Highlights from Day8

Creative Destruction：The Risky Business of Going Against the Grain

1.going against the grain：不合常理，格格不入，to be or to do sth different from what is normal or natural.固定习语。

例句：The artist always tried to go against the grain, ignoring the artistic trends of her day.

On a cool fall evening in 2008, four students set out to revolutionize an industry. Buried in loans, they had lost and broken eyeglasses and were outraged at how much it cost to replace them. One of them had been wearing the same damaged pair for five years: He was using a paper clip to bind the frames together. Even after his prescription changed twice, he refused to pay for pricey new lenses.

2.revolutionize：使变革，to completely change the way people do something or think about something.

由revolution变化而来，名词加-ize是很生动的一种用法，比如humanize，womanize，realize等。

例句：New technology is going to revolutionize everything we do. 新科技将彻底改变我们做的每一件事。

2.buried in loans：被债务压得透不过气来，bury用的很生动。bury还可以表示埋头于…，比如表示埋头于工作中，可以说she buried herself in her work.

3.outrage：to make someone feel very angry and shocked 激起〔某人〕的愤慨；使〔某人〕震怒。

例句：Customers were outraged by the price increases.

4.prescription：处方，这里表示他的处方变化了两次，进一步表示度数的上升。

Luxottica, the 800-pound gorilla of the industry, controlled more than 80 percent of the eyewear market. To make glasses more affordable, the students would need to topple a giant. Having recently watched Zappos transform footwear by selling shoes online, they wondered if they could do the same with eyewear.

5.800-pound gorilla：800磅的大猩猩，表示巨大到可以自由行事或改变规则的企业或人物，来源于一个笑话：“-一只八百磅重的大猩猩能坐在哪儿？-想坐在哪就坐在哪。” “800-pound gorilla”is an American English expression for a person or organization so powerful that it can act without regard to the rights of others or the law.

例句：In the software industry, Microsoft would be considered the 800-pound gorilla.

6.topple：使倒下，引申为使颠覆、倒台，to take power away from a leader or government, especially by force.

例句：This scandal could topple the government. 这一丑闻可能使政府倒台。

7.Having recently watched…：having引导的伴随状语表示做完一件事马上做另一件事，比如：Having done my journey, I jumped back to work.