每日一词学英语(63): al fresco

又到了barbecue的季节，How pleasant to cook and dine al fresco, as the sun casts long shadows across the lawn. 不过要注意，空气中不光飘着热气和香味，温室气体也随之排向大气(From Economist.com, June 29, 2009: The not-so-great outdoors)。

这个词源于意大利语，意思是：Outdoors, in the open air (Wiktionary)，也可以写作alfresco。

从环境保护的角度看，对barbecue要从三方面着手改进：the style of barbecue used, the food that is cooked on it and where that food comes from。不过也许最环保的办法是放弃barbecue，改吃绿色天然食品。But to be truly green, perhaps it would be best to dispense with the barbecue all together and settle for a cucumber sandwich—spread with soya, naturally.

每日一词学英语(62): no-brainer

For many people, no-brainer is not a no-brainer — it is downright confusing. 今天这个词让英国人也感到迷惑(From The Times, May 18, 2009: What exactly is a no-brainer?)。

No-brainer is just one of the thousands of new words in the brand new 7th edition of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. 这本词典中对这个词的解释最详细、最清楚，学习一下你就不会迷惑了。

no-brainer noun, adj. (informal)
i) noun
1. A decision or problem that you do not need to think about much because it is obvious what you should do.
*The question of who to support in this election should be a no-brainer.
*Protecting the environment is a no-brainer it is obvious that we must protect it.
*Accepting their offer was a no-brainer for me.
*The exam was a no-brainer it was not difficult.
2. A stupid person or action.
*These days, any no-brainer who wants to talk on the radio can do it.
*He punched another player in front of the referee - that was a real no-brainer.
ii) adj. [only before noun] requiring little intelligence or mental effort; easy.
*no-brainer solutions
*a no-brainer action movie
*a no-brainer chocolate cake one that is easy to make
*This book contains 20 no-brainer ways to improve your English vocabulary.

每日一词学英语(61): promiscuous

英国的海洋保护协会(Marine Conservation Society, MCS)自1993年以来每年9月都要举行一次海岸调查。去年的调查结果显示，在英国的海岸线上，每公里有2,195件垃圾，这个数字是1994年的两倍，比2007年增长了7%。

在这些垃圾中，Plastics are promiscuous killers of wildlife。这个词的意思是：(Adjective) Made up of various disparate elements mixed together; of disorderly composition (Wiktionary)，混杂的(金山)，和第17课的“cocktail”(Noun)意思差不多。

每日一词学英语(60): spelling bee

Believe、receive等词我经常写错，把“i”和“e”的次序搞反，其实早有一句话用于记忆：“i before e except after c”。不过，it applies only to words in which the ie or ei stands for a clear ee sound. Unless this is known, words such as sufficient and veil look like exceptions。还有更多例外，如eight, feisty, foreign, heinous, protein and seize。

对想参加spelling bee的孩子来说，上述规则大概算小儿科了吧。Spelling bee是拼字比赛，a spelling competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words; the individual or team spelling the most words correctly wins (Wiktionary)。该比赛源于美国，现在也见于很多别的英语国家。

旁白：本博Alexa排名June 26, 2009首次突破900万，达868.8258万；June 27, 2009首次突破800万，达773.9430万。

每日一词学英语(59): RIP

Michael Jackson去世使得全世界的人纷纷上网搜索消息来源以辨真假，从而导致网速变慢。News of Michael Jackson's death saw the internet grind to a halt as people scrambled to find out whether the reports were true.

消息确认后，各种悼念活动随即展开。今天Twitter网的头条是“RIP MJ”。RIP又写作R.I.P，是“Rest in Peace”的缩写，在拉丁文中是“Requiescat in Pace”。在西方国家多见于墓碑，现在渐渐有人用于网上悼念活动。

愿逝者安息。

每日一词学英语(58): veritable

也许你见过有些穆斯林妇女穿着长袍(burqa or burka, a head-to-toe Islamic garment)，只露眼睛在外面。法国于2004年开始，禁止穆斯林妇女在公立学校及其它公用建筑内戴头巾(headscarf)，如今总统萨克奇(Nicolas Sarkozy)又对长袍发起攻击，有些人甚至称其为“名副其实的移动监狱”。The deputies called burqas “veritable walking prisons”. (From The Economist, June 25, 2009: No cover up)

在这点上英国与法国不同，Britain could never debate the burka like France。It does expose a fundamental cross-Channel difference。Times上一篇文章有介绍(June 24, 2009)。

每日一词学英语(57): hubristic

海外投资、中华文化、孔子学院，中国影响力正在遍及全球(From The Times, June 24, 2009: Currency, culture, Confucius: China's writ will run across the world)。

有人预计2027年中国的经济实力会超过美国，2050年会领先一倍。In 2027 Goldman Sachs estimates that the size of the Chinese economy will overtake America's and by 2050 will be twice as big. 不仅仅是经济崛起，中国的政治和文化影响力也必将不断增强。西方国家不愿意承认吗？那原因只有一个：过分自信。

The only plausible reason that I can think of is the hubristic belief that our ways of doing things are so superior that other countries will automatically adopt our arrangements, values and belief systems. It is based on the absurd assumption that China's modernity will not be deeply shaped by its own long and rich history and culture. 因为自信过头，所以觉得别的国家当然应该接受西方的决议、价值及信仰体系，可笑地认为中国无法借助自身悠久深厚的历史文化实现现代化。“hubristic”和两个词呼应：“superior”、“absurd”，因为自信，所以觉得优越；而自信过头，往往荒谬可笑。

Wiktionary的解释：
1) Of, or relating to hubris; overly arrogant
2) Displaying hubris (as a personality characteristic)

“hubris” (uncountable noun): Excessive pride, presumption or arrogance (originally toward the gods). 盛气凌人，自以为是，狂妄自大。

Times这篇文章的作者Martin Jacques is author of When China Rules the World: the Rise of the Middle Kingdom and the End of the Western World。看得出，他不是一个“过分自信”的人，但这样的人其实不少，言语间往往透露着可笑的优越感，试看文章的留言之一：

All i'm going to say is 'chopsticks'. If the chinese are so great how come, after all those century's, the best solution for eating food they could come up with is still 'two sticks'. The west will always be culturally dominant for we have the knife, fork and spoon!

JT, London, UK

每日一词学英语(56): draconian

古希腊有个制定严酷刑律的立法者叫Draco，今天这个词就是由他而来，意思是very severe, oppressive or strict (Wiktionary)。

MPs face draconian new sanctions which could result in criminal prosecutions for misdemeanours under new legalisation being rushed through Parliament. 按照新立法，陷入“报销门”的违规议员面临严厉制裁，可能是刑事起诉。(From Times Online, June 23, 2009: MPs face draconian criminal sanctions on expenses)

Wiktionary上有几个例句：
The despot chose a draconian punishment.
The Nazi regime was draconian.
The mayor announced draconian budget cuts today.
“Draconian budget cuts”金山词霸译为“大幅度的削减预算”。

每日一词学英语(55): clubbing

Nails can provide clues to a number of underlying problems. 看指甲可以辨病(From The Times, June 22, 2009: Q&A: Why do my nails have ridges?)。

A thorough doctor will always glance at a patient’s nails during an examination. 去看病时细心的大夫会留意你的指甲，借以发现某些疾病的苗头。在各种异常指甲中，perhaps most worrying of all is the change known as clubbing where there is loss of the natural angle between the nail and the cuticle. 指甲及其根部皮肤间无自然角度就叫clubbing。

如果近期有异变，可能就和某些严重疾病有关，否则可能没事。检查方法就是把手指伸平，看看有没有这个角度(正常角度应小于165度)。

每日一词学英语(54): graft

一位心理学家兼畅销书作者说，要想出人头地，至少要下1万小时苦功夫才行。他自己身体力行了吗？The bestselling pop psychologist says greatness requires 10,000 hours of hard graft. So has he put in the groundwork? (From The Sunday Times, June 21, 2009: News review interview: Malcolm Gladwell)

这位心理学家对出人头地(greatness)的定义是“really successful at something”，1万小时可以理解为“roughly a decade”，也可以是7年或者5年，取决于你每天投入的时间。

Hard graft是in the British sense of hard work，最早起源于19世纪的澳大利亚和新西兰。To graft is “to push the tool down to its full depth each time the soil is lifted”，意思就是脚踏实地的埋头苦干。

努力了不一定会成功，但成功的人一定都是努力过的。如果你觉得自己不成功，不妨先问问自己：Have I put in the groundwork with 10,000 hours of hard graft?

每日一词学英语(53): junket

中国部分杼困款项没有用于拯救濒于倒闭的工厂，而是流向澳门赌场(From The Times, June 20, 2009: Chinese bail-out cash heads for Macau’s casinos rather than Guangdong factories)。

The unprecedented velocity of credit creation will be especially useful in rebuilding the revenue-rich junket operations that suffered during the credit crisis, Gabriel Chan, an analyst at Credit Suisse, said.

这个词是赌场用语，金山词霸上找不到意思，Wiktionary上有：gaming 20-40 table gaming rooms for which the capacity and limits change daily. Junket rooms are often rented out to private vendors who run tour groups through them and give a portion of the proceeds to the main casino. 不知怎么翻译，反正是一种可以创造很多税收的赌博方式。

旁白：本博Alexa排名首次突破1000万，最新排名989.4342万(June 20, 2009)。

每日一词学英语(52): proceeds

银行来信说，I am writing to remind you that your investment matures on 21 June 2009. As requested, the proceeds will be automatically repaid into your nominated account.

取金山词霸上的解释：The amount of money derived from a commercial or fundraising venture; the yield. 收入，获利：从商业或基金机构获得的钱；收益。据Wiktionary，有时指gross revenue(总收入)，有时指net revenue(净收入)。

注意：一定要用复数形式才有这个意思。

每日一词学英语(51): ethos

Remeber every bit counts!
积少可以成多，为了节约能源，有人提出把浏览器首页设为黑屏(blackle.com)，——不是完全黑屏，搜索功能和Google一样，只不过背景是黑的，据说这样每年可以省750度电。

某位专栏作家为了践行这一节能精神，特意在博客上开了个黑天窗。In keeping with this ethos, allow me to present a small area of darkness for your screen。我也有样学样，见上图。

Wiktionary的解释: The character or fundamental values of a person, people, culture, or movement. “echos”是单数形式，复数是ethe or ethea。这个词和21课的“Zeitgeist”类似。

不过有人表示反对，说黑屏对眼睛不好，建议用“绿Google”(forestle.org)代替“黑Google”，这样每次搜索可以拯救0.1平米热带雨林。

绿Google和黑Google，无论你选用哪个，记住，在不用的时候关掉显示器。

每日一词学英语(50): pundit

Barely a day goes by now without some pundit or another speculating that the housing market has bottomed out. (Timesonline, June 15, 2009: e-Poll: Will house prices be higher in a year's time?)

其实看到上面这句话时“bottom out”也让我心动了一下，原因有两点：“触底”的另一种说法；“out”的用法。不过还是选了pundit，Wiktionary上的解释是：A professed expert in a particular field, as called upon to provide comment or opinion in the media。和expert的区别是，碰到什么事，这些专家都爱跑出来发表一通看法，见诸媒体。中文媒体上常有专家针对食品、房价等品评一番，译成英文注意不一定是“expert”。当然，pundit的内涵比expert要大，有时带贬义，Wikipedia上有更详细的解释。

每日一词学英语(49): fag-end

虽然这段时间布朗丢了不少颜面，可首相的位子总算保住了，Is this good news or bad? (Economist.com, June 11, 2009)

For his party, it is probably bad. In the fag-end of its 12-year reign, Labour has lost even core supporters.

Fag-end指the last and worst part of anything; remnant，没用的剩余物(金山)。执政12年，工党在最后阶段狼狈不堪。

每日一词学英语(48): complication

英国一名38岁妇女昨天(June 14, 2009)死于swine flu，死者曾患有中风等疾病及一些并发症。Harry Burns, Scotland's Chief Medical Officer, told The Times that pregnancy could put a strain on woman's bodies which might make them more susceptible to infection. It can also exacerbate existing chronic respiratory conditions which also lead to complications with swine flu.

Wikitionary的解释：(medicine) A disease or diseases, or adventitious circumstances or conditions, coexistent with and modifying a primary disease, but not necessarily connected with it.

ウィキペディア(Wikipedia): 合併症(がっぺいしょう、英語：complications)とは、原疾患(もともとある病気のこと、英語：primary illness)が前提となって生ずる続発性の病態・病変・疾患を指す。

Complication的基本意思是“复杂，混乱”。

每日一词学英语(47): aplomb

英国头号网球手Andy Murray夺得London Grass Court Cup，这是英国人71年来的首次加冕，也是Murray本人第12次巡回赛冠军及第1次草场冠军。He achieved it with aplomb, serving as consistently well as he has done in a tournament week, moving with a grace that belies a sometimes lumbering appearance and, as soon as he had the measure of an opponent — Blake was particularly tricky because he does not strike a conventionally consistent ball — accelerating ahead of them without a backward glance。他赢得自信从容(同义词：self-confidence; poise; composure)。

Witionary例句：His nonchalance and aplomb during hard times have always been his best character trait. 时运不济时保持淡定、从容，一直是其最佳品质。

每日一词学英语(46): not half

大象会跑吗？有人说，Elephants cannot lift all four feet simultaneously. So no, elephants can't run, but they can't half walk fast. 大象不会跑，但走得可不慢哩。

“Not half”在Wiktionary中解释为：(British, slang) Greatly; to a considerable extent。

Wiktionary中还有个词条“not half bad”: (not comparable) (idiomatic) pretty good; okay; decent.
*It was my first attempt at cooking, but I tried it and it was not half bad.
第一次做饭，可我尽力去做了，结果还不赖。

以下是Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary中的解释：

not half: (BrE, informal) used to emphasize a statement or an opinion.
*It wasn’t half good (= it was very good). 那可不是一般的好。
*‘Was she annoyed?’ ‘Not half!’ (= she was extremely annoyed).
“她生气了？”“不止！”

not half such a: not nearly. 远非。
*He is not half such a fool as they think.
他远非别人想的那么傻。

not half bad: (informal) (used to show surprise) not bad at all; good.
*It really isn’t half bad, is it?
可真不赖啊，是吧？

对比一下：it isn't half good和it isn't half bad意思差不多，而不是字面上的意思相反。中文里“我好高兴”和“我好不高兴”都表示“我很高兴”，与这倒是有点异曲同工。

抛砖引玉，关于这个词的用法和体会还可以写很多……

每日一词学英语(45): grotesque

警察突发奇思怪想，扯谎说自己得了癌症，并成功骗过亲人同事，直到东窗事发，把自己送进监狱。
A "Walter Mitty" policeman convinced his wife, family and fellow officers that he was suffering from a cancer that mirrored that of his sporting hero Lance Armstrong in a grotesque fantasy. "Walter Mitty"是喜欢做白日梦的人物，Lance Armstrong是某位患癌的体育明星。

今天这个词源于法语，这里的意思是：bizarre or fantastic in appearance，在Wiki上有详细解释。

每日一词学英语(44): spate

英国的经济衰退即将结束，Britain is heading out of recession, says influential think-tank NIESR (From The Times, June 11, 2009)。把这则新闻标题换个说法就是：The upbeat verdict that Britain’s slump is at an end came from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research after official figures revealed the first gains in manufacturing output for 14 months, adding to a recent spate of signs of recovery.

今天不学“洪水”的意思，上文中“spate”常常用作“a spate of”，意思是：a string, series or trend。Wiktionary的例句是：There has been a recent spate of burglary in the neighborhood。第34课我们学过“a volley of”，你能说出两者的异同吗？

每日一词学英语(43): Web 2.0

据说每隔98分钟诞生一个英语单词，判断新词的标准是：在媒体和社交网络(包括Twitter, Facebook等)上露面达到2.5万次。The Texas-based Global Language Monitor (GLM) acknowledges new words once they have been used 25,000 times on media and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. It predicts that a new English-language word is created every 98 minutes.

今天上午(June 10, 2009，格林尼治时间)第一百万个英语单词新鲜出炉：Web 2.0，是互联网领域的词汇。下面是Wiktionary上的简明解释：
Web 2.0 (uncountable)：(Internet) The second generation of the World Wide Web, especially the movement away from static webpages to dynamic and shareable content and social networking.

百万单词浩如烟海，即使最有语言天赋的人也至多使用7万个英语单词。新近上榜的英语新词还有：“flash mob”，“a herbert”，“shoulder-surfing”，你听说过吗？

每日一词学英语(42): like-for-like

英国房产市场回暖，零售依然低迷(From The Times, June 9, 2009: Cautious welcome for improvement in housing market as retail sales slow)。

The threat of unemployment has dampened the mood on the high street, with like-for-like sales falling by 0.8 per cent in May after a 4.6 per cent jump in April, according to figures from the British Retail Consortium (BRC).

今天的每日一词和“以牙还牙”无关，作为金融术语，like-for-like (LFL)有其专业解释。Wiktionary上说得通俗：(of sales) comparable to the same period in a previous year, at outlets that existed at that period。“Like-for-like sales”是同比销售的意思，一般与上年同期进行比较。

每日一词学英语(41): rout

欧洲议会选举结果揭晓，英国工党遭重创(From The Times, June 8, 2009: Labour routed in European elections as BNP wins first seats)。

Rout与“The far-right party took its first two seats — including one for its leader Nick Griffin — in the European Parliament as Labour endured sharp falls in its vote across the country.”中的“endured sharp falls”意思接近，与“Gordon Brown suffered humiliation in the polls last night as the British National Party achieved its biggest electoral breakthrough.”中的“Gordon Brown suffered humiliation in the polls”相呼应。

上学时英语老师讲过，不认识的单词可以通过上下文猜，确实如此，在一篇文章里，尤其是关键词，作者会翻来覆去地说，近义词、反义词、对照、类比、呼应、影射、修辞比拟，看似繁杂，其实文脉清晰，好的文章尤其如此。不过，我的建议是，如果条件允许，还是多查字典(包括网络搜索)为好(发音、释义、例句、近/反义词、词根/词缀、派生词，等等)，尽量做到脚踏实地，一字一句皆有出处可寻，这样学起来才扎实。毕竟“猜词”是建立在已有一定词汇量的基础之上的。

金山词霸上对几个相关词进行了辨析：defeat，conquer，vanquish，beat，rout，subdue，subjugate，overcome，不妨找来看看，或用别的词典查一下。

每日一词学英语(40): stall

失事的法航班机终于有线索了，两名男子的尸体及一些物品被发现(From Times Online, June 7, 2009: Air France search narrows after bodies found)。

失事原因呢？"Obviously the pilots did not have the right speed showing, which can lead to two bad consequences for the life of the aircraft: under-speed, which can lead to a stall, and over-speed, which can lead to the aircraft breaking up because it is approaching the speed of sound and the structure of the plane is not made for resisting such speeds," said the Minister. The high altitudes which can lead stall speed to equal the over-speed is known to jet pilots as "coffin corner". Stall speed和under-speed是近义词，stall可作名词也可作动词，日语叫“失速(しっそく)”，中文就无需我多说了，是空气动力学里的名词，含义可见Wikipedia和Wiktionary，这里援引Times Online的另一篇报道(June 4, 2009: Air France Flight 447 'may have stalled at 35,000ft')，给出通俗解释。

“A stall, in which the wings lose lift and the aircraft becomes uncontrollable,...”，“If you reduce speed too much you stall”，“...that the aircraft slowed down too much, causing a high-altitude aerodynamic stall. This would explain why the aircraft apparently broke up at altitude over the Atlantic.”在高空飞行中，飞行员无法控制飞机速度，这时飞机有可能失速也有可能超速，该法航班机是失速，造成飞机升力减小，飞机失去控制，从而从高空坠入大西洋。

每日一词学英语(39): battering

议员(MP)滥用开支风波影响到布朗首相仕途，同时也结束了英镑最近一段时间以来的涨势(From The Times, June 6, 2009: Pound slides as Westminster's woes weigh heavily)。

Sterling's latest battering emphasised the fragility of markets' sentiment over the currency amid high levels of uncertainty about Britain's economic prospects. Earlier this week the pound surged against the dollar, scaling heights more than 31 cents above the 23-year low of $1.35 that it hit in January, as upbeat economic news fuelled a flurry of optimism that the worst of the recession may be over.

Battering意思是hitting or striking violently and repeatedly，描述家庭暴力时可以用这个词，如“there is serious violence in the marriage which is -"usually the husband battering the wife"”。

上文中的“battering”是指英镑节节败退、不断回吐前期涨幅：“Sterling was forced into retreat from the seven-month highs against the dollar”，“enduring heavy losses of more than 4 cents against the dollar on Thursday”，“yesterday the pound sank to a mid-afternoon low of $1.5983, down more than two cents from Thursday's close”，等等。

路透社调查显示，英镑会继续回吐前期涨幅，不过随着经济复苏，会在年终恢复强势。Currency strategists are betting that the pound will surrender recent gains in the next six months but rally late in the year as the economy revives, a poll by Reuters suggests.

每日一词学英语(38): slick

最近有一架法航班机失踪，虽然搜救工作紧锣密鼓地进行着，但找到的希望似乎越来越小(From Times Online, June 5, 2009: Air France Airbus may never be found)。

这架班机是从里约热内卢飞往巴黎的空中客车A330，巴西军方曾在海面上误认一些漂浮物以为来自飞机。
They also said that they had mis-identified a fuel slick on the surface.
他们还误以为在海面上找到了飞机泄漏的浮油。

Slick可以作形容词、名词和动词，这里是名词：a covering of liquid, particularly oil。看Wiktionary上两个例句：
1) Careful in turn three — there's an oil slick on the road.
2) The oil slick has now spread to cover the entire bay, critically endangering the sea life.

希望能尽快找到"black box" recorders，逝者生命无可挽回，但失事原因终会查清。

每日一词学英语(37): phalanx

这几天有人呼吁英国首相布朗辞职，BBC应该对此有所报道才是，但今天(June IV, 2009)BBC绝口未提布朗，为什么？因为今天是英国和欧洲选举日，按规定上午9点至晚上10点之间不得报道(英国)政治。It's just that correspondents aren't allowed to report politics on election day. They've been told not to report anything after 9am and before 10pm. Why you are allowed to report before 9am is without explanation.

Charles Clarke - at the head of a phalanx of so-called Blairites - is named by everyone as the moving spirit against Brown among MPs. 这个人打头走在布莱尔派方阵的前面。Phalanx是a large group of people, animals or things, compact or closely massed, or tightly knit and united in common purpose，密集队伍，方阵。物以类聚，人以群分，形容一群人时可以用这个词。

说一下另一个意思，Phalanx bones指手指骨或脚趾骨。

每日一词学英语(36): vet

互联网时代信息爆炸，各种内容良莠不齐，“很黄很暴力”的内容在Youtube上是不允许出现的。Times Online说：

A House of Commons select committee last year censured YouTube for failing to ensure that inappropriate or offensive videos were not uploaded and suggested that a new independent industry body be set up to enforce the vetting of potentially harmful content. 英国下院指责Youtube没能阻止不良或令人不快的录像上网，建议成立一家新的独立机构审查上载内容。

Wiktionary对vet的解释是：to thoroughly check or investigate particularly with regard to providing formal approval。

Vet本意是兽医或进行兽医检查，表示“审查”时用于政治、媒体、软件、金融等行业(参见Wikipedia)。注意这里的审查不是看政治是否正确、是否主旋律。

每日一词学英语(35): sideline

Times Online说，信息爆炸年代，人类大脑超负荷运转(Warning: brain overload)。So, while we are born with the capacity to grow wise, the media blitz of modern life can sideline it. 由while一词判断，sideline和grow wise是反义词。今天要讲的这个词看起来简单，要翻译还真不那么容易。

Wikitionary:(transitive) to remove or keep out of circulation.
金山：(transitive) to remove or keep from active participation. 离开或避免积极参与。

谁能告诉我怎么翻译上面那句？

每日一词学英语(34): a volley of

Susan大妈虽屈居第二，却比第一名Diversity更吸引眼球。Times Online报道，她因成名太快而遭受巨大压力以致入院，连布朗首相都间接打电话表示关注(Gordon Brown phones Cowell to check up on Susan Boyle)。

The 48-year-old spinster reportedly unleashed a volley of abuse after a row at her hotel before the final and was said to have thrown water over a studio floor manager during a tantrum after the show. 现年48岁的Susan终身未婚，决赛前，她在所住旅馆里与人争吵并屡屡出言不逊；比赛结束后，据传她向舞台现场指挥身上泼水以泄怒气。

Volley作名词本意是：the simultaneous firing of a number of missiles or bullet; the projectiles so fired。A volley of表示“A bursting forth of many things together(许多东西一起爆发出)”，如：a volley of oaths; a volley of curses。

看另两个新闻标题：
The Washington Post(Jan. 18, 2009): Livid Investors Launch A Volley of Lawsuits 投资者怒气难消，诉讼案接连不断
The New York Times(Nov. 4, 2004): A Volley of Fire From a Fast-Moving Target 目标移动迅速，炮火连连