每日一词学英语(94): toothless

这个词的字面意思是：having no teeth。
*a toothless old man
*She gave us a toothless grin
没牙了没法咬人，或者垂垂老矣，所以有另一个意思：having no power or authority
*The treaty was toothless in combatting the climate change.
*The Government’s white paper on financial regulation earlier this month was toothless and failed to address the key weaknesses in the Tripartite system, according to MPs on the Treasury Select Committee. (From Times Online, July 31, 2009: Bank reform 'toothless and muddled' say MPs)

每日一词学英语(93): dispense with

1898年的今天，第一个汽车广告问世。The Winton Motor Carriage Company places a magazine advertisement cajoling readers to “dispense with a horse.” It’s the earliest known automobile ad. 汽车公司在杂志上做广告，劝读者“弃马从车”。（July 30, 1898: Car Ads Get Rolling）

dispense with sb/sth: to stop using sb/sth because you no longer need them or it 免除，省却，无需。同义词：do away with
*Debit cards dispense with the need for cash altogether.
*The new invention has dispensed with much labour.
*I think we can dispense with the formalities (= speak openly and naturally to each other).
*I wish he would dispense with the pleasantries and get to the point.

dispense有分发、配药、实行、免除等意思，及物动词；也有特许，豁免的意思，不及物动词。

每日一词学英语(92): damper

今年夏天英国雨水比较多，这不，外面又在下雨。The UK's "barbecue summer" is starting to look like a bit of a washout. 看样子BBQ是要泡汤了。（From Guardian, 29 July 2009: Rain puts dampers on 'barbecue summer'）

put a damper on sth (BrE also put a dampener on sth) (informal) to make sth less enjoyable, successful, etc.
*Rain put a bit of a damper on the event.
*Recession in the early nineties put a damper on growth.
*John told us he had lost his job, which put a damper on the celebrations.

damper的本意是“挡风板”（a piece of metal that can be moved to allow more or less air into a fire so that the fire burns more or less strongly）或“制音器”（a device in a piano that is used to reduce the level of the sound produced），这里的意思是“抑制因素”（one that deadens, restrains, or depresses），一般用作put a damper on或put dampers on，也可以用作cast a damper on或throw a damper on。

从环保的角度看，BBQ少了倒是好事，不过要牺牲一些人的口福了。

每日一词学英语(91): whittle down

英国一个地方招女巫，有3124人应聘，300人进入面试，在三个评委面前展现自己。（From Times Online, July 28, 2009: Witches gather in search of £50,000 job at Wookey Hole）

After performing their routines in front of three judges the candidates were whittled down to a final 15. 最后选出15人进入下一轮选拔。

Whittle sth down: to reduce the size or number of sth
*I finally managed to whittle down the names on the list to only five.

这是又一种“减少”的表达法，意为“削减”，从“切；削”而来。

Whittle A (from B) B (into A): to form a piece of wood, etc. into a particular shape by cutting small pieces from it
*He whittled a simple toy from the piece of wood.
*He whittled the piece of wood into a simple toy.

每日一词学英语(90): assay

H1N1流感病毒会损害胎儿的大脑发育，因此孕妇一定要注意不要感染病毒。(From The Sunday Times, July 26, 2009: Fears that swine flu can attack unborn)

科学家给部分怀孕的母鼠注入病毒，然后做对比实验。通过DNA化验，查明病鼠大脑中基因是否活跃。
The researchers also used DNA assays to find out which genes were over or underactive in the brains of mice that had been infected.

[金山词霸]: Qualitative or quantitative analysis of a substance, especially of an ore or drug, to determine its components.
化验，分析：物质的定性或定量分析，尤指矿石或药物，检验内含成份

每日一词学英语(89): incumbent

法国总统萨科奇今天患病住院。上Wikipedia查他的资料，看到“President of the French Republic”下边写着：Incumbent，表示“现任”，日语是“現職（げんしょく）”。

这个词既可作名词又可作形容词：
Noun: a person who has an official position
*the present incumbent of the White House
Adj.: [only before noun] having an official position
*the incumbent president

每日一词学英语(88): balk

这个用在北美的词在英国有另一种写法：baulk。本意是马停下来不肯前进，用于人时表示因困难或危险等因素而拒绝执行某事，常和at搭配使用。

~ (at sth) to be unwilling to do sth or become involved in sth because it is difficult, dangerous, etc.
*Many parents may balk at the idea of paying $100 for a pair of shoes.
*He balked for a moment. ‘I can’t afford it,’ he finally admitted.

Eventually burgeoning debt will limit the room for fiscal manoeuvre, and politicians may balk at renewed stimulus long before then. (From The Economist, July 23, 2009: A long way to go)

每日一词学英语(87): upshot

以色列光照充足，所以太阳能技术大有可为。开发低成本、高效率的光电转换装置是科研人员的目标。（From The Economist, July 23, 2009: It's a knockout）

According to Amnon Leikovich, the firm’s boss, the upshot is a device that could already, if put into production, deliver electricity at only twice the cost of the stuff that comes out of a conventional power station.

noun [sing.] the final result of a series of events。 同义词：outcome 结果
*The upshot of it all was that he left college and got a job.

每日一词学英语(86): unfazed

7月22日在亚洲发生了本世纪最大的日全食。中国是重要的观测点，可惜上海天气不好，没能一睹全食盛况。日食似乎是不祥之兆，不过上海股市倒是未受影响。Shanghai’s stockmarket was unfazed. Share prices saw their biggest gains in seven weeks. （From The Economist, July 23 2009: The solar eclipse in China）

adj. (informal) not worried or surprised by sth unexpected that happens
*She was totally unfazed by the news.

这个词的主干是“faze”，同义词：disconcert。
verb [often passive] (informal) to make you feel confused or shocked, so that you do not know what to do 打扰；使担忧
*She wasn’t fazed by his comments.
*He looked as if nothing could faze him.

每日一词学英语(85): bristle

Hillary Clinton's statement at the ASEAN meeting of foreign ministers in Thailand swiftly provoked an anxious reaction from Israel. Israel’s minister for intelligence and atomic energy, Dan Meridor, bristled at the implication that Iran’s nuclear status might be regarded as a strategic reality. (From Times Online, July 22, 2009: Clinton says US would arm its allies against a nuclear Iran)

美国国务卿希拉里·克林顿关于伊朗核武器的言论让美国盟友以色列很生气。

~ (with sth) (at sth) to suddenly become very annoyed or offended at what sb says or does
*His lies made her bristle with rage.
*The employees bristled at the prospect of working through the holidays.

这个词也有“刚毛(noun)”、“耸起毛发(verb)”的意思，中文里有“怒发冲冠”，与这个词表达方式类似。

每日一词学英语(84): make a hash of

英国15岁跳水少年终于修成正果，夺得10米跳台世界冠军。（From Times Online, July 21, 2009: Tom Daley wins stunning diving gold at World Championships）

他是战胜强劲对手后夺冠的。去年北京奥运他曾被寄予厚望，结果未获奖牌，这次世锦赛凭借对手失误夺冠。Daley, who had a disappointing Olympics last year despite the high hopes of him winning a medal, came into the last round in third place but both Qiu Bo, the pre-event favourite, and Matthew Mitcham of Australia, the Olympic champion, made a hash of their final dives to hand him the gold medal. 两名强手最后一跳没发挥好，结果将金牌拱手送给Tom Daley。

make a hash of sth: (informal) to do sth badly
*I made a real hash of the interview.

每日一词学英语(83): sidestep

今天是人类首次登月（Neil Armstrong，79岁）40周年纪念日，人类最后一次登月（Eugene Cernan，75岁）距现在已经37年了。包括Cernan在内的很多登月宇航员都建议美国政府考虑开展新一轮空间探索行动，把目标对准火星或更远的星球。（From Times Online, July 20, 2009: Apollo astronauts lament America's lost ambition）

Sidestepping the debate as to whether Nasa should instead be looking to Mars and beyond, the man who took that "small step for man" 40 years ago, instead reflected on the history of the space race. Armstrong回避了关于空间探索的争论，转而思考空间竞赛的历史。

“sidestep”释义：
1. to avoid answering a question or dealing with a problem 回避问题
*Did you notice how she neatly sidestepped the question?
*He sidestepped the issue by saying it was not his responsibility.
2. to avoid sth, for example being hit, by stepping to one side 躲避打击
*He cleverly sidestepped the tackle.

第35课（June 2, 2009）学过“sideline”，你还记得是什么意思吗？

每日一词学英语(82): arcane

Thousands of hours of vintage film footage lie fallow in vaults across the UK, legally prohibited from being shown to the public because of arcane copyright rules. 英国有数千小时的老电影胶片在地下室闲置，因为不可思议的版权规定而无法向公众放映。（From Times Online, July 16, 2009: The reel treats you’re not allowed to see）

Adj. (formal) secret and mysterious and therefore difficult to understand 神秘的;不可思议的;晦涩难解的
*the arcane rules of cricket

每日一词学英语(81): imponderable

英国的猪流感愈演愈烈，未来几个月可能会死6.5万人。（From Guardian, 16 July 2009, Swine flu: Stark figures hide imponderables）

There are too many imponderables: whether or not the nature of the virus changes, the level of accumulated resistance in the population, whether seasonal changes lead to an upsurge in levels of illness from the virus, and whether school closures over the summer holidays reduce the level of acceleration in the disease. 太多事情不可估量：病毒是否变质？大众对猪流感的抵抗水平，季节改变的影响，学校放暑假能否减少疾病传播？

Noun [usually pl.] (formal) something that is difficult to measure or estimate. 无法估量的事物。
*We can’t predict the outcome. There are too many imponderables.

每日一词学英语(80): staging post

英国是受这次猪流感影响最大的欧洲国家，为什么呢？（From The Independent, 17 July 2009: Why is the UK a swine flu hotspot?）按理说，英国四面环海，应该比较安全才是。

Our close links with the US, with large numbers of visitors coming and going, made Britain an ideal staging post for the virus to break out from north America. 英国与美国联系紧密，有大量游客往来，病毒也随之而来。

A staging post on a long journey is a place where people who are making that journey usually stop, for example to rest or to get new supplies. (飞机等的)中途停留站

每日一词学英语(79): nemesis

第13课（May 11, 2009）我们学过“Cassandra” ，源于希腊神话中的女预言家。今天这个词也来自希腊神话，Nemesis是冷酷无情的复仇女神。

Yoshida’s rule came to an end in 1954 when he was unseated as prime minister by his nemesis, Ichiro Hatoyama. 1954年日本首相吉田茂被强硬对手鸠山一郎赶下台。“nemesis”是“主要敌人（an archenemy），强硬对手（an opponent that cannot be beaten or overcome）”。

吉田茂（Shigeru Yoshida）是日本现任首相麻生太郎的外祖父。据预测，麻生领导的自民党去日无多，在8月30日即将举行的大选中会败给在野的民主党，结束54年日本政坛的统治生涯。鸠山一郎（Ichiro Hatoyama）是自民党首位党魁，他的孙子鸠山由纪夫为现任民主党党魁。（From The Economist, July 16, 2009: End of the line for the LDP）

每日一词学英语(78): Zimmer frame

西班牙一名妇女66岁时生了一对双胞胎儿子，上周六（69岁）不幸患癌去世（From Times Online, July 15, 2009: Oldest mother, Maria Carmen del Bousada, dies at 69, leaving baby orphans）。

The reaction in Spain to the birth was generally hostile. On cartoon in the Spanish daily El Mundo showed a mother pushing a Zimmer frame while her child asks for dinner.

Zimmer frame是walker或walking frame在British English中的说法，即助行器，主要用于帮助老人和行动不便的人，这里指婴儿的学步器。

每日一词学英语(77): squeamish

鸟类保护工作中一项重要内容是对鸟类进行监测，先给鸟类佩戴标识环，然后跟踪其死亡的时间和地点。自上世纪五十年代开展标识环活动以来，标识环的返还率由最初的4%下降至最新（2006年）纪录的1%(From The Times, July 13, 2009: Bird conservation hit by decline in public help to record the rings)。

The drastic fall has been put down to people not spending as much time in the countryside or on remote beaches, an increasing reluctance to post letters, and simply being more squeamish than they were 50 years ago. “People are terrified of touching something that’s dead. And now bird flu has made it even worse,” said Mark Grantham, a research ecologist at the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO). 这一明显下降是因为人们不像50年前那样涉足乡村或荒滩，并且不愿意把标识环寄回来，而且更加大惊小怪，不愿意碰死动物，尤其是现在又有禽流感。“ornithology”我们在第30课（May 28, 2009）学过。

Wiktionary解释：easily bothered or upset; tending to be nauseous or nervous
*He might have made a good doctor, had he not been so squeamish about the sight of blood.

每日一词学英语(76): expletive

英国Keele大学的研究人员发现，诅咒有助于减少痛苦（From BBC, 13 July 2009: Swearing 'helps to reduce pain'）。

64名志愿者分为两组把手泡在冰水里。On average, the students could tolerate the pain for nearly two minutes when swearing compared with only one minute and 15 seconds when they refrained from using expletives.

“using expletives”和“swearing”意思一样。“expletive”是：A profane, vulgar term, notably a curse or obscene oath (Wiktionary)。它另有“语助词；感叹词”之意，如：It is snowing中的“It”；I'll give you a bloody good hiding中的“bloody”。

If they want to use this pain-lessening effect to their advantage they need to do less casual swearing. 专家提醒，如果想让诅咒更好地发挥镇痛效果，平时要少用。

每日一词学英语(75): alopecia

Lulu O’hagan曾经一头金发，后来不知什么原因开始脱发，她把脱发及治疗过程如实记录了下来（From The Times, July 6, 2009: Alopecia: I wish I could be bald and proud）。

My long blonde hair has started dropping out in two patches over each ear. My hairdresser notices it first and immediately says that she thinks it’s alopecia. I make an appointment to see a dermatologist about my eczema and he diagnoses alopecia aereata.

Alopecia or hair loss is the medical description of the loss of hair from the head or body, sometimes to the extent of baldness. When hair loss occurs in only one section, it is known as alopecia areata (AA).

Alopecia是“脱发”，AA是“鬼剃头”。英国每60人中会有1人得AA，致病机理尚不清楚。

每日一词学英语(74): doe-eyed

看过电影《音乐之声》的话，你一定知道“doe”是什么，“Doe, a deer, a female deer……”。
像doe的眼睛一样（形容词），是什么意思？

1. Having wide-open, innocent-appearing eyes. 睁得大大、天真眼睛的。
*doe-eyed children gazing at the shelves of candy.
2. Credulous and unsophisticated; naive. 涉世未深的；天真的。
*"Many doe-eyed investors go bankrupt within a year, sometimes by expanding too fast, sometimes because of pure ignorance" (Scott Baldauf).

每日一词学英语(73): bumper-to-bumper

上周末独立日很多美国人选择更经济的驾车方式出行，探望亲朋好友，公路上长长的车龙一辆接一辆，绵延不绝。With more Americans than ever economising by driving, rather than flying, to visit friends and family for last weekend’s Independence Day celebrations, the long, winding lines of bumper-to-bumper traffic must have made more than a few turn around and miss the food and fireworks.

bumper是“缓冲器；保险杆”，bumper-to-bumper是（汽车）拥塞的，一辆接一辆，Heavily crowded and slow-moving, particularly in reference to automobile traffic on a highway (Wiktionary)。

有人把人类的车龙和蚂蚁的队列作了比较，希望借此找出解决塞车之道（From Economist.com, July 10, 2009: Are we nearly there yet?）。

每日一词学英语(72): descale

Not only is vinegar good for descaling kettles, cleaning windows and pickling onions, but it seems that it could help you to keep the weight off, too. 醋有很多妙用，可以去除烧水壶里的水垢、清洁窗玻璃、腌制洋葱，而且貌似可以减肥。（From The Times, July 6, 2009: Nutrition Q&A: Can vinegar help people to slim?）

Descale有两个意思（Wiktionary）：
1. To remove scale from the surface of a metal, especially from the inner surfaces of boilers etc. 除垢。
2. To remove the scales from a fish etc. 除鳞。

除垢剂是descaling agent，descaler或anti-scaling agent。

Research suggests that acetic acid could be a useful aid in losing weight. 吃醋有利于减肥，看来是有根据的了。

每日一词学英语(71): foray

Google即将推出操作系统，对微软造成威胁（From Economist.com, July 8, 2009: Clash of the titans）。这两个IT巨头的竞争其实早就开始了，彼此涉足对方擅长的领域。

Its forays into Google’s main territory, web search and online advertising, have not brought big gains. Google的主要领域是网络搜索和在线广告，微软的尝试性介入并未给自己带来多大收益。

Wiktionary解释：(plural forays) A brief excursion or attempt especially outside one's accustomed sphere.

Will there be a clear winner? Probably not in the foreseeable future. The pockets of both firms are simply too deep. And that is a good thing: the epic fight between the two giants promises to speed up innovation. And that is what the IT industry needs to overcome the recession. 两巨头高深莫测，竞争一时难分伯仲，但竞争无疑是好事，不仅可以促进创新，也有助于IT业早日走出衰退。

每日一词学英语(70): jacquard

1752年的今天，法国人Joseph Marie Jacquard发明了世界上第一台能织出复杂图案的自动织布机，这种织布机及其织物以他的名字命名（July 7, 1752: Jacquard’s Loom Will Weave a Durable Web）。

金山词霸提供了两个意思：
1. A fabric with an intricately woven pattern.
提花织物，花布织物：一种有精巧编织图案的织物
2. A special loom or the method employed in the weaving of a figured fabric.
提花机，提花织术：在编织带有图案的织物时使用特殊织布机或织布方法

不要小看这种织布机，它不仅给纺织工业带来革命，也为现代数据计算奠定了基础。

每日一词学英语(69): triplicate

从1965年开始，历时44年，Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary终于编纂完成(From The Times, July 6, 2009: After a 44-year labour of love, world’s biggest thesaurus is born)。

Roget's Thesaurus是著名的同类词汇编，而Historical Thesaurus of the Oxford English Dictionary是Roget's version的两倍，60万个单词、80万个意思，分为23万多类/子类。It contains almost the entire vocabulary of English, from Old English to the present day, giving a unique insight into the development of the language.

1978年，存放惟一一份手稿的大楼着火，虽然手稿没事，但还是把人吓了一跳。
After that the slips were written in triplicate and stored in three different locations. 打那以后手稿卡片都写成一式三份，放在三个不同地方。

Triplicate: Each of a set of three identical objects or copies (Wiktionary)。“一式三份”是中文常用词，如果你原来不知道英语怎么说，这下知道了吧？

每日一词学英语(68): prenup

一名妇女根据婚前协议打赢官司，终于保护了自己的财产不再被前夫吞占(From The Sunday Times, July 5, 2009: For better, for worse. In pre-nup and in wealth)。

“Signing a prenup is a free choice.” Prenup (or pre-nup)指a prenuptial agreement (Wiktionary): (US) a legal document, signed by both parties before marriage, stating the legal claims on each other's estate upon a subsequent divorce，婚前协议。Nuptial是“婚姻的，婚礼的”。

每日一词学英语(67): vicissitude

1776年的今天美国签署了《独立宣言》，127年之后才有人提出应该好好保存这份珍贵文件。独立战争期间，这份文件只是像一份普通地图一样被简单地卷起来，诚然，战争变化无常，这也许可以理解。
During the Revolutionary War, the Declaration of Independence was rolled up and toted around like a Thomas Bros. map, although, given the vicissitudes of war, that’s perhaps understandable.

Vicissitude在Wiktionary中有两个意思：
1. Regular change or succession from one thing to another, or one part of a cycle to the next; alternation; mutual succession; interchange.
2. (often plural) a change, especially in one's life or fortunes.
今天着重介绍的是它第2个解释，一般用复数形式，常用于表示战争无常，另一个例句：
*The vicissitudes of war in Iraq cast a dreary backdrop for Donald Rumsfeld's first visit to Asian military allies since he became US Defense Secretary in 2001. (2003, "US redeployments afoot in Asia", Christian Science Monitor, Nov. 18, Pg. 6.)

旁白：本博Alexa全球排名首次突破700万，最新排名698.3734万(July 4, 2009)。

每日一词学英语(66): to boot

接着昨天，继续讲Larry Walters的故事。话说他飞速窜上天，惊魂未定，忘了饿了，眼镜也丢了。He was way up high, and he was scared and probably not hungry anymore (and had lost his glasses to boot), but now he had another, more immediate problem: He was drifting into the flight path of incoming planes to Los Angeles International Airport. 并且遇到大麻烦：飘进了航班飞行路线。

这里“and had lost his glasses to boot”和靴子无关，“to boot”是(idiomatic) moreover, on top of that, besides, also (Wiktionary)。
*My boyfriend is funny, and a pretty good cook, to boot.
其中“boot”的意思是“【古语】益处；用处”(金山)，“bootless (adj.)”是“无用的，无益的”。

每日一词学英语(65): put the kibosh on

Larry Walters本是卡车司机，但20年来他一直想乘气球上天。虽然视力不好，凌云壮志一度因此受阻，可他决意飞行。Poor eyesight put the kibosh on Larry Walters‘ top-gun dreams, but the man was determined to fly. 最终他做成了，并给自己带来巨大名望，以及许多意想不到的事情......。

今天这个词组的意思是：put a stop to。“Kibosh(Alternative spellings: kybosh, or kyebosh)”这个词起源地不明，最早见于十九世纪上半叶，现在多用在今天这个词组里，除上述例句外，再举一些例子：

"That’s put the kibosh on that!" 意思是 “that’s disposed of it”, “that’s finished it off”. 这个词组也用于指责某人: You’ve really put the kibosh on that, haven’t you! 意思是被指责的人最后把什么事弄糟了，致使事情无法执行或完成。

每日一词学英语(64): sweltering

上个月是2006年7月以来英国最热的一个月，不过，更热的天气可能还在后头。(From The Times, July 1, 2009: Britain braced for baking temperatures with steamier heatwave to come)

As most of the country was sweltering yesterday, with the temperature in London higher than in Bangkok, NHS Direct received 378 calls from people suffering symptoms related to the heat. 昨天，英国多数地区闷热难当，伦敦的气温甚至比曼谷还高。NHS因此接到378个电话，都和热浪袭击有关。

想象一下又闷又热的感觉，就是sweltering，Wiktionary上是这么说的：(of weather) hot and humid; oppressively sticky。
*The day was sweltering, so Lauren put on the shortest pair of shorts she could find and went to get ice-cream with her friend Rob. 天气闷热，Lauren换上最凉快的短裤，和好朋友Rob一起去找冰淇淋吃了。

动词swelter：1. (intransitive) To suffer terribly from intense heat. 2. (intransitive) To perspire greatly from heat. 热得难受；汗流浃背。

环球同此凉热，看来治理气候变暖确实刻不容缓。