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Post by 溪山 on Mar 17, 2021 1:37:40 GMT -5
Ides of March,从莎翁的JULIUS CAESAR 认识了这个词。剧中恺撒的wife 的噩梦也是凶兆,但。。。。
Caesar: Who is it in the press that calls on me? I hear a tongue shriller than all the music Cry "Caesar!" Speak, Caesar is turn'd to hear.
Soothsayer: Beware the ides of March.
Caesar: What man is that?
Brutus: A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March.
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Post by 溪山 on Mar 17, 2021 1:42:39 GMT -5
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Post by 边 草 on Mar 28, 2021 8:21:40 GMT -5
There are no stupid questions
Carl Sagan, in his work The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark said: "There are naive questions, tedious questions, ill-phrased questions, questions put after inadequate self-criticism. But every question is a cry to understand the world. There is no such thing as a dumb question".
A woman, recounting a story about an old man who used to answer all her "stupid questions", explained "Chica, if you ask a question it makes you look stupid for 5 minutes – but if you don't ask – you stay stupid for fifty years, so always ask questions in your life".
A 1970 Dear Abby column in The Milwaukee Sentinel said: "There is no such thing as a stupid question if it's sincere. Better to ask and risk appearing stupid than to continue on your ignorant way and make a stupid mistake.
"There is no such thing as a stupid question, only stupid answers". Presentation Skills That Will Take You to the Top says that within the business world, the adage holds true. The book adds "a question might be uninformed, tangential, or seemingly irrelevant, but, whether the presenter perceives it to be stupid or not, every audience member has every right to ask any sort of question".
In the Line of Fire: How to Handle Tough Questions – When It Counts suggests that there are no stupid questions, rather there are tangential questions, and that these should be dealt with swiftly and effectively.
Designing Field Studies for Biodiversity Conservation says "there's no such thing as a stupid question, as long as it ends in a question mark".
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Post by 边 草 on Mar 28, 2021 8:26:15 GMT -5
介词使用有时不能按照字面,它会带来的另外一种意思。比如 If you are not at the table, you probably are on the table,这是说在一个民主社会,如果一个群体不发声、不参政,那么你的权益很可能就不会受到重视。
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Post by 溪山 on Mar 28, 2021 16:08:14 GMT -5
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Post by 溪山 on Mar 28, 2021 16:11:03 GMT -5
介词使用有时不能按照字面,它会带来的另外一种意思。比如 If you are not at the table, you probably are on the table,这是说在一个民主社会,如果一个群体不发声、不参政,那么你的权益很可能就不会受到重视。 “If you are not at the table, you are on the menu/table” --- 不参政,将为俎上之肉?
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Post by 边 草 on Mar 28, 2021 21:45:54 GMT -5
刚才认识了一个新字:fathom, 长度单位,相当于6英尺,主要是用来表示水的深度。有人把它翻译成中文为“浔”。记得水浒传里面好像提到有“浔阳江”,还有“浔阳楼”什么的,同宋江有什么关系。果然,输入浔阳楼得“浔阳楼宋江题反诗”。
我不知道6英尺有一“浔”这么一个词对应。另外还有一个相关的词shackle,它的本意是链条。但是15fathoms等于90feet or 27.432 meters,同长度有关。
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Post by 溪山 on Mar 29, 2021 0:01:09 GMT -5
“浔阳江” -- 我想到的是白居易的“浔阳江头夜送客,枫叶荻花秋瑟瑟”。中学时要背诵的。
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 6, 2021 15:46:45 GMT -5
“浔阳江” -- 我想到的是白居易的“浔阳江头夜送客,枫叶荻花秋瑟瑟”。中学时要背诵的。 溪山真是好记性。我对这两句一点没有印象,请教一下顾兄........ 不得了,这可是一篇大作,里面有不少句子、对子被后人反复引用的。 犹抱琵琶半遮面,唯见江心秋月白
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 6, 2021 15:50:17 GMT -5
Rome was not built in a day
“Nothing will be achieved when things are done in haste. Haste makes waste. It is important, therefore, to do things step by step. Remember the saying, ‘Rome was not built in a day.’ ”
这个西谚同艺术史有没有关系?
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 6, 2021 21:18:29 GMT -5
还有”条条大路通罗马“ All roads lead to Rome.
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 7, 2021 21:05:39 GMT -5
嗯,这个西谚应该同历史(艺术史)相关吧。 曾强极一时的罗马帝国非一日建成。
波斯帝国鼎盛时,all the roads led to Persia.
zt: "Rome wasn't built in a day" is an adage attesting to the need for time to create great things. It is the usual English translation of a medieval French phrase, Rome ne fu[t] pas faite toute en un jour, from the collection Li Proverbe au Vilain, published around 1190. The modern French form is «Rome ne s'est pas faite en un jour».
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 8, 2021 22:42:54 GMT -5
Two heads are better than one
三个臭皮匠,赛过诸葛亮。(?)
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 10, 2021 21:53:22 GMT -5
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 10, 2021 21:54:58 GMT -5
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Post by rovi297 on Apr 14, 2021 4:18:50 GMT -5
請問英文里有沒有對應 飽漢不知餓漢飢 和 聰明反被聰明誤 的 idioms?
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Post by rovi297 on Apr 14, 2021 4:23:05 GMT -5
my tentative version is cleverness is a double edged sword...or shrewdness sometimes boomerangs ...
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 14, 2021 23:14:33 GMT -5
"cleverness is a double edged sword" ---- bravo. 飽漢不知餓漢飢 --- You are not in my shoes? 聰明反被聰明誤 --- too smart for one's own good ? --- "Believing that you know everything to the point to where it can harm you or work against you."
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 15, 2021 17:58:22 GMT -5
转贴:
汪达尔人(Vandals)是古代一个东日耳曼部族,在民族大迁徙中于429年占领今北非突尼斯一带,建立了汪达尔王国。公元455年,他们从海上出发,并于6月2日攻入罗马城,千年古都遭抢掠、破坏近两周,金碧辉煌的宫殿和神庙被浓烟与烈焰吞噬,鳞次栉比的排楼和公寓为呐喊与绝望笼罩。汪达尔人带来的这场浩劫是如此彻底,以至于直到今天我们依然用Vandalism来表示“破坏行为”。
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 16, 2021 0:13:52 GMT -5
原来如此! 10 Common Sayings With Historical Origins2. White elephant 累赘,负担 White elephants were once considered highly sacred creatures in Thailand—the animal even graced the national flag until 1917—but they were also wielded as a subtle form of punishment. According to legend, if an underling or rival angered a Siamese king, the royal might present the unfortunate man with the gift of a white elephant. While ostensibly a reward, the creatures were tremendously expensive to feed and house, and caring for one often drove the recipient into financial ruin. Whether any specific rulers actually bestowed such a passive-aggressive gift is uncertain, but the term has since come to refer to any burdensome possession—pachyderm or otherwise. 7. Paint the town red 狂欢 The phrase “paint the town red” most likely owes its origin to one legendary night of drunkenness. In 1837, the Marquis of Waterford—a known lush and mischief maker—led a group of friends on a night of drinking through the English town of Melton Mowbray. The bender culminated in vandalism after Waterford and his fellow revelers knocked over flowerpots, pulled knockers off of doors and broke the windows of some of the town’s buildings. To top it all off, the mob literally painted a tollgate, the doors of several homes and a swan statue with red paint. The marquis and his pranksters later compensated Melton for the damages, but their drunken escapade is likely the reason that “paint the town red” became shorthand for a wild night out. Still yet another theory suggests the phrase was actually born out of the brothels of the American West, and referred to men behaving as though their whole town were a red-light district.
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 18, 2021 1:24:42 GMT -5
"cleverness is a double edged sword" ---- bravo. 聰明反被聰明誤 --- too smart for one's own good ? --- "Believing that you know everything to the point to where it can harm you or work against you." too...... for one's own good 太。。。。反而害到自己 Came across this article today: Hard work should pay off for Asian Americans, not block their education opportunitieszt: There are plenty of fake meritocrats out there, pretending that they earned their way to the top. So when we see the real deal, we should recognize and reward it. Anything less makes a mockery of merit itself. And it betrays a sickening bigotry against Asian-Americans, who are just too darned good for their own good.
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 18, 2021 13:10:05 GMT -5
the origin of breakfast:
Wiki: Fasting is the willful refrainment from eating and drinking. In a physiological context, fasting may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight, or to the metabolic state achieved after complete digestion and absorption of a meal.
It was not until the 15th century that "breakfast" came into use in written English as a calque of dinner to describe a morning meal: literally a breaking of the fasting period of the night just ended. In Old English the term had been morgenmete (morning meat), meaning "morning meal."
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 22, 2021 13:25:42 GMT -5
关于八月(August)的来历在维基英文和中文版里有分歧,差别是确立的时间。英文版说是公元前8年,中文版说是公元14年。不过有一点是相同的,即同罗马(始)皇帝有关。
August was originally named Sextilis in Latin because it was the sixth month in the original ten-month Roman calendar under Romulus in 753 BC, with March being the first month of the year. About 700 BC, it became the eighth month when January and February were added to the year before March by King Numa Pompilius, who also gave it 29 days. Julius Caesar added two days when he created the Julian calendar in 46 BC (708 AUC), giving it its modern length of 31 days. In 8 BC, it was renamed in honor of Augustus. According to a Senatus consultum quoted by Macrobius, he chose this month because it was the time of several of his great triumphs, including the conquest of Egypt.
奥古斯都(拉丁語:Imperator Caesar Divi filius Augustus,前63年9月23日-14年8月19日),原名盖乌斯·屋大維·圖里努斯(Gaius Octavius Thurinus),是罗马帝国的開國君主。历史学家通常以他的头衔“奧古斯都”(神圣、至尊的意思)来称呼他,这个称号是他在前27年获得的,當時他年僅36岁。14年8月,在他去世后,罗马元老院决定将他列入“神”的行列,并将8月称为“奥古斯都”月,这也是歐洲語言中8月的来源。
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Post by rovi297 on Apr 22, 2021 19:24:05 GMT -5
"cleverness is a double edged sword" ---- bravo. 聰明反被聰明誤 --- too smart for one's own good ? --- "Believing that you know everything to the point to where it can harm you or work against you." too...... for one's own good 太。。。。反而害到自己 Came across this article today: Hard work should pay off for Asian Americans, not block their education opportunitieszt: There are plenty of fake meritocrats out there, pretending that they earned their way to the top. So when we see the real deal, we should recognize and reward it. Anything less makes a mockery of merit itself. And it betrays a sickening bigotry against Asian-Americans, who are just too darned good for their own good. Fantastic indeed ! Thank you very much for the information!
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 22, 2021 23:39:37 GMT -5
My pleasure! There is always something new to learn.
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 22, 2021 23:47:21 GMT -5
Months in Italian:
January – gennaio – pronounced [gen-NAHY-oh] February – febbraio – pronounced [feb-BRAHY-oh] March – marzo – pronounced [MAR-tsoh] April – aprile – pronounced [ah-PREE-leh] May – maggio - pronounced [MAJ-joh] June – giugno - pronounced [JOO-nyoh] July – luglio - pronounced [LOO-lyoh] August – agosto - pronounced [ah-GOS-toh] September – settembre - pronounced [set-TEM-breh] sette: seven October – ottobre - pronounced [ot-TOH-breh] otto: eight November – novembre - pronounced [noh-VEM-breh] nove: nine December – dicembre - pronounced [dee-CHEM-breh]
"December got its name from the Latin word decem (meaning ten) because it was originally the tenth month of the year in the calendar of Romulus c. 750 BC which began in March."
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 22, 2021 23:56:42 GMT -5
关于八月(August)的来历在维基英文和中文版里有分歧,差别是确立的时间。英文版说是公元前8年,中文版说是公元14年。不过有一点是相同的,即同罗马(始)皇帝有关。 August 的来历倒是知道,但从没注意始于何年。 看来是公元前8年: After Caesar's death, the month Quintilis was renamed July in honor of Julius Caesar in 44 BC and, later, Sextilis was renamed August in honor of Roman Emperor Augustus in 8 BC. -- from: www.almanac.com
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 23, 2021 0:56:23 GMT -5
the origin of breakfast: Wiki: Fasting is the willful refrainment from eating and drinking. In a physiological context, fasting may refer to the metabolic status of a person who has not eaten overnight, or to the metabolic state achieved after complete digestion and absorption of a meal. It was not until the 15th century that "breakfast" came into use in written English as a calque of dinner to describe a morning meal: literally a breaking of the fasting period of the night just ended. In Old English the term had been morgenmete (morning meat), meaning "morning meal." lunchfast: A period of time where the consumption of the breakfast and lunch meal has yet to be conducted. (zt)
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Post by 边 草 on Apr 23, 2021 10:25:59 GMT -5
关于八月(August)的来历在维基英文和中文版里有分歧,差别是确立的时间。英文版说是公元前8年,中文版说是公元14年。不过有一点是相同的,即同罗马(始)皇帝有关。 August 的来历倒是知道,但从没注意始于何年。 看来是公元前8年: After Caesar's death, the month Quintilis was renamed July in honor of Julius Caesar in 44 BC and, later, Sextilis was renamed August in honor of Roman Emperor Augustus in 8 BC. -- from: www.almanac.com哦,“七月”跟凯撒有关?有意思。 唉,我是看到地里有一根胡萝卜,拔起来,掀起自己的衣角、擦去它表面的泥,咬一口后随手就扔了的那种人。而溪山不一样。她看到胡萝卜后也拔出来,所不同的是,她把胡萝卜带回家,用水洗干净,切成块同牛肉一起炖,那就成了一道家常菜了。
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Post by 溪山 on Apr 24, 2021 20:45:11 GMT -5
gee, 我不过是搬运工而已。Everything is just a click away. How Did The Months Of The Year Get Their Names?
zt: January is “the month of Janus” the Roman god of beginnings and endings. Janus presided over doors and gates—appropriate for the beginning of the year. Indeed, Janus was usually depicted with faces looking backward and forward, as is characteristic of a new year. February, “the month of cleansing,” is derived from februa, the name of a Roman purification festival held on the 15th of this month. March is named after the god of war and a planet: Mars. In ancient Rome, several festivals of Mars took place in March because that was the earliest month of the year when the weather was mild enough to start a war. At one time, March was the first month in the Roman calendar. The Romans changed the order of months several times between the founding of Rome and the fall of the Roman Empire. April is from the Latin Aprillis, which is a derivative of the Latin base apero-, meaning “second.” April was named as such because of the tweaking of the ancient Roman calendar, where April was the second month. May springs from the Greek goddess Maia, daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes. She was a nurturer and an earth goddess, which certainly explains her connection with this springtime month, when flowers and crops burst forth. June descends from Juno, wife of Jupiter, and the Roman ancient goddess of marriage and childbirth. July was named in honor of Julius Caesar right after his assassination in 44 B.C., with July being the month of his birth. July is the first month in the calendar that bears the name of a real person, rather than a deity. August represents another Roman ruler having been enshrined. In 8 B.C., the month Sextilis (“sixth”) was renamed after Augustus, nephew of Julius Caesar and the first emperor of Rome. The emperor’s name came from the Latin augustus, which gave rise to the adjective “august,” meaning “respected and impressive.” September, from the Latin septem (“seven”), seems as if it should be the seventh month of the year. The names for October (octo), November (novem), and December (decem) suggest that they would be the eighth, ninth, and tenth months. And they once were, when the Roman lunar calendar started the year in March at harvest time. But all that changed in 46 B.C., when January became the first month of the new Julian calendar, making September through December the ninth–twelfth months of the year.
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