5.15

Question 1

wax seal

Answer 1

So anybody who wants to read that letter or that book the first time has to break that wax seal.

Question 2

bluff sb out of a pot

Answer 2

He learned how to detect a bluff and how to fool others out of a pot.

The player across the table bluffed me out of a pot. How was I to know he had nothing?

Question 3

traffic

Answer 3

...the widespread traffic in stolen cultural artefacts.
…被盗文物非法买卖泛滥。
The president said illegal drugs are hurting the entire world and anyone who traffics in them should be brought to justice.
总统说毒品正在危害全世界，毒品非法交易者都应该绳之以法。
做…买卖(尤指进行非法交易)(与in连用)：
to traffic in guns
买卖枪炮
与…做买卖：
to traffic with France
与法国进行贸易
走来走去；来来往往

Question 4

modus operandi
bursar
the traffic will bear

Answer 4

His conclusion: Disney should charge what the traffic will bear at the gate, then cut the price of individual rides down to their (very low) marginal cost.

Modus operandi of college bursars: Charge whatever the traffic will bear.

Question 5

occasion

Answer 5

It is an occasion for all the family to celebrate.
那是个全家庆祝的机会。
Over the next few years many people had occasion to reflect on the truth of his warnings.

If you say that someone rose to the occasion, you mean that they did what was necessary to successfully overcome a difficult situation.
例：
Colorado rose to the occasion with four players scoring 16 points or more.

This all occasioned more thorough searches of suspicious individuals crossing borders, and of thousands of innocuous-looking letters that might contain invisible messages.

Question 6

up in arms about

Answer 6

Patient advocates are up in arms over the possible closure of the psychiatric hospital.
病人的支持者们愤怒抗议该精神病院的可能关闭。

Question 7

couch

Answer 7

表达，表述，措辞：
He couched his demands in very polite terms.
他用十分委婉的措辞表达了他的要求。

Question 8

pay
pay for
be paid to

Answer 8

If a course of action pays, it results in some advantage or benefit for you.
It pays to invest in protective clothing.
在防护服上投资值。
例：
We must demonstrate that aggression will not pay.
我们必须证明侵犯是没有好处的。
It pays to be honest.
诚实不会吃亏的。

He was to pay dearly for his lack of resolve.
他将为自己缺乏决心付出高昂的代价。
例：
Why should I pay the penalty for somebody else’s mistake?
我为什么要为别人的错误而受罚呢？

There are people who are paid to sit around and play games.
有人受雇闲坐着玩游戏。

致以(问候)；给予(注意)；进行(访问)：
We pay high attention to the peace in the world.
我们对世界和平给予高度重视。
Pay one's respects to sb.
向某人致敬。

Question 9

on course

Answer 9

They will remain on course to make sure that they secure a murder conviction.

But for that to happen, several intermediate steps will all have to stay on course.

If you are on course for something, you are likely to achieve it. 极有可能得到…
例：
The company is on course for profits of $20m.
这家公司的利润有望达到2000万美元。