Time flies so fast that in the blink of an eye we have entered 2022. For our Chinese, the first big event of the new year is the long-awaited opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics.
From today, there are still about 27 days before the opening of the Beijing Winter Olympics on February 4, and the general director of the opening and closing of this Winter Olympics is still directed by Zhang Yimou. So what kind of surprise will he bring us this time? Will it surprise the world once again like the previous Summer Olympics in Beijing in 2008?
Recently, the media interviewed director Zhang Yimou, and he also revealed some of the design ingenuity and his feelings of the Winter Games, let's take a look at the report of Variety Magazine!
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01 mastermind
Planning, organizing, manipulating
Acclaimed Chinese director Zhang Yimou willmastermindthe opening and closing ceremonies for the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games, state media said Friday.
State media said On Friday that renowned Chinese director Zhang Yimou would preside over the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Here mastermind, as a verb, denotes "planning, organizing, manipulating", although composed of two nouns: from master (n.) + mind (n.), which means "outstanding intellect", but can be used as a verb (also the planner of the noun), referring to "participation in the planning and execution of major actions at the highest level".
Synonyms are: plan, manage, direct, organize. When Mastermind is used as a noun, the part of speech is more neutral, as explained above, generally translated as "planner"; there is also a word ringleader, which also means boss, but is usually derogatory, translated as "(of the illegal gang) leader, chief evil, culprit". Mastermind generally appears in the news as a verb.
02 rehearsal
Rehearsals, rehearsals; rehearsals, drills
Rehearsalsfor the performances are currently underway, but given the shadow of COVID-19, the spectacle will be more curtailed than initially envisioned, reports cited Zhang as saying.
The report quoted Zhang as saying that the rehearsal of the performance is currently underway, but given the shadow of COVID-19, the number of performances will be much smaller than initially envisaged. The noun repaysal comes from the automatic word whyarse, meaning "rehearsal, rehearsal; rehearsal, rehearsal". From the Old French rehercier (12c.) "Look again, repeat", literally means "rake over, turn over (soil, ground)", derived from re-(again) + hercier (dragging on the ground, tracking, dragging along the ground).
Synonymous with repeat means repetition, not like rehearse, which means repetition and performs better, in this regard, it is a bit similar to the practice, but the effect is like doing something better. (This can be used in any way, such as painting, dancing, singing, or exercising; whereas rehearse (rehearsal) is about doing "things" that you've practiced "before" performing.) (This can and is often used for singing and dancing or anything related to entertainment performances). Rehearsal is often featured in Academic English and television.
03 show
Wonderful shows, spectacular scenes; spectacular scenes
Rehearsals for the performances are currently underway, but given the shadow of COVID-19, thespectaclewill be more curtailed than initially envisioned, reports cited Zhang as saying.
There is also a word spectacl in the example sentence just now that deserves our attention, meaning "wonderful performance, spectacular scene; spectacular scene". The word is derived from the Latin spectaculum "public performance, spectacle, place to watch performances". In addition, if it is the plural form of specacles, there is also the meaning of "glasses".
Synonyms are show, display, exhibition, event. But unlike its synonym: show simply means a show, which may be nothing special; when used with specacle, it means more sights or even a beautiful grand sight. Spectacle often appears in novels and academic English, or in magazines.
04 curtail
Shrink, limit; cut short
Rehearsals for the performances are currently underway, but given the shadow of COVID-19, the spectacle will be morecurtailedthan initially envisioned, reports cited Zhang as saying.
There is also a verb curtail at the end of this example sentence, which means "to reduce, to limit; to cut short". Originally, the word came from the Old French courtault "make short", the word court "short (old French cort, derived from the Latin curtus)" + -ault (derived from the Germanic pejorative suffix), while the spelling in English may have been influenced by the Old French tailler (tailor).
Synonyms are reduce, cut, diminish, decrease. Also note that its noun form is curtal, which means "cut short, cut short", and can also be used as an adjective "cut". Curtail is often seen in written language, commonly found in academic English, news, and magazines.
05 shelves
Delight; hospitality
In 2008, Zhangregaledthe world with carefully orchestrated seas of performers all drumming, twirling or chanting in unison at the ceremonies he directed for the summer Games, an event China saw as a key milestone marking its arrival on the world stage.
In 2008, at the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics hosted by Zhang Yimou, the elaborately choreographed performers beat drums, swirled or chanted in unison, which amazed the world, which was an important milestone for China to enter the world stage. An important verb here is regale, which means "to please; to entertain", which translates to "order... Amazing, amazing". It is derived from the French régaler "hospitality or feast", so the root of the word - gale, means "joy; playfulness; laughter", originally meaning "wonderful hospitality (someone)", originally referring to food and drink during hospitality, and later generally referring to "something that pleases the mind".
Synonyms include entertain, delight, amuse, divert, which are more often used than regale, entertain, and amuse when expressing "making (someone) happy". Regale is often used in novels or magazines, and does not often appear in the official language.
06 sheer
Vertically, steeply; thoroughly, completely
Zhang said the show will depend more on technology to impress thansheercoordinated manpower, featuring 3,000 performers — far fewer than the 15,000 who participated in 2008’s extravaganza.
Zhang said the show will rely more on technology to impress than purely coordinated manpower, with a total of 3,000 performers this time – far fewer than the 15,000 who attended the 2008 event. Here a word sheer is used, meaning "thoroughly, completely, purely", and it has another meaning meaning "vertically, steeply". It can be both an adverb and an adjective. Here is a sense of emphasis.
Synonyms are: totally, completely, absolutely, utterly. Sheer is often used in informal languages such as novels or magazines.
07 extravaganza
Extravagant ornate performances
Zhang said the show will depend more on technology to impress than sheer coordinated manpower, featuring 3,000 performers — far fewer than the 15,000 who participated in 2008’sextravaganza.
The last word in the next sentence, extravaganza, at first glance seems to be a particularly complex word and looks like an Italian word, but if we split it apart, it is: extravagance + - za (affix). The word, however, comes from the Italian word exravaganza, which literally means "a luxury" and is now used to describe "extravagant performances, events; festivals."
Synonyms include the spectacles and synonyms we just learned, spectricular, and show, display. Because the root contains exaggeration, it can also mean "works of content hubris; arrogant words and deeds." The word most often appears in the news.
08 ethereal
Elegant; ethereal; ethereal; transcendent
Technology and new concepts will make it feel full,etherealand romantic.
This saying goes: technology and new concepts can feel fulfilling, ethereal and romantic. Here's a high-level word, ether," which we'll look at: ether—for "outer space, high altitude" + - eal/-ial (adjective suffix), formerly also written as "the highest region of the atmosphere," then extended to mean "light, airy," and later figuratively meaning "spiritual, immaterial," that is, "transcendent, ethereal."
Synonyms are delicate, light, fine, subtle. At the same time, we can also remember that ether- means "in the sky", real also has the meaning of "real", then "above the real" can be understood as "surreal, extraordinary". Ethereal is often used in novels and magazines to describe other things because it is often associated with untrue things.
09 backdrop
Background curtain; surrounding scenery; background (of events).
Of the extensive preparations, Zhang admitted: “Given thebackdropof the pandemic, it’s been very difficult, but we must complete the task and live up to the nation’s expectations.”
In a lot of preparatory work, Zhang Yimou frankly said: "In the context of the epidemic, it is very difficult, but we must complete the task and live up to the expectations of the country." "Here's a word we often use in place of background—backdrop, which means "background of the event," and also means "backdrop; surrounding scenery." The word can be broken down as back and drop, first appearing in 1883 to mean that in plays "the canvas hangs behind the stage as part of the landscape", and now extends to "(event) background".
So its synonyms are: environment, situation, circumstances, background. We often use the phrase effect the backdrop/background of ..., which means "to... as background". Backdrop is also often seen in magazines or news as a background for introducing something.
10 handover/hand over
hand over
He also directed eight-minutehandoverperformances at the closing ceremonies of Athens 2004 and Pyeongchang 2018.
Director Zhang Yimou also directed an eight-minute handover performance at the closing ceremonies of the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympic Games. Here handover is used as a noun, modifying performances, meaning "handover, handover", which is also a fixed link at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games every year.
In fact, the word also appears below, in the form of a verb phrase: hand sth. over to sb. "Hand over something to someone": This time, [the organizing committee] gave us the arrangement work very early on, let us properly transform the space, install the equipment, debug the technical problems, and so on.
This time, they’vehanded it overto us very early on, allowing us to properly transform the space, install equipment, debug technical issues, and so on,” Zhang said.
When it means "hand over, give", its synonym has given. But compared with the two, give (give) is more neutral, it may be reluctant (forced) to give, may also be intentional (non-forced) to give, and handover, implies a forced meaning, so often in the judiciary will use handover instead of give, so handover often appears in spoken language and news.
Finally, let's review the words we learned today.
01 mastermind planning, organizing, manipulating
02 rehearsal rehearsal, rehearsal; rehearsal, rehearsal
03 Spectacle wonderful performance, spectacular scene; spectacular scene
04 curtail reduces, limits; cuts short
05 regale delights; hospitality
06 Sheer vertically, steeply; thoroughly, completely
07 extravaganza extravaganza extravaganza extravagant performance
08 Ethereal elegant; ethereal; ethereal; ethereal; extraordinary
09 Backdrop backdrop background; surrounding scenery; (event) background
10 handover/handover
*Screenshots of the vocabulary parsing section of this article are from the Collins Dictionary and the COCA Corpus
The main creative group of this issue:
Author: Keer
Editor-in-Charge: Leon Yong