Induct

 









induct



Y

D



–verb (used with object)

1. to install in an office, benefice, position, etc., esp. with formal ceremonies: The [committee] inducted her as [president].  



2. to introduce, esp. to something requiring special knowledge or experience; initiate (usually fol. by to or into): They inducted him [into] the mystic rites of the order.  



3. to take (a draftee) into military service; draft.

4. to bring in as a member: to induct a person [into] a new profession. 





Cate to be inducted to Walk Of Fame



According to Hollyscoop, Cate is to get a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame this friday! Cate Blanchett is set to receive her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame this Friday. 



Steven Spielberg and David Fincher, who is the director of Blanchett's upcoming film The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, will be there to help Cate unveil her star in front of the Egyptian Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard. 





venerate

revere

redoubtable

lovingly captured in the [redoubtable] Ellen Kuras's agile, sun-[burnished] cinematography



probity

integrity and uprightness; honesty. 

mistakes [self-righteousness] for [probity]. 



behoove

to be necessary or proper for, be incumbent on, as for moral or ethical considerations

It behooves the court to weigh evidence [im]partially.  

It would behoove [you] to be nicer to those who could help you. 

W. feels like a rough draft of a film it might behoove [him] to remake in 10 or 15 years.

behest

an urging, or a very strong request

[At] the [president's] behest, we made an appointment with the foreign minister. 

Detest

Umlaut (續：語言 標點符號 單字大集合)

umlaut 



Y

[oom-lout]



D

–noun 

1. a mark (¨) used as a diacritic (有區別的) over a vowel, as ä, ö, ü, to indicate a vowel sound different from that of the letter without the diacritic, esp. as so used in German. 



Compare dieresis. a sign (¨) placed over the second of two adjacent vowels to indicate separate pronunciation, as in one spelling of the older forms naïve and coöperate: no longer widely used in English.



2. Also called vowel mutation. (in Germanic languages) assimilation in which a vowel is influenced by a following vowel or semivowel. 



–verb (used with object) 

3. to modify by umlaut.

4. to write an umlaut over. 





Take out some tissues for tears, because it would seem Chloë’s "Ask Chloë" (or "Ask Chloe"”, rather — the absence of the umlaut bothers me to no end, though) style column in the UK publication of Elle is no more. 



In addition to the column not being featured in the latest (December) issue of the magazine, it would now seem the feature has also been removed from the website ElleUK.com. Go on, try it. It’s not there — and I’m bummed out.



bum

–noun 

1. a person who avoids work 

and 

sponges on others; loafer; idler. 





0.0 嘲笑羞辱指控

0.5 挑剔

Castigate



0.6 語言標點符號

epitome [i-pit-uh-mee]

eponymous [uh-pon-uh-muhs]

etymology /ɛtəˈmɒlədʒi/

entomology

a branch of zoology that deals with insect.



mnemonic 

semantic 

You owe me three months. I don't owe you. I owe Danielle. Don't get semantic.

semiotics

It seems likely that the Harvard-educated Aronofsky would know Roland Barthes's essay on the [semiotics] of wrestling.

He takes one semiotics class, and I'm supposed to...

trope

any literary or rhetorical device as metaphor, metonymy, synecdoche, and irony

the movie is a veritable scrapbook of [tropes] from the heyday of art film.【語】轉義,比喻 

The brief return to Israel at pic's end [contains] one rapid [visual] trope that may pass many auds by.

To some extent, as that speech suggests, "The Wrestler" is as simple as its title. The pathos of personal ruin is an established [trope],

For evidence of this, look no further than six of the major releases of the past month. We’ve got: The Expendables, a tribute to the [testosterone]-filled macho-men movies of the '80s; Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, an all-encompassing satirization of movie tropes going as far back as the Shaw brothers films of the '70s; Piranha 3D, a [sleazy] horror throwback to '70s/'80s exploitation. 

Once the tropes and conventions of a particular genre/subgenre have been established, all that's left to do is recycle them.

All of which I’m taking as an indication that the film goes beyond some of the almost twee Wes Anderson tropes and other elements that seem carried forward from so many other films.

All of that is aided by a directorial style and script that forgoes many traditional Hollywood tropes, letting the audience most of the work.

oxymoron

Rhetoric. a figure of speech by which a locution produces an incongruous, seemingly self-contradictory effect, as in "cruel kindness" or "to make haste slowly."

The fact that so many [likable], talented actors lined up to participate in this train wreck of a laughless comedy drama is a [testament] to the power of packaging and the inability of even the most gifted to suss out worthy material in what passes for the modern-day "entertainment industry" (has there ever been a greater [oxymoron]?).【文】矛盾修飾法

I'm a good cop! Oh... that's a total oxymoron. And remember, I was there. When you realized what you'd done.



parlance 

a way or manner of speaking

legal [parlance]

parse 

analyze in terms of grammatical constituents

it’s unclear if it’s a [tic] or if he’s [parsing] his words as carefully as possible. 

people whose education taught them to [parse] others' sentences for slights 

Sure, I could speculate endlessly on whether White was [purposefully] trying to be a [troll], but without being able to speak with him directly, without being able to [parse] his points, that's all it would ever be: speculation.



PUNCTUATION

paren(the)tic 

cedilla

Spell it either with or without the [cedilla]. Pronounce it fuh-SAHD. 

umlaut 

the absence of the [umlaut] bothers me to no end, though

solidus

virgule

In between [virgules], the commas that punctuate Arnaud's life story

ditto

Ditto [for] John Hawkes, of Deadwood fame



enunciate

Winslet has played American women without [straining], but this time she [enunciates] with laborious precision,

elide

to omit (a vowel, consonant, or syllable) in pronunciation

Law. to annul or quash. 

Postscript noting the fates of certain characters conveniently [elides] the sad and/or ironic destinies awaitin[g s]ome of them. 

platter

where a smooth-talkin' [deejay] (Samuel L. Jackson) [spins] the platters that matter

elliptical 

His [heavy] use of off-screen space and [elliptical] story-telling has also been widely noted. However, the keystone to Hou Hsiao Hsien's innovative style is his camera placement.

This [terse], elliptical, complicated film reveals new layers with each viewing despite the somewhat simplistic hopefulness of its message that love and loyalty can [conquer] differences in class, politics, and ethnic background.

Director Andrzej Zulawski achieved his most widespread international success with this elliptical, allegorical tale of a disintegrating marriage and its grotesque byproducts.


syncopate 

syncope

metathesis

A visual or tongue-twisting [metathesis] could conceivably cause [illegible] and [ineligible] ("not qualified, not suitable") to be interchanged accidentally.【語】音位轉換

sibilant

hissing

noting sounds like those spelled with s in this

Vanessa Redgrave, plays Sister Jeanne with a plastic [hump], a Hansel-and-Gretel giggle, and so much [sibilance] that when she says "Satan is ever ready to seduce us with sensual delights," 

Last night l was awakened from a fitful sleep, shortly after 2:00 in the morning by a shrill, sibilant, faceless voice.

lisp

a speech defect consisting in pronouncing s and z like or nearly like the th- sounds of thin and this, respectively.

So I think they’ve f***ed it up already! Deception," he can’t help repeating with italicized disgust, trying [out] the title in a Spanish-sounding [lisp].

However, it is the character of Jack Celliers (David Bowie) in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence (1983) that is similar to T.E. Lawrence according to Nick Nobel of the Austin Film Society. Both characters have blonde hair, are thin, have a slight [lisp] and are conflicted about war and other men.

onomatopoeia

Alex, what was the problem? What do you think? His onomatopoeia? His skin? His smell? Or was it the tarzan yell?【語】擬聲,象聲詞【修辭】擬聲法



tonguing

Please, not in public! I keep telling Pamela not to brood about it. Let's have no talk of [bestial] orgasms, erotic tonguings.【音】運舌法

pluperfect

Because no amount of friends, no girl, no assignments about conjugating the [pluperfect], or determining the square root of the hypotenuse, is gonna help me avoid my fate.【文】過去完成式





0.73 邏輯推理數學

Putative



0.71 遣詞用字

0.72 表示意見

Evince

















Umlaut

Svelte

 

















svelte



Y

D



–adjective 

1. slender, 

esp. 

gracefully slender in figure; lithe.



2. suave; blandly urbane. 



lithe

–adjectiv

bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible: the lithe [body] of a ballerina.  



Also, lithesome.





　

Taking aim at the CIA as well as Washington-paranoia flicks in general, Burn After Reading's filmmaking is as svelte as its attitude is snarky. 



For openers, the camera descends (or Coen-descends) from an Olympian altitude, high over America, to the corridors of CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, and scurries into an office where intelligence reader Osborne Cox (John Malkovich) is being taken [off] the Balkan desk. 



(Much entertaining banter: "You have a drinking problem," one nerdy suit informs the irate Cox. "Fuck you, Peck—you're a Mormon," he replies by way of [tender]ing a resignation.) 



Then it's back home to Georgetown. Osborne barely has time to hit the vodka before his nightmare wife Katie (Tilda Swinton) embroils him in her frenzied preparations for the evening's cocktail party—whose guests include her ex–Secret Serviceman lover, Harry Pfarrer (George Clooney).





slinky

lanky

gangling tall & lanky

gangrene



pecuniary & pecunious 

culinary

pauper & penury

turning him from a wealthy respected [celebrity] into a discredited [pauper]

and to create the circumstances for his [slide] into [penury]

Meager

Redolent

redolent







Y

D



–adjective 

1. having 

a 

pleasant odor; fragrant. 



2. odorous or smelling (usually fol. by of): redolent [of] garlic. 

3. suggestive; reminiscent (usually fol. by of): verse redolent [of] Shakespeare. 



C



redolent (adj.)   

 

means "smelling (of), giving off an odor (of)": Her clothes were redolent [of] moth balls and cedar (seeder, 西洋杉) closets. It can combine with of or with: The air was heavily redolent [of] [with] the scent of pine needles. 



Some argue that redolent, like so many other words having to do with smells, always has pejorative overtones, but that is clearly not so. 



Figurative uses are frequent, meaning "to evoke memories or images (of)," and these tend usually to be pleasant: His memories of her were redolent [of] warm summer evenings at the shore.





　

While Lohan's storyline comes to a particular conclusion, those of Gillen and Campbell are summarily dropped halfway through the film as the focus shifts on to Bobby Sands himself. Film is effectively structured like a triptych, with the peripheral characters on one side, Sands' slow decline from starvation on the other, and one key scene in the middle in which Sands and the priest battle it out over ethics, a roughly 10-minute sequence that unfolds in just two camera set-ups.



For all the power in this central scene, which features bravura work from Cunningham and Fassbender (excellent throughout, and whose turn as a hunger artist ranks with Christian Bale's perf in "The Machinist"), the stasis of the visuals means it plays like a piece of legit plonked in the middle of the movie. Scene sports the vast bulk of the movie's dialogue, as elsewhere words are barely spoken. Non-source music only emerges at the end, yet sound --especially drumming noises from various sources -- plays a crucial and atmospheric role throughout.



stasis

【生理】瘀血,血行停滯

停止,靜止



plonk

- verb

variant of plunk. 

To strum 

or 

pluck (a stringed instrument). 

To throw or place heavily or abruptly

plunked the [money] down on the counter. 

plump 

plunked onto the [couch] with a sigh of relief.



McQueen, working with lenser Sean Bobbitt in luscious widescreen, crafts some beautiful and haunting images that evoke the work of other visual artists like Francis Bacon (specifically a shot of bloodied Sands, to the extreme right of the frame, rolling over on a grey, scuffed surface) and achieve moments of visual poetry. However, film's protracted pace and use of long-held shots that seem to go on for minutes (such as of a guard cleaning up urine in the hallway) are redolent [of] video art in galleries, the field where McQueen made his name, and may test some auds' patience.



scuff

–verb (used with object)

to scrape (something) with one's foot or feet.

–verb (used without object)

to walk with

out 

raising the feet from the ground; shuffle.



McQueen really overeggs the [pudding] is in the final reel, where (and this is no spoiler for anyone glancingly versed in Sands' story) the protagonist wastes away, the camera focusing intimately on his bedsores and emaciated frame. Tawdry, cliched images include Sands' vision of himself as a child sitting in the room, topped by a near final image of a flock of birds -- free at last! -- that seemingly symbolizes his soul's last flight. It's a disappointing [last] gasp for a film that otherwise demonstrates confidence, guts and the abundant promise of its helmer.



bedsore

褥瘡

tawdry

花俏而庸俗的

gasp 

(因驚訝等) 倒抽一口氣





obnoxious

musty

redolent

The air was heavily redolent [of] [with] the scent of pine needles.

verse redolent [of] Shakespeare. (reminiscent) 

aromatic 

Aromatic [herbs] are often used in cooking.

aromatic [compound]

schnozzle

nuzzle

[Intuiting] her loneliness, he sits down beside her, bestows a [nuzzle] and a [hug],

Dingy

Skulk *** Shirk & Malinger

skulk







Y



vi. (不及物動詞 intransitive verb)



          1.    躲藏;潛伏[Q]

                      There were half a dozen foxes skulking in the undergrowth.

                      在林下灌叢中潛伏著五六隻狐狸。

          2.    偷偷摸摸地行走[Q]

          3.    【主英】逃避職責



n. (名詞 noun)[C]



          1.    躲藏者;潛伏者

          2.    偷偷摸摸行走的人

          3.    【主英】躲避責任者

          4.    【舊】(狐狸等的)一群,一幫



D



–verb (used without object) 

1. to lie or keep in hiding, as for some evil reason: The [thief] skulked in the shadows. 

2. to move in a stealthy manner; slink (潛行,早產): The [panther] skulked through the bush. 

3. British. to shirk (逃避義務) duty; malinger. 裝病以逃避職責(或工作)  





shirk

–verb (used with object) 

1. to evade (work, duty, responsibility, etc.). 



–verb (used without object) 

2. to evade work, duty, etc. 

–noun 

3. a shirker.



　

Today, in the context of a relatively peaceable Northern Ireland, "Hunger" looks more or less like just another historical drama, albeit one with deep resonance for contempo auds, given the treatment of prisoners in conflicts offshore. 



However, McQueen doesn't shirk the political and moral [complexities] of Sands' stance, which get a through grilling here in a protracted dialogue between Sands (Michael Fassbender) and a priest (Liam Cunningham), who questions the [utility] of his proposed hunger strike. 



grilling 

盤問,審問,拷問



McQueen, working with a script co-credited to himself and playwright and screenwriter Enda Walsh ("Disco Pigs"), [strips] the action down to [bare], [ex]truding bones. Pic's first few reels focus not on Sands, but on two other convicts dwelling in Belfast's Maze prison's notorious "H" block where IRA prisoners were kept. 



In a barren cell whose walls are smeared (rather artistically, one might note) [with] excrement, newly arrived inmate Davey Gillen (Brian Milligan) and already resident Gerry Campbell (Liam McMahon) take part in a "blanket protest," refusing to wear prison-issue clothing because its imposition represents the government and the penal system's refusal to recognize them as political prisoners. 



They devise ingenious methods of secreting messages -- written on cigarette papers -- within assorted bodily orifices to be smuggled in and out via visitors. The prison guards react with increasing violence.





–noun 

4. a person who skulks. 

5. a pack or group of foxes. 

6. Rare. an act or instance of skulking.  



Also, sculk.



—Synonyms 

1. See lurk.



Lurk, skulk, sneak, prowl suggest avoiding observation, often because of a sinister purpose. 



To lurk is to lie in wait for someone or to hide about a place, often without motion, for periods of time. 



Skulk suggests cowardliness and stealth of movement. 



Sneak emphasizes the attempt to avoid being seen. It has connotations of slinking and of an abject meanness of manner, whether there exists a sinister intent or the desire to avoid punishment for some misdeed. 



Prowl implies the definite purpose of seeking for prey; it suggests continuous action in roaming or wandering, slowly and quietly but watchfully, as a cat that is hunting mice.



abject

–adjective 

1. utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating, 

or

wretched: abject [poverty].  



2. contemptible; despicable; base-spirited: an abject [coward]. 

3. shamelessly servile; slavish. 

4. Obsolete. cast aside. 





　

All might not be completely lost, however. Norton has done some publicity, appearing at the US premiere of the picture on Sunday, skulking [up] a specially dyed green carpet with perfunctory geniality. But his other appearance hasn't been typical of an actor's PR work. 





　　

I also like the way that certain clues are planted in plain view. We can see or hear them just fine. It's that we don't know they're clues. No glowering closeups or characters skulking [in] a corner to give the game away. 



glower

–verb (used without object) 

1. to look or stare with sullen dislike, discontent, or anger. 

–noun 

2. a look of sullen dislike, discontent, or anger.  





foible (n.)

furtive 

Ageing, furtively [kinky] Donald Pleasence is married to sexy young Francoise Dorleac.



clandestine 

prowl 

stalk skulk skunk



surreptitious 

susceptible brittle (vulnerable, sensitive)

Fray

Intransigence

intransigence







Y

D



–adjective 

1. refusing to agree 

or 

compromise; uncompromising; inflexible. 



–noun 

2. a person who refuses to agree or compromise, as in politics. 



Also, intransigeant.





　

The last months in the life of Irish Republican Bobby Sands, who starved [himself] to death in 1981 as a protest against the British government's intransigence over recognizing convicted IRA members as [political] prisoners, is harrowingly recounted in "Hunger." 



Pic reps a powerful, pertinent but not entirely perfect debut for British visual-artist-turned-feature-helmer Steve McQueen, who demonstrates a painterly touch with composition and real cinematic flair, but who stumbles in film's last furlough with trite symbolism. Pic's slow pace and uncompromising physicality may choke off some auds, but "Hunger" should pull in arthouse auds in moderate numbers domestically and travel offshore.



pertinent 

–adjective

It might be [pertinent] for you to make the suggestion to the president.

The lawyer wanted to know all the details [pertinent] to the case.



furlough

–noun 

1. Military. a vacation 

or 

leave of absence granted to an enlisted person. 



2. a usually temporary layoff from work: Many plant workers have been [forced] to go on furlough. 

3. a temporary leave of absence authorized for a prisoner from a penitentiary. 





refractory 

a refractory [child]. 

bigotry

which has an endless bigotry-friendly pocket book to give to [Proposition 8] in California.



impervious

invincible

cannot be conquered in combat or any manner

an invincible [army] [courage]

impregnable

a place cannot be taken, proof against attack, 銅牆鐵壁是也

an impregnable [fortress] [virtue] 

indomitable

unyielding spirit, or stubborn persistence, 不屈不撓是也 

indomitable [will].

no suffering is so dire that it cannot be [endured] and then [erased], to be [replaced]—in Rachel’s case—with an indomitable [smile]. 

Nubile

Spar

spar







Y

1. (船用) 圓材,圓杆

2. 輕拳出擊,(雞) 用爪踢鬥

3.【礦】晶石



D



–noun 

1. Nautical. a stout pole such as those used for masts (桅杆), etc.; a mast, yard, boom (吊杆), gaff (魚叉,斜桁), or the like.

2. Aeronautics. a principal lateral member of the framework of a wing of an airplane. 



–verb (used with object) 

3. to provide or make with spars. 



–verb (used without object) 

1. (of boxers) to make the motions of attack and defense with the arms and fists, esp. as a part of training.

2. to box, esp. with light blows.

3. to strike or attack with the feet or spurs, as gamecocks do.

4. to bandy (相互投擲) words; dispute. 



–noun 

5. a motion of sparring.

6. a boxing match.

7. a dispute. 



–noun 

any of various more or less lustrous crystalline minerals: fluorspar.【礦】螢石,氟石





　

However, while Sands' protest gains the attention both inside prison walls and in the international news, not everyone believes what he's doing is right, and Sands finds himself verbally sparring with a priest (Liam Cunningham) who [questions] the ethics and effectiveness of the strike. Hunger received its world premiere at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, where it was screened as part of the Un Certain Regard program.





altercation

bicker

engage in petulant or peevish argument

to flicker, glitter

The [two] were always bickering. a [stream] bickering down the valley. 

The [sun] bickered through the trees.

She hitches a ride with the professor and Marianne, as do a ceaselessly [bickering] married couple.

wedge

a wedge of [pie].  

to wedge [open] a log.  

to wedge clothes [into] a suitcase.

her entry into that world has driven a [wedge] into it that sets everybody [at odds]

Raucous



pang

[a] pang of [remorse] 

hunger pang[s] cf. fang

spar

box with light blows.

bout

match, fray, a contest or trial of strength, as of [boxing]

a bout of [illness] 

She's reliving the throes of adolescent-style [awkwardness]. [Between] bouts,



gynecologist

gravid

travail 

the [pangs] of [childbirth] 

convulsion 

writhe 

throe(s)

the [pangs] of [childbirth], [paroxysm]

the throes of [battle] 

She's reliving the throes of adolescent-style [awkwardness]. [Between] bouts,

Inflict

Moue

 









moue



Y

[moo]

(表示厭惡等的) 噘嘴,怪相,顰蹙



D



–noun 

a pouting grimace. (怪相,鬼臉)





　

And so the illicit [affair] drags on and [on], and you can see Madame Bovary, that indispensable helpmeet of every unhappily married lass, coming around the [corner]. 



lass

–noun 

1. a girl 

or 

young woman, esp. one who is unmarried. 



2. a female sweetheart: a young [lad] and his [lass]. 



Sure enough, she shows up as the hot read at a women's book group where Sarah defends the freedom to choose a satisfying life against a young matron (played with delicious snarkiness by Mary B. McCann) who's appalled [at] the very idea of an adulterous heroine. 



Having made its pitch for life, liberty, and the pursuit of romantic happiness, Little Children takes a sudden [left] turn, gathers itself into a moue of petit bourgeois [dis]approval, and deals out the wages of sin with such zealous overkill, it put me in mind of the nuttily [dis]cordant murder that [de]railed the final scenes of In the Bedroom. 



Freud himself would have found the unmanning of the movie's most damaged "little child" a tad literal-minded. 



petit bourgeois

【法】小資產階級之一分子





4.5 爛人

brogue 

rogue schmuck skunk 

grumpy 

curmudgeon cantankerous 



cad callow Nubile

twerp

nudnik



4.6 爛臉

sourpuss 

sullen dour

scowl 

His wife [scowled] when he came home late again.

glower

No glowering [closeups] or characters skulking in a corner to give the game away. 

Dad [glowers] but doesn't speak. Mom has her eyes [glued] to the TV, where a tape of an old Buffalo Bills game is playing.

Dingy

Feisty & Spunky

feisty







Y

[fahy-stee]



D



–adjective 

1. full of animation, energy, or courage; spirited; spunky (有精神的); plucky (勇敢的): The champion is faced with a feisty [challenger].  

2. ill-tempered; pugnacious. 

3. troublesome; difficult: feisty legal [problems].  





　

For all its surface [spit] and [polish], Little Children is no different. It posits a town full of hypocrites busily persecuting their local child molester (a compellingly creepy Jackie Earle Haley, who plays an equally slimy bastard in All the King's Men) so as not to face up to their own subterranean secrets and desires. 



Behind the happy family facade are husbands and fathers who wear panties on their heads while jerking off to computer porn and fail to satisfy their desperate house[wives] in the sack. 



Though there's genuine affection for the movie's wise, spunky old dames, Little Children is downright vicious toward its stay-at-home moms, ciphers who sit all day in the park, tut-tutting [over] snack protocol or giggling like virgins when a handsome dad shows up. 



Chafing [against] this furtively unsavory group are Sarah (Kate Winslet) and Brad (Patrick Wilson), two unfulfilled young parents unhappily married to other people. After a blissful summer lounging at the public pool, they find themselves coupling sweatily in her laundry room [on] a regular basis—until Brad's scarily competent wife (Jennifer Connelly) smells a rat. 



ut-tut

(表示不耐煩、指責等) 嘖! 噓!

blissful 

樂而忘憂的,帶來福氣的





C



feisty (adj.) 

 

was once a dialectal word (mainly Midland and Southern) but seems to have passed through a period of growing Conversational and Informal use to a point where it is now Standard, although there is still some conservative objection to its use in the most Formal of Edited English. 



It means "spunky, quarrelsome, exuberant (exuberant green, 生氣勃勃), belligerent, aggressive," and it is faintly humorous but approving too: 



That young woman is feisty, 

1. full of [spirit] and 

2. ready to [challenge] anyone.  





　

Consider. Don Lope, 



a feisty middle-aged intellectual and atheist, 



sees his chance when the beautiful young Tristana (Catherine Deneuve) is orphaned. As the girl's guardian, he takes her into his household and (in what seems like no time at all) into his bed. 



While ravishing her, 



he excuses himself by rationalizing that she'd [fare] worse on the streets.





　

Brittany Murphy, 24, had been dancing animatedly around the edges of big fame for some time. 



A feisty offscreen personality and memorable screen stints 



in Don't Say a Word (2001), Cherry Falls (2000), Girl Interrupted (1999) and Clueless (1995), kept her in the Hollywood running until the lead roles started hitting 'round about the time of this cover. 



Movie Star status didn't really [take]. 

Dote

dote







Y

vi. (不及物動詞 intransitive verb)

          1.    年老昏聵

          2.    溺愛[(+on/upon)]

                      She dotes on her grandchildren.

                      她溺愛孫兒女。



D



–verb (used without object) Also, doat. 

1. to bestow 

or 

express excessive love or fondness habitually (usually fol. by on or upon): They dote [on] their youngest daughter.  



2. to show a decline of mental faculties, esp. associated with old age. 



–noun 

3. decay of wood. 





C



dote (v.)



means "to be old, weak-minded, and foolish" and, 



in combination with the preposition on,"to be fond 

or 

affectionate to the point of foolishness,"as in She simply dotes [on] her [grandson], showering him with gifts and endearments.





　

Dramatic attention [a]lights [upon] four women watching their young children at a playground, three nattering types and one outsider, Sarah (Kate Winslet), a more pensive observer with little patience for extended discussion of toddler issues. 



The three cackling [hens] go into a dither at the arrival of a long-absent young father so dreamy they've dubbed him the Prom King. They've never dared speak to him as he's played with his little son, so Sarah delight[s] in betting she can get his phone number. 



Instead, in a beautifully played scene that [locks] the viewer [into] the protags' story, they have a delicate, probing chat which ends with them briefly kissing in front of the children and other women.



dither

–noun 

1. a trembling; vibration.

2. a state 

of 

flustered excitement or fear. 



–verb (used without object) 

3. to act irresolutely; vacillate.

4. North England. to tremble with excitement or fear.



Still, the pic spends an unexpected amount of time with ex-con Ronald, whose doting mother (the wonderful Phyllis Somerville) encourages him to date again. This [leads] to a startlingly tender, if ultimately dismaying, 



dinner scene between Ronald and the emotionally [damaged] Sheila (Jane Adams, terrific), and Ronald's [path] eventually comes to cross those of the other characters in a way that will have most mothers in the audience cringing.





codger

cad 

callow cherub

impish

lad

The lad is determined to let his acting do the talking 

swain

a love-sick swain

waif

Nubile

Aureola

 









aureola



Y

D



–noun 

1. a radiance surrounding the head 

or 

the whole figure in the representation of a sacred personage. 



2. any encircling ring of light or color; halo. (暈,光環)

3. Astronomy. corona (def. 3). 

4. Geology. a zone of altered country rock around an igneous intrusion. 



Also, aureole.





　

The sexual [awakening] of a disappointed wife may seem like an old movie turn, but when has it been done with such candor? 



At the beginning of the movie, Kate Winslet’s hair looks [dead], and she hides her body in denim overalls. Her Sarah is a slightly clumsy woman who has lost her confidence. 



When she falls in love with Brad, the transformation comes slowly and painfully: at first, a nervous gesture, a smile that turns anxious, and then a [golden] aureole of beauty, a body in movement. 





prostate 

He prostrated [himself] before [rank] and [wealth].

salivate

udder 

areola 

Scalp



nebulous

as equally nebulous as the strange [land] to which he has been

corona 

wide-eyed and pouty, with a great corona of frizzy [hair]

crescent 

meridian

Threnody

Hermetical

hermetic







Y

D



–adjective 

1. made airtight 

by 

fusion or sealing. 



2. not affected by outward influence or power; isolated. 



3. (sometimes initial capital letter) of, pertaining to, or characteristic of occult science, esp. alchemy. 

4. (initial capital letter) of or pertaining to Hermes Trismegistus or the writings ascribed to him.

Also, hermetical.





 　

And to me as well. What the director and writer do here is not unfold a plot, but flay the [skin] from a hidden world. Their story puts their characters to a test: 



They can be true to their job descriptions within a hermetically [sealed] world where everyone shares the same values and expectations, and where outsiders are by definition the prey. 



But what happens when their [cocoon] is broached? Do they still [possess] fugitive feelings instilled by a long-forgotten babushka? And what if they do?





seclude (v.)

cf. recluse (a. n.)

deracinate

Avert 



opacity

the quality of being [opaque]

As with Basquiat, there's a certain dreamy [opacity] [to] Before Night Falls. 

obfuscate

to obfuscate a problem with [ex]traneous information.  

occult

of or pertaining to magic, astrology or any system supernatural 

They have special knowledge, [occult] beliefs, revolutionary health practices.

Threnody

Flay

flay







Y

D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to strip off the skin 

or 

outer covering of. 



2. to criticize or scold with scathing severity.

3. to deprive or strip of money or property. 





 　

Cronenberg has said he's not interested in crime stories as themselves. "I was watching 'Miami Vice' the other night," he told Adam Nayman of Toronto's Eye Weekly, "and I realized I'm not interested in the mechanics of the mob, but criminality and people who live in a state of perpetual [trans]gression -- that is interesting to me." 



And to me as well. What the director and writer do here is not unfold a plot, but flay the [skin] from a hidden world. Their story puts their characters to a test: 



They can be true to their job descriptions within a hermetically [sealed] world where everyone shares the same values and expectations, and where outsiders are by definition the prey. But what happens when their [cocoon] is broached? Do they still [possess] fugitive feelings instilled by a long-forgotten babushka? And what if they do?



broach

鑽孔開啟(桶等), 開飲用口

babushka

頭巾





scalp schlep 

tusk

fang gnash gnaw

clench cling grate grapple

peg 

prosthesis prosthetic

shin

knuckle

Scalp

Jubilant

jubilant







Y

[joo-buh-luhnt]  



D

–adjective

showing great joy, satisfaction, or triumph; rejoicing; exultant: 



the [cheers] of the jubilant [victors] 

the jubilant [climax] of his symphony  





　 

Cinematographer Peter Suschitzky, a frequent collaborator of Cronenberg's since 1988's Dead Ringers, [paints] a London where incredible evil lurks behind ornate storefronts and jubilant [birthday] feasts, 



and Howard Shore's unobtrusive yet effective score once again [rounds] out the Suschitzky/Shore/Cronenberg triplicity to profound effect. 



Much like A History of Violence, Eastern Promises is a film that will likely prove to the uninitiated what longtime fans of Cronenberg have known all along -- that he is not simply one of the most talented filmmakers of his generation, but one of the most courageous [voices] in contemporary film as well.





mirth 

(spontaneous laughter)

[uncontrolled] outbursts of mirth.

glee 

(gesture, malicious rejoicing over mishaps to others) 

glee over the [failure] of a rival. 



hilarity

(noisy, boisterous mirth, exceeding the limits of reason or propriety)

hilarity aroused by practical [jokes].

merriment

(good nature, rather than the artificial funmaking that causes hilarity)

The house resounded with [music] and [sounds] of merriment. 



(atmosphere, festivities, individuals)

jollity

(convivial, a more hearty merriment, less boisterous hilarity)

The [holiday] was a time of jollity. 

joviality

(a more mellow merriment)

the joviality of [warm]-hearted friends. 

Snicker

Incarcerate

incarcerate







Y

D



–verb (used with object) 

1. to imprison; confine.

2. to enclose; constrict closely. 



–adjective 

3. imprisoned. 





 

They were once symphonic musicians. Now they live in a weathered house on an island, growing fruits and vegetables. Nothing in their house seems to work, including the radio, so they hear only distant rumors of a war that has been waged seemingly forever. 



Eva Rosenberg (Ullmann) is concerned [with] the danger to their lives and to her desire to bear children. Her husband Jan (von Sydow) believes the war will pass them by. Their serenity is interrupted by jet planes flying low over their house, 



the killing of a parachuting airman, the arrival of troops, their [in]quisition, and eventually their [in]carceration by the other side (which seems to be the local side, but loyalties are divided).





thwart baffle

cusp 

foil

Loyal troops foiled his [attempt] to overthrow the government.  

The [straight] man was an able foil to the [comic].  

and proved an [apt] foil for the leering one-liners of Bob "Cherchez la Femme" Hope in Paris Holiday (1957) and Call Me Bwana (1963). 

balk

He balked [at] making the speech.  

The [horse] balked when I tried to lead it across the bridge

forestall

to forestall a [riot] by deploying police.

The couple's spiteful joint sessions don't forestall their [inevitable] divorce

Stagnation

Futile

futile







Y

D



–adjective 

1. incapable 

of 

producing any result; ineffective; useless; not successful: Attempting to [force]-feed the sick horse was futile.  



2. trifling; frivolous; unimportant. 





 

Shame demonstrates the futility of [escap]ing the consequences of [war]. In 1971, the Rosenbergs, Jan (Max von Sydow) and Eva (Liv Ullmann), have retreated [to] an island off the coast of their unnamed country, which is embroiled in a civil conflict. 



Trained and employed as classical violinists, they make a modest living [raising] and selling lingonberries, though they continue to play their instruments.



lingonberry

【植】越橘





perfunctory 

His performance was perfunctory and [lack]luster.

felt fresh in those films, but here it just seems perfunctory and warmed [over]

feckless 

ineffective, incompetent, futile

feckless [attempts] to repair the plumbing. 

since feckless [dreamers] seem more alive onscreen than ordinary folk.

Languid

Flurry

flurry







Y

D



–noun 

1. a light, brief shower of snow.

2. sudden commotion, excitement, or confusion; nervous hurry: There was a flurry of activity before the guests arrived. 

3. Stock Exchange. 

a. a brief rise or fall in prices.

b. a brief, unusually heavy period of trading.  

4. a sudden gust of wind. 



–verb (used with object) 

5. to put (a person) into a flurry; confuse; fluster.(慌亂)



–verb (used without object) 

6. (of snow) to fall or be blown in a flurry.

7. to move in an excited or agitated manner. 





　

Already [drunk] on the notion of self-indulgence, actor Vincent Gallo's debut as a writer and director will likely [prove] a love-it-or-hate-it affair for most viewers, with the hates [out]numbering the loves. 



Dominating the screen in a flurry of aggressive method acting, Gallo makes no attempt to make his hateful loser of a protagonist the least bit sympathetic, a choice far easier to admire than to endure.





tempestuous blustery

jettison

flotsam is floating debris made up of the wreckage of ship and its cargo.

jetsam is debris they [jettison] in hopes of saving the ship.

buoy

Beleaguer

Altercation

altercation







Y

D



–noun 

a heated or angry dispute; noisy argument or controversy.





　

In the [ensuing] altercation, however, Frans [manages] to thwart Albert's bullish attacks and [deliver] a [series] of punishing blows. Beaten and degraded, Albert [ponders] suicide, then decides to avenge himself on unfaithful women by killing the company's bear, beloved by the provocative Alma, whose betrayal of Frost has so haunted Albert. 



Following the bear's demise, the company departs to another town. Gycklarnas Afton is full of powerful performances and staggering sequences, including the legendary flashback in which Frost finds his wife cavorting nude before the soldiers. In this scene, played with almost hysterical intensity, Frost, dressed as a clown, tearfully carries his nude wife from the water, past the soldiers, and back to the circus tent. 



The soundtrack's jarring contrast between sheer silence and a blaring brass [band], coupled with the black-and-white cinematography's emphasis on glaring sunlight, generate a [mood] of considerable tension and unease. This extraordinary scene [ranks] among Ingmar Bergman's greatest feats and readily establishes Gycklarnas Afton as an unflinching examination of the human condition.



blare

(像喇叭般) 發嘟嘟聲,發出響而刺耳的聲音

The [radio] is blaring: turn it off!

The [loudspeakers] blared the speech repeatedly.





bicker

engage in petulant or peevish argument

to flicker, glitter

The [two] were always bickering.

a [stream] bickering down the valley. 

The [sun] bickered through the trees.

flaccid

placid

the [storm] passes and the [placid], [chilly] surface returns.

the opening shot of [calm], [placid] water disturbed by the family's arrival sets the tone of the picture in an instant.

Raucous

Retaliate

retaliate







Y

D



–verb (used without object) 

1. to return like for like, esp. evil for evil: to retaliate for an injury.  



–verb (used with object) 

2. to requite or make return for (a wrong or injury) with the like. 





　

This rich, powerful Ingmar Bergman film [charts] the frustrations and humiliations of several circus performers. The circus's portly owner, Albert (Ake Gronberg), [re]calls a humiliating incident involving the company's clown, Frost (Anders Ek), who discovered his wife, Alma (Gudrun Brost), swimming nude before a band of cheering soldiers. 



portly

–adjective

1. rather heavy or fat; stout; corpulent.



Having concluded his [re]collection, Albert visits his estranged wife, Agda (Annika Tretow), who realizes that he has made little money with his circus endeavor. While Albert endures the humiliating encounter with his wife, his jealous mistress, 



Anne (Harriet Andersson), retaliates by yielding to a seductive local actor, Frans (Hasse Ekman), then realizes that she has been [ex]ploited and [de]based. Later, the drunken Frost informs Albert of Anne's sexual [in]discretion, whereupon Albert determines to thrash Anne's cynical lover. 





rebate

Rebate offer subject to change.

He rebated [five dollars] to me.

The manufacturer is rebating this [air conditioner]. 

requite

1. make [repayment] or [return] for. [remunerate] [reimburse]

2. make [retaliation], avenge  

That sibling break is exacer[b]ated by Accio's [un]requited [lust] for one of Manrico's disposable [girlfriends]. 

a prolonged [retaliatory] assault in which Maya transforms her pain into sadistic pleasure and sinks to Jared's level. 

This last point is illustrated in Maya’s [retaliation] against Jared.



retribution 

without personal motives

a [just] retribution for [wickedness]. 

When the deed is done, Von Sydow, a deeply religious man, begins to question the [efficacy] of a [God] 

that would allow his daughter's death, then permit so bloody a [retribution].

reprisal

retaliation in warfare on enemy for its unlawful actions

to make a raid in reprisal for one by the [enemy].

vengeance

wrathful, vindictive revenge

[implacable] vengeance. 

Convulsion