PART 1 Core Question

Why did Su Tungpo want to get out of power?

Su Tungpo was in a quandary at that time. If he continued to assume office, he would either have to swim with the tide in order to shield himself or to fight with the petty politicians. Upfront and upright as he was, it is conceivable that he would never stoop to muzzle himself or behave obsequiously. Neither would he be willing to wrangle with those scoundrels. Therefore he had no other choice but to get out of power in order to avoid further hostility and underhanded attacks.

PART 2 Sentences

1. There is an art of rising to power and an art of getting out of it, and it is of the second that Su was a master.

2. Su Tungpo never made a good party man, for he had too high a stature as a man.

3. The game of politics is fine for those who love it; to others not interested in ruling other men, the loss in human dignity is hardly worth the gain in power and tinsel glamor.

实用句型表达: As the ancient saying has it, ...

PART 3 Expressions

1. But to do so would have been to do violence to his own nature.

do violence to sth: formal, to spoil sth 破坏

The skyscrapers do violence to the beauty of the old city.

It would do violence to his principles to eat meat.

2. Conceivably, yes, in time of peace, but peace is a relative word, and there is not a decade in politics in which there are not hot issues to fight about.

conceivable: able to be believed or imagined 可以相信的；可以想象的；可能的

conceivably (ad.) 可以想象,...

We were discussing the problem from every conceivable angle.

Conceivably, interest rates could rise very high indeed.

(o.) inconceivable

A few years ago a car fuelled by solar energy would have been inconceivable.

3. It is true that the other officials were permitted to send memorandums, but once these papers reached the sacred precincts of the palace, they were as good as lost.

as good as: almost

as good as done/ finished etc ;  as good as dead/ ruined/ useless etc

The summer's as good as over.

This carpet's as good as ruined.

4. On this score alone he extolled Ouyang Shiu and deprecated Wang Anshih, for Ouyang encouraged free criticism, and Wang suppressed it.

on this score/ on that score: spoken, concerning the particular thing you have just mentioned  “在这（那）一点上..."

As for the cost, you don't need to worry on that score.

补充一个词组 know the score: informal, to know the real facts of a situation, including any unpleasant ones

We are trying to attract managers who know the score.

extol (Amer.) / extoll (Brit.) 与 deprecate 是一组反义词，前置是赞美，后者是反对或批评

5. There were too many scholars and too few posts to give to everybody, a perennial disease in China where it is hardly thinkable that a good scholar should not try to join the governing class.

perennial： [pəˈreniəl] (a.) continuing or existing for a long time, or happening again and again; (n.) 多年生植物

Teddy bears are a perennial favorite with children.

Lack of resources has been a perennial problem since the beginning.

per- 这个前缀有连续的、重复的意思， Eg. perpetual, permanent

annual (happening once a year) -- biennial ([baɪˈeniəl] happening twice a year) -- perennial

6. The censors had called his honest criticism "slander," and there was some "semblance of truth" in the accusation.

a/ some semblance of sth: a situation, condition etc that is close to or similar to a particular one, usually a good one

She was trying to get her thoughts back into some semblance of order.

After the war, life returned to a semblance of normality.

7. They bristled with attacks.

bristle: (n.) （猪等的）鬃毛，短硬毛； (v.) to behave in way that shows you are very angry or annoyed

bristle with rage/ indignation etc;  bristle at

John pushed back his chair, bristling with rage.

He bristled at her rudeness.

bristle with sth 的另一个意思是: to have a lot of sth, or be full of sth

a battleship bristling with guns

8. I am strongly determined not to occupy an important post by your side, so as not to increase the jealousy of the party men and be subjected to further underhanded attacks.

underhand/ underhanded: (a.) dishonest and done secretly

They did it all in such an underhand way.

He's been involved in some underhanded dealings.

类似表达: behind one's back

I should have realized that he'd go behind my back.

Su Tungpo