgage: here are six ways you can clear your home loan faster while rates are low. 甩掉房贷：利率低迷，教你六招儿尽快还款
clear和ditch对应，home loan和mortgage对应。

可以用的场合挺多，要想真正让ditch变成自己可以灵活应用的词，还需要细心揣摩、多加实践。

每日一词学英语(8): what's the catch

看到一个新闻标题：A&L offer ￡100 and a free overdraft: what's the catch?

在what's the catch那儿愣了一会儿，查了趟字典，回来一看，原来解释在正文第一段就有：

Alliance & Leicester (A&L) is once again offering its ￡100 switching incentive with both its Premier Current Account and the Premier 50 Current Account. The deal is available until the end of May, but is it too good to be true?

is it too good to be true和what's the catch是一个意思。写文章比较忌讳一个意思用同一个词翻来覆去的说，那样的文字不会有文采。对学外语的人这倒是个好处，不认识的词可以由此猜出意思来，因为在作者多次变换使用的几个词中，总会有简单些的；有些情况下这个简单词不是近义词，是反义词，你自己脑子里把意思反一下就行了。

言归正传。catch在这里的意思是陷阱、欺诈，Wikitionary上的解释是：

(countable, sometimes noun adjunct) A concealed difficulty, especially in a deal or negotiation.

It sounds like a great idea, but what's the catch? 听起来很好，别有什么圈套吧？
Be careful, that's a catch question. 你可要当心，那个问题是个套儿。

说到catch不能不提Joseph Heller的代表作，长篇小说Catch-22(《第22条军规》)，由此引出逻辑学和博弈论中的“双输情况”("no-win" or "lose-lose" situation)。No choice leads to a net gain. 你可要当心！

每日一词学英语(7): equestrian

昨天的“每日一词”有点“挂猪头卖马肉”，如果你觉得文中和猪有关的词简单了些，不妨留意一下和马有关的那几个词，也许有你不认识的。

今天再来一个和马有关的，是在电视里看到一个知识竞赛节目，问08年夏季奥运会哪个项目是在香港举行的：a) Sailing b) Equestian c) Beach volleyball。正确答案应该是b)，马术比赛。

这又是英语词汇的多样性了，看不到horse的半点踪影，那“马”在哪里呢？原来是这个：拉丁文词根eques。equestrian做形容词是“骑马的，马的”，另一个形容词是equine，“马的，似马的”。“马术”还有一个名词是equestrianism。电视里经常听到的“盛装舞步”是dressage，源于法语。

和马术有关的几个词：bridle马笼头，bit马嚼子，saddle我们都知道是马鞍，harness是马具，不一一列举了。

每日一词学英语(6): swine

这个词最近很流行，但愿病毒别再流行。
猪流感不用pig flu，而是swine flu，可见猪有很多种说法。其它动物也一样，比如Wiki一下horse，一下冒出好多词：yearling, colt, filly, mare, stallion，等等，中文也一样，对应的中文Wiki就有不少马字旁的字。Wiki一下pig，一下子掉进了猪的海洋：

pig, hog, swine通常指家猪，野猪是wild boar或boar。
fetal pig是猪胎，bacon和ham都是猪肉制品，lard是猪油，pork是猪肉。
George Orwell所著《动物庄园》中的名猪叫Napoleon,据说是以S同学为原型。

真是学无止境啊，举一反三下去，没个头儿，就此打住。
更多内容请参见Wikipedia及互联网。

补记：乳猪是suckling pig (or sucking pig)。

每日一词学英语(5): hear the cogs turning

英国著名选秀节目Britain's Got Talent今年可谓惊喜不断：苏格兰大妈Susan凭歌剧《悲惨世界》中的唱段I Dreamed a Dream一炮而红，马不停蹄辗转于美国各大talk show节目；十岁小女孩Hollie的天籁之音又让有的评论家认为她可能会战胜Susan。截至目前，最新一位进入下一轮的选手是拉电子小提琴的Sue。这个亚洲面孔的女孩(可能是韩裔)与好友合作一曲，评委认为效果不佳，认为她俩的音乐不是很合拍。就在她俩退场时情况有了转机，评委Simon把Sue叫回来，并给了她胜出的机会。

As the girls leave the stage Simon's eyes are with Sue... You can almost hear the cogs turning. He calls her back...

cogs在这里指的是齿轮，手表上齿轮转动发出嘀嗒声，平时几乎听不见。hear the cogs turning意思应该是所有人都摒住呼吸，安静极了，连手表上齿轮转动(中文说一根针掉到地上)的声音都能听见。

我这么解释对吗？

每日一词学英语(4): premises

在餐馆洗手间看到一个标牌，禁烟标志上方写"No Smoking"，下方写"It is against the law to smoke in these premises"。即使不认识这个词，也很容易知道premises指的是这地方。想问的是，为什么用premises这个词？

查一下字典吧，Wiktionary上的解释是：

premises (uncountable)

1. (plural only; not used in singular form) land, and all the built structures on it, especially when considered as a single place of business
2. (law)(plural only; not used in singular form) The subject of a conveyance or deed

这里取第一个意思，指建筑设施及其用地，尤其是有商业用途的建筑及用地。做生意要有租的或买的商铺，英文就叫business premises，所以premises在商业领域是比较正规的常用词。

需要注意的是，即使只有一处房产，也要用复数形式。

每日一词学英语(3): put a shine on

Shine 这个词可以是名词也可以是动词，我们见的最多的是sunshine中的shine，是名词，意思是光。今天要说的put a shine on中的shine也是光的意思，不过不是阳光，是反光，一般指皮鞋等的光亮。put a shine on后面加皮鞋的话意思就是给皮鞋上光，使其更亮。

我看到的出处在这里：
Do put a shine on your credit history...
If you can demonstrate that you are a responsible borrower with a stable lifestyle, then you have a better chance of getting the deals you want. You can improve your credit status by taking simple steps, including asking lenders to correct errors in your credit report, closing unused accounts and registering to vote at your current address.

讲的是理财之道中如何改善信用记录：修正信用报告中的错误，关闭不用的账户，用现住址进行选举登记等等。看得出文中所讨论的对象信用记录已经很好了，绝对不属于有不良记录的那种，只需take simple steps就可以让信用记录焕然一新，好上加好，从而证明自己是个responsible borrower with a stable lifestyle，然后就可以贷款、买房，get the deals you want。

中文里有个词叫“给......添一抹亮色”，大概也是这个意思，都是已经挺好了，再来点锦上添花的东东。实际上是一种修辞的用法。