beau-- lover
tot--informal a very small child
"He deserves to get the book thrown at him, that was a heinous crime," a neighbor told WOIO television.
to punish or criticize someone as severely as possible
2012年2月29日 星期三
get the book thrown at him
Cops say Lawson followed the tot out the window to escape her rampaging beau.
beau-- lover
tot--informal a very small child
"He deserves to get the book thrown at him, that was a heinous crime," a neighbor told WOIO television.
throw the book at somebody (informal)
beau-- lover
tot--informal a very small child
"He deserves to get the book thrown at him, that was a heinous crime," a neighbor told WOIO television.
2012年2月28日 星期二
VOA Story Pecos Bill
Today we tell a traditional American story called a "tall tale." A tall tale is a story about a person who is
larger than life. The descriptions in the story are exaggerated – much greater than in real life. Long ago, the people who settled in undeveloped areas in America first told tall tales. After a hard day's work, people gathered to tell each other funny stories.
Pecos Bill was a larger than life hero of the American West. No one knows who first told stories about Pecos Bill. Cowboys may have invented the stories. Others say Edward O'Reilly invented the character in stories he wrote for The Century Magazine in the early nineteen hundreds. The stories were collected in a book called "The Saga of Pecos Bill" published in nineteen twenty-three.
Another writer, James Cloyd Bowman, wrote an award-winning children's book called "Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time." The book won the Newbery Honor in nineteen thirty-eight.
Pecos Bill was not a historical person. But he does represent the spirit of early settlers in the American West. His unusual childhood and extraordinary actions tell about people who believed there were no limits to what they could do. Now, here is Barbara Klein with our story.
BARBARA KLEIN: Pecos Bill had one of the strangest childhoods a boy ever had. It all started after his father decided that there was no longer enough room in east Texas for his family.
"Pack up, Ma!" he cried. "Neighbors movin' in fifty miles away! It's getting' too crowded!"
So they loaded up a wagon with all their things. Now some say they had fifteen children while others say eighteen. However many there were, the children were louder than thunder. And as they set off across the wild country of west Texas, their mother and father could hardly hear a thing.
Now, as they came to the Pecos River, the wagon hit a big rock. The force threw little Bill out of the wagon and he landed on the sandy ground. Mother did not know Bill was gone until she gathered the children for the midday meal. Mother set off with some of the children to look for Bill, but they could find no sign of him.
Well, some people say Bill was just a baby when his family lost him. Others say he was four years old. But all agree that a group of animals called coyotes found Bill and raised him. Bill did all the things those animals did, like chase lizards and howl at the moon. He became as good a coyote as any.
Now, Bill spent seventeen years living like a coyote until one day a cowboy rode by on his horse. Some say the cowboy was one of Bill's brothers. Whoever he was, he took one look at Bill and asked, "What are you?"
Bill was not used to human language. At first, he could not say anything. The cowboy repeated his question. This time, Bill said, "varmint."
That is a word used for any kind of wild animal.
"No you aren't," said the cowboy.
"Yes, I am," said Bill. "I have fleas."
"Lots of people have fleas," said the cowboy. "You don't have a tail."
"Yes, I do," said Bill.
"Show it to me then," the cowboy said.
Bill looked at his backside and realized that he did not have a tail like the other coyotes. "Well, what am I then?" asked Bill.
"You're a cowboy! So start acting like one!" the cowboy cried out. Well that was all Bill needed to hear. He said goodbye to his coyote friends and left to join the world of humans.
Now, Pecos Bill was a good cowboy. Still, he hungered for adventure. One day he heard about a rough group of men. There is some debate over what the group was called. But one storyteller calls it the "Hell's Gate Gang."
So Bill set out across the rough country to find this gang of men. Well, Bill's horse soon was injured so Bill had to carry it for a hundred miles. Then Bill met a rattlesnake fifty feet long. The snake made a hissing noise and was not about to let Bill pass. But after a tense minute, Bill beat the snake until it surrendered. He felt sorry for the varmint, though, and wrapped it around his arm.
After Bill walked another hundred miles, he came across an angry mountain lion. There was a huge battle, but Bill took control of the big cat and put his saddle on it. He rode that mountain lion all the way to the camp of the Hell's Gate Gang.
Now, when Bill saw the gang he shouted out, "Who's the boss around here?"
A huge cowboy, nine feet tall, took one look at Bill and said in a shaky voice, "I was the boss. But you are the boss from here on in."
With his gang, Pecos Bill was able to create the biggest ranch in the Southwest. Bill and his men had so many cattle that they needed all of New Mexico to hold them. Arizona was the pasture where the cattle ate grass.
Pecos Bill invented the art of being a cowboy. He invented the skill of throwing a special rope called a lasso over a cow's head to catch wandering cattle.
Some say he used a rattlesnake for a lasso. Others say he made a lasso so big that it circled the whole Earth.
Bill invented the method of using a hot branding iron to permanently put the mark of a ranch on a cow's skin. That helped stop people from stealing cattle. Some say he invented cowboy songs to help calm the cattle and make the cowboy's life easier. But he is also said to have invented tarantulas and scorpions as jokes. Cowboys have had trouble with those poisonous creatures ever since.
Now, Pecos Bill could ride anything that ever was. So, as some tell the story, there came a storm bigger than any other. It all happened during the worst drought the West had ever seen. It was so dry that horses and cows started to dry up and blow away in the wind. So when Bill saw the windstorm, he got an idea. The huge tornado kicked across the land like a wild bronco. But Bill jumped on it without a thought.
He rode that tornado across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, all the time squeezing the rain out of it to save the land from drought. When the storm was over, Bill fell off the tornado. He landed in California. He left a hole so deep that to this day it is known as Death Valley.
Now, Bill had a horse named Widow Maker. He got that name because any man who rode that horse would be thrown off and killed and his wife would become a widow. No one could ride that horse but Bill.
And Widow Maker, in the end, caused the biggest problem for Pecos Bill. You see, one day Bill saw a woman. Not just any woman, but a wild, red- haired woman, riding a giant catfish down the Rio Grande River.
Her name was Slue-foot Sue. And Bill fell in love with her at first sight. Well, Bill would not rest until he had asked for her hand in marriage. And Slue-foot Sue accepted.
On their wedding day, Pecos Bill dressed in his best buckskin suit. And Sue wore a beautiful white dress with a huge steel-spring bustle in the back. It was the kind of big dress that many women wore in those days — the bigger the better.
Now, after the marriage ceremony Slue-foot Sue got a really bad idea. She decided that she wanted to ride Widow Maker. Bill begged her not to try. But she had her mind made up.
Well, the second she jumped on the horse's back he began to kick and buck like nothing anyone had ever seen. He sent Sue flying so high that she sailed clear over the new moon.
She fell back to Earth, but the steel-spring bustle just bounced her back up as high as before.
Now, there are many different stories about what happened next. One story says Bill saw that Sue was in trouble. She would keep bouncing forever if nothing was done. So he took his rope out -- though some say it was a huge rattlesnake -- and lassoed Sue to catch her and bring her down to Earth. Only, she just bounced him back up with her.
Somehow the two came to rest on the moon. And that's where they stayed. Some people say they raised a family up there. Their children were as loud and wild as Bill and Sue were in their younger days. People say the sound of thunder that sometimes carries over the dry land around the Pecos River is nothing more than Pecos Bill's family laughing up a storm.
larger than life. The descriptions in the story are exaggerated – much greater than in real life. Long ago, the people who settled in undeveloped areas in America first told tall tales. After a hard day's work, people gathered to tell each other funny stories.
Pecos Bill was a larger than life hero of the American West. No one knows who first told stories about Pecos Bill. Cowboys may have invented the stories. Others say Edward O'Reilly invented the character in stories he wrote for The Century Magazine in the early nineteen hundreds. The stories were collected in a book called "The Saga of Pecos Bill" published in nineteen twenty-three.
Another writer, James Cloyd Bowman, wrote an award-winning children's book called "Pecos Bill: The Greatest Cowboy of All Time." The book won the Newbery Honor in nineteen thirty-eight.
Pecos Bill was not a historical person. But he does represent the spirit of early settlers in the American West. His unusual childhood and extraordinary actions tell about people who believed there were no limits to what they could do. Now, here is Barbara Klein with our story.
BARBARA KLEIN: Pecos Bill had one of the strangest childhoods a boy ever had. It all started after his father decided that there was no longer enough room in east Texas for his family.
"Pack up, Ma!" he cried. "Neighbors movin' in fifty miles away! It's getting' too crowded!"
So they loaded up a wagon with all their things. Now some say they had fifteen children while others say eighteen. However many there were, the children were louder than thunder. And as they set off across the wild country of west Texas, their mother and father could hardly hear a thing.
Now, as they came to the Pecos River, the wagon hit a big rock. The force threw little Bill out of the wagon and he landed on the sandy ground. Mother did not know Bill was gone until she gathered the children for the midday meal. Mother set off with some of the children to look for Bill, but they could find no sign of him.
Well, some people say Bill was just a baby when his family lost him. Others say he was four years old. But all agree that a group of animals called coyotes found Bill and raised him. Bill did all the things those animals did, like chase lizards and howl at the moon. He became as good a coyote as any.
Now, Bill spent seventeen years living like a coyote until one day a cowboy rode by on his horse. Some say the cowboy was one of Bill's brothers. Whoever he was, he took one look at Bill and asked, "What are you?"
Bill was not used to human language. At first, he could not say anything. The cowboy repeated his question. This time, Bill said, "varmint."
That is a word used for any kind of wild animal.
"No you aren't," said the cowboy.
"Yes, I am," said Bill. "I have fleas."
"Lots of people have fleas," said the cowboy. "You don't have a tail."
"Yes, I do," said Bill.
"Show it to me then," the cowboy said.
Bill looked at his backside and realized that he did not have a tail like the other coyotes. "Well, what am I then?" asked Bill.
"You're a cowboy! So start acting like one!" the cowboy cried out. Well that was all Bill needed to hear. He said goodbye to his coyote friends and left to join the world of humans.
Now, Pecos Bill was a good cowboy. Still, he hungered for adventure. One day he heard about a rough group of men. There is some debate over what the group was called. But one storyteller calls it the "Hell's Gate Gang."
So Bill set out across the rough country to find this gang of men. Well, Bill's horse soon was injured so Bill had to carry it for a hundred miles. Then Bill met a rattlesnake fifty feet long. The snake made a hissing noise and was not about to let Bill pass. But after a tense minute, Bill beat the snake until it surrendered. He felt sorry for the varmint, though, and wrapped it around his arm.
After Bill walked another hundred miles, he came across an angry mountain lion. There was a huge battle, but Bill took control of the big cat and put his saddle on it. He rode that mountain lion all the way to the camp of the Hell's Gate Gang.
Now, when Bill saw the gang he shouted out, "Who's the boss around here?"
A huge cowboy, nine feet tall, took one look at Bill and said in a shaky voice, "I was the boss. But you are the boss from here on in."
With his gang, Pecos Bill was able to create the biggest ranch in the Southwest. Bill and his men had so many cattle that they needed all of New Mexico to hold them. Arizona was the pasture where the cattle ate grass.
Pecos Bill invented the art of being a cowboy. He invented the skill of throwing a special rope called a lasso over a cow's head to catch wandering cattle.
Some say he used a rattlesnake for a lasso. Others say he made a lasso so big that it circled the whole Earth.
Bill invented the method of using a hot branding iron to permanently put the mark of a ranch on a cow's skin. That helped stop people from stealing cattle. Some say he invented cowboy songs to help calm the cattle and make the cowboy's life easier. But he is also said to have invented tarantulas and scorpions as jokes. Cowboys have had trouble with those poisonous creatures ever since.
Now, Pecos Bill could ride anything that ever was. So, as some tell the story, there came a storm bigger than any other. It all happened during the worst drought the West had ever seen. It was so dry that horses and cows started to dry up and blow away in the wind. So when Bill saw the windstorm, he got an idea. The huge tornado kicked across the land like a wild bronco. But Bill jumped on it without a thought.
He rode that tornado across Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, all the time squeezing the rain out of it to save the land from drought. When the storm was over, Bill fell off the tornado. He landed in California. He left a hole so deep that to this day it is known as Death Valley.
Now, Bill had a horse named Widow Maker. He got that name because any man who rode that horse would be thrown off and killed and his wife would become a widow. No one could ride that horse but Bill.
And Widow Maker, in the end, caused the biggest problem for Pecos Bill. You see, one day Bill saw a woman. Not just any woman, but a wild, red- haired woman, riding a giant catfish down the Rio Grande River.
Her name was Slue-foot Sue. And Bill fell in love with her at first sight. Well, Bill would not rest until he had asked for her hand in marriage. And Slue-foot Sue accepted.
On their wedding day, Pecos Bill dressed in his best buckskin suit. And Sue wore a beautiful white dress with a huge steel-spring bustle in the back. It was the kind of big dress that many women wore in those days — the bigger the better.
Now, after the marriage ceremony Slue-foot Sue got a really bad idea. She decided that she wanted to ride Widow Maker. Bill begged her not to try. But she had her mind made up.
Well, the second she jumped on the horse's back he began to kick and buck like nothing anyone had ever seen. He sent Sue flying so high that she sailed clear over the new moon.
She fell back to Earth, but the steel-spring bustle just bounced her back up as high as before.
Now, there are many different stories about what happened next. One story says Bill saw that Sue was in trouble. She would keep bouncing forever if nothing was done. So he took his rope out -- though some say it was a huge rattlesnake -- and lassoed Sue to catch her and bring her down to Earth. Only, she just bounced him back up with her.
Somehow the two came to rest on the moon. And that's where they stayed. Some people say they raised a family up there. Their children were as loud and wild as Bill and Sue were in their younger days. People say the sound of thunder that sometimes carries over the dry land around the Pecos River is nothing more than Pecos Bill's family laughing up a storm.
2012年2月27日 星期一
stop-and-frisk
The quota system at the Bronx precinct involves color-coded reports that categorize cops by the numbers of arrests, summonses and stops they carry out, according to the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Matthews by the New York Civil Liberties Union.
Officer Craig Matthews filed a federal lawsuit in which he contends the precinct supervisors set minimum numbers that were expected of each officer in a given 30-day period: 15 summonses, 1 arrest and 2 street stops.
But some residents in the 42nd Precinct have long suspected that stop-and-frisk quotas are being used, they told the Daily News.
The police frisk (pat down) the person for weapons and question the person.
Officer Craig Matthews filed a federal lawsuit in which he contends the precinct supervisors set minimum numbers that were expected of each officer in a given 30-day period: 15 summonses, 1 arrest and 2 street stops.
But some residents in the 42nd Precinct have long suspected that stop-and-frisk quotas are being used, they told the Daily News.
The police frisk (pat down) the person for weapons and question the person.
decked out in a Knicks hat and jacket
Armando left Jacobi Medical Center Monday decked out in a Knicks hat and jacket — courtesy of his favorite hoops team — but he also wore a neck brace and a sling around his left arm.
If a person or thing is decked out with or in something, they are decorated with it or wearing it, usually for a special occasion.
If a person or thing is decked out with or in something, they are decorated with it or wearing it, usually for a special occasion.
A-Rod says Lin can crash with me
A-Rod’s choice of roommate would throw everyone for a curve — the Yankees star has a case of Linsanity.
“Wow, what a run,” Alex Rodriguez said of Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin yesterday at spring training in Tampa, Fla. “If he is still looking for a place to crash, he can crash at my apartment. Imagine the tabloids then ...
“The great thing about Linsanity is that it kind of reminds you how much fun the game can be.”
“Wow, what a run,” Alex Rodriguez said of Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin yesterday at spring training in Tampa, Fla. “If he is still looking for a place to crash, he can crash at my apartment. Imagine the tabloids then ...
“The great thing about Linsanity is that it kind of reminds you how much fun the game can be.”
throw someone a curve
1. Lit. to pitch a curveball
2. Fig. to confuse someone by doing something tricky or unexpected. 2012年2月22日 星期三
in droves
Celebrities are expected in droves.
in droves crowds of people
Howard issued Williams a challenge when the two spoke on Monday morning, according to the Magic’s team website. Howard recalling that “Linsanity” began against the Nets, raised the bar for Williams.
raise the bar Fig. to make a task a little more difficult
“Everything changed for the Knicks the moment he checked into the game in New Jersey,’’ Wade said. “ You hope that when your opportunity comes you can take advantage of it, but you don’t ever think of doing it the way he has. He’s booked out.”
Jeremy Lin gets 17 points and nine assists as the Knicks blow out the Hawks. More importantly, he worked in harmony with Carmelo Anthony (below, 15 points) in the runaway victory at the Garden.
"We love playing against them and they love playing against us," Wade said. "I don't have to pump it up. It's going to be pumped up enough."
pump up [pump sth/sb⇔up] phr v
to fill a tyre, airbed etc with air until it is full
= inflate
informal to increase the value, amount, or level of something
in droves crowds of people
Howard issued Williams a challenge when the two spoke on Monday morning, according to the Magic’s team website. Howard recalling that “Linsanity” began against the Nets, raised the bar for Williams.
raise the bar Fig. to make a task a little more difficult
Jeremy Lin gets 17 points and nine assists as the Knicks blow out the Hawks. More importantly, he worked in harmony with Carmelo Anthony (below, 15 points) in the runaway victory at the Garden.
You use runaway to describe a situation in which something increases or develops very quickly and cannot be controlled.
"We love playing against them and they love playing against us," Wade said. "I don't have to pump it up. It's going to be pumped up enough."
pump up [pump sth/sb⇔up] phr v
to fill a tyre, airbed etc with air until it is full= inflate
informal to increase the value, amount, or level of something
2012年2月21日 星期二
2月22日筆記
dish informal
to give a lot of information about something or someone, especially something that would usually be secret or private
A cold-blooded killer was sentenced to 25 years in the slammer today after helping the feds bring down the head of a notorious Chinese gang based in Queens.
the slammer informal prison
A cold-blooded killer was sentenced to 25 years in the slammer today after helping the feds bring down the head of a notorious Chinese gang based in Queens.
the slammer informal prison
To throw (someone) under the bus is an idiomatic phrase meaning to sacrifice another person (often a friend or ally), who is usually not deserving of such treatment, out of malice or for personal gain.
Monkey off the back
Monkey off the back
a monkey on somebody's back (American & Australian)
a serious problem that will not go away
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