这个在另外一个帖子也发了。有时候发掘了一些单词，可以代替一个词组，挺有意思。例如说 He likes to take a stroll after lunch/dinner. - after lunch/dinner 就是“用膳后”。原来有个形容词 postprandial。
postprandial /ˌpəʊst ˈpræn.di.əl/ - (formal) happening after lunch or dinner e.g. He took the usual postprandial stroll around the grounds of his house.
而 prandial 就是： during or relating to dinner or lunch: a prandial conversation

挺有趣的比喻：
Summerhouses and faithful family dogs have a lot in common. The house on the lake, the cabin in the mountains or the farmhouse in the field are often the places that have the strongest hold on our senses and conjure the most vivid memories of childhood romps, teenage sleepovers, lively family gatherings and silent nights spent reading by an open fire.
Like the loyal family pet, the summerhouse is always on standby, is eager to please and comes to life when you offer the slightest attention. Left alone, it's generally self-sufficient and sleeps till woken by the arrival of the chattering family and friends. Left too long, however, and it can start to look scruffy and, depending on temperament, can even start acting up.
*scruffy /ˈskrʌf.i/ - shabby and untidy or dirty: a teenager in scruffy jeans and a baggy T-shirt

"You've got some decent people there who know that the greed is running amok."
Amok（也作 amuck /əˈmɒk//-ˈmʌk/ ） - 通常用于片语“run amok”= behave uncontrollably and disruptively - 例句：
Stone-throwing anarchists were running amok.
The army ran amok after one of its senior officers was killed.
The two dogs ran amok in a school playground.

新增内容开始！
"Having averted much of the noxious tax rises of the so-called fiscal cliff with a last-minute agreement on New Year's day, the US is now grappling with its next budgetary stalemate."
noxious - harmful and unpleasant e.g. a noxious smell/influence（想起了另外一个单词：obnoxious - extremely unpleasant；也可以形容人的 e.g. Some of his colleagues say that he's loud and obnoxious.)
grapple with someting - to try to deal with or understand a difficult problem or subject e.g. to grapple with a financial problem

"I grew up on the east coast of the US, where I imbibed the prejudice that Los Angeles is the ultimate horror of a manmade concrete landscape devoid of nature."
imbibe (/ɪmˈbaɪb/) - to drink alcohol
e.g. Have you been imbibing again?
e.g. They were imbibing far too many pitchers of beer.
另外一个意思
- to absorb or assimilate (ideas or knowledge)
e.g. If one does not imbibe the culture one cannot succeed.
e.g. to imbibe the spirit of the Renaissance

经常有人问的问题，放在这里备用。
Lie 作“说谎”解释时，现在分词是 lying，过去式和过去分词均是 lied。不过，lie 解作“躺下”、“给平放”、“位于”等意思时，过去式是 lay，过去分词是 lain，因此很容易和另一个动词 lay 混淆。
Lay 的现在分词是 laying，过去式和过去分词都是 laid，有“摆放”、“铺设”、“下（蛋）”等意思。
语法上的分别：
The cat is lying on the roof. - 用的是 lie 的现在分词，和 the roof 之间有介词 on 连接。
I laid the letter on my desk. - 用的是 lay 的过去式，直接跟 letter。
Lie 的其他例子：
躺着：The old man has lain motionless in his bed for more than an hour.
位于：Lantau Island lies to the west of Hong Kong Island.
（事情）在于/基于（跟 in）：Hong Kong's strengths lie in its favourable geographical location, well-developed infrastructure and adherence to the rule of law.
（责任）属于（跟 with）：The responsibility for keeping the environment clean lies with each and every one of us.
处于（某种状态）：Agricultural land in the New Territories amassed by developers has lain fallow for many years pending development.（lie farrow = 休耕状态）
Lay 的其他例子：
铺设：The workers are laying tiles on the pavement.
下（蛋）：These hens lay eggs every day.
归（咎）于：The police laid the blame on the driver for the traffic accident.
准备、安排：Lee Kuan Yew laid the foundations for Singapore's economic success.
要分辨 lie 和 lay，最简单的办法是记住 lie 为不及物动词，不直接带宾语，后面如有名词，需用介词连接；而 lay 在绝大部分情况都是及物动词，直接连宾语。所以 lying in bed 不能说成 laying in bed。

boomerang /ˈbuː.mə.ræŋ/
- If a plan boomerangs, it brings a harmful result instead of the intended good one / (of a plan or action) recoil on the originator
e.g. Misleading consumers about quality will eventually boomerang on a car-maker.
e.g. Our plan to take over the business could boomerang on us if we're not careful.

behove / behoove (US) /bɪˈhəʊv//-ˈhoʊv/
- [with object] (it behoves someone to do something) [formal]
= it is a duty or responsibility for someone to do something / it is right for someone to do something
e.g. It behoves the House to assure itself that there is no conceivable alternative.
e.g. It ill behoves you to (= You should not) speak so rudely of your parents.

"Every player was fit and raring to go."
raring /ˈreə.rɪŋ/
adjective [with infinitive] informal
- very enthusiastic and eager to do something / be raring to do sth = to be very enthusiastic about starting something
e.g. She was raring to get back to her work.
e.g. I’ll be ready and raring to go.
e.g. I've bought all the paint for decorating the bedrooms and I'm raring to get started.
e.g. I had been preparing for the exam for a year and now I was raring to go (= eager to start).

一直以来只知道 prosaic 是相对 poetic 而言：having or using the style or diction of prose as opposed to poetry。原来还可以这样用的：
prosaic：lacking imaginativeness or originality/commonplace; unromantic
e.g. If only she'd been called 'Camilla' or 'Flavia' instead of the prosaic 'Jane'.
e.g. He asked if I'd got my black eye in a fight - I told him the prosaic truth that I'd banged my head on a door.
e.g. The masses were too preoccupied by prosaic day-to-day concerns.

做好准备有多种说法，新学的是：
to batten down the hatches
- literal meaning: to fasten the entrances to the lower part of a ship using wooden boards（防止刮风时大量海水涌进）
- figurative meanng: to prepare for a difficult situation
e.g. A natural tendency in times of recession is to batten down the hatches.
e.g. When you're coming down with flu all you can do is batten down the hatches and wait for it to pass.

适应新的环境。
acclimatise (UK spelling) /əˈklaɪ.mə.taɪz/ - to get used to a new place, situation or climate
e.g. Arrive two days early in order to acclimatize.
e.g. It takes many months to acclimatize to life in the tropics.
e.g. She was fine once she had acclimatized herself to the cold.

"shops have been engaged in a battle to keep customers onside by wooing them with super-cheap food."
本义 - onside = in a position on the field where you are allowed to play the ball（c.f. offside)
Idiom - get/keep somebody onside(British English) = to get/keep somebody's support e.g. The party needs to keep the major national newspapers onside if it's going to win the next election.

Confusable words: adultery and adulteration
adulterate something (with something) = to make food or drink less pure by adding another substance to it e.g. The water supply had been adulterated with chemicals from the soil.
adulteration (n.) e.g. the adulteration of tobacco / The chicken feed was contaminated with dioxins, probably by adulteration with mineral oils.

deign to do something - to do something unwillingly and in a way that shows that you think you are too important to do it
e.g. If she deigns to reply to my letter, I'll be extremely surprised.