YOYO-ISG 100402 Novel / Dewey p.138 - p.269

[Timothy Cheng]

Dear all,
Here are the useful sentences and vocabularies that I suppose, and the questions I met.

Questions:
1.a sneaky son of a gun p179
2.When it came to an important principle, Dewey would never roll over and play dog. P182
3. This was no ordinary spur-of-the-moment visit. P197


Useful Sentences:
1. The pain has been blinding. p177
2. A few uneventful years go by. p177
3. What have you done to deserve this? p182
4. He was accommodating. P182
5. I was nuts. P184
6. it’s for your own good, Dew.
7. I agonized over it for more than one year. P186
8. The one helped me through the end of my marriage.
9. Whenever I have needed him, Dewey has always been by my side. P188
10. when the technology caught on, they sent e-mail. P195


Useful Vocabularies:
1. Halfhearted p178
showing no enthusiasm and interest
2. Picky p178
Informal disapproving describes someone who is very careful about choosing only what they like.
3. Waver p182
to lose strength, determination or purpose, especially temporarily
4. make it snappy p183
informal used to tell someone that you want them to do something immediately and to do it quickly
5. moist
slightly wet, especially in a good way
6. absurd
stupid or unreasonable; silly in a humorous way
7. fastidious p184
giving too much attention to small details and wanting everything to be correct and perfect
8. backfire
(of a plan) to have the opposite result from the one you intended
9. exacerbate p185
to make something which is already bad worse
10. flop p186
Failure, fall
11. femininity p187
acting, or having qualities which are traditionally considered to be suitable for a woman
12. disguise p192
to give a new appearance to a person or thing, especially in order to hide its true form
13. smite p195
to hit someone forcefully or to have a sudden powerful or destructive effect on someone
14. perk up
to improve or become more exciting
15. pecking order p196
an informal social system in which some people or groups know they are more or less important than others

[chiron]

Hi, Chrion

According to Longman dictionary,

moon over somebody/something phrasal verb
old-fashioned to spend your time thinking about someone that you are in love with: ]

So, I think it is supposed to mean "思念某人". What do you think?

Michael

Hi, Micahel:
Thanks for your compensation. According to the context, the phrase used here may not have the implication, but I'm still surprised to know that when it comes to "moon", both western or eastern people would associate "missing" with it. Staring at moon really makes people sentimental. What do you say??

[chiron]

It's already Thursday night. Considering most of you need to work tomorrow, I assume you won't have enough time to answer on-line questions. Perhaps you can take it as your homework after tomorrow's physical meeting. Let's work together to find those answers on weekends.

[Sherry Liao]

(P. 223) no-holds-barred: [only before noun] a no-holds-barred discussion, situation etc is one in which there are no rules or limits [Longman]
Ex.: Viewers had been promised a no-holds-barred interview with the former mayor.
Ex.: Mr. Nixon may well have had a no-holds-barred approach to dealing with political adversaries.

(P.226) to say the least: used to show that something is worse or more serious than you are actually saying [Longman]
Ex.: It's going to be awkward, to say the least.
Ex.: His teaching methods were strange, to say the least.

(P. 228) burn something to a crisp: to burn something very badly
Ex.: He burned the sausages to a crisp.
Ex.: I played a little golf yesterday and my neck got burned to a crisp.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/burn+to+a+crisp

(P. 235) not so much...as...: used to say that one description of someone or something is less suitable or correct than another [Longman]
Ex.: She was not so much nervous as impatient for the journey to be over.
Ex.: They're not so much lovers as friends.
Ex.: I don't feel angry so much as sad..

[Sherry Liao]

[on-line questions]
1. What does this sentence on p.145 mean: Dewey could “zone out” in that pose for an hour like a fat little man at pose with the world?

zone out:
to not notice or stop being interested in what is happening around you.
Ex.: When I'm dancing I zone out and feel like I'm the only one in the room. I just flew in from Europe this morning, so don't get upset if I just zone out in the middle of the meeting.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/zone+out

I hate to spoil the fun, but the phrase "zone out" is not new. It's with ISG 0412.

[Michael-liu]

Hi, Chrion

According to Longman dictionary,

moon over somebody/something phrasal verb
old-fashioned to spend your time thinking about someone that you are in love with: ]

So, I think it is supposed to mean "思念某人". What do you think?

Michael

Hi, Micahel:
Thanks for your compensation. According to the context, the phrase used here may not have the implication, but I'm still surprised to know that when it comes to "moon", both western or eastern people would associate "missing" with it. Staring at moon really makes people sentimental. What do you say??

Hi, Chiron

Since I don't have the novel, could you kindly show the context here for me to verify the meaning?

Many thanks
Michael

[Michael-liu]

It's already Thursday night. Considering most of you need to work tomorrow, I assume you won't have enough time to answer on-line questions. Perhaps you can take it as your homework after tomorrow's physical meeting. Let's work together to find those answers on weekends.

Chiron,

Can I post answers of these on-line questions?

Michael

[Sherry Liao]

2. What does this sentence on p.164 mean: As the “credits roll”, feign extreme boredom and leave the meeting before it concludes?

Closing credits, inside a motion picture or television program, come at the end of a movie or show and list all the cast and crew involved in the production. They are usually shown on the screen in small characters, which either flip very quickly from page to page, or crawl from bottom to top of the screen. Credits which crawl either left to right or up and down are also known as rolling credits, which comes from pre digital days when the names were literally on a roll of paper and wound past in front of the camera. Increasingly, post-credits scenes are being added to the end of films.
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Credits+roll

Also: http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=797864

3. What does this sentence on p.166 mean: she’d say with Iowa practicality whenever Dewey “copped a little attitude” or refused to engage in a patron’s two-armed hug?

cop an attitude: Sl. to take a negative or opposite attitude about something. My teenage son copped an attitude when I asked why he seemed to be sneaking around.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/cop+an+attitude

4. What does this sentence on p.168 mean: Dewey knew Mark wasn’t a cat lover, and he took fiendish delight in suddenly jumping on the table and “scaring the bejeebers” out of him?

scare the bejeebers out of: (idiomatic, transitive) To thoroughly terrify.
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/scare_the ... ers_out_of

5. What does this sentence on p.169 mean: I checked his nose to see if he “had a temperature”?

I am not an ailurophile, but I guess a warm nose is a symptom of illness for a cat. Maybe someone else can answer this question.

[Michael-liu]

5. What does this sentence on p.169 mean: I checked his nose to see if he “had a temperature”?

I am not an ailurophile, but I guess a warm nose is a symptom of illness for a cat. Maybe someone else can answer this question.

"had a temperature”就是"發燒"的意思


Michael

[chiron]

[on-line questions]
1. What does this sentence on p.145 mean: Dewey could “zone out” in that pose for an hour like a fat little man at pose with the world?

zone out:
to not notice or stop being interested in what is happening around you.
Ex.: When I'm dancing I zone out and feel like I'm the only one in the room. I just flew in from Europe this morning, so don't get upset if I just zone out in the middle of the meeting.
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/zone+out

I hate to spoil the fun, but the phrase "zone out" is not new. It's with ISG 0412.

Oops, you know I always have problem of short memory. ^_^

[chiron]

It's already Thursday night. Considering most of you need to work tomorrow, I assume you won't have enough time to answer on-line questions. Perhaps you can take it as your homework after tomorrow's physical meeting. Let's work together to find those answers on weekends.

Chiron,

Can I post answers of these on-line questions?

Michael

Go ahead, pls!!

[chiron]

Hi, Chrion

According to Longman dictionary,

moon over somebody/something phrasal verb
old-fashioned to spend your time thinking about someone that you are in love with: ]

So, I think it is supposed to mean "思念某人". What do you think?

Michael

Hi, Micahel:
Thanks for your compensation. According to the context, the phrase used here may not have the implication, but I'm still surprised to know that when it comes to "moon", both western or eastern people would associate "missing" with it. Staring at moon really makes people sentimental. What do you say??

Hi, Chiron

Since I don't have the novel, could you kindly show the context here for me to verify the meaning?

Many thanks
Michael

Hello, Michael:

Here is the context:

I'll always remember the former city manager. Every time he saw me, he said with a smile, "Are you girls at the library still mooning over that cat?" Maybe he was trying to be funny, but I couldn't help but feel offended. Girls! --> In my point of view, I feel the phrase here is kind of derogatory.

[Michael-liu]

Hello, Michael:

Here is the context:

I'll always remember the former city manager. Every time he saw me, he said with a smile, "Are you girls at the library still mooning over that cat?" Maybe he was trying to be funny, but I couldn't help but feel offended. Girls! --> In my point of view, I feel the phrase here is kind of derogatory.

Hi, Chiron

According to Google Dictionary, "moon over" means to spend time thinking about somebody that you love, especially when other people think this is silly or annoying 痴痴地思念

so, I believe in this context, the city manager implies that the girls " 痴痴地思念" that cat, and this term is used especially when other people think this is silly or annoying. That is why the girls feel offended.

If it means "逗那隻貓咪" here, then I dont see why it would be "offended". Also, I guess "逗某人" is a wrong translation on the internet for this phrase.

Michael

[Kooper]

1. cloud (v) : to overshadow; obscure; darken
Maybe you think my love clouds my judgment (p247)

I like this expression. To cloud one's judgement / mind / vision means to make them less able to think clearly or make sensible decisions
Ex: Don't let your personal feelings cloud your judgement.
Ex: Fear had clouded his vision.

2. back off : to abandon (an intention, objective, etc.)
As soon as she spoke the train jumped the tracks and the board backed off (p248)

3. account for : to give reasons for (an event, act, etc.)
That's why he had been peeing more, and it probably accounted for his peeing outside the litter box (p253)

4. flesh and blood : Human nature or physical existence, together with its weaknesses
Dewey had gone from being a flesh-and-blood animal with thoughts and feelings, to being a symbol,
a metaphore, and object that could be owned (p247)

[Kooper]

2. make a fuss (ph.) 大驚小怪
Ex: I got the feeling he was putting me in my place, that he was speaking for a large block of community leaders who couldn’t even conceive of “making a fuss” over things like books, libraries, and cats. (p.200)

Making a fuss over sb/sth seems to have a different meaning from making a fuss (about sth). Your definition is more of making a fuss than making a fuss over sb/sth. Here is the definition of making a fuss over sb/sth quoted from a Longman dictionary.

make a fuss over sb/sth: to pay a lot of attention to sb/sth, to show that you are pleased with them or like them;

Ex: Make a fuss over your dog when he behaves properly.
Ex: She doesn't see her grandchildren very often so she makes a real fuss of them when she does.