11/11 Daily Reading

◆譯言堂

"I do not think that either of these ideas was terribly bright, but together they made it possible to create the H-bomb." -- Vitaly Ginzburg

「我不認為這兩個想法特別厲害，但結合起來卻能創造出氫彈。」

俄羅斯籍諾貝爾物理學獎得主金茲柏格8日晚間在莫斯科辭世，享歲93。蘇聯研發氫彈，金茲柏格扮演關鍵性的角色。諾貝爾獎評審於2003年頒給他物理學獎，表揚他對超導體理論方面的貢獻。

bright：聰明的、厲害的。H-bomb：氫彈。


◆Word of the Day | slacken

By THE LEARNING NETWORK

slacken verb （使）放慢，減緩，鬆弛，呆滯

1: become slow or slower
2: make less active or fast
3: become looser or slack
4: make slack as by lessening tension or firmness

The word slacken has appeared in 8 Times articles over the past year, including in the recent article “From Chicago to Fez, Filmmaker’s Favorites” in which various filmmakers write about favorite holiday films. This excerpt is screenwriter David Benioff on the 1987 film “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”:

The great American holiday is Thanksgiving, and the great Thanksgiving movie is “Planes, Trains and Automobiles”…

The story here could not be simpler: Steve Martin is Neal Page, a successful marketing man trying to make it home for the holiday. Everything conspires (協力,共謀) against him, from God to Kevin Bacon…

The only person Neal has the power to hurt is his unwanted traveling companion, Del Griffith, played with grating good cheer by John Candy (above, left, with Mr. Martin). Del is the perfect hell, oozing into(滲到,洋溢) his neighbor’s seat on the plane, removing his shoes and socks to air out his stinking (發臭的) feet, always smiling, never shutting up…We’re laughing at him, but we cringe (感到尷尬不安,難堪) when we see his face slacken with sadness as he learns the man he considered his friend isn’t his friend after all. Neal’s journey home provides the movie’s narrative engine, but Del gives the machine a soul.


◆ Words in the News│BBC

Statues on the move at Thai airport ( 11 November 2009 )
12 large statues of demon spirits are being moved to new positions in Thailand's main international airport. But it's not clear if the reason lies in aesthetics or superstition.
 
You would have thought it hard to miss one six metre high, scowling demon, let alone 12. But the authorities at Bangkok's main airport say they're relocating their spirit statues to the check-in area, where they're thought more likely to be noticed and appreciated by passengers.
Local media are reporting the real reason for the move is that airport staff had come to believe the figures, collectively worth almost a million dollars, had brought them bad luck. Last year the airport was blockaded for eight days by political protestors, resulting in a big loss in earnings.

But moving the statues is not a matter to be taken lightly. Buddihsts believe the demons to be symbols of anger, strength and power. Some astrologers are warning that shifting them to a new location might bring more bad luck and have suggested a safer option might be simply to turn them around to face a different direction.

Rachel Harvey, BBC News, Bangkok

→WORD LIST:

※ hard to miss
difficult not to notice, not to see

※ scowling 皺眉;顯怒容
frowning, showing on your face that you are unhappy or annoyed by something

※ let alone
used after a negative statement (here, hard to miss one statue) to emphasise how unlikely another situation (here, miss 12 statues)

※ relocating
moving to another place or location

※ blockaded
when a country or place (here, the airport) is surrounded by soldiers (or here, protesters) to stop something (here, planes) going in or out

※ resulting in a big loss in earnings
making a lot of businesses lose money or be unprofitable

※ not a matter to be taken lightly
something that should be thought about very seriously

※ demons to be symbols
spirits (often evil or bad ones) are signs

※ astrologers 占星家
people who believe that the movement of the stars at our birth and at other times influences how we behave and what happens to us

※ shifting
them to a new location moving them to another place