Chp3

Question 1

Actuarial

Answer 1

Adj. calculating; pertaining to insurance statistics.

According to recent actuarial tables, life expansion is greater than it was a century ago.

Question 2

Acuity

Answer 2

N. sharpness

Acuteness of vision or perception; keenness.

Question 3

Acumen

Answer 3

N. mental keenness.

His business acumen helped him to succeed where others had failed.

Question 4

Resolution

Answer 4

1. The state or quality of being resolute; firm determination: faced the situation with resolution.
2. A firm decision to do something: made a resolution to get more exercise.
3. A course of action determined or decided on: His resolution is to get up early.
   The act of solving or explaining a problem or puzzle.
4. The resolving or concluding of a dispute or disagreement.
5. The part of a literary work in which the complications of the plot are resolved or simplified.
6. A formal statement of a decision or expression of opinion put before or adopted by an assembly such as the US Congress.

Question 5

spectacles

Answer 5

A pair of glasses

Question 6

Delegate

Answer 6

Vt.

1. To authorize and send (another person) as one’s representative.
2. To commit or entrust to another: delegate a task to a subordinate.

Question 7

Vibrant/vibrancy

Answer 7

1. Pulsing or throbbing with energy or activity: the vibrant streets of a big city.
2. Vigorous, lively, and vital: “a vibrant group that challenged the … system” (Philip Taubman).

Question 8

Ossification

Answer 8

The process of becoming set in a rigidly conventional pattern, as of behavior, habits, or beliefs.
Rigid, unimaginative convention.

Question 9

Worse for wear

Answer 9

worse for wear

1. Euph. intoxicated. You were the worse for wear last night. The three came stumbling in, the worse for wear again.
2. damaged or worn through use. Eventually, every machine becomes worse for wear, you know. The truth is it’s the worse for wear; you will just have to get a new one.
3. injured. Tom fell into the street and he’s much the worse for wear. Fred had a little accident with his bike and he’s the worse for wear.

Question 10

beleaguer

Answer 10

tr. v.
1. To harass; beset: We are beleaguered by problems.
2. To surround with troops; besiege: The enemy beleaguered the enclave.

Question 11

Undercut

Answer 11

v. tr.
1. To diminish or destroy the province or effectiveness of; undermine: “The partnership between the United States and Western Europe is undercut by diverging economic interests” (Scott Sullivan).
2. To sell at a lower price than or to work for lower wages or fees than (a competitor).
3. To make a cut under or below.

Question 12

Trumpet

Answer 12

Proclaim.

Question 13

Contingent upon

Answer 13

视。。。为定。 contingent 偶然的 偶然发生的。

Question 14

swap

Answer 14

transaction 交换 交易