Nurture passes nature

整理来自公众号'英语学习精华'

• wasted（熟词僻义）：

  • It means someone is very drunk or ill from drugs.
  • 表示某人喝得酩酊大醉或因吸毒而生病。

• natural （熟词僻义）：

  • Someone who was born with the right characteristics or abilities for doing a particular thing.
  • 天生具有做某件事的适当特征或能力的人。
  • eg. Taylor is being modest. We all know that she is a natural in this field. 泰勒太谦虚了，我们都知道她在这一行绝对是个天才。
  • syn. someone has what it takes

• someone is on a shift 倒班

• insecticide /ɪnˈsektɪsaɪd/ n. 杀虫剂

整理来自公众号'独霸上海的妖怪'

• knock out指“摧毁，使…瘫痪，使...无效”(If something is knocked out by enemy action or bad weather, it is destroyed or stops functioning because of it)。比如

  • A storm has made roads treacherous and knocked out power. 一场风暴使路途变得危险，并使电力中断。
  • The government decided to knock out gambling.当局决定取缔赌博活动。

• knock sth off 表示“迅速而轻松地完成”(to complete sth quickly and without much effort)，真题原句是

  • But as Cline is the first to note, it took Beaumont decades to perfect her craft; her example can’t be knocked off.
  • 不过Cline也承认，Beaumont花了几十年来完善她的手艺，她的做法难以复制。

• precede [prɪ'siːd] 指“在…之前，先于…”(to happen before sth or come before sth / sb in order)。比如

  • The earthquake was preceded by a loud roar and lasted 20 seconds. 地震前有一阵巨大的轰隆声，持续了20秒钟。

    
    precede

• fashion ['fæʃən] [熟词僻义] 作动词指“制作，制成”(If you fashion an object or a work of art, you make it)。比如

  • Stone Age settlers fashioned necklaces from sheep's teeth.
  • 石器时代的移居者用羊的牙做成项链。
  • 再比如《月亮与六便士》中的一句话：
  • Beauty is something wonderful and strange that the artist fashions out of the chaos of the world in the torment of his soul.
  • 美是一种美妙、奇异的东西，艺术家只有通过灵魂的痛苦折磨才能从宇宙的混沌中塑造出来。

• rule [熟词僻义] 指“决定，裁决，判决”(to give an official decision about sth)。比如

  • The court will rule on the legality of the action.
  • 法庭将裁定此举是否合法。

• hold [熟词僻义] 表示“认为，相信”(to consider that sth is true)。比如

  • I still hold that the government's economic policies are mistaken.
  • 我仍然认为政府的经济政策是错误的。

• verify ['verɪfaɪ] 指“核实，查证”(to check that sth is true or accurate)。比如

  • I verified the source from which I had that information.

  • 我核实了我所获消息的来源。

    
    verify