Loath ***

loath



Y

D



–adjective 

unwilling; reluctant; disinclined; averse: to [be] loath to [admit] a mistake. 

Also, loth.



—Synonyms 

See reluctant.



Reluctant, loath, averse describe disinclination toward something. 



Reluctant implies some sort of mental struggle, as between [disinclination] and [sense of duty]: reluctant to [expel students].



Loath describes extreme disinclination: loath to [part] from a friend. 



Averse, used with to and a noun or a gerund, describes a long-held dislike or unwillingness, though not a particularly strong feeling: 



1. averse to [an idea]

2. averse to [getting] up early. 



see advert (refer to, stuffy)



—Antonyms 

eager.





C



loath, loth (adj.), loathe (v.), nothing loath (adv., adj.)

   

The adjective (pronounced to rhyme with either both [BOTH] or loathe [LOTH]) means "reluctant, unwilling," as in She [was] loath to stay longer. Loth, though mainly British, is an infrequent American variant spelling. 



Nothing loath is an idiom meaning "willing or willingly," as in 



We were [nothing loath] to try the new game; 

[Nothing loath], we plunged in. 



The verb loathe ends in a voiced【語】濁音的 th sound and voices the final -s in its third person singular present tense, as in He loathes [pronounced LOTHZ] [asparagus]. 





  

Mostly (and this is historically true) Goya wished to pursue his genius unhindered by political intrusion. If that meant painting portraits — many of them subtly touched by his loath[ing] — of all his country's rulers, that was all right with Goya. Many of his greatest works, notably the etchings depicting man's inhumanity to man, either circulated anonymously or were not published until after his death. 



That judgment applies particularly to Bardem's performance as the loathsome Lorenzo. In the beginning, as he volunteers to lead the newly revived Inquisition, he is all soft-voiced reason. He is polite to the point of obsequiousness, not only to his church superiors, but even to the people he torments. 

Suantum of Qolace

VOTD: The Unofficial Quantum of Solace Theme Song



這首歌讓我們可以稍微想像一下如果 QT

應該說 Jack Black

真的去導帥龐第一集會是怎樣？



好大一把槍。



順帶一提

當初好膽取代 Aronofsky

拍攝蝙蝠俠害得被我幹剿許久的 Nolan

至今最優秀的電影

處女作 Following (1998)

即將在洛杉機 重映





小波蘭斯基與帥龐第二集

羅傑摩爾回來

寫給伊娃葛林的情詩 (老套)



延伸閱讀：

Following (1998) (神作!)　

Propensity

propensity







Y

D



–noun 

1. a natural inclination or tendency: a propensity to [drink] too much. 

2. Obsolete. favorable disposition (性格) or partiality.  



—Synonyms 

1. bent, leaning, disposition, penchant, proclivity.





　

My favorite horror film - possibly my favorite film - of all time. Though we never see this horrific child, the implication of what the child may be is much scarier. Rosemary's propensity for raw meat 



and Ruth Gordon's unnatural friendliness make this fetus (胎兒) and subsequent mystery infant the scariest of all of horror's children.



fetus

[fee-tuhs]

(三個月後的)胎兒





see 

penchant affinity proclivity

predilection

Stagnation (停滯 困境 阻撓 單字大集合)

stagnation



Y

D

verb (used without object)

1. to cease to run or flow, as water, air, etc. 

2. to be or become stale or foul from standing, as a pool of water. 

3. to stop developing, growing, progressing, or advancing: 



My [mind] is stagnating from too much TV.  



4. to be or become sluggish and dull: 



When the [leading lady] left, the show started to stagnate.  



–verb (used with object) 

5. to make stagnant. 

—Related forms

stagnation, noun stagnatory, adjective 





　

Major studios, buttressed by solid summer B.O. and synergies with growth sectors like consumer products and cable TV, 



have withstood the economic malaise. 



But the far smaller specialty players are more vulnerable to the combined effect of declining grosses, stagnation in DVD and the rise of local product in many foreign territories.



synergies

【醫】(肌肉或神經的) 協同作用

buttress

【建】拱壁,扶壁,支撐物





。困境停滯

quandary 

mental

The film charts the course of Felicie's [emotional] quandary with Rohmer's customary detachment,

plight 

seldom used, peril, except laughingly 

When his [suit] wasn't ready at the cleaners, he was in a terrible plight.

predicament 

seldom used, crucial

Rohmer's visuals have never been more poignant than in this film, which brings Felicie's predicament into [clinical] focus,



stalemate

But Polanski's French lawyer Herve Temime says, "There has been no change in strategy at all," which suggests he'll make the extradition process go all the way. Stalemate.

quagmire

slough 

bog

We were bogged [down] by overwork. 

Godard, it was said, had lost the light touch of his first film and gotten bogged [down] in politics. 

It's time for a move, Lucian. Terry, Allen's 1 st Division is bogged down. You're bogged down too.

marsh

Here I am in these bloody marshes, fighting malaria and Germans... while he's taking Palermo and getting all the glory.

moor

Set on the obligatory English moor, on an isolated [causeway], the story has as its hero one Arthur Kipps, an up-and-coming young solicitor who has come north to attend the funeral and settle the estate of Mrs. Alice Drablow of Eel Marsh House.

heath

molasses

morass

trying to survive but instead sinking deeper and [deeper] into the [morass] of poverty.

I'm afraid your three chapters form a raving morass that reeks of plagiarism.

puddle

The [children] were puddling. 

the [splash] of her shoes in a [sun]-flashing puddle

he is struck by a bolt of lightning that should have turned him into a [steaming] puddle,

A real man is brought home, killed with a hammer and left on the floor in a [puddle] of his blood [to] much amusement around the room.

After they go to the hospital, I change the sheets. I find a puddle of urine.

sludge

Watching "The Mother and the Whore," you find that you're back in the movie-[sludge] of the nineteen-fifties,

sludgy

Following three albums, the Stooges disbanded, but the group's legacy grew over the next two decades, as [legions] of underground bands used their sludgy [grind] as a foundation for a variety of indie rock styles, and as Iggy Pop became a pop culture icon.

dredge

The hero Buscemi played in "Trees Lounge" had even more desperate problems than Jim, but he at least dredged [from] his alcoholism the desire to survive.

shoal

... deadly shoals and all the perils of the deep.

loch

he comes down from the mountain, over the loch and through the heather.



bunker

stymie

they're just stymied by the [circum]stances of the film. 

impedimenta

Leave the impedimentaat the side of the road.

cumbersome

onerous

onerous [duties]

His own salary and onerous long-term [contract] with Selznick International

encumber

He was hailed as a visionary, fetishized by his fans, encumbered by [expectations]. 



stagnation

My [mind] is stagnating from too much TV.  

When the [leading lady] left, the show started to stagnate.  

stagnant

The story is set in the small, [economically] stagnant town of Bailleul in northern France. 

grid 

Four years later, surrounded by tokens of a former life, including a mobile of the planets, Rhoda [lingers] in her childhood room surrounded by grid [wallpaper], a reminder of her formerly orderly life and perhaps too a nod to SETI, or the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.

gridlock

[Traffic] has gridlocked.

impasse

This impasse leaves the gray old men of the Resistance in a [perpetual] state of ineffective [squabbling]

doldrums

a state of inactivity or stagnation, as in business or art

[August] is a time of doldrums for many enterprises. 

"Kicking and Screaming" also sends Otis and Skippy through minor postgrad [doldrums]. 

Kimberly Peirce [paints] an unforgettable portrait of small-town [doldrums] and gender identity crisis, using the [harrowing] tale of Teena Brandon,



clog

I unclogged your drain. The water's drain is good now.

hence the need to get their lenses dirty on its [clogged] streets.

cask

spigot

The latter part of "From Dusk Till Dawn" is so relentless that it's as if a spigot has been [turned] on and then broken.

There is a [confidence] in the working class that is as matter-of-fact and severe as the long rows of workers' brick houses and the bank of [beer] spigots in the pub.



occlude

close, shut, or stop up (a passage, opening)

with the cusps of the opposing teeth of the upper and lower jaws fitting together

Meaning is [elided], [occluded], or embedded in texture and ambience.

sluice

We'll let the water out. Rupert, go to the north sluice.



silt

Your brain's silting, Charles. 泥沙,淤泥





。小呼吸

。停止居留

。前進

Smolder 



。阻撓

。監禁 

Ensconce

















Stagnation

Ripple ***

 











ripple



Y

D



–verb (used without object) 

1. (of a liquid surface) to form small waves or undulations (小浪), as water agitated by a breeze. 

2. to flow with a light rise and fall or ruffling (弄縐) of the surface. 

3. (of a solid surface) to form or have small undulations, ruffles, or folds. 

4. (of sound) to undulate or rise and fall in tone, inflection, or magnitude.  



undulations 

(水面等的) 波動;小浪

(土地等的) 起伏

【物】(聲、光等的) 波盪



see adulation



–verb (used with object) 

5. to form small waves or undulations on; agitate lightly. 

6. to mark as if with ripples; give a wavy form to.  



–noun 

7. a small wave or undulation, as on water. 

8. any similar movement or appearance; a small undulation or wave, as in hair. 

9. a small rapid. (急湍城市,高速鐵路)

10. Geology. ripple mark. 

11. a sound, as of water flowing in ripples: 



a ripple of [laughter].  



—Synonyms 

1. wave, undulate, purl. 

5. ruffle, curl, dimple. 

7. wavelet, ruffling. See wave.



undulation, whitecap. Wave, ripple, breaker, surf refer to a ridge (山脊) or swell on the surface of water. 



Wave is the general word: waves in a [high] wind.



A ripple is the smallest kind of wave, such as is caused by a stone thrown into a pool: ripples in a [brook]. 



A breaker is a wave breaking, or about to break, upon the shore or upon rocks: the roar of breakers. 



Surf is the collective name for breakers: Heavy surf makes bathing dangerous.



–noun 

1. a toothed or comblike device for removing seeds or capsules (莢膜) from flax (亞麻), hemp (大麻), etc. (梳除亞麻莖上籽,葉等用的) 粗鋼梳



–verb (used with object) 

2. to remove the seeds or capsules from (flax or hemp) with a ripple.  





　

With great fanfare, the majors jumped into the indie film game by launching specialty units -- but the entire biz is still feeling the ripple effect.



fanfare

(儀式等開始前的)響亮的喇叭聲

誇耀;炫耀









ripple ***

dimple zit

fret

The [metal] is fretted with the [acid].

The [breeze] fretted the surface of the [water].





beleaguer 風浪單字大集合



2.

choppy (風浪)

billow (風)

plangent (浪) 

Litmus ***

litmus



Y

D



–noun 

a blue coloring matter obtained from certain lichens (地衣), esp. Roccella tinctoria. In alkaline (鹼性的) solution litmus turns blue, in acid solution, red: widely used as a chemical indicator.  



lichen

【植】地衣

【醫】苔蘚病





C



acid test, litmus test (nn.) 

   

Acid test is a cliché and a dead metaphor, at least for those unaware that it originated with the testing of gold by putting acid on it. 



The litmus test is a similar metaphor, and probably not many people can remember which way the colors go (litmus paper turns red when dipped in an acid, blue when dipped in a base). 



Both tests have proved to be useful figurative language for more general use, and they are good examples of the quantities of language we’ve borrowed from the sciences for general figurative use, 



perhaps for the [air] of exactness they lend.





　

This September, Toronto is a high-stakes litmus test. In 2008, perhaps more than ever, everyone will look at every strategic move -- each buy, non-buy or glitzy (誇大炫耀) premiere -- and fret about what it means about the Big Picture and the evolving landscape.



glitzy

【俚】誇大炫耀的、或缺乏意味的誇張





fret

The [metal] is fretted with the [acid].

The [breeze] fretted the surface of the [water].





beleaguer 強度單字大集合



plangent (浪) 



taut The rope was taut, and so was the ship’s discipline. 

stringent strict



pungent sexual obscenities

caustic litmus



rankle 

ebullient effervescent

Convulsion (動作 報復 單字大集合)

convulsion

Y
D
–noun 

1. contortion of the body caused
by
violent, involuntary muscular contractions of the [extremities], [trunk], and [head]. 

2. violent agitation or disturbance; commotion. 
3. an outburst of great, uncontrollable laughter. 

　Given the industry convulsions of late, all of Indieville will be watching carefully how Paramount and Warners do when releasing leftover specialty projects from Vantage and Warner Independent. One WIP pic, Danny Boyle's "Slumdog Millionaire," has enlisted Fox Searchlight as a co-distributor.


。砍殺
haggard
Meager
haggle
sunder
The outcome is a strangely [sundered] one, [torn] between the claims of nostalgia and a desperate bid to seduce the YouTube generation.
hew
chop on a definite purposeuphold, follow closely, or conform to hew [to] the [tenets] of one's political party. 
Hewing close [to] the stage text, pic still consists almost exclusively of long one-on-one conversations that in some cases,
''Beau Travail'' [hews] to the basic outlines of Melville's fable, which was set in the British Navy in 1797, but the story is really just a pretext for what emerges as a woman's [rapt] meditation on an all-male society, its [pecking] order and its punishing rituals of authority, repression, discipline and honor.
fell
I won't allow them to fell the [trees] here.
He felled his [opponent] with a single blow.

maim
disable, deprive
maimed in an [accident]
lacerate
cut or tear on flesh or skin
to lacerate an [arm]
Amalric, who had to act with one eye in The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, is equally memorable given free [reign] of his emotions, playing the family's [black sheep], while Consigny [projects] a lacerating [coldness] that makes the moral high ground seem just as unforgivable.
mangle
chop, crush or rend as if by machinerybodies mangled in a [train wreck]
mutilate
injure the completeness or beauty, the broadestto mutilate a [statue] a [tree] a [person]
while Thulin has long wanted to do away with herself, at one point mutilating her own [vagina] out of self-hatred.Thulin relives the night she mutilated her [vagina] with broken glass to avoid her dreaded [conjugal] duties.
Karin is cold and hostile, hates her husband, cuts herself with a [shard] of glass in an intimate place and then smiles triumphantly as she [smears] the blood on her face.
rend
to separate into parts with force or violence
She was rending her [hair] out in [anger].
rash
hashish
mince
The director didn't waste time firing back, and he continues not to mince any words about everything that has happened since Cannes.
hash
to chop into small pieces, mince
Though one would assume the movie was largely done by the time these interviews were taking place and that these arguments would have been hashed out months earlier.
temerity
reckless boldness, rashnessAnd so, a quiet, humble, respectable Negro, who has had the unmitigated temerity to feel sorry for a white woman, has had to put his word against two white people's.
Hunsecker enlists Falco's aid in ruining the reputation of jazz guitarist Steve Dallas, who has had the temerity to court Hunsecker's sister Susan.
rampage
violent or excited behavior that is reckless, uncontrolled, or destructive
her father's no-nonsense reactions to such life-and-death crises as a rampaging [mad] dog, and especially Scout's reactions to, and relationship with, Boo Radley (Robert Duvall in his movie debut),

0.4 引發
0.5 往來 Gratuitous

。投射
。追趕跑跳
Ricochet

。顫慄
compulsion
She felt a sudden [compulsion] to hit him.
Following starts with Bill confessing to what may be a shrink about his [penchant] for shadowing randomly selected people through their day, a [pastime] that evolved from wannabe-writer's research to a wasting [compulsion].
convulsive
convulsion
contortion of the body, uncontrollable
When I found Jean, she was having an attack, and [convulsing] on the floor.
cf. shudder
convolution
coiled, twisted ridge on brain surface
a [convoluted] argument
Natacha's real [motive] is, as with many of Rohmer's films, much more convoluted.
the movie that Be Kind most resembles in its tricky premise, double-edged sentimentality, and convoluted [nostalgia].
Essentially everything is played for its camp value, including the rather convoluted, James Bond-like [plot], which [concerns] the hijacking of a shipment of diamonds heading for the Middle East.

。扭捏
knead
to work (dough, clay, etc.) into a uniform mixture by pressing, folding, and stretchingI'm kneading you hard!
The cook kneaded the [dough]
The [masseur] kneaded my back.
One of the most extended sex scenes involves Boni kneading pizza [dough]; what he does to the dough he does, in his imagination, to the baker's wife, and that is going to be one happy pizza.
So stand for him, kneel for him, as he lies low in kneaded clay, pray for him who prayed too late, that he might shine on Judgement Day.
wringRohmer remained at the top of his game as he entered his 70s, launching the "Four Seasons" series with "A Tale of Springtime" and "A Tale of Winter." The films [hewed] [to] his carefully [honed] themes of intellectual [banter] and [hand]-wringing among the French middle class.
wry
wiry 
warp
Be Kind Rewind is a sort of [warped] Möbius strip
twinge
Inflict
twitch
her every [facial] twitch seemingly prompted by an off-screen cattle prod
Paul Newman's performance is a [raw]-nerved, twitchy wonder,
tweak
No, I'm just putting a little tweak on it.
The entire film was shot on Super 16, telecined to high-def video for color [tweaking] and [editing], and then [ex]ported to Super 35. For many of the handheld shots, the director used the smallest [existing] 16mm camera, the Minima.
writhe
montage of Maya writhing [with] several partners.
Raymond Chandler's version of the script ended with Bruno Antony being arrested and institutionalized, with the final image being the villain [writhing] in a straight jacket.
wriggle
squirm to and froThere is a fascinating and agonizing sequence during which Lane tries to pin down the [slippery] details of a Glass story, and Glass tries to wriggle [free].
wrench
Faced with two [wrenching] choices, Kenzie must weigh his own sense of right against what may be a greater good.
Pic's integrity is [clinched] by Bale, whose haunted, aggressive and finally [wrenching] performance gives "The Machinist" a strong anchor.
corbeling
squinchAffecting a buzz-saw [purr] and squinchy [smile], Weisz is nothing if not mannered, but then her part is all about acting.


0.6 馬術
0.7 腳步
0.8 敲打 Strut

0.9 新動作
Cull

















Convulsion

Deluge (destruction) & Inundation (area) *** (大量 少許 浪費 軍事 單字大集合)

deluge



Y

(大寫)《聖經》中的大洪水 [the S]



D



–noun 

1. a great flood of water; inundation (淹沒); flood. 

2. a drenching rain; downpour.  

3. anything that overwhelms like a flood:



a deluge of [mail].  



4. the Deluge. flood (def. 3).  



Flood, flash flood, deluge, freshet, inundation refer to the overflowing of normally dry areas, often after heavy rains. 



Flood is usually applied to the overflow of a great body of water, as, for example, a river, although it may refer to any water that overflows an area: a flood along the [river]; a flood in a [basement]. 



A flash flood is one that comes so suddenly that no preparation can be made against it; it is usually destructive, but begins almost at once to subside: a flash flood caused by a [downpour]. 



Deluge suggests a great downpouring of water, sometimes with destruction: The rain came down in a deluge. 



Freshet suggests a small, quick overflow such as that caused by heavy rains: a freshet in an abandoned watercourse. 

Inundation, a literary word, suggests the covering of a great area of land by water: 



the [inundation] of thousands of [acres].



–verb (used with object) 

5. to flood; inundate. 

6. to overrun; overwhelm: 



She was deluged with congratulatory [letters].  



—Synonyms 

1. See flood. 3. cataclysm (地殼之劇烈變動), catastrophe.





　

As the indie world gears up for the Toronto Film Festival, the specialty box office is down dramatically compared to other years, while the rest of the B.O. prospers. 



Studio specialty arms are [battening] down the hatches 



and releasing fewer titles, 

in dramatic contrast [to] last year's deluge.









Beleaguer

Meager



1. 大量

exorbitant 

sumptuous

though that actually seems like a reasonable [outlay] for a film that we can reasonably expect to be sumptuously [detailed] and, very likely, an earner in the long run. No, it’s not the sort of movie Universal makes now (especially after Green Zone) but the pass is [notable].

Francoise Sagan's bittersweet novel Bonjour Tristesse is given a [sumptuous] Riviera-filmed screen treatment. David Niven plays a wealthy playboy, the father of teenaged libertine-in-the-making Jean Seberg.

The film also makes wonderful use of its French Riviera locations and designer gowns, resulting [in] a sumptuous visual feast.

exuberant

extortion 

ransom 

extoll

exhort 

admonish & encourage!!!

expostulate

Detest



1.5 人馬

Proletarian



1.6 大人物

1.65 君王

1.66 宗教

1.7 毀滅 Dissipate





cornucopia

Magnolia is nothing else if not a cornucopia of [stories] about the need to make peace with parents.

copious 

plethora 

She's had a plethora of telephone [calls] today. 

myriad

We could see [a] myriad of stars

We could see myriad[s] of them. 

the myriad [mind] of Shakespear

As director, Affleck relishes the close-quarters volatility of Lehane's Balkanized Boston, split along [myriad] fracture lines [of] class, loyalty, address, and ethnicity. 

Have myriad LA mums not spread the word as to exactly where Hollywood's latest heart-throb can be [readily] observed putting in his [pliés]? He seems not really to have [considered] the prospect.

galore

has visual splendor [galore], but is a cold work lacking in the requisite tension and suspense. 

muckle

mickle

Why, it's neither muckling nor mickling, is it?





1.8 軍事

Pyrotechnic



2. 少許

modicum

a moderate or small amount

"I practise whenever I can," he says, without a modicum of embarrassment.



joust jostle jut jot jolt jilt 

jot 

tad streak fig slew shrew shrewd sliver wad

loll lull

mole moll mull droll



nudge

jostle

to push gently with elbow, to get someone's attention. 

He's [not] out to jostle our complacencies but [only] to give them a little [nudge] 



smithereens

Rachel narrowly escapes being [blown] to smithereens

sliver 

A sliver [of] sky was visible. 

to sliver a [log] into kindling.

sputter 

The [fire] sputtered [cinders] Garrulous



aught 

(anything) whatever

for [aught] I know

but I'm so nostalgic for the early [aughts]

nought

[nought] point 3

His efforts to reform the party came to [nought].

It was all for [naught]. (nothing, more frequent)

It's a big number with a lot of [noughts] in it. (zero)





2.1

The candidates will [joust] in a [television debate]. 

It's too bad jousting's gone out of style. 

The candidates [jostled] [each other] to win the election.



The [narrow strip] of land [juts out] into the bay.  



The [bus] [jolted] its passengers as it went down the rocky road.  

He [jolted] the [nail] [free] with a stone. 



The [news] was a [jolt] to me. 

We need the genuine [jolt] that comes about midway, to let us see what the movie is capable of. The rest is fear. 

Though it's no Knife in the Water, director Phillip Noyce's tense, [visceral] '80s thriller [injects] a much-needed claustrophobic [jolt] into 



2.2

[Jot down] his license number.  

I don't care [a jot].  

The world situation matters [not a jot or tittle] to him.  



Please shift your [chair] [a tad] to the right. 



I know only a few [streaks] about [geology].

I seem to be having a [lucky] [streak].

Lula, a slatternly woman with a racist [streak], encounters Clay, a mild-mannered black man, [on] a New York subway car.



The wall was [smeared] with [streaks] of [dirt]. [streek]

A dazzling [streak] [lit] up the sky.

There are [streaks] of [ore] in the mountains.



A whole [slew] of people. 



A [sliver] of sky was visible. 



Irina always has a sizable [wad] of [cash] in her pocket 

a wad of [paper] [tobacco]

He wadded [up] his cap and [stuck] it into his pocket. 

They [rammed] and [wadded] the [shot] into their muskets.



2.3

She was [lolling] on a [sofa], with nothing to do.

The [dog] is [lolling] out its tongue.



The motion of the train soon [lulled] me to [sleep].

This is just the [lull] before the [storm].



2.4

[Moles] stay [underground] most of the time.

The girl has a tiny [moles] on her [cheek].

Old men sat [along] the [mole] and fished.



A [female] (companion of a) [criminal] is a moll 



smidgen

a very small amount

I can't feel a smidgen of pride in them. 'Cause they ain't none of my doing.





3. 浪費

Dissipate

















Deluge 

Ancillary

ancillary







Y

[an-suh-ler-ee or, especially Brit., an-sil-uh-ree]



D



–adjective 

1. subordinate; subsidiary. 

2. auxiliary; assisting.  



–noun 

3. something that serves in an ancillary capacity: 



[Slides], [records], and other ancillaries can be used with the basic textbook.  





C

 

ancillary (adj.) 

   

is pronounced either AN-sil-ER-ee or an-SIL-uhr-ee and means "auxiliary or subordinate"; it combines with to: 



Alas, 

her [studies] were always 

ancillary [to] her [partying].





　

Focus and Miramax are experts at using international grosses to boost their bottom lines. Both, along with Fox Searchlight, are savvy about which projects they go after. That doesn't mean there aren't missteps, but execs at all three know they have to stay in the black if they want to stay in business. Sony Classics spends far less on marketing and acquisitions and maximizes its ancillary [income].



The bottom line is that it's a changing world -- and it might be something cyclical, or things may have changed permanently. The matrix of different ancillarie[s] -- which has expanded radically from the early video days to include VOD, Web downloads, airlines, music and merchandise -- puts a new spin on the still-crucial theatrical window.





see savvy

terse facile





supplementary (improve)

auxiliary (backup)

ancillary (secondary)



We have an auxiliary power [supply] to be used in case of a power [outage].



The NGO [hails] the ancillary 

2. [social] benefits of the projects it [sanctions], 

which are exclusively based on 1. [forestry].

Stamina

stamina



stamen

[stey-muhn]

stamina

[stam-uh-nuh]



Y



n. (名詞 noun)



          1.    精力; 耐力; 韌勁

          2.    【植】雄蕊（stamen 的複數形式）



C



stamen, stamina (nn.) 

 

The regular -s plural for stamen, "the pollen (花粉) -producing part of a flower," is stamen[s]. 



Stam[ina], the Latin plural of stamen, meaning "a thread in the warp of human life spun by the Fates," 

is a singular English noun, meaning "endurance." 



Both words are Standard, from the same etymon. 





　

Such an attitude allows Seagal to guiltlessly pummel (用拳頭打) scores of thugs, dumbfounding the audience with flawlessly executed violence and unfathomable stamina.

see mettle 

puberty 

testosterone









　Breaking, Halle Berry just fainted. According to a tipster at JoBlo, when Robert Englund appeared on Loveline four days ago he mentioned that Billy Bob Thornton is being considered for Freddy Krueger in the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. Did any of our readers tune in to hear what was specifically said (about the casting, not candle light stamina)? Thornton is no stranger to playing small town outcasts in long sleeve apparel who commit murder. He won an Oscar, and ten million bad impressions by Southerners, for 1996’s Sling Blade.



tipster

(賽馬行情等的)密報者;預測者;情報販子

8/23/08 LE Notes 2

vocab. con't:



perturb - (a little bit hl) to annoy, piss off, agitate, disturb.  



That professor may be famous, but his [haughty attitude] perturbs me to no end.



insolent

imperious

If something is [imperative], you have to do it; it is [required] 

(although if you have an imperative air, it may suggest merely that you're [accustomed] to giving orders). 

{Imperious} applies mainly to people and their {gestures} or {actions}: 

An imperious woman is impatient and determined to have her way; she will not [brook] restraint. 

{Imperious} has a {pejorative} [edge],

whereas something [imperative] is [not] necessarily good or bad. 





piss off, tick off - both very colloquial.





aggravate - can mean to annoy or irritate, or to worsen a preexisting condition. 



She is easily aggravated by [loud music].



The economic downturn was aggravated by an [un]expected change in trade policy.



Avoid caffeine, [as] it will only aggravate your heart condition.



exacer[b]ate

make some[thing] worse. cf. [a]meliorate

exasperate

cause some[one] to become frustrated and upset.

pontificate

lacerate





scatter-brained - (col) absentminded, unable to remember where one puts things, forgets appointments and people's names, etc.  



Don't be offended that [he missed your birthday]; he's just naturally scatter-brained.





extemporaneous - done without special preparation, or without relying on notes/a script. Used to describe: a speech, a performance, a lecture, etc. 



This doesn't necessarily imply a lack of preparation in the negative sense. 



impromptu is similar but implies no planning. 

Off the cuff is a synonym.  

Off the top of one's head is probably the best colloquial synonym.  





marsupial - Did you know that there is only one species of marsupial in North America? (opossum)



possum

to [feign] sleep or death. 

The baseball broke the window, but the children [played possum] when asked who had thrown it.  





counterintuitive - describes a quality of some thing or situation that [is] contrary to what one would suspect in accordance with logic or intuition.  



The idea that helping mosquitoes, rather than destroying them, may be the way to eradicate malaria is pleasingly counterintuitive, [even if] it would mean more mosquito bites at night.



apprehension

the faculty or act of apprehending, esp. [intuitive] understanding; perception on a direct and immediate level.  

malaria

caused by a para[si]tic proto[zo]an, by a mosquito of the genus A[no]pheles. (單複同)

malaise

Major studios, [buttressed] by solid summer B.O. and synergies with growth sectors like consumer products and cable TV, 

have withstood the economic [malaise].

Wilson’s near-fatal [malaise] was later attributed to his breakup with Kate Hudson.





Expressions for talking about language exchange:



Attention to detail is critical. Letting mistakes go uncorrected [only] reinforces them.



Languages always have more than one way to express the same idea. 



Rephrasing the same idea as many ways possible is the best way to develop [facility] in a variety of styles: formal, written, colloquial, spoken, slang, etc.



[Take] a systematic approach.



speak [at] the paragraph length - develop the skills necessary to organize a large amount of information into several sentences of natural, logical speech. 

Scald

scald







Y

(為去皮、拔毛等)用沸水燙

把...加熱至接近沸點



D





–verb (used with object) 

1. to burn or affect painfully with or as if with hot liquid or steam. 

2. to subject to the action of boiling or hot liquid. 

3. to heat to a temperature just short of the boiling point: 



to scald [milk].  



4. to parboil (先煮成半熟) or blanch (使變白;漂白) (fruit, vegetables, etc.).  



–verb (used without object) 

5. to be or become scalded.  



–noun 

6. a burn caused by the action of hot liquid or steam. 

7. any similar condition, esp. as the result of too much heat or sunlight. 

8. Plant Pathology. 

a. a blanching of the epidermis【解】表皮 and adjacent tissues, which turn pale or dark brown, caused by extreme heat or sun exposure. 

b. a condition resembling scald caused by improper conditions of growth or storage, as in apples, or by fungi 改 (fungus的複數,菌類植物), as in cranberries.  

 



　

There are comedies of discomfort, and then there's Margot at the Wedding, Noah Baumbach's scalding follow-up to The Squid and the Whale. An immersion (沈浸) in sibling malice and simmering resentment, with one of the most infuriating characters in recent movies holding us under, 



Margot tramples the commandment (一誡) that only the pure of heart and noble of deed are worth a viewer's scrutiny. Hard as it may be to imagine a comedy that inflicts [all the psychic torment] of Cries and Whispers, Baumbach has pulled off a more psychologically acute—and funnier—version of the Bergman pastiches that Woody Allen attempted 30 years ago, with a jumpy, nerve-rattling rhythm all his own. 



see scour









　The buzz on PD’s Friday the 13th revamp took a slight dip with fans last month though the trailer was met with generally favorable reviews. Unlike that popcorn film, nothing I’ve heard really jazzes me about this inevitable ANOES remake. When [Freddy’s] grossly scalded [head] once again rises out of the bathwater between a nubile girl’s legs, I guess Billy Bob would be a fine choice.



see nubile 

8/23/08 LE Notes 1

Vocab. recap:



elision - The omission of a vowel, consonant or syllable in pronunciation. Blending your words together. (hl)

If you master the rules of elision in English, your speech will sound more [smooth] and [natural].



see 

paren(the)tic 

mnemonic semantic





choppy - Of speech, not smooth and flowing, halting. (col)



Her English is [grammatically] correct, but somewhat choppy.



(of a novel) [The plot] was too choppy for my taste; the author fails to create [continuity] between the chapters.





creative license - A kind of literary device. Refers to the way in which artists and authors [bend] or [break] rules in order to [achieve] a particular [aesthetic] or creative effect.



The poet K was criticized by his contemporaries for his blatant disregard [for] convention. It was not until years after his death that critics came to appreciate his liberal [use] of creative license.



Orwell [took] some creative license [with] the historical events of the Russian Revolution.





word play - creative [use] of language.



Shakespeare was known for his ample [use] of word play.





fellow, guy, chap, dude, man, guy, gentleman -

Guy is what most American young people use to refer to any grown man. I say dude too, but it is perhaps a little slangier.



see advert (refer to, stuffy)



Gentleman is a polite word for a grown man.



Chap sounds British to me. I would avoid it.



Fellow sounds outdated to be used in normal contexts, but it does have some idiomatic usages: sorry fellow - a worthless person, a rogue. (惡棍)



see brogue



Fellow has another meaning in the academic world - someone who is part of some scholarship program or academic association.

She was one of only three people selected to be [Hugh's] Fellow this year.





strike as - to give one the impression of being someway.

 

She strikes me as [an extremely talented young woman]. 



I only read the first chapter, but the author's style struck me as [excessively elaborate and almost florid]. (鮮紅色的,過分華麗的)



see 

lurid dun tawny





uncouth - clumsy, awkward or unmannerly. (hl)



His uncouth cousin proved to be [an] [embarrassment] at every family gathering.



This word is a little similar to philistine, but not the same. Philistine refers more to [a] lack of 

cultural sensitivity, 

intellectual pursuit[s], or 

aesthetic refinement; whereas uncouth emphasizes poor manners.

An uncouth person is called a boor (hl).



see 

fumble 

incongruous cacophony





juxtapose - to draw a contrast between two things, or to describe two ideas as opposite, incompatible and conflicting. 



Her theory juxtaposed [religion] and [science].



The journalist's Olympic coverage juxtaposed [the extravagance] of Beijing's new buildings, [with] [the slums] which still cover much of the city.



frolic

[From] the surreal opening image of a Christ statue "flying" over Rome by helicopter 

[through] Anita Ekberg's [frolic] in the Trevi Fountain 

[to] the final beach scene, 

Fellini [filled] his first [foray] into widescreen photography with evocative imagery [juxtaposing] 

[ancient Rome] 

[with] [modernity], surface beauty with spiritual desolation.  



virtuoso

Suzanne's interest in Chinese marionettes [links] Hou's Red Balloon (as well as the original) [to] his 1992 masterpiece, The Puppetmaster. The mode can be off-handedly self-reflexive, 

[as when] 

Hou's camera ponders the virtuosity of two movers [maneuvering] a piano up an impossibly narrow stairway, 

[or] 

in the melancholy [juxtaposition] of 

[archaic 8mm home movies] 

[with] [Suzanne's voiceover characterizations].



punctuate

A movie that encourages the spectator to rummage, Flight of the Red Balloon is contemplative but never static, and [punctuated] by passages of pure cinema.



vacillate 

As Eli, Paul Dano's voice [vacillates] between 

[a soft-spoken gentleness in his serene moments] and 

[a thin, reedy growl during his Biblical orations].

It is Conchita's emotional ambivalence towards the tenaciously persistent suitor that is reflected through the physical [vacillation] between the two actresses playing the role of Conchita, 

[Carole Bouquet (cold and demure)] and 

[Angela Molina (sensual and aggressive).]



oscillate

(figuratively, to vacillate)

Like [a flower in the wind], he [oscillated] between 

[one view] and 

[another], unable to make up his mind.

osculate 

(to kiss, to touch)

His chief political skill was in [osculating] the infants of eligible voters.





pet peeve - a personal annoyance. 



One of [my] pet peeves is being late.



vial 

pour out vial[s] of wrath

travail

L'Heure d'été (2008)

沒看過阿薩亞斯電影，也不會特別想看，結果夏日時光成了高出預期許多的清新小品，類比是義大利 左派哥哥。拜託！怎麼可以不會特別想看阿薩亞斯電影？艾夏亞珍朵 與林熙蕾主演的 登機門 就是必看呀！



最近家裡也同電影劇情般，有人要離開，許多舊東西和舊關係因此都要重新整理，大人們面對舊東西的無情，看在守舊派如筆者眼裡實在百感交集。舊東西因為人而珍貴，當人要離開了，舊東西的價值該如何定義？筆者就像大哥 Frederic，堅持要留下舊東西的同時卻又顯得不知所措。



「要過去那邊的話得翻牆才行。」



於老家舉辦褻瀆 (blasphemy) 派對的女兒給了一個跳出框架的答案。













飾演大哥 Frederic 的 Charles Berling 被筆者誤認為 Hippolyte Girardot。









本片第二神奇的二姊 Adrienne，畢諾許 (44) 明明在 非法入侵 或 紅氣球 已經老掉，電影裡又看起來視覺年齡三十幾。









　飾演可愛小弟 Jérémie 的 Jérémie Renier 神似楊波貝蒙加中田英壽加《歌劇紅伶》《黑店狂想曲》《艾蜜莉的異想世界》Dominique Pinon。歐容《挑逗性謀殺》達頓兄弟金棕櫚《承諾與背叛》《孩子》《沉默的蘿娜》柯林法洛雷夫范恩斯《殺手沒有假期》院線上映中。









　本片第一神奇非飾演阿媽 Hélène 的 Edith Scob (71) 莫屬，高雅的身段，端莊的背脊，俏皮的髮型，觀影過程不斷自問「這女人年輕時有多正呀？」結果我找到 Eyes Without a Face 這電影，以下是法國海倫米蘭戴面具的模樣。



延伸閱讀：

[電影] 沒有臉的眼睛 Yeux sans visage, Les (1960)



















夏日時光 L'Heure d'été

102 min. 2008



Juliette Binoche ... Adrienne

Charles Berling ... Frédéric

Jérémie Renier ... Jérémie

Edith Scob ... Hélène



這電影在美國目前似乎沒有要上映的跡象，台灣是寶島大家要好好珍惜喔！

Nubile (男性女性 改變 加減 單字大集合)

nubile



Y



a. (形容詞 adjective)



          1.    適婚年齡的



C



nubile (adj.)   

 

is used almost exclusively of young women. It began by meaning "of marriageable age or condition"



but now almost always means "sexually attractive."



To convey the older sense today requires considerable assistance from context. 





　

The buzz on PD’s Friday the 13th revamp took a slight dip with fans last month though the trailer was met with generally favorable reviews. Unlike that popcorn film, nothing I’ve heard really [jazzes] me about this inevitable ANOES remake. 



When Freddy’s grossly scalded [head] once again rises out of the bathwater between a nubile girl’s [legs], I guess Billy Bob would be a fine choice.





。女性

nubile 

Improbably receptive to this broken-down middle-aged man’s advances, the nubile impostor keeps her actual identity [mum] until plot [contrivance] [forces] a confession.

spinster 

Suspicion stars Fontaine as a [spinsterish] young woman who revolts against her parents by marrying a [spendthrift] playboy. 

bequeath

dowager

a woman who holds some title or property from her deceased husband, especially the widow of a king, duke, etc. (often used as an additional title to differentiate her from the wife of the present king, duke, etc.)

matron 

married woman, especially one who is mature and staid or dignified and has an established social position

woman who has charge of the domestic affairs of a hospital, prison, or other institution 

concierge 

vigilante 



nymphomania 

sultry 

tart 

Siren

coquetry 

the behavior or arts of a coquette, flirtation

vamp

portion of a shoe or boot upper that covers the instep and toes

seductive woman who uses her sensuality to exploit men 

slattern 

slovenly, untidy woman or girl

trollop

immoral or promiscuous woman, especially a prostitute

untidy or slovenly woman, slattern

excites a strange ooze of jealousy and then brings into the house a [teasing] trollop he pretends is to be a kitchen maid.



termagant 

violent, turbulent, or brawling woman

virago 

loud-voiced, ill-tempered, scolding woman, shrew 



booth bunny 

cattle market

ecdysiast

bordello

He has a fling at a local bordello where he meets his father-in-law who Gallicly shrugs it off.

ponce

Let me see to the ponce, Harry.【俚】淫媒,皮條客

A cockney berk by the sound of it! You Liverpool ponce.

demimonde

Drama about an American doctor's desperate search for his kidnapped wife through the [demi]-monde of Paris,

harlot

strumpet

a strumpet of a universal breed who is but an [incidental] contributor to the fall of man.

trull

Yes, Madam, in bed with that trull Mrs. Waters.【古】妓女

harlot

They're not worth it, are they? Whores and harlots.



prima donna

prissy

excessively proper, affectedly correct, prim

Francis and Tim imagine the dangerously [prissy] Sister Assumpta as the monstrous villainess Nunzilla—as though her wooden leg, and corresponding performance, didn't already identify her as a creature out of Luis Buñuel.

She's [prim] and [prissy] and [prude].

Seberg tolerates most of her father's mistresses, but doesn't know what to make of the [prudish] Deborah Kerr, who will not [cohabit] with Niven until after they're married.

Everybody thinks you're what? Everybody thinks I'm a priss. Diane, in a million years, you could never be a priss.

priggish

Daniel Day Lewis provides spot-on work as the uptight, priggish suitor Cecil, a [marked] contrast to his almost polar-opposite role in Stephen Frears's My Beautiful Laundrette, which marked him as a new actor of unusual versatility.

prig

a person who displays or demands of others pointlessly precise conformity, fussiness about trivialities, or exaggerated propriety, esp. in a self-righteous or irritating manner

Spanish girls tend to be promiscuous. You're sucha prig.

the somewhat [priggish] Ted nonetheless lives a charmed existence as a sales rep for an American company.

Performances are also perfectly [tuned], with Woodward suitably [priggish] as the investigator and horror icon Lee [delivering] one of his most [accomplished] performances as Lord Summerisle.

Throwing conventionial behavior to the winds and facing social [ostracism], Cary pursues her romance with Ron, who is unjustly perceived as a fortune-hunter by Cary's friends and family--especially her [priggish] son Ned.



epicene

belonging to, or partaking of the characteristics of, both sexes

Preminger's low-key approach to a story of lethal obsession allows the suggestions of sexual deviance [emanating] from Clifton Webb's epicene critic Lydecker, Dana Andrews's cynical yet [besotted] [necrophiliac] cop, and the pragmatic Vincent Price-Judith Anderson couple to [permeate] the seductively cool atmosphere. 

Sapphic

fraternity & sorority

sorority

The bondage and [spanking] sessions are between playful women, in short loops with titles involving [sorority] initiations and bad girls.

jamboree & camporee 

bivouac

latrine, a toilet or something used as a toilet, as a trench in the earth in a [camp], or bivouac area. 



flax

distaff

Sometimes Offensive

may be considered a [distaff] version of In the Company of Men.

In "The Mandrake Root" and "Nightingale," Redgrave turned to the distaff side of her family as well as her personal life.

dominatrix

I'II try, I don't know what's gonna happen in here, I may be tied to the dominatrix's bedpost, fuck, There's something

very, very speciaI that I'm gonna do, and it wouId mean a Iot to me if you were gonna be there...



。傷感

Lachrymosity





。男性生殖 

Phallus



。最高點 

Debilitate



。改變

。不改變 

Amalgamation



。減法

。加法 

。中心 

Debilitate



。婚姻

。年老

。幼小 

Codger

















Nubile