1 Matter (v.0.2)

Question 1

dismantling

• Dismantling our early, more outrageous pseudoscientific claims is an excellent way to learn the basics of science, partly because science is largely about disproving theories, but also because the lack of scientific knowledge among mirade-cure artistes, marketers and journalists gives us some very simple ideas to test Their knowledge of sdence is rudimentary, so as well as making basic errors of reasoning, they also rely on notions like magnetism, oxygen, water, ‘energy’ and toxins: ideas from GCSElevel science, and all very much within the realm of kitchen chemistry.
• If I am known at all, it is for dismantling foolish media stories about science: it is the bulk of my work, my oeuvre, and I am slightly ashamed to say that I have over five hundred stories to choose from, in illustrating the points I intend to make here.

Answer 1

[dɪs’mæntlɪŋ] / 1) снятие (одежды, покровов) 2) демонтаж, разборка 3) разоружение (крепости) 4) разрушение, снос (стены, города)

Question 2

outrageous

• Dismantling our early, more outrageous pseudoscientific claims is an excellent way to learn the basics of science, partly because science is largely about disproving theories, but also because the lack of scientific knowledge among mirade-cure artistes, marketers and journalists gives us some very simple ideas to test Their knowledge of sdence is rudimentary, so as well as making basic errors of reasoning, they also rely on notions like magnetism, oxygen, water, ‘energy’ and toxins: ideas from GCSElevel science, and all very much within the realm of kitchen chemistry.
• * ≡ I agree: this is a bizarre and outrageous experimental rinding, and if you have a good explanation for how it might have come about, the world would like to hear from you.
• Gryll and Katahn [1978] gave patients a sugar pill before a dental injection, but the doctors who were handing out the pill gave it in one of two different ways: either with an outrageous oversell (‘This is a recently developed pill that’s been shown to be very effective … effective almost immediately …’); or downplayed, with an undersell (‘This is a recently developed pill … personally I’ve not found it to be very effective …’).
• The vitamin industry is also — amusingly — legendary in the world of economics as the setting of the most outrageous price-fixing cartel ever documented.
• ‘It was an outrageous attempt to discredit and silence him,’ said Tony Field, chairman of the national MRSA support group, who inevitably regarded Dr Malyszewicz as a hero, as did many who had suffered at the hands of this bacterium.
• In some respects this is just one more illustration of how unreliable intuition can be in assessing risks like those presented with a vaccine: not only is it a flawed strategy for this kind of numerical assessment, on outcomes which are too rare for one person to collect meaningful data on them in their personal journey through life; but the information you are fed by the media about the wider population is ludicrously, outrageously, criminally crooked.

Answer 2

[ˌaut’reɪʤəs] / 1) возмутительный; оскорбительный; вопиющий outrageous price — безумная, чрезмерная цена It’s outrageous to permit such behaviour. — Позволять так вести себя - отвратительно. It’s outrageous that such practices are allowed. — Возмутительно, что подобная практика допустима. Syn: shocking 1., unspeakable , revolting , disgusting Ant: appropriate 1., commendable , decorous , discreet 2) странный, бросающийся в глаза outrageous hairstyle — странная шокирующая причёска Pop stars often wear outrageous clothes. — Поп-звёзды нередко выступают в странной, броской одежде. Syn: eyecatching 3) жестокий, неистовый Syn: frantic , furious , atrocious

Question 3

rely

• Dismantling our early, more outrageous pseudoscientific claims is an excellent way to learn the basics of science, partly because science is largely about disproving theories, but also because the lack of scientific knowledge among mirade-cure artistes, marketers and journalists gives us some very simple ideas to test Their knowledge of sdence is rudimentary, so as well as making basic errors of reasoning, they also rely on notions like magnetism, oxygen, water, ‘energy’ and toxins: ideas from GCSElevel science, and all very much within the realm of kitchen chemistry.
• Or is that merely theatre?
• The proof comes when you open a candle up, and discover that it is filled with a familiar waxy orange substance, which must surely be earwax.
• Furthermore, the neuroscience information is merely decorative, and irrelevant to the explanation’s logic.
• This is all entirely sensible.
• When I was involved in hippy street theatre — and I’m being entirely serious here — we made moisturiser from equal parts of olive oil, coconut oil, honey and rosewater (tap water is fine too).
• Surely you could never replicate that in your kitchen, or with creams that cost as much by the gallon as these ones cost for a squirt of the tiny tube?
• The claims made on the various bottles and tubes are from the halcyon days of effective and high-potency acidic creams, but that’s hard to tell, because they are usually based on privately funded and published studies, done by the industry, and rarely available in their complete published forms, as a proper academic paper should be, so that you can check the working.
• But it’s not entirely morally neutral.
• For a start, you can’t be sure if the experiences the ‘provers’ are having are caused by the substance they’re taking, or by something entirely unrelated.

Answer 3

[rɪ’laɪ] / (rely (up)on) 1) полагаться, надеяться; доверять; быть уверенным (в чём-л.) to rely on it that — быть уверенным, что Syn: build 2. 7), calculate , count 2., depend , figure , gamble , trust , wager 2) зависеть (от чего-л.) The town relies on the seasonal tourist industry for jobs. — Город зависит от ежегодного наплыва туристов.

Question 4

notions

• Dismantling our early, more outrageous pseudoscientific claims is an excellent way to learn the basics of science, partly because science is largely about disproving theories, but also because the lack of scientific knowledge among mirade-cure artistes, marketers and journalists gives us some very simple ideas to test Their knowledge of sdence is rudimentary, so as well as making basic errors of reasoning, they also rely on notions like magnetism, oxygen, water, ‘energy’ and toxins: ideas from GCSElevel science, and all very much within the realm of kitchen chemistry.
• The advice and the products may have shifted with prevailing religious and moral notions, but they have always played to the market, be it puritan or liberal, New Age or Christian.
• Like his descendants today, Graham mixed up sensible notions — such as cutting down on cigarettes and alcohol — with some other, rather more esoteric, ideas which he concocted for himself.
• Because we don’t want to talk about these issues, any more than we want to talk about social inequality, the disintegration of local communities, the breakdown of the family, the impact of employment uncertainty, changing expectations and notions of personhood, or any of the other complex, difficult factors that play into the apparent rise of antisocial behaviour in schools.

Answer 4

[‘nəuʃ(ə)n] / 1) а) идея, представление, понятие, знание He didn’t have the slightest notion of what I meant. — Он совсем не понимал, что я имел в виду. We each have a notion of just what kind of person we’d like to be. — У каждого из нас есть представление о том, какими бы мы хотели быть. - vague notion - ludicrous notion Syn: idea , view б) взгляд, мнение, точка зрения to dispel a notion — рассеивать, разрушать мнение I reject absolutely the notion that privatisation of our industry is now inevitable. — Я абсолютно не признаю того мнения, что приватизация нашей промышленности теперь неизбежна. widespread notion — широко распространённое мнение Syn: opinion , belief

Question 5

messy

• Detox and the theatre of goo Since you’ll want your first experiment to be authentically messy, we’ll start with detox.
• Even this has been demonstrated experimentally: identical essays in neat handwriting score higher than messy ones; and the behaviour of sporting teams which wear black is rated as more aggressive and unfair than teams which wear white.
• “Wipe off the blood, you’re all messy.”

Answer 5

[‘mesɪ] 1) неряшливый, неопрятный, неаккуратный Lizzie is messy to an infuriating degree, leaving things where she drops them. — Лиззи ужасная неряха, никогда не кладёт вещи на место. He is a messy eater. — Он не умеет аккуратно есть. 2) неряшливый, небрежный; в беспорядке messy hair — растрёпанные волосы His desk is always messy. — У него на письменном столе всегда беспорядок. Messy writing denotes a messy mind. — Неряшливый почерк - признак неряшливого ума. 3) грязный (о работе, процессе) Do this outdoors or use plenty of newspaper, because it’s a messy job. — Лучше делать это на улице или закрыть всё вокруг газетами, так как можно и самому испачкаться, и всё вокруг перепачкать. 4) неприятный, тяжёлый He had a messy divorce and lost his job. — Он пережил тяжёлый развод и потерял работу. Dealing with these issues will be a messy job, but somebody will have to do it. — Заниматься этими проблемами будет тяжело, но кто-то должен будет это делать.

Question 6

embarrassing

• It has been promoted uncritically in some very embarrassing articles in the Telegraph, the Mirror, the Sunday Times, GQ magazine and various TV shows.
• It’s called Brain Gym, it is pervasive throughout the state education system, it’s swallowed whole by teachers, it’s presented directly to the children they teach, and it’s riddled with transparent, shameful and embarrassing nonsense.
• Finally, if your finding is really embarrassing, hide it away somewhere and cite ‘data on file’.
• If you feel your work — or even your field — has been misrepresented, then complain: write to the editor, the journalist, the letters page, the readers’ editor, the PCC; put out a press release explaining why the story was stupid, get your press office to harrass the paper or TV station, use your title (it’s embarrassing how easy they are to impress), and offer to write them something yourself.
• “I’ll tell her,” Sansa said uncertainly, “but she’ll dress the way she always does.” She hoped it wouldn’t be too embarrassing.
• Either his lord father had a new respect for Tyrion’s abilities, or he’d decided to rid himself of his embarrassing get for good.

Answer 6

[ɪm’bærəsɪŋ], [em-] / 1) стеснительный 2) смущающий It was embarrassing to fail the exam. — Было стыдно провалить экзамен.

Question 7

virtuous

• Wow, I feel virtuous!’

Answer 7

[‘vɜːʧuəs], [-tju-] / 1) а) добродетельный б) целомудренный Syn: chaste 2) эффективный, действенный

Question 8

absence

• That is a controlled experiment: everything is the same in both conditions, except for the presence or absence of your feet.
• He took the trial data from placebo-controlled trials of gastric ulcer medication, which was his first cunning move, because gastric ulcers are an excellent thing to study: their presence or absence is determined very objectively, with a gastroscopy camera passed down into the stomach, to avoid any doubt.
• I can only discuss a few here, but if you are genuinely interested in preventive medicine — and you can cope with uncertainty and the absence of quick-fix gimmicks — then may I recommend you pursue a career in it, because you won’t get on telly, but you will be both dealing in sense and doing good.
• There is a danger with authority-figure coverage, in the absence of real evidence, because it leaves the field wide open for questionable authority figures to waltz in.
• Your absence has been noted.”
• It is past time the Hand and I returned to the castle, before our absence is noted.”
• So Ned must needs sit the Iron Throne in his absence.
• Behind them came the senior members of the three orders: red-faced Bowen Marsh the Lord Steward, First Builder Othell Yarwyck, and Ser Jaremy Rykker, who commanded the rangers in the absence of Benjen Stark.

Answer 8

[‘æbs(ə)n(t)s] / 1) отсутствие; отлучка during smb.’s absence, in smb.’s absence — в чьё-л. отсутствие unexcused absence — непростительное отсутствие after an absence of several weeks — после отсутствия в течение нескольких недель Did anything happen in my absence? — Что произошло, пока меня не было? He played no part in the game and was conspicuous by his absence in the post-match celebrations. — В этом матче он не играл. Также все обратили внимание на то, что он не пришёл на послематчевые торжества. - leave of absence - absence without leave - sickness absence Ant: presence 2) недостаток, отсутствие, неимение absence of pattern — бессистемность in the absence of smth. — за недостатком (за неимением) чего-л. the absence of reconciliation between the theory and the practice of life — несогласованность теории с практикой Syn: lack Ant: presence 3) = absence of mind рассеянность, отсутствие внимания Absence of mind is altogether an involuntary thing. — Рассеянность - явление совершенно неконтролируемое.

Question 9

practicalities

• There are disadvantages with this experimental method (and there is an important lesson here, that we must often weigh up the benefits and practicalities of different forms of research, which will become important in later chapters).

Answer 9

[ˌpræktɪ’kælətɪ] 1) практицизм, практичность Syn: practicalness 2) обычно (practicalities) практические стороны, аспекты (какого-л. дела, ситуации) practicalities of teaching — практические аспекты преподавания

Question 10

subterfuge

• From a practical perspective, the ‘feet out’ experiment involves subterfuge, which may make you uncomfortable.

Answer 10

[‘sʌbtəfjuːʤ] / отговорка, увёртка, уловка, ухищрение to resort to (a) / use (a) subterfuge — прибегать к отговоркам, использовать уловки, ухищрения Syn: trick

Question 11

proper

• The proper scientific term for household salt is ‘sodium chloride’: in solution, this means that there are chloride ions floating around, which have a negative charge (and sodium ions, which have a positive charge).
• They all do that, and Vaseline does the job very well: in fact, much of the important early cosmetics research was about preserving the moisturising properties of Vaseline, while avoiding its greasiness, and this technical mountain was scaled several decades ago.
• The claims made on the various bottles and tubes are from the halcyon days of effective and high-potency acidic creams, but that’s hard to tell, because they are usually based on privately funded and published studies, done by the industry, and rarely available in their complete published forms, as a proper academic paper should be, so that you can check the working.
• I can very happily view posh cosmetics — and other forms of quackery — as a special, self-administered, voluntary tax on people who don’t understand science properly.
• * ≡ At proper high doses, Cinchona contains quinine, which can genuinely be used to treat malaria, although most malarial parasites are immune to it now.
• Closer to home for homeopathy, a review of trials of acupuncture for back pain showed that the studies which were properly blinded showed a tiny benefit for acupuncture, which was not ‘statistically significant’ (we’ll come back to what that means later).
• When doctors and scientists say that a study was methodologically flawed and unreliable, it’s not because they’re being mean, or trying to maintain the ‘hegemony’, or to keep the backhanders coming from the pharmaceutical industry: it’s because the study was poorly performed — it costs nothing to blind properly — and simply wasn’t a fair test.
• It’s been shown that patients who drop out of studies are less likely to have taken their tablets properly, more likely to have hail side-effects, less likely to have got better, and so on.
• There is a moral and financial issue here too: randomising your patients properly doesn’t cost money.
• I’ve suggested in various places, including at academic conferences, that the single thing that would most improve the quality of evidence in CAM would be funding for a simple, evidence-based medicine hotline, which anyone thinking about running a trial in their clinic could phone up and get advice on how to do it properly, to avoid wasting effort on an ‘unfair test’ that will rightly be regarded with contempt by all outsiders.

Answer 11

[‘prɔpə] / 1. 1) а) присущий, свойственный б) специфический, характерный Syn: peculiar 2) правильный, должный; надлежащий; подходящий - in proper time - proper conduct Syn: formal , fit II 2. 3) а) приличный, пристойный Syn: correct б) добродетельный, заслуживающий уважения Syn: virtuous , respectable

Question 12

woven

• So chlorine gas is given off by the Barbie Detox bath, and indeed by the Aqua Detox footbath; and the people who use this product have elegantly woven that distinctive chlorine aroma into their story: it’s the chemicals, they explain; it’s the chlorine coming out of your body, from all the plastic packaging on your food, and all those years bathing in chemical swimming pools.
• Finally there is the huge list of esoteric ingredients, tossed in on a prayer, with suggestive language elegantly woven around them in a way that allows you to believe that all kinds of claims are being made.
• Outside the city walls they camped with their vast herds, raising palaces of woven grass, eating everything in sight, and making the good folk of Pentos more anxious with every passing day.
• He wore a vest of woven gold thread over a loose gown of purple silk, and on his feet were pointed slippers of soft velvet.
• She could hear rough voices from the woven grass palace on the hill.
• It was woven of forget-me-nots, real ones, hundreds of fresh blooms sewn to a heavy woolen cape.
• Later, while Sansa was off listening to a troupe of singers perform the complex round of interwoven ballads called the “Dance of the Dragons,” Ned inspected the bruise himself.
• She saw carved stone pavilions, manses of woven grass as large as castles, rickety wooden towers, stepped pyramids faced with marble, log halls open to the sky.
• A thousand years ago, to make a house, they would dig a hole in the earth and cover it with a woven grass roof.
• Her long auburn hair, woven into an elaborate braid, fell across her left shoulder.

Answer 12

[wiːv] / 1. ; wove ; weaved; woven , weaved 1) ткать 2) плести to weave some humor into a plot — добавить в сюжет немного юмора to weave a web — плести паутину to weave a cocoon — плести кокон She wove a basket for us. — Она сплела нам корзину. She wove the story around a specific theme. — Её рассказ крутился вокруг одной темы. She wants to weave a scarf from this wool. — Она хочет связать шарф из этой шерсти. Syn: braid , plait , knit 3) а) сливаться, соединяться, сплетаться б) сливать, соединять, сплетать Science weaves phenomena into unity. — Наука объединяет явления в одно целое

Question 13

distinctive

• So chlorine gas is given off by the Barbie Detox bath, and indeed by the Aqua Detox footbath; and the people who use this product have elegantly woven that distinctive chlorine aroma into their story: it’s the chemicals, they explain; it’s the chlorine coming out of your body, from all the plastic packaging on your food, and all those years bathing in chemical swimming pools.
• A similar effect has been demonstrated in humans, when the researchers gave healthy subjects a distinctively flavoured drink at the same time as cyclosporin A (a drug which measurably reduces your immune function).

Answer 13

[dɪ’stɪŋktɪv] / 1) дифференциальный, отличительный, характерный distinctive feature — отличительная черта distinctive mark — отличительный знак Syn: distinguishing 2) различительный, дистинктивный (о признаке, оппозиции) 3) особенный, особый distinctive people — необычные люди

Question 14

leftover

• At another sales site: ‘The first time she tried the Q2 [Energy Spa], her business partner said his eyes were burning from all the chlorine, that was coming out of her, leftover from her childhood and early adulthood.’

Answer 14

[‘leftˌəuvə] 1. 1) (leftovers) остатки (особенно еды) ; объедки Thanksgiving leftovers — остатки праздничного обеда на День благодарения Syn: remainder , residue , rest , surplus , remnant 2) пережиток 2. а) оставшийся, сохранившийся, неизрасходованный, неиспользованный б) неоконченный, незаконченный в) недоеденный, недопитый

Question 15

demur

• I’ve asked the manufacturers of many detox products this question time and again, but they demur.
• “He was too kind,” she demurred, trying to remain modest and calm, though her heart was singing.
• “If it please you, m’lord,” she said demurely.

Answer 15

[dɪ’mɜː] / 1. ; 1) возражение without demur — без возражений Syn: protest , objection , rejoinder 2) колебание, сомнение в своей правоте After a little demur, he accepted the offer. — Немного поколебавшись, он принял предложение. Syn: qualm 2. ; 1) колебаться, не решаться; сомневаться, раздумывать Syn: doubt , have one’s doubts , delay 2., hesitate 2) возражать, протестовать My host at first demurred but I insisted. — Сначала мой хозяин был против, но я настоял. Syn: object

Question 16

hedging

• After much of their hedging and fudging, I chose two chemicals pretty much at random: creatinine and urea.

Answer 16

[heʤ] / 1. 1) живая изгородь to crop / trim a hedge — подстригать, подравнивать живую изгородь - dead hedge - hedges of policemen 2) защита, прикрытие, страховка (от чего-л. неприятного, обычно финансовых потерь) to provide a hedge against inflation — обеспечить защиту от инфляции It would put a hedge round his finances. — Это защитило бы его финансы. 3) неопределённое, уклончивое выражение 4) хедж (срочный контракт для страховки от возможных потерь) •• to sit on the hedge — занимать выжидательную позицию to be on the right / wrong side of the hedge — занимать правильную / неправильную позицию; быть победителем / побеждённым

Question 17

fudging

• After much of their hedging and fudging, I chose two chemicals pretty much at random: creatinine and urea.

Answer 17

[fʌʤ] / 1. 1) чушь, выдумка, враньё Syn: bosh 2) мошенник, обманщик, плут Syn: impostor , humbug 3) ‘‘горячие’’ новости (помещаемые в газете в последнюю минуту) 4) сливочная помадка (вид сладостей) 2. 1) подделывать, фабриковать, фальсифицировать to fudge figures — фальсифицировать данные 2) обманывать, вводить в заблуждение Syn: cheat 3) делать кое-как, недобросовестно; ‘‘состряпать’’ 4) (fudge on) отказываться дать прямой ответ The board of directors has been fudging on the question of pay increases for the workers. — Совет директоров уклончиво ответил на требование рабочих поднять зарплату. 3. чушь!, вздор!, чепуха! To all the latter part of your letter I answer fudge. — По поводу последней части письма отвечаю: ‘‘Вздор!’’

Question 18

embarrassing

• It has been promoted uncritically in some very embarrassing articles in the Telegraph, the Mirror, the Sunday Times, GQ magazine and various TV shows.
• It’s called Brain Gym, it is pervasive throughout the state education system, it’s swallowed whole by teachers, it’s presented directly to the children they teach, and it’s riddled with transparent, shameful and embarrassing nonsense.
• Finally, if your finding is really embarrassing, hide it away somewhere and cite ‘data on file’.
• If you feel your work — or even your field — has been misrepresented, then complain: write to the editor, the journalist, the letters page, the readers’ editor, the PCC; put out a press release explaining why the story was stupid, get your press office to harrass the paper or TV station, use your title (it’s embarrassing how easy they are to impress), and offer to write them something yourself.
• “I’ll tell her,” Sansa said uncertainly, “but she’ll dress the way she always does.” She hoped it wouldn’t be too embarrassing.
• Either his lord father had a new respect for Tyrion’s abilities, or he’d decided to rid himself of his embarrassing get for good.

Answer 18

[ɪm’bærəsɪŋ], [em-] / 1) стеснительный 2) смущающий It was embarrassing to fail the exam. — Было стыдно провалить экзамен.

Question 19

goalposts

• We don’t really expect the manufacturers to do that, but what they say in response to these findings is very interesting, at least to me, because it sets up a pattern that we will see repeated throughout the world of pseudoscience: instead of addressing the criticisms, or embracing the new findings in a new model, they seem to shift the goalposts and retreat, crucially, into untestable positions.
• How much of a mess is illustrated by this last drug company ruse: ‘moving the goalposts’.

Answer 19

[‘gəulpəust] ; стойка ворот; to move / shift the goalposts — неожиданно выдвигать новые требования, менять правила по ходу игры

Question 20

retreat

• We don’t really expect the manufacturers to do that, but what they say in response to these findings is very interesting, at least to me, because it sets up a pattern that we will see repeated throughout the world of pseudoscience: instead of addressing the criticisms, or embracing the new findings in a new model, they seem to shift the goalposts and retreat, crucially, into untestable positions.
• Well, reasoned the doctors, polio paralysis often retreats spontaneously.
• Luwin bowed and began to retreat.
• Catelyn edged her foot backward, the most timid of steps, but the mule was behind her, and she could not retreat.
• “Behind!” he heard Wyl cry, and when he turned his horse, there were more in back of them, cutting off their retreat.
• The Dothraki fire from horseback, charging or retreating, it makes no matter, they are full as deadly… and there are so many of them, my lady.
• “Come to think on it, I’m not hungry after all,” he declared, retreating to the corner of his cell.
• Arya retreated before him, checking each blow.
• Arya retreated, her own sword stick clutched tightly in her hand.
• If you turn your tail and retreat to Winterfell, your lords will lose all respect for you.

Answer 20

[rɪ’triːt] / 1. 1) а) отступать, отходить At last we forced the enemy to retreat from the town. — Наконец, мы заставили врага отступить из города. Our government has retreated from its hard-line position. — Наше правительство свернуло со своего жёсткого курса. Syn: escape б) отводить (фигуру) 2) отказываться (от обещания) ; отступать (от обязательств) ; брать обратно (слово) You cannot retreat from your responsibility in this affair. — Ты не сможешь снять с себя ответственность за это. 3) уходить, удаляться, уединяться • Syn: withdraw , retire

Question 21

crucially

• We don’t really expect the manufacturers to do that, but what they say in response to these findings is very interesting, at least to me, because it sets up a pattern that we will see repeated throughout the world of pseudoscience: instead of addressing the criticisms, or embracing the new findings in a new model, they seem to shift the goalposts and retreat, crucially, into untestable positions.
• It is crucially important to their professional identity.
• Crucially, he suggested that I had focused on a trivial, isolated error.
• Crucially, data which showed the drug in a better light were more likely to be duplicated than the data which showed it to be less impressive, and overall this led to a 23 per cent overestimate of the drug’s efficacy.
• Secondly, crucially, we have then decided that something must have caused this illusory pattern: specifically, a homeopathic remedy, for example.
• You can pick a result from anywhere you like, and if it suits your agenda, then that’s that: nobody can take it away from you with their clever words, because it’s all just game-playing, it just depends on who you ask, none of it really means anything, you don’t understand the long words, and therefore, crucially, probably, neither do the scientists.

Answer 21

[‘kruːʃ(ə)lɪ] критически; ответственно; критично

Question 22

lengthy

• Many of them tell lengthy stories about the ‘bioenergetic field’, which they say cannot be measured, except by how well you are feeling.
• There are huge numbers of different brands, and many of them offer excellent and lengthy documents full of science to prove that they work: they have diagrams and graphs, and the appearance of scienciness; but the key elements are missing.
• She produces lengthy documents that have an air of ‘referenciness’, with nice little superscript numbers, which talk about trials, and studies, and research, and papers … but when you follow the numbers, and check the references, it’s shocking how often they aren’t what she claimed them to be in the main body of the text, or they refer to funny little magazines and books, such as Delicious, Creative Living, Healthy Eating, and my favourite, Spiritual Nutrition and the Rainbow Diet, rather than proper academic journals.
• The reason for this phenomenal disparity in life expectancy — the difference between a lengthy and rich retirement, and a very truncated one indeed — is not that the people in Hampstead are careful to eat goji berries and a handful of Brazil nuts every day, thus ensuring they’re not deficient in selenium, as per nutritionists’ advice.
• There is also the PCC complaint against me (not upheld, and not even forwarded to the paper for comment), the lengthy legal letters, his claims that the Guardian has corrected articles critical of him (which it most certainly has not), and so on.
• Firstly, at the quietest hint of a discussion on the subject, an army of campaigners and columnists will still, even in 2008, hammer on editors’ doors demanding the right to a lengthy, misleading and emotive response in the name of ‘balance’.
• But journalists and miracle-cure merchants sabotage this process of shared decision-making, diligently, brick by brick, making lengthy and bogus criticisms of the process of systematic review (because they don’t like the findings of just one), extrapolating from lab-dish data, misrepresenting the sense and value of trials, carefully and collectively undermining the nation’s understanding of the very notion of what it means for there to be evidence for an activity.

Answer 22

[‘leŋ(k)θɪ] / 1) очень длинный, растянутый, многословный lengthy correspondence — длительная переписка lengthy writer — многословный писатель 2) высокий, длинный lengthy hill — высокий холм lengthy man — долговязый человек

Question 23

goo

• Detox and the theatre of goo Since you’ll want your first experiment to be authentically messy, we’ll start with detox.
• On with the brown goo.
• The point of a control is simple: we need to minimise the differences between the two setups, so that the only real difference between them is the single factor you’re studying, which in this case must be: ‘Is it my ear that produces the orange goo?’
• The explanations either contained neuroscience or didn’t, and were either ‘good’ explanations or ‘bad’ ones (bad ones being, for example, simply circular restatements of the phenomenon itself, or empty words).
• (This was a ‘good’ explanation.)
• All three groups judged good explanations as more satisfying than bad ones, but the subjects in the two non-expert groups judged that the e xp la na t i o ns with the logically irrelevant neurosciencey information were more satisfying than the explanations without the spurious neuroscience.
• Firstly, the very presence of neuroscience information might be seen as a surrogate marker of a ‘good’ explanation, regardless of what is actually said.
• Again, we should focus for a moment on what is good about Brain Gym, because when you strip away the nonsense, it advocates regular breaks, intermittent light exercise, and drinking plenty of water.
• When I wrote about Brain Gym in my newspaper column in 2005, saying ‘exercise breaks good, pseudoscientific nonsense laughable’, while many teachers erupted with delight, many were outraged and ‘disgusted’ by what they decided was an attack on exercises which they experienced as helpful.
• Even if we give them the benefit of the doubt and pretend that these treatments really will deliver oxygen to the surface of the skin, and that this will penetrate meaningfully into the cells, what good would that do?

Answer 23

[guː] ; ; что-л. липкое, клейкое или вязкое goo noun [mass noun] 1) a sticky or slimy substance 2) excessive sentimentality

Question 24

purveyors

• Since these people are the authoritative purveyors of scientific information, I’ll let the BBC explain how these hollow wax tubes will detox your body: The candles work by vaporising their ingredients once lit, causing convectional air flow towards the first chamber of the ear.

Answer 24

[pə’veɪə], [pɜː’-] / поставщик Purveyor to their Majesties — поставщик их величеств Syn: supplier , provider

Question 25

hollow

• Since these people are the authoritative purveyors of scientific information, I’ll let the BBC explain how these hollow wax tubes will detox your body: The candles work by vaporising their ingredients once lit, causing convectional air flow towards the first chamber of the ear.
• The helm turned his laugh into a hollow rumble.
• It was a hollow victory they gave me.
• His face was pockmarked and beardless, with deepset eyes and hollow cheeks.
• A hollow inside is filled with lead, just so.
• Why had she never seen that before? There was a hollow place inside her where her fear had been.
• Yet here and there in the fastness of the woods the children still lived in their wooden cities and hollow hills, and the faces in the trees kept watch.
• Good to you, Ned thought hollowly.
• Doreah led her to the hollow hill that had been prepared for her and her khal.
• Dany curled up on her side, pulling the sandsilk cloak across her and cradling the egg in the hollow between her swollen belly and small, tender breasts.

Answer 25

[‘hɔləu] / 1. 1) пустой, полый hollow tree — дуплистое дерево; прогнившее дерево Syn: empty 1., vacant , void 2. 2) голодный, имеющий пустой желудок; худой It must be getting towards dinner-time; I’m feeling pretty hollow. — Дело, должно быть, идёт к обеду, я ужасно хочу есть. 3) ввалившийся, запавший, впалый, вогнутый hollow eyes — запавшие глаза hollow cheeks — ввалившиеся щеки Syn: concave 1., sunken 4) глухой, ‘‘замогильный’’ (о звуке) 5) а) неискренний, лживый; ложный hollow sympathy — показное сочувствие A victory over a weakling is hollow and without triumph. — Победа над слабым - это ложная победа и без всякой радости. Syn: false 1. б) пустой, пустопорожний, бессодержательный hollow promises — пустые обещания Syn: meaningless

Question 26

convectional

• Since these people are the authoritative purveyors of scientific information, I’ll let the BBC explain how these hollow wax tubes will detox your body: The candles work by vaporising their ingredients once lit, causing convectional air flow towards the first chamber of the ear.

Answer 26

конвекционный; конвективный

Question 27

suction

• The candle creates a mild suction which lets the vapours gently massage the eardrum and auditory canal.
• If you light one ear candle, and hold it over some dust, you will find little evidence of any suction.
• Before you rush to publish your finding in a peer-reviewed academic journal, someone has beaten you to it: a paper published in the medical journal Laryngoscope used expensive tympanometry equipment and found — as you have — that ear candles exert no suction.
• The ‘Peniscope was a popular suction device designed to enlarge the male organ which is still used by many today, in a modestly updated form.

Answer 27

[‘sʌkʃ(ə)n] / 1) сосание, всасывание, засасывание Dustbags act as filter and suction will be reduced if they are too full. — Мешки для пыли действуют как фильтры, и всасывание пыли уменьшается, если они переполнены. Syn: sucking , absorption 2) присасывание Pneumatic robots use air to move and stick to surfaces by suction. — Пневматические роботы используют воздух для передвижения и присасывания к поверхности. 3) всасывающая труба Syn: suction pipe 4) пьянство, алкоголизм Syn: drinking

Question 28

impurities

• Once the candle is placed in the ear it forms a seal which enables wax and other impurities to be drawn out of the ear.

Answer 28

impurities

Question 29

peg

• If you’d like to test this yourself, you will need: an ear, a clothes peg, some Blu Tack, a dusty floor, some scissors, and two ear candles.
• Put the other candle in the clothes peg, and stand it upright using the Blu Tack: this is the ‘control arm’ in your experiment.
• Speaking with homeopaths, I have encountered a great deal of angst about the idea of measuring, as if this was somehow not a transparent process, as if it forces a square peg into a round hole, because ‘measuring’ sounds scientific and mathematical.
• Hildebrandt et ah, through no fault of their own, happened to be the peg for this discussion on randomisation (and I am grateful to them for it): they might well have randomised their patients.
• A wooden knight, all painted up, every joint pegged separate and fixed with strings, so you could make him fight.

Answer 29

[peg] / 1. 1) а) колышек б) деревянный гвоздь в) затычка, втулка (бочки) г) нагель, чека, шпилька, штифт 2) долька цитрусовых (чаще всего - апельсина) to cram the pegs into one’s mouth — набивать рот дольками апельсина 3) сигнал семафора 4) а) колок (музыкального инструмента) б) гвоздик внутри кружки, указывающий количество выпиваемой жидкости в) металлический стержень, вокруг оси которого вращается юла

Question 30

exert

• Before you rush to publish your finding in a peer-reviewed academic journal, someone has beaten you to it: a paper published in the medical journal Laryngoscope used expensive tympanometry equipment and found — as you have — that ear candles exert no suction.
• ‘Shall [the placebo] never again have an opportunity of exerting its wonderful psychological effects as faithfully as one of its more toxic conveners?’ asked the Medical Press at the time.
• Does a placebo sugar pill simply exert an effect like any other pill?

Answer 30

[ɪg’zɜːt], [eg-], [ɪkˌsɜːt-], [ek-] / 1) а) приводить в действие Syn: exercise б) прилагать усилия, напрягать все силы (для осуществления чего-л.) - exert oneself 2) оказывать давление; влиять Syn: influence 2. 3) вызывать (напряжение

Question 31

tedious

• For all that you might have learnt something useful here about the experimental method, there is something more significant you should have picked up: it is expensive, tedious and time-consuming to test every whim concocted out of thin air by therapists selling unlikely miracle cures.
• I don’t generally talk or write about being a doctor — it’s mawkish and tedious, and I’ve no desire to preach from authority — but working in the NHS you meet patients from every conceivable walk of life, in huge numbers, discussing some of the most important issues in their lives.
• Laws are a tedious business and counting coppers is worse.
• It’s all as tedious as counting coppers.
• But the septa could not have known that today’s court would be anything but the usual tedious business of hearing petitions, settling disputes between rival holdfasts, and adjudicating the placement of boundary stones.
• “Now there is tedious reading if ever I saw it.

Answer 31

[‘tiːdɪəs] / нудный, скучный, утомительный tedious passages — длинноты Syn: monotonous

Question 32

whim

• For all that you might have learnt something useful here about the experimental method, there is something more significant you should have picked up: it is expensive, tedious and time-consuming to test every whim concocted out of thin air by therapists selling unlikely miracle cures.
• I’m a doctor too, and I don’t imagine for one moment that I could stand up and create a nine-yearlong news story on a whim.
• It nuzzled blindly against Robb’s chest as he cradled it, searching for milk among his leathers, making a sad little whimpery sound.
• Bran could hear the wind in the trees, the clatter of their hooves on the ironwood planks, the whimpering of his hungry pup, but Jon was listening to something else.
• She closed her eyes and whimpered.
• The prince lay in the grass, whimpering, cradling his mangled arm.
• Jofftey made a scared whimpery sound as he looked up at her.
• He had just about decided to forget his sudden whim and go to bed when the cage gave a jerk and began to ascend.
• “I was captured by a whim.
• He kicked and twisted, whimpered like a dog and wept like a child, but the Dothraki held him tight between them.

Answer 32

[(h)wɪm] / прихоть, каприз; причуда to pursue a whim — следовать чьим-л. причудам to satisfy a whim — удовлетворять чьи-л. капризы, потакать чьим-л. капризам an idle whim — пустой каприз a sudden whim — внезапная прихоть they went there on a whim — они поехали туда, подчиняясь внезапному порыву Syn: caprice , vagary , whimsy , freak , fancy

Question 33

concocted

• For all that you might have learnt something useful here about the experimental method, there is something more significant you should have picked up: it is expensive, tedious and time-consuming to test every whim concocted out of thin air by therapists selling unlikely miracle cures.
• They suggest, instead, with all the might of their international advertising budgets, their Micro-cellular Complexes, their Neutrillium XY, their Tenseur Peptidique Vegetal and the rest, that science is about impenetrable nonsense involving equations, molecules, sciencey diagrams, sweeping didactic statements from authority figures in white coats, and that this sciencey-sounding stuff might just as well be made up, concocted, confabulated out of thin air, in order to make money.
• Just as the Big Bang theory is far more interesting than the creation story in Genesis, so the story that science can tell us about the natural world is far more interesting than any fable about magic pills concocted by an alternative therapist.
• Like his descendants today, Graham mixed up sensible notions — such as cutting down on cigarettes and alcohol — with some other, rather more esoteric, ideas which he concocted for himself.
• I have already harped on about this at phenomenal length, because I think the real scientific story of the connections between body and mind are infinitely more interesting than anything concocted by the miracle-cure community, but here it is enough to remind you that the placebo effect is very powerful: consciously or unconsciously, the children will txpect themselves to improve, and so will their parents and their teachers.

Answer 33

[kən’kɔkt] / 1) состряпать (что-л. необычное из разных продуктов) Syn: cook 2. 2) выдумывать, изобретать, сочинять Syn: devise 2. 3) сфабриковать, состряпать (компромат) Syn: fabricate

Question 34

hassle

• Detox patches and the ‘hassle barrier’ Last in our brown-sludge detox triptych comes the detox foot patch.
• There is a new device which we should call ‘the hassle barrier’, another recurring theme in the more advanced forms of foolishness which we shall be reviewing later.
• These are superficially plausible totems to frighten off a questioning journalist, a hassle barrier, and this is another recurring theme which we will see — in more complex forms — around many of the more advanced areas of bad science.

Answer 34

[hæsl] 1. ; барьер, преграда, препятствие, трудность It was a hassle to get a visa. — Было напряжно получить визу. Syn: difficulty , obstacle , struggle 2. ; 1) доставать, донимать, напрягать, надоедать Stop hassling me about washing the car. — Хватит изводить меня этим мытьём машины. 2) спорить (вплоть до драки) Customers often hassle with merchants over high prices. — Покупатели часто собачатся с торговцами из-за высоких цен.

Question 35

foil

• They look like teabags, with a foil backing which you stick onto your foot using an adhesive edging before you get into bed.

Answer 35

[fɔɪl] / 1. 1) фольга; станиоль aluminum foil — алюминиевая фольга gold foil — золотая фольга, листовое золото silver foil — серебряная фольга, металлическая фольга 2) контраст; фон Her husband’s steadiness acts as a foil to her impetuousness. — Уравновешенность её мужа выступает контрастом пылкости её характера. Syn: contrast , background 3) орнамент в виде листьев (в готическом стиле)

Question 36

adhesive

• They look like teabags, with a foil backing which you stick onto your foot using an adhesive edging before you get into bed.

Answer 36

[əd’hiːsɪv] / 1) липкий, клейкий; связывающий adhesive power — сила сцепления Syn: sticky 2) приверженный

Question 37

sludge

• Detox patches and the ‘hassle barrier’ Last in our brown-sludge detox triptych comes the detox foot patch.
• When you wake up the next morning there is a strange-smelling, sticky brown sludge attached to the bottom of your foot, and inside the teabag.
• This sludge — you may spot a pattern here — is said to be ‘toxins’.
• * ≡ If you take one of these bags and squirt some water onto it, then pop a nice hot cup of tea on top of it and wait for ten minutes, you’ll see brown sludge forming.
• An experiment is one way of determining whether an observable effect — sludge — is related to a given process.

Answer 37

[slʌʤ] / 1. 1) а) густая грязь; слякоть б) ил, тина fresh sludge — сырой ил; Syn: mud , ooze 1. 2) шуга, ‘‘сало’’ (плавающий лёд) 3) а) осадок; отстой; шлам б) осадок в резервуаре со сточными водами в) осадок, отложения в паровых котлах, бойлерах г) буровая грязь - sludge pump д) кислый гудрон 2. 1) очищать от грязи 2) а) превращать в осадок, отстой б) давать осадок, образовывать осадок 3) идти с трудом, устало тащиться Syn: trudge 2., tramp 2., labour 2.

Question 38

porcelain

• There are no toxins in porcelain.
• She lifted it delicately, expecting that it would be made of some fine porcelain or delicate enamel, or even blown glass, but it was much heavier than that, as if it were all of solid stone.

Answer 38

[‘pɔːs(ə)lɪn] / 1. 1) фарфор 2) фарфоровое изделие 3) = cowrie 2. 1) фарфоровый porcelain clay — фарфоровая глина, каолин porcelain tooth — фарфоровый зуб 2) хрупкий; изящный

Question 39

starch

• Starch is a carbohydrate, for example, and in your body this is broken down gradually into the individual sugar molecules by your digestive enzymes, so that you can absorb it.
• In this book McKeith promised to explain how you can ‘boost your energy, heal your organs and cells, detoxify your body, strengthen your kidneys, improve your digestion, strengthen your immune system, reduce cholesterol and high blood pressure, break down fat, cellulose and starch, activate the enzyme energies of your body, strengthen your spleen and liver function, increase mental and physical endurance, regulate your blood sugar, and lessen hunger cravings and lose weight’.
• She rose to her feet, starched skirts rustling as she started across the room.

Answer 39

[stɑːʧ] / 1. 1) крахмал starch blue — целлюлоза 2) церемонность, чопорность Syn: primness , stiffness 3) ; живость, энергия; to take the starch out of smb. — осадить, сбить спесь с кого-л. 2. крахмалить starched napkins — накрахмаленные салфетки I washed the curtains and starched them. — Я постирала и накрахмалила занавески. - starch up

Question 40

gradually

• Starch is a carbohydrate, for example, and in your body this is broken down gradually into the individual sugar molecules by your digestive enzymes, so that you can absorb it.
• It shows how different enzymes break down food into its constituent molecular elements, how these are absorbed, how they are reassembled into new larger molecules that your body needs to build muscles, retina, nerves, bone, hair, membrane, mucus, and everything else that you’re made of; how the various forms of fats are broken down, and reassembled into new forms of fat; or how different forms of molecule — sugar, fat, even alcohol — are broken down gradually, step by step, to release energy, and how that energy is transported, and how the incidental products from that process are used, or bolted onto something else to be transported in the blood, and then ditched at the kidneys, or metabolised down into further constituents, or turned into something useful elsewhere, and so on.
• If there is no publication bias, you should see a nice inverted funnel: the big, accurate trials all cluster around each other at the top of the funnel, and then as you go down the funnel, the little, inaccurate trials gradually spread out to the left and right, as they become more and more wildly inaccurate — both positively and negatively.
• It moves ahead by gradually emergent themes and theories, supported by a raft of evidence from a number of different disciplines on a number of different explanatory levels.
• But taken on their own, lots of other individual risk factors aren’t very important either, and that’s no reason to abandon all hope of trying to do something simple, sensible and proportionate about them, gradually increasing the health of the nation, along with all the other stuff you can do to the same end.

Answer 40

[‘grædjuəlɪ], [-ʤu-] / исподволь, мало-помалу, понемногу, постепенно Syn: little by little , bit by bit

Question 41

recurring

• There is a new device which we should call ‘the hassle barrier’, another recurring theme in the more advanced forms of foolishness which we shall be reviewing later.
• These are superficially plausible totems to frighten off a questioning journalist, a hassle barrier, and this is another recurring theme which we will see — in more complex forms — around many of the more advanced areas of bad science.
• On one thing we must be absolutely clear, because this is a recurring theme throughout the world of bad science.
• These are healing rituals, where the child is purged and purified of sin and guilt, of the ‘contamination’ of war and death (contamination is a recurring metaphor in all cultures, for obvious reasons); the child is also protected from the consequences of his previous actions, which is to say, he is protected from retaliation by the avenging spirits of those he has killed.
• Like so much of the nonsense in bad science, ‘detox’ pseudoscience isn’t something done to us, by venal and exploitative outsiders: it is a cultural product, a recurring theme, and we do it to ourselves.
• But Brain Gym perfectly illustrates two more recurring themes from the industry of pseudoscience.
• This is a recurring theme throughout the world of bad science.
• This is a recurring theme in this book, and it’s important, because when people make claims based upon their research, we need to be able to decide for ourselves how big the ‘methodological flaws’ were, and come to our own judgement about whether the results are reliable, whether theirs was a ‘fair test’.

Answer 41

[rɪ’kɜːrɪŋ] 1) периодический, повторяющийся, частый, рекуррентный Syn: periodic , circulating , seriate , seriated 2) повторный, вторичный Syn: second , repeated

Question 42

decorous

• There are experiments, they say, which prove that detox patches do something … but they don’t tell you what these experiments consisted of, or what their ‘methods’ were, they only offer decorous graphs of ‘results’.

Answer 42

[‘dek(ə)rəs] / благопристойный, порядочный, приличный, пристойный Syn: decent , proper

Question 43

superficially

• These are superficially plausible totems to frighten off a questioning journalist, a hassle barrier, and this is another recurring theme which we will see — in more complex forms — around many of the more advanced areas of bad science.
• In fact that’s not always the case, and it’s a littleknown fact that this very phrase has been effectively banned from the British Medical Journal for many years, on the grounds that it adds nothing: you may say what research is missing, on whom, how, measuring what, and why you want to do it, but the hand-waving, superficially open-minded call for ‘more research’ is meaningless and unhelpful.
• I know it makes sense superficially, but so do a lot of things, and that’s what’s really interesting about science (and this story in particular): sometimes the results aren’t quite what you might expect.
• Like the rituals of the cargo cult, the form of McKeith’s pseudo-academic work is superficially correct: the superscript numbers are there, the technical words are scattered about, she talks about research and trials and findings — but the substance is lacking.
• The nutritionists’ project is more interesting: this work takes the form of science — the language, the pills and the referenci-ness — making claims that superficially mirror the assertions made by academics in the field of nutrition, where there is much real science to be done.

Answer 43

[ˌs(j)uːpə’fɪʃɪəlɪ] 1) неглубоко, поверхностно 2) внешне, на поверхности He looks superficially like an Italian. — Внешне он похож на итальянца.

Question 44

plausible

• These are superficially plausible totems to frighten off a questioning journalist, a hassle barrier, and this is another recurring theme which we will see — in more complex forms — around many of the more advanced areas of bad science.
• At first glance this seems to be a pretty plausible study, but if you look closer, you can see there was no ‘randomisation’ described.
• But it’s surprisingly common to find trials where the method of randomisation is inadequate: they look plausible at first glance, but on closer examination we can see that the experimenters have simply gone through a kind of theatre, as if they were randomising the patients, but still leaving room for them to influence, consciously or unconsciously, which group each patient goes into.
• These are the cornerstone of evidence-based medicine, and often worth having at the back of your mind: it needs to be a strong association, which is consistent, and specific to the thing you are studying, where the putative cause comes before the supposed effect in time; ideally there should be a biological gradient, such as a doseresponse effect; it should be consistent, or at least not completely at odds with, what is already known (because extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence); and it should be biologically plausible.
• In the case of a claim about food, for example, there are all kinds of different things we might look for: whether it is theoretically plausible, whether it is backed up by what we know from observing diets and health, whether it is supported by ‘intervention trials’ where we give one group one diet and another group a different one, and whether those trials measured real-world outcomes, like ‘death’, or a surrogate outcome, like a blood test, which is only hypothetically related to a disease.
• Carotenes in carrots, they explained, are transported to the eye and converted to retinal, which is the molecule that detects light in the eye (this is basically true, and is a plausible mechanism, like those we’ve already dealt with): so, went the story, doubtless with much chortling behind their excellent RAF moustaches, we have been feeding our chaps huge plates of carrots, to jolly good effect.
• There was an observed correlation between low blood levels of these antioxidant nutrients and a higher incidence of cancer and heart disease, and a plausible mechanism for how they could have been preventive: but when you gave them as supplements, it turned out that people were no better off, or were possibly more likely to die.
• There were other reasons for thinking this was a fairly implausible defence.
• There are 558 pages oi plausible technical jargon in Holford’s book, with complicated advice on what foods to eat, and which kinds of pills you should buy (in the ‘resources’ section it turns out that his own range of pills are ‘the best’).
• * ≡ If it helps to make this feel a bit more plausible, bear in mind that you only need any two dates to coincide.

Answer 44

[‘plɔːzɪbl] / 1) благовидный, внешне честный или правдоподобный a plausible pretext — благовидный предлог Syn: specious 2) похожий на правду, правдоподобный (о каком-л. высказывании) ; внушающий доверие (о внешности, поведении) ; вполне убедительный (об информации) more plausible explanation — более правдоподобное объяснение the argument was both powerful and plausible — аргумент был в одинаковой степени силен и убедителен It is plausible to assume that they will not accept our invitation. — Можно смело предполагать, что они не примут наше приглашение. Syn: believable , likely , probable

Question 45

ledges

• Find out if drinking urine, balancing on mountain ledges and genital weightlifting really did change their lives forever. —
• Once, it was said, they had quarried immense blocks of ice from frozen lakes deep in the haunted forest, dragging them south on sledges so the Wall might be raised ever higher.

Answer 45

[leʤ] / 1) планка, рейка; полочка a window ledge — оконный карниз Syn: lath , slat 2) выступ, уступ; борт, край They were hanging on a narrow ledge of rock midway between earth and sky. — Они висели на узком выступе скалы, между небом и землёй. Syn: shelf 3) риф; шельф; бар Syn: shelf 4) залежь; рудное тело; пласт Syn: lode , vein 5) реборда

Question 46

pipes

• Channel 4’s Extreme Celebrity Detox These are the absurd extremes of detox, but they speak of the larger market, the antioxidant pills, the potions, the books, the juices, the five-day ‘programmes’, the pipes up the bum and the dreary TV shows, all of which we will torpedo, mostly in a later chapter on nutritionism.
• “The dwarf has played her like a set of pipes, and she is too deaf to hear the tune.

Answer 46

[paɪp] / 1. 1) (курительная) трубка to fill one’s pipe — набивать трубку to light a pipe — зажечь трубку to puff on pipe — дымить трубкой to smoke a pipe — курить трубку water pipe — кальян - smoke the pipe of peace 2) а) свирель, дудка, свисток б) волынка Syn: bagpipe в) боцманская дудка г) труба органа (деревянная или металлическая) 3) а) пение, певческий голос б) свист, пищание (обычно о птицах) The thin pipe of the gnat was heard at night. — В ночи раздавался тонкий комариный писк. 4) (pipes) ; дыхательные пути 5) а) труба, трубопровод drain pipe — сливная магистраль exhaust pipe — выпускная труба overflow pipe — сливная труба water pipe — водопроводная труба These pipes contain either hot water or steam. — В этих трубах содержится горячая вода или пар. б) усадочная раковина

Question 47

bum

• Channel 4’s Extreme Celebrity Detox These are the absurd extremes of detox, but they speak of the larger market, the antioxidant pills, the potions, the books, the juices, the five-day ‘programmes’, the pipes up the bum and the dreary TV shows, all of which we will torpedo, mostly in a later chapter on nutritionism.
• So any chlorophyll you eat will not create oxygen, and even if it did, even if Dr Gillian McKeith PhD stuck a searchlight right up your bum to prove her point, and your salad began photosyn-thesising, even if she insufflated your guts with carbon dioxide through a tube, to give the chloroplasts something to work with, and by some miracle you really did start to produce oxygen in there, you still wouldn’t absorb a significant amount of it through your bowel, because your bowel is adapted to absorb food, while your lungs are optimised to absorb oxygen.
• This is from the section on dating: If the person asks something like ‘Does my bum look fat?’ or even ‘I am not sure I like this dress’ then that is called ‘fishing for compliments’.
• These are very hard things to understand, but I am told that instead of being completely honest and saying that yes their bum does look fat, it is politer to answer with something like ‘Don’t be daft, you look great.’
• “That damnable wheelhouse, the way it creaks and groans, climbing every bump in the road as if it were a mountain… I promise you, if that wretched thing breaks another axle, I’m going to burn it, and Cersei can walk!”
• She stepped backward and bumped into someone.
• Goose bumps pimpled her skin.

Answer 47

[bʌm] / 1. ; 1) бездельник, лентяй, лодырь Syn: idler , loafer 2) ; бродяга, бездомный, бомж to go on the bum — бродяжничать Syn: hobo , tramp 3) фанат Syn: devotee; to give smb. the bum’s rush — вытолкать кого-л. взашей 2. ; 1) плохой, дрянной; ненужный, бесполезный This is a bum party. — Это совершенно ужасная вечеринка. 2) халтурный, низкопробный

Question 48

dreary

• Channel 4’s Extreme Celebrity Detox These are the absurd extremes of detox, but they speak of the larger market, the antioxidant pills, the potions, the books, the juices, the five-day ‘programmes’, the pipes up the bum and the dreary TV shows, all of which we will torpedo, mostly in a later chapter on nutritionism.
• I could go on, but I find it unseemly, and also these are dreary details.

Answer 48

[‘drɪərɪ] / 1. 1) грустный, печальный; унылый Syn: sad , doleful , melancholy 2. 2) тоскливый, безотрадный; скучный, неинтересный, нудный It was very dreary to do the same job every day. — Было невыносимо скучно делать каждый день одну и ту же работу. Syn: uninteresting , dull 1. 2. угрюмый человек

Question 49

invention

• The detox phenomenon is interesting because it represents one of the most grandiose innovations of marketers, lifestyle gurus, and alternative therapists: the invention of a whole new physiological process.
• That burgers and beer can have negative effects on your body is certainly true, for a number of reasons; but the notion that they leave a specific residue, which can be extruded by a specific process, a physiological system called detox, is a marketing invention.
• Like the best pseudoscientific inventions, it deliberately blends useful common sense with outlandish, medicalised fantasy.
• But the point of the study was specifically not that there are miracle cures (it didn’t look at any such treatments, that was an invention by the newspaper).
• Mitchel in the early twentieth century was performing full amputations and mastectomies, entirely without anaesthesia; and surgeons from before the invention of anaesthesia often described how some patients could tolerate knife cutting through muscle, and saw cutting through bone, perfectly awake, and without even clenching their teeth.
• * ≡ Interestingly, Macfadden’s food product range was complemented by a more unusual invention of his own.
• In the media coverage around the rebranding of Viagra as a treatment for women in the early noughties, and the invention of the new disease Female Sexual Dysfunction, for example, it wasn’t just the tablets that were being sold: it was the explanation.
• You might have to take rifampicin and isoniazid for months on end, and they’re not nice drugs, and the side-effects will make your eyeballs and wee go pink, but if all goes well you will live to see inventions unimaginable in your childhood.
• A five-decade survey of post-war science coverage in the UK by the same institution shows — and this is officially the last piece of data in the book — that in the 1950s science reporting was about engineering and inventions, but by the 1990s everything had changed.

Answer 49

[ɪn’venʃ(ə)n] / 1) изобретение to come up with an invention — изобретать to market / promote an invention — продвигать изобретение to patent / register an invention — запатентовывать изобретение ingenious invention — оригинальное изобретение Syn: discovery , finding 2) изобретательность, находчивость Syn: ingenuity , inventiveness 3) а) выдумка, домысел, измышление Syn: fabrication , concoction б) плод воображения 4) инвенция

Question 50

cleave

• It doesn’t cleave nature at the joints.
• She heard shouting behind her as she spun around a portly butcher who stood gaping at her with a cleaver in his hands.
• A bloody cleaver would have been my choice.” His father had not raised his voice, yet Tyrion could see the anger in the gold of his eyes.

Answer 50

I [kliːv] / ; cleaved; cleft ; clove ; clave ; cleaved; cleft ; cloven 1) раскалывать the sections into which our society is cleft — группы, на которые расколото наше общество 2) раскалываться cleave in two — раскалываться пополам Syn: split 3. 3) проникать (куда-л.) , пронзать (что-л.) Syn: pierce , penetrate 4) прокладывать себе путь, пробиваться (через что-л.) Our swift frigate cleaved through the water. — Наш быстрый фрегат рассекал водные просторы. Syn: pass 2. 5) разрезать, разъединять, разделять Syn: sever

Question 51

joints

• It doesn’t cleave nature at the joints.
• And that will be perfectly true (along with many other amino acids which are used by your body to assemble protein in joints, skin, and everywhere else), but there is no reason to believe that anyone is deficient in it, or that smearing it on your face will make any difference to your appearance.
• Food was brought to her, steaming joints of meat and thick black sausages and Dothraki blood pies, and later fruits and sweetgrass stews and delicate pastries from the kitchens of Pentos, but she waved it all away.
• Half-clothed women spun and danced on the low tables, amid joints of meat and platters piled high with plums and dates and pomegranates.
• At the back of the long hall, in a corner by the wall, deep in shadow so better men would not need to look on them, sat the lowest of the low; raw unblooded boys, old men with clouded eyes and stiff joints, the dim-witted and the maimed.

Answer 51

[ʤɔɪnt] / 1. 1) а) сочленение, сустав - elbow joint - hip joint - knee joint - shoulder joint - pain in joints - dislocate a joint - set the joint - put a bone into joint again Syn: articulation б) узел (часть растения) Syn: node в) стык, соединение, место соединения; паз, шарнир, шов The pipe is leaking at the joints. — Труба течёт на стыке. - angle joint - ball-and-socket joint - mortise joint - riveted joint - toggle joint - universal joint - welded joint

Question 52

extruded

• That burgers and beer can have negative effects on your body is certainly true, for a number of reasons; but the notion that they leave a specific residue, which can be extruded by a specific process, a physiological system called detox, is a marketing invention.
• Similarly, people flogging detox will often say that their remedies might make you feel worse at first, as the toxins are extruded from your body: under the terms of these promises, literally anything that happens to you after a treatment is proof of the therapist’s clinical acumen and prescribing skill.

Answer 52

[ɪks’truːd], [ek-] 1) выгонять, выселять; вытеснять; изгонять Syn: thrust out , force out 2) выталкивать, вытеснять Syn: push out , throw out 3) экструдировать; выдавливать, прессовать, штамповать

Question 53

residue

• That burgers and beer can have negative effects on your body is certainly true, for a number of reasons; but the notion that they leave a specific residue, which can be extruded by a specific process, a physiological system called detox, is a marketing invention.

Answer 53

[‘rezɪdjuː] / 1) остаток Syn: leftover 2) осадок; отстой 3) остаток от вычитания, вычет 4) наследство, очищенное от долгов и налогов

Question 54

deliberately

• Like the best pseudoscientific inventions, it deliberately blends useful common sense with outlandish, medicalised fantasy.
• Because I did not mention this, he explained, I had deliberately made homeopaths sound stupid.
• So now you can see, I would hope, that when doctors say a piece of research is ‘unreliable’, that’s not necessarily a stitch-up; when academics deliberately exclude a poorly performed study that flatters homeopathy, or any other kind of paper, from a systematic review of the literature, it’s not through a personal or moral bias: it’s for the simple reason that if a study is no good, if it is not a ‘fair test’ of the treatments, then it might give unreliable results, and so it should be regarded with great caution.
• Under his model, ‘bullshit’ is a form of falsehood distinct from lying: the liar knows and cares about the truth, but deliberately sets out to mislead; the truth-speaker knows the truth and is trying to give it to us; the bullshitter, meanwhile, does not care about the truth, and is simply trying to impress us: It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth.
• ≡ I have deliberately expressed this risk in terms of the ‘relative risk increase’, as part of a dubious in-joke with myself.
• The pharmaceutical industry was deliberately letting people die for financial gain, he explained.
• On an individual level, it is sometimes quite hard to show that a trial has been deliberately rigged to give the right answer for its sponsors.
• But sometimes it seems that dangerous effects from drugs can be either deliberately downplayed or, worse than that, simply not published.
• Then, slowly and deliberately, he dismounted and stood with his sword in hand.

Answer 54

[dɪ’lɪb(ə)rɪtlɪ] / 1) преднамеренно, умышленно, нарочно to be deliberately misleading the public — умышленно вводить общественность в заблуждение I deliberately dropped into broad Yorkshire. — Я нарочно стал говорить с сильным йоркширским акцентом. Syn: intentionally , on purpose 2) обдуманно, взвешенно 3) медленно, не торопясь Syn: slowly 4) осторожно, осмотрительно

Question 55

outlandish

• Like the best pseudoscientific inventions, it deliberately blends useful common sense with outlandish, medicalised fantasy.
• Although the contemporary nutritionism movement likes to present itself as a thoroughly modern and evidence-based enterprise, the food-guru industry, with its outlandish promises, moralising and sexual obsessions, goes back at least two centuries.

Answer 55

[ˌaut’lændɪʃ] 1) странный; нелепый outlandish hairstyle — странная причёска This idea is not as outlandish as it sounds. — Эта идея вовсе не так нелепа, как кажется. Syn: bizarre , strange , odd 1. 2) уединённый, глухой; дальний, отдалённый (о местности) Syn: distant , remote 2. 3) заморский, чужеземный Syn: foreign , overseas 1.

Question 56

damning

• In some respects, how much you buy into this reflects how self-dramatising you want to be; or in less damning terms, how much you enjoy ritual in your daily life.
• Dr McKeith sidestepped the publication of a damning ASA draft adjudication at the last minute by accepting — ‘voluntarily’ — not to call herself ‘doctor’ in her advertising any more.

Answer 56

[‘dæmɪŋ] 1. 1) неодобрение, осуждение, порицание; проклятие Syn: condemnation , damnation 1. 2) брань, сквернословие, ругань Syn: swearing 2. 1) влекущий за собой осуждение damning evidence — изобличающие улики; компрометирующие факты damning verdict — обвинительный вердикт They may have planted some more damning ‘‘evidence’’ somewhere in my flat. — Они возможно подбросили в мою квартиру и другие изобличающие ‘‘улики’’. Syn: incriminating 2) убийственный; гибельный damning review — убийственная рецензия

Question 57

convenience

• When I go through busy periods of partying, drinking, sleep deprivation and convenience eating, I usually decide — eventually — that I need a bit of a rest.
• This convenience comes at a cost — false beliefs — because there are systematic vulnerabilities in these truth-checking strategies which can be exploited.

Answer 57

[kən’viːnɪən(t)s] / 1) удобство to await / suit smb.’s convenience — заботиться о чьём-л. комфорте, удобстве; удовлетворять чьим-л. требованиям Delivery times are arranged at your convenience. — Доставка будет организована в удобное для вас время. - marriage of convenience 2) (conveniences) (бытовые) удобства, комфорт an apartment with all the modern conveniences — квартира со всеми современными удобствами 3) ‘‘удобства’’, туалет, уборная public convenience(s) — общественный туалет, общественная уборная 4) преимущество; выгода; благоприятная возможность Syn: advantage 1., opportunity 5) пригодность Syn: suitability

Question 58

eventually

• When I go through busy periods of partying, drinking, sleep deprivation and convenience eating, I usually decide — eventually — that I need a bit of a rest.
• I was eventually told that my questions might be answered, if I travelled 275 miles north to Durham in person.
• Eventually more evidence of harm emerged.
• Wakefield himself eventually received £435,643 plus expenses from the legal aid fund for his role in the case against MMR.

Answer 58

[ɪ’venʧuəlɪ], [-tju-] / в конечном счёте, в итоге, в конце концов; со временем Syn: ultimately , at the end of the day , in the end

Question 59

abstaining

• There is nothing wrong with the notion of eating healthily and abstaining from various risk factors for ill health like excessive alcohol use.

Answer 59

[əb’steɪn] / 1) воздерживаться Syn: forbear , refrain 2) воздержаться (при голосовании); не голосовать Three senators abstained in the vote on the second reading of the Railways Bill. — Три сенатора воздержались от голосования при втором чтении законопроекта ‘‘О железных дорогах’’. Time and again, the Liberals split three ways - some voting with the government, some against, the rest abstaining. — То и дело либералы раскалываются на три группы: часть голосует в поддержку правительства, часть - против, остальные воздерживаются

Question 60

excessive

• There is nothing wrong with the notion of eating healthily and abstaining from various risk factors for ill health like excessive alcohol use.
• As I have said, I don’t think it’s excessive to talk about consumers paralysed with confusion in supermarkets.

Answer 60

ɪk’sesɪv ], [ek-] / непомерный, чрезвычайный, чрезмерный, неумеренный, заядлый

Question 61

outset

• But that is not what detox is about: these are quick-fix health drives, constructed from the outset as shortterm, while lifestyle risk factors for ill health have their impact over a lifetime.
• This feels wrong from the outset, and anyone can see why: there might be environmental or genetic factors at play, both of which would be shared by the two babies.

Answer 61

[‘autset] / 1) начало; начинание at the outset of a play — в начале пьесы This money will be an outset for your business. — Эти деньги будут стартовым капиталом твоего бизнеса. - at the outset - from the outset Syn: beginning , start 1. 2) устье шахты, возвышающееся над почвой 3) боковик; заголовок, помещённый на полях страницы; накидка, вкладка •• A good outset is half the voyage. — Хорошее начало полдела откачало.

Question 62

conspicuously

• Such rituals, like detox regimes, are conspicuously and — to some believers too, I’m sure — spuriously precise.

Answer 62

[kən’spɪkjuəslɪ] / видимо; заметно, очевидно

Question 63

spuriously

• Such rituals, like detox regimes, are conspicuously and — to some believers too, I’m sure — spuriously precise.
• They get angry, they threaten to sue, they scream and shout at you at meetings, they complain spuriously and with ludicrous misrepresentations — time-consuming to expose, of course, but that’s the point of harassment — to the Press Complaints Commission and your editor, they send hate mail, and accuse you repeatedly of somehow being in the pocket of big pharma (falsely, although you start to wonder why you bother having principles when faced with this kind of behaviour).

Answer 63

[‘spjuərɪəs] / 1) поддельный; подложный, фальшивый, фиктивный; ложный, иллюзорный spurious gems — фальшивые драгоценности spurious pride — ложная гордость He should be able to distinguish what is Genuine in them from what is Spurious. — Он должен уметь отличить в них поддельное от настоящего. Syn: sham , faked , apocryphal , counterfeit , shoddy Ant: accurate , genuine , sincere 2) внебрачный, незаконнорождённый Syn: illegitimate 3) ложный spurious fruit — ложный плод

Question 64

precise

• Such rituals, like detox regimes, are conspicuously and — to some believers too, I’m sure — spuriously precise.
• To be scrupulously precise, what they said, in answer to a written question from an indignant retired headmaster, was this: ‘As we have said previously it was never intended, and the County Council never suggested, that it would use this initiative to draw conclusions about the effectiveness or otherwise of using Fish Oil to boost exam results.’
• These crude biomedical mechanisms may well enhance the placebo benefits from pills, but they are also seductive precisely because of what they edit out.
• From my perspective, it is no exaggeration to say that 1975 is precisely a lifetime ago.
• Here’s a thought: it seems odd that the death rate should go down on a ward at the precise moment that a serial killer — on a killing spree — arrives.
• It’s striking that Cherie Blair has now decided, in marketing her lucrative autobiography, to waive that principle which was so vital at the time, and has written at length in her heavily promoted book not just about the precise bonk that conceived Leo, but also about whether he had the jab (she says yes, but she seems to obfuscate on whether it was single vaccines, and indeed on the question of when he had it: frankly, I give up on these people).
• “Our half brother,” Sansa corrected, soft and precise.
• And that may be precisely what Lord Tywin wants, Ned thought to himself, to bleed off strength from Riverrun, goad the boy into scattering his swords.

Answer 64

[prɪ’saɪs] / 1) а) точный; определённый precise meaning — точное значение Syn: exact , punctual б) членораздельный, отчётливый, чёткий, ясный (о речи, звуке, голосе) Syn: clear , clear-cut 2) а) аккуратный, педантичный, щепетильный He was very precise about doing his duty. — Он педантично относился к исполнению своих обязанностей. He is very precise about dates and facts. — Он всегда очень точен в датах и фактах. Syn: accurate , formal , correct , scrupulous , particular , careful , thorough б) строгий, пуританский Syn: puritanical •• to be more precise — точнее говоря

Question 65

redemption

• Purification and redemption are such recurrent themes in ritual because there is a clear and ubiquitous need for them: we all do regrettable things as a result of our own circumstances, and new rituals are frequently invented in response to new circumstances.
• In what we call the developed Western world, we seek redemption and purification from the more extreme forms of our material indulgence: we fill our faces with drugs, drink, bad food and other indulgences, we know it’s wrong, and we crave ritualistic protection from the consequences, a public ‘transitional ritual’ commemorating our return to healthier behavioural norms.
• The presentation of these purification diets and rituals has always been a product of their time and place, and now that science is our dominant explanatory framework for the natural and moral world, for right or wrong, it’s natural that we should bolt a bastardised pseudoscientific justification onto our redemption.

Answer 65

[rɪ’dempʃ(ə)n] / 1) выкуп; погашение (долга, задолженности) ; возвращение (обычно путём выкупа) redemption of captives — выкуп пленников It is only possible to become a member of this company by patrimony, or by redemption. — Членство в этой компании можно получить или по наследству, или выкупить его. equity of redemption — право выкупа заложенного имущества redemption price — выкупная цена, выкупной курс Syn: payment , ransom 2) искупление (вины) Syn: atonement , expiation , ransom 3) искупление (людских грехов Иисусом Христом) the doctrine of redemption — учение об искуплении грехов, доктрина искупления - Year of Redemption Syn: salvation 4) освобождение; спасение; избавление 5) исправление - without redemption - past redemption Syn: deliverance 6) подкупающая, компенсирующая недостатки черта характера He has so much of redemption in him, that we commiserate his weakness. — В нём столько подкупающих черт, что мы сочувствуем его слабостям.

Question 66

ubiquitous

• Purification and redemption are such recurrent themes in ritual because there is a clear and ubiquitous need for them: we all do regrettable things as a result of our own circumstances, and new rituals are frequently invented in response to new circumstances.

Answer 66

[juː’bɪkwɪtəs] / вездесущий; повсеместный Syn: omnipresent , general

Question 67

regrettable

• Purification and redemption are such recurrent themes in ritual because there is a clear and ubiquitous need for them: we all do regrettable things as a result of our own circumstances, and new rituals are frequently invented in response to new circumstances.

Answer 67

[rɪ’gretəbl] / прискорбный, заслуживающий сожаления Syn: reprehensible

Question 68

arisen

• In Angola and Mozambique, purification and cleansing rituals have arisen for children affected by war, particularly former child soldiers.
• But for mathematical issues, or assessing causal relationships, intuitions are often completely wrong, because they rely on shortcuts which have arisen as handy ways to solve complex cognitive problems rapidly, but at a cost of inaccuracies, misfires and oversensitivity.
• Futher experiments, again, have illustrated where the false positives seem to have arisen, and in 2004, when Professor Stephen Bustin was examining the evidence for the legal aid case, he explained how he established to his satisfaction — during a visit to the O’Leary lab — that these were false positives due to contamination and inadequate experimental methods.

Answer 68

[ə’raɪz] / ; arose , arisen 1) возникать, появляться A new difficulty has arisen. — Возникло новое затруднение. A quarrel arose. — Вспыхнула ссора. Doubts arose in his mind. — У него возникли сомнения. Syn: emanate , emerge , originate , stem Ant: decrease , finish , stop 2) происходить, проистекать, являться результатом to arise from the treaty — следовать из данного соглашения to arise out of the situation — вытекать из этой ситуации Additional expenses arose from your delay. — Ваша задержка привела к дополнительным расходам. 3) раздаваться, подниматься (о криках, шуме) A shout arose from the crowd. — Из толпы раздались крики. 4) подниматься, вставать; всходить (о солнце) 5) воскресать, восставать to arise from the dead — восстать из мёртвых 6) подниматься на борьбу to arise against oppression — восставать против насилия

Question 69

purged

• These are healing rituals, where the child is purged and purified of sin and guilt, of the ‘contamination’ of war and death (contamination is a recurring metaphor in all cultures, for obvious reasons); the child is also protected from the consequences of his previous actions, which is to say, he is protected from retaliation by the avenging spirits of those he has killed.

Answer 69

[pɜːʤ] / 1. 1) очищение; очистка 2) чистка 3) слабительное Syn: laxative , purgative 2. 1) а) очищать, прочищать to purge oneself of prejudices and predispositions — избавиться от предубеждений и предвзятости б) счищать, удалять (что-л.) This medicine will help to purge away the poison in your blood. — Это лекарство поможет вывести яд из крови. How can I purge this shame from my heart? — Как мне смыть этот стыд? 2) искупать (вину) ; оправдываться to purge an offence — искупить проступок Only my father’s death purged me of the guilt that I had felt. — Только смерть моего отца избавила меня от угрызений совести. 3) проводить чистку The Party must be purged of disloyal members. — Партию нужно очистить от нелояльных элементов. 4) а) очищать кишечник; давать слабительное б) слабить

Question 70

contamination

• These are healing rituals, where the child is purged and purified of sin and guilt, of the ‘contamination’ of war and death (contamination is a recurring metaphor in all cultures, for obvious reasons); the child is also protected from the consequences of his previous actions, which is to say, he is protected from retaliation by the avenging spirits of those he has killed.
• Futher experiments, again, have illustrated where the false positives seem to have arisen, and in 2004, when Professor Stephen Bustin was examining the evidence for the legal aid case, he explained how he established to his satisfaction — during a visit to the O’Leary lab — that these were false positives due to contamination and inadequate experimental methods.
• He has shown, firstly, that there were no ‘controls’ to check for false positives (contamination is a huge risk when you are looking for minuscule traces of genetic material, so you generally run ‘blank’ samples to make sure they do come out blank); he found calibration problems with the machines; problems with log books; and worse.
• Because of this, the PCR process is exquisitely sensitive to contamination — as numerous innocent people languishing in jail could tell you — so you have to be very careful, and clean up as you go.
• As well as raising concerns about contamination, D’Souza also found that the O’Leary method might have accidentally amplified the wrong bits of RNA.

Answer 70

[kənˌtæmɪ’neɪʃ(ə)n] 1) загрязнение; заражение - contamination meter Syn: soiling , defilement , pollution , infection 2) порча. разложение 3) загрязнённость, засорённость Syn: impurity 4) контаминация

Question 71

retaliation

• These are healing rituals, where the child is purged and purified of sin and guilt, of the ‘contamination’ of war and death (contamination is a recurring metaphor in all cultures, for obvious reasons); the child is also protected from the consequences of his previous actions, which is to say, he is protected from retaliation by the avenging spirits of those he has killed.

Answer 71

[rɪˌtælɪ’eɪʃ(ə)n] / 1) воздаяние, возмездие, кара; отплата, расплата - act of retaliation - massive retaliation Syn: repayment , requital 2) репрессалия

Question 72

avenging

• These are healing rituals, where the child is purged and purified of sin and guilt, of the ‘contamination’ of war and death (contamination is a recurring metaphor in all cultures, for obvious reasons); the child is also protected from the consequences of his previous actions, which is to say, he is protected from retaliation by the avenging spirits of those he has killed.

Answer 72

[ə’venʤ] / 1) (avenge of) отомстить (за совершённое зло) Hamlet was avenged of his father’s murder. — Гамлет отомстил за смерть отца. 2) (avenge on) отомстить (кому-л.) to avenge insult on smb. — отомстить кому-л. за оскорбление to avenge oneself — отомстить, отплатить за себя Syn: revenge , take revenge

Question 73

rites

• As a World Bank report put it in 1999: These cleansing and purification rituals for child soldiers have the appearance of what anthropologists call rites of transition.
• Recent favourites include Social Anxiety Disorder (a new use for SSRI drugs), Female Sexual Dysfunction (a new use for Viagra in women), night eating syndrome (SSRIs again) and so on: problems, in a real sense, but perhaps not necessarily the stuff of pills, and perhaps not best conceived of in reductionist biomedical terms.
• He writes long letters, sent to huge numbers of people, accusing me and others critical of his work of some rather astonishing things.
• OK, back to an easy one There are also some perfectly simple ways to generate ridiculous statistics, and two common favourites are to select an unusual sample group, and to ask them a stupid question.
• In fact Philip Knightley — a god of investigative journalism from the Sunday Times’ legendary Insight team, and the man most associated with heroic coverage on thalidomide — specifically writes in his autobiography about his shame over not covering the thalidomide story sooner.
• “Ben writes that the strength of the Night’s Watch is down below a thousand.
• “Denys Mallister writes that the mountain people are moving south, slipping past the Shadow Tower in numbers greater than ever before.
• “My favorites were the scary ones.” He heard some sort of commotion outside and turned back to the window.
• A dozen times Jeyne and Sansa cried out in unison as riders crashed together, lances exploding into splinters while the commons screamed for their favorites.
• The Knight of Flowers writes Highgarden, urging his lord father to send his sister to court.

Answer 73

[raɪt] / а) обряд, церемония rites of hospitality — традиции гостеприимства pagan rite — языческий обряд religious rite — религиозный обряд solemn rite — священный обряд last rites — соборование перед смертью to administer last rites — проводить последние приготовления to perform a rite — исполнять церемонию Syn: ceremony , observance б) ритуал, церемониал Syn: ceremonial

Question 74

undergoes

• That is, the child undergoes a symbolic change of status from someone who has existed in a realm of sanctioned norm-violation or normsuspension (i.e. killing, war) to someone who must now live in a realm of peaceful behavioural and social norms, and conform to these.

Answer 74

[ˌʌndə’gəu] / ; underwent ; undergone 1) испытывать, переносить to undergo the punishment — подвергнуться наказанию 2) подвергаться (чему-л.) to undergo a medical examination — пройти медосмотр Every year thousands undergo this operation. — Каждый год тысячам людей делается эта операция. His views underwent a very thorough change in course of time. — Его взгляды сильно изменились с течением времени.

Question 75

sanctioned

• That is, the child undergoes a symbolic change of status from someone who has existed in a realm of sanctioned norm-violation or normsuspension (i.e. killing, war) to someone who must now live in a realm of peaceful behavioural and social norms, and conform to these.

Answer 75

[‘sæŋ(k)ʃ(ə)n] / 1. 1) официальное одобрение, разрешение, поддержка (чего-л.) to give sanction to smth. — одобрять что-л., давать разрешение на что-л. to receive sanction — получать одобрение, разрешение Syn: approbation , permission , ratification , approval 2) а) указ, постановление, директива б) утверждение высшей инстанцией какого-л. акта, придающее ему правовую силу Syn: decree 1. 3) обычно sanctions санкции (меры принудительного воздействия, применяемые к нарушителям установленного порядка) economic sanction — экономические санкции to apply / impose sanctions — принимать меры to lift sanctions — отменять санкции - legal sanction 4) санкция (часть правовой нормы, статьи закона, в которой указываются правовые последствия нарушения данного закона) 5) мотив, моральные соображения

Question 76

violation

• That is, the child undergoes a symbolic change of status from someone who has existed in a realm of sanctioned norm-violation or normsuspension (i.e. killing, war) to someone who must now live in a realm of peaceful behavioural and social norms, and conform to these.

Answer 76

[ˌvaɪə’leɪʃ(ə)n] / 1) нарушение brazen / flagrant violation — грубое / вопиющее нарушение minor violation — незначительное нарушение to commit a violation — нарушить что-л. He acted in violation of the law. — Он действовал, нарушая закон. moving violation — нарушение правил дорожного движения Syn: crime 2) а) насилие, применение силы б) изнасилование • Syn: ravishment , outrage , rape 1. 1) 3) осквернение The violation of a sacred place by murder was considered a greater crime than the murder itself. — Осквернение святого места убийством считалось большим преступлением, чем само убийство. Syn: desecration , defilement , profanation

Question 77

suspension

• That is, the child undergoes a symbolic change of status from someone who has existed in a realm of sanctioned norm-violation or normsuspension (i.e. killing, war) to someone who must now live in a realm of peaceful behavioural and social norms, and conform to these.

Answer 77

[sə’spen(t)ʃ(ə)n] / 1) приостановка, пауза, перерыв; временное прекращение; задержка, отсрочка A strike by British Airways ground staff has led to the suspension of flights between London and Manchester. — Забастовка наземного персонала компании «Бритиш эйрвэйз» привела к прекращению рейсов между Лондоном и Манчестером. Suspensions were offered for some acceptors. — Некоторым акцептантам была предоставлена отсрочка. Syn: intermission 2) временная отставка; временное отстранение от должности The athlete received a two-year suspension following a positive drug test. — Спортсмен был дисквалифицирован на два года из-за положительных результатов допинг-контроля. 3) ; = suspension of payment(s) приостановление платежей 4) а) вешание; подвешивание б) подвешенное состояние; состояние неопределённости 5) взвешенное состояние; суспензия; взвесь 6) подвес; подвеска

Question 78

commemorating

• In what we call the developed Western world, we seek redemption and purification from the more extreme forms of our material indulgence: we fill our faces with drugs, drink, bad food and other indulgences, we know it’s wrong, and we crave ritualistic protection from the consequences, a public ‘transitional ritual’ commemorating our return to healthier behavioural norms.

Answer 78

[kə’meməreɪt] / 1) почтить чью-л. память (каким-л. образом) ; устраивать, проводить какие-л. мероприятия в память о ком-л., чём-л. Keats’ death is commemorated in a fine poem by Shelley. — Шелли почтил память Китса прекрасным стихотворением, которое написал на смерть поэта. 2) отмечать, праздновать (дату) Syn: celebrate 3) ссылаться, упоминать; напоминать, служить напоминанием Syn: mention 2.

Question 79

justification

• The presentation of these purification diets and rituals has always been a product of their time and place, and now that science is our dominant explanatory framework for the natural and moral world, for right or wrong, it’s natural that we should bolt a bastardised pseudoscientific justification onto our redemption.
• You will have your own view, but it is very hard to understand what justification there can be for withholding the results of this ‘trial’ now that it has concluded.

Answer 79

[ˌʤʌstɪfɪ’keɪʃ(ə)n] / 1) оправдание, реабилитация to find justification for smth. — искать оправдание чему-л. Syn: exculpation 2) а) оправдывающие обстоятельства, извинение б) принятие залога, поручительства; оправдание кредитоспособности поручателя 3) выключка строки

Question 80

venal

• Like so much of the nonsense in bad science, ‘detox’ pseudoscience isn’t something done to us, by venal and exploitative outsiders: it is a cultural product, a recurring theme, and we do it to ourselves.
• If you were in the mood to quibble with the Independent’s moral and political reasoning, as well as its evident and shameless venality, you could argue that intensive indoor cultivation of a plant which grows perfectly well outdoors is the cannabis industry’s reaction to the product’s illegality itself.
• It has every ingredient, every canard, every sleight of hand, and every aspect of venal incompetence and hysteria, systemic and individual.

Answer 80

[‘viːn(ə)l] / продажный; коррумпированный, корыстный venal vote — продажные голоса We are all venal cowards. — Мы все здесь продажные трусы. venal practices — коррупция Syn: corrupt , bribable , vendible 1. 2)

Question 81

exploitative

• Like so much of the nonsense in bad science, ‘detox’ pseudoscience isn’t something done to us, by venal and exploitative outsiders: it is a cultural product, a recurring theme, and we do it to ourselves.
• Let’s take our most concrete example so far: are the sugar pills of homeopathy exploitative, if they work only as a placebo?
• In fact, refraining intelligence, loss of libido, shyness and tiredness as medical pill problems could be considered crass, exploitative, and frankly disempowering.
• Many find it suspicious that black Africans seem to be the biggest victims of AIDS, and point to the biological warfare programmes set up by the apartheid governments; there have also been suspicions that the scientific discourse of HIV ⁄ AIDS might be a device, a Trojan horse for spreading even more exploitative Western political and economic agendas around a problem that is simply one of poverty.
• The companies also set their prices in ways you might judge to be exploitative.

Answer 81

[ɪk’splɔɪtətɪv], [ek-] эксплуататорский