Animal Crackers (garfield cat)

http://www.mycomicspage.com/comic_sample.tt?ref=mcp&feature=animalcrackers


nap
{noun}
1 [countable] a short sleep, especially during the day

• have/take a nap

I usually take a nap after lunch.
an afternoon nap
2 [singular]TIM the soft surface on some cloth and leather, made by brushing the short fine threads or hairs in one direction ➔ pile(7)


pile
{noun}
7material [uncountable and countable]TIM the soft surface of short threads on a carpet or some types of cloth

• thick/deep pile

Her feet sank into the thick pile of the rug.

a deep pile carpet

snoopy today's strip

Peanuts
a humorous US cartoon strip (=a set of drawings that tell a story in a newspaper or magazine) by Charles Schultz, about a boy called Charlie Brown, who is nice but not very confident and often unlucky. Other characters include his dog Snoopy, his sister Sally, and his friends Lucy, Linus, Pigpen, Peppermint Patty, and Schroeder.

peanuts
{noun}
1 [countable] a pale brown nut in a thin shell which grows under the ground [= groundnut]:
a packet of roasted peanuts

2 peanuts informal a very small amount of money:
The hotel workers get paid peanuts.
I'm tired of working for peanuts.


you'd
1 the short form of 'you had':
If you'd been more careful, this wouldn't have happened.

2 the short form of 'you would':
You'd be amazed at how much she spends on clothes.

merely
{adverb}
1 used to emphasize how small or unimportant something or someone is [= only]:
He's merely a boy - you can't expect him to understand.
2 used to emphasize that nothing more than what you say is involved [= just]:
We're merely good friends.
He merely shrugged and walked away.

• not merely/rather than merely

used before the less important of two ideas in a sentence to emphasize the more important idea:
It's not merely a matter of cost, but whether she's old enough to go on holiday alone.
It's important to write these goals down, rather than merely think about them.

snoopy today's strip

go by
{phrasal verb}

1 if time goes by, it passes:

Things will get easier as time goes by.

• as the days/weeks/years go by

As the weeks went by, I became more and more worried.

• hardly a day/week/month etc goes by

Hardly a week goes by without some food scare being reported in the media.

• in days/times/years etc gone by

These herbs would have been grown for medicinal purposes in days gone by.

• go by something

to form an opinion about someone or something from the information or experience that you have:
You can't always go by appearances.
If his past plays are anything to go by, this should be a play worth watching.

• go by something

to do things according to a set of rules or laws:
Only a fool goes by the rules all the time.

snoopy today's strip

mental
{adj}
1 [only before noun] relating to the health or state of someone's mind

• mental illness
• mental health.

2 [only before noun] relating to the mind and thinking, or happening only in the mind:

• mental attitude.
• mental picture/image

3 to make a special effort to remember something:

• make a mental note

4 a difficulty in remembering something or in understanding something:

• mental block

5 (British English spoken informal)
a) to get very angry
b) to start behaving in an uncontrolled or excited way

• go mental
  

6 [not before noun] (British English informal) thinking or behaving in a way that seems crazy or strange:

• mentally = {adv}
• somebody must be mental
  

English Learning, News1(unfinished)

From The Times

September 22, 2007

Bush may bypass UN with tough sanctions against Iran

Tom Baldwin in Washington

President Bush is prepared to bypass the United Nations and instead work with European allies on imposing tougher sanctions against Iran’s defiant stance on its nuclear programme.

He is understood to be increasingly frustrated by the snail-pace progress of four months-long talks with Russia and China over punishing Tehran for failing to comply with successive Security Council resolutions. The west fears that Iran’s avowed determination to secure nuclear energy is cover for pursuit of a military programme.

But, even as officials from the US, Russia, China, France Britain and Germany met in Washington today to consider the next steps, diplomats admitted that America and the three European powers might be forced to “go it alone”.

Such a decision would represent a significant crack in the united front the world has so far presented to Iran. It would also be seen as evidence of the tensions within the Bush administration over how far the US will follow the diplomatic route rather take a military option - which hawks have determinedly kept “on the table”.

Although the US already employs a full range of economic sanctions against Iran, Washington has repeatedly pressed European banks and energy companies to cease investing in a state it lists as a state sponsor of terrorism. Firms that could be hard hit include the Anglo-Dutch oil giant, Shell, which is considering a multi-billion pound project in Iran to produce natural gas.

The new French government of Nicolas Sarkozy has been particularly receptive to calls for further sanctions in recent weeks. A spokesman for the French president said agreement on further UN sanctions “could take time for this reason we are thinking of additional measures”.

Britain and - to a lesser extent - Germany, are also sympathetic, but remain more marginally optimistic than the US about securing progress when ministers to the UN General Assembly next week.

Mr Bush insisted on Thursday that “the objective, of course, is to solve this peacefully,” adding: “It’s imperative that we continue to work in a multilateral fashion...and one place to do so is at the United Nations.” But Russia and China have made clear they are opposed to additional UN sanctions that Iran has promised to answer unresolved questions about its past nuclear programmes by the end of the year.

Vitaliy Churkin, Russia’s UN ambassador, said today: “One can impose sanctions almost every day but this won’t bring the resolution of the problem closer.” But US officials point out that by the end of this year Iran could have installed many more centrifuges at its Natanz plant used for uranium enrichment.

Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of state, said today: “A number of companies are not going to deal with Iran. And I think it is extremely important that governments signal .that it is not business as usual.” Speculation that the US could be planning airstrikes to destroy the uranium enrichment plant at Natanz has been heightened by Israel’s bombing on September 6 of a suspected nuclear site in Syria.

The Washington Post reported today that Israel’s decision to attack as based on intelligence shared with the US that North Korea may have been assisting Syria - a country linked with Iran - fulfil its nuclear ambitions.

Details of the operation remain shrouded in deep secrecy. Mr Bush’s refusal on it to comment this week has been attributed to his concern about undermining long-running negotiations designed to persuade North Korea to scrap its own nuclear programme.

But the mystery may also reflect acute sensitivity among Washington’s neo-conservatives about the wisdom of pursuing diplomatic solutions with states such as North Korea and Iran - both of which were once branded part of the “axis of evil” by Mr Bush.

British officials, however, insist that persistent reports about US military plans for an airstrike against Iran are being cooked up “by Sunday newspaper journalists who can get retired generals and think tank people to say whatever they want”.

Sir David Manning, Britain’s ambassador to Washington, told The Times that he has detected no sign from the US Administration “at the moment” that they are “near to abandoning the diplomatic route”.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president who is flying to New York tomorrow for the UN meeting, has already been stirring trouble by threatening to pay a visit to the site of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centre.

Today he expressed amazement at a decision by New York police to refuse him access to the site. One official commented: “This is typical of the Iranians, they will do everything they can to grab the headlines and split us all up.”

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
vocabulary

title

bypass: 旁路

sanctions: 制裁

1

instead: 代替; 抵作; 反而

allies: 盟邦; 盟國

defiant: 挑釁的; 目中無人的

stance: 準備擊球姿勢; 踏腳處; 位置; 姿態

2

frustrated: 坎坷

snail: 蝸牛; 腦筋遲鈍的人; 凸狀渦形輪; 螺; 螄; 蝓

Tehran: 德黑蘭

diplomats
[countable]
1 someone who officially represents their government in a foreign country.
French diplomats
2 someone who is good at dealing with people without upsetting them

admitted
past tense and past participle admitted, present participle admitting
1accept truth [intransitive and transitive] to agree unwillingly that something is true or that someone else is right:
'Okay, so maybe I was a little bit scared,' Jenny admitted.
admit (that)
You may not like her, but you have to admit that she's good at her job.
admit to somebody (that)
Paul admitted to me that he sometimes feels jealous of my friendship with Stanley.
I must admit, I didn't actually do anything to help her.
Admit it! I'm right, aren't I?
admit (to) doing something
Dana admitted feeling hurt by what I had said.
freely/openly/frankly etc admit (=admit without being ashamed)
Phillips openly admits to having an alcohol problem.
2accept blame [intransitive and transitive] to say that you have done something wrong, especially something criminal [= confess; ≠ deny]
admit doing something
Greene admitted causing death by reckless driving.
admit to (doing) something
A quarter of all workers admit to taking time off when they are not ill.
After questioning, he admitted to the murder.
No organization has admitted responsibility for the bombing.
3allow to enter [transitive] to allow someone to enter a public place to watch a game, performance etc [↪ admittance, admission]
admit somebody to/into something
Only ticket-holders will be admitted into the stadium.
4allow to join [transitive] to allow someone to join an organization, club etc
admit somebody to/into something
Drake was admitted into the club in 1997.
5hospital [transitive] if people at a hospital admit someone, that person is taken in to be given treatment, tests, or care:
What time was she admitted?
be admitted to hospital British English /be admitted to the hospital American English
6 admit defeat to stop trying to do something because you realize you cannot succeed:
For Haskill, selling the restaurant would be admitting defeat.
7 admit evidence to allow a particular piece of evidence to be used in a court of law:
Courts can refuse to admit evidence obtained illegally by police.
admit of something phrasal verb
if a situation admits of a particular explanation, that explanation can be accepted as possible:
The facts admit of no other explanation.

represent
1 speak for somebody [transitive] to officially speak or take action for another person or group of people:
2 in court [transitive] to speak officially for someone in a court of law
represent yourself
3 be something [linking verb] to form or be something [↪ amount to]:
government [transitive]PGP to have been elected to a parliament, council etc by the people in a particular area:
5 sign [transitive] to be a sign or mark that means something [= stand for]:

significant
1 having an important effect or influence, especially on what will happen in the future [≠ insignificant]:
2 large enough to be noticeable or have noticeable effects [≠ insignificant]:
3 a significant look, smile etc has a special meaning that is not known to everyone:

diplomatic
1 PGO relating to or involving the work of diplomats:
2PG diplomatic relations/ties the arrangement between two countries that each should keep representatives at an embassy in the other's country
3 dealing with people politely and skilfully without upsetting them

route
1 a way from one place to another
2 a way between two places that buses, planes, ships etc regularly travel
3 a way of doing something or achieving a particular result
4 (Route 66/54 ) used to show the number of a main road in the US

military
1 used by, involving, or relating to the army, navy, or airforce:
2 with military precision if you do something with military precision, you do it in a very organized and exact way:

cease
{verb}
1 (formal) to stop doing something or stop happening

• cease to do something
• cease doing something
• cease trading/production/operations etc
  

2 cease and desist (law) to stop doing something
{noun}
(formal) without stopping

• without cease
  

sponsor
{noun}
1
a) a person or company that pays for a show, broadcast, sports event etc especially in exchange for the right to advertise at that event
b) a person or company that supports someone by paying for their training, education, living costs etc

• sponsor of

2 someone who agrees to give someone else money for a charity if they walk, run etc a particular distance
3 someone who officially introduces or supports a proposal for a new law
4 someone who officially agrees to help someone else, or to be responsible for what they do:

{verb}
1
a) to give money to a sports event, theatre, institution etc, especially in exchange for the right to advertise:
b) to support someone by paying for their training, education, living costs etc:
2 to officially support a proposal for a new law
3 to agree to help someone or be responsible for what they do
4 to agree to give someone money for charity if they walk, run etc a particular distance
5 an event in which many people walk, swim etc a particular distance so that people will give them money for a charity

• sponsored walk/swim etc

6 supported and encouraged by the UN, the US etc:

• UN-sponsored/US-sponsored/government-sponsored etc

charity {noun}


terrorism
{noun}
the use of violence such as bombing, shooting, or kidnapping to obtain political demands such as making a government do something:

• combat terrorism
• act of terrorism
• international terrorism

giant
{noun} [C]

1 an imaginary creature like a man but extremely tall, strong and usually very cruel, appearing especially in children's storiesSee also gigantic.

2 someone who is unusually tall or large

3 a very successful and powerful person or organization:

{adjective}

extremely large

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
資料來源http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article2485358.ece

論語，一本值得溫故知新的書

論語，是一部孔子及其弟子的言論集，編書至今已跨越了兩千五百年的光陰。這部書可說是中國人的思想經典，他的存在，在心理意義下淡淡的維持人與人的和平。

怎麼說呢？

孔子崇尚禮樂，倡六藝，鼓勵學詩，這些其實都有背後的深刻動機。從中國的禮記可以看出，禮經中的內容，包含了權力的範圍，制度運作與價值的提倡。並具多面向行為的規範，幾乎囊括周朝人之間的關係。除了內容上沒有刑罰，他的存在就像現在的法律。樂經內容不明，但是在那個時代裏，彈奏音樂可能被視為抒發心情的事情，而且我推測，樂經裡一定包含了所謂的「樂律」說明怎樣的調子與怎樣的心情相合。而詩經，詩經是人民心情的縮影，且記下了那個時代的生活環境。

孔子提倡的這些，無一不是使人能更開闊的看事情，並且了解為甚麼要有序，守序的價值在哪裡，這次讀論語後，我知道自己更貼近了，孔子是可忍孰不可忍的心情。

遺忘的躲藏

那天，由於宿舍大搬遷的緣故，在家裡東翻西找，將三年沒有認真整理過的房間大大的整理一遍，發現了好久沒有看到的小豬豬存錢桶，與以前的平安符，還有很久以前認真收藏的貼紙，奇怪的石頭，還有遊戲卡片。

好奇怪呢，是什麼緣故，會讓以前的自己會很認真的收藏這些東西呢？我數著手中近十張的快樂羽毛掃帚卡片，回憶著為跟同學凹這些卡片，南征北戰的無聊歲月。想著想著，只想到那時很快樂，不管是輸了不甘心還是贏了爽歪歪，都是有趣的。那是個任真的年代，大概就跟古人說的任性自得相近吧。

不過，再怎麼珍視的東西，都會淡淡的退出人生的舞台，不管是收藏還是人與人之間的情感。就連自己，在別人的心中也是一樣的，會漸漸的忘卻。「遺忘的躲藏」，這個名字開始在腦中發光，我知道，這裡會跟很多東西一樣，漸漸的被埋在新的激情裡，這是必然的歸地。

也許未來的哪天，再複習以前的溫柔時，你、我可以找到，這塊已經先預見未來的，這裡。

結語

會忘記珍惜的東西，不是因為不重要，
所以勿須自責，說不定它還在
某個安靜的角落，等待你開啟。

Leah Dizon

如果美麗可以比較，Leah Dizon最接近我的美麗滿分。

Leah Dizon是一名混血兒，有著中國、菲律賓、法國、美國四國的基因，剛出道時是賽車女郎，後來到日本發展，成為日本的歌星，神奇的是...她還在學日語。

比起美國人，日本人更喜歡Leah Dizon，在日本的發展空間比在美國大，所以目前他決定在日本發展，最近看到他的新聞照，好像有變胖了一點，但不影響我對於她的的評價。Leah Dizon是個千變萬化的模特兒，不管是東方還是西方的照型，不過我還是喜歡東方造型的她，比較接近自然，比起狂野的美國派，還是俏皮的她比較對胃。

她也有專屬的部落格及網站，您可以點文章中的連結知道她的最新動向。

叔叔有練過

叔叔有練過已經從經典笑話成為常用語了，為什麼是叔叔有練過流行，而不是阿姨有練過，阿公有練過，姐姐有練過或是阿伯有練過呢？我猜，是這樣子的...

一般大眾所認知大叔映象通常是約40歲上下的人物，阿姨映象的年齡也約雷同。人生育第一胎平均是年齡在30歲左右，到了五歲至15歲的時候小孩會喜歡問東問西的，父母為了讓孩子理解，在和自己的小孩講話時，通常會用孩子的輩分作為立足點去稱呼其他人或者是自己，去說明或解釋東西。由於女生多傾向保持形象，那些滑稽的角色大多為男性擔綱。再者，人類的技藝與經驗純熟期在人的映象中大約在35-40歲，所以看到那些做不可思議的危險動作或事情的人時，為了讓小孩不要去模仿，都對著小孩說，叔叔有練過。

叔叔有練過好笑，是因為我們會聯想到怪叔叔的滑稽動作。