fluster downcast expedient | 经济学人记单词（雅思/托福）

Fluster v. 使慌乱。来自原始印欧语词根pleu-，意思是流动，同根词如flow, fly。慌乱本身就是一种情绪的流动、波动。

“The way to approach a case like this is to be a kind of judge from central casting,” says Rebecca Roiphe, a professor at New York Law School and a former prosecutor. Defence lawyers tend to inject emotion to distract the jury, cast doubt on evidence and fluster witnesses. But “to project fairness”, says Ms Roiphe, Mr Merchan will be calm, measured and keep sentiment out of the proceedings as much as possible.

纽约法学院教授、前检察官Rebecca Roiphe表示：“处理此类案件的方式是成为理想化的法官。”辩护律师倾向于通过情感分散陪审团的注意力，怀疑证据，并使证人慌乱。但Roiphe表示，“为了体现公平”，Merchan需要保持冷静、有分寸，尽可能不掺杂个人情绪。

Downcast adj. 沮丧的。人沮丧的时候眼睛会往下直直的看，像是把目光扔到地上一样。

But in recent years Chinese players have been losing more than they have been winning. Things reached a new low this month, when, for the first time since 2000, not a single Chinese player made it to the semi-finals of the prestigious Samsung Fire Cup. Competitors from South Korea, another country passionate about the game, took all the top spots (Shin Jin-seo won on November 8th). Marshal Chen’s maxim has begun popping up in China’s online Go forums. “This year the nation just hasn’t been fortunate,” wrote one downcast fan. “You can see it in the GDP numbers, too.”

但近年来，中国选手输的比赢的多。本月情况出现更差：自2000年以来，第一次没有中国选手进入著名的三星火灾杯围棋半决赛。另一个对围棋运动充满热情的国家韩国的竞争者包揽了前几名(Shin Jin-seo在11月8日获胜)。Marshal Chen的格言最初出现在中国在线围棋论坛。一位沮丧的粉丝写道：“今年中国运气不好。从GDP数据中也可以看到这一点。”

Expedient adj. 权宜的，方便的。Ex-是出来，-ped是脚，如pedestrian表示行人。Expedient本义是从脚镣的桎梏中摆脱出来，所以有方便的意思。同根词expedite意思是加快，没有阻碍的。

The shortage narrative is politically expedient for education activists on both sides. Democrats, whose supporters favour spending more on public schools than Republicans, point to massive teaching shortages as proof that public schools are underfunded. “The problem is that we don’t invest in our workforce,” says Cecily Myart-Cruz, the president of United Teachers Los Angeles, a labour union. “You have the most educated workforce in the nation. Educators have the most advanced degree, but they cannot have a liveable wage.”

But conservatives use the nationwide narrative for their own purposes, too.

教学服务供应短缺的说法对美国两党的教育活动人士来说都是政治上的方便之辞。相对于共和党，民主党支持者倾向于在公立学校上投入更多的资金，认为大规模的教学服务供应短缺证明了公立学校资金不足。“问题是我们没有在教师队伍进行足够的投资，”工会组织洛杉矶教师联合会主席Cecily Myart-Cruz说。“这里拥有全美国受教育程度最高的人才。教育工作者学历也是最高，但他们的工资甚至无法维持生活。”

但是，保守共和党支持者也会为了自己的目的利用教学服务供应短缺的说法。