儒琴英语词汇选自欧美报刊文章以及英语原文小说。坚持学习英语今日词汇，有助于阅读和理解当今欧美主流媒体的新闻时事报道和英语文学作品。
儒琴英语词汇（English Words and Phrases of the Day）
all bets (are) off
(idiomatic) Indicates that a future event appears uncertain, especially one that before seemed more certain. Any prior agreements are no longer valid. (idiomatic, by extension) Anything can happen; any previous preconceptions about what might happen are dismissed. (Wiki)
世事难料; 任何事都可能发生；任何先前的协议都不再有效；表示未来的事件似乎不确定，尤指之前似乎更确定的事件
The economy is sputtering, but the markets are thriving — a highly unusual event that shows how the coronavirus has thrown all bets off.
The disconnect adds to the wealth gap. The richest 10% of households — who own 84% of stocks — are getting richer, while millions of out-of-work Americans cross their fingers that pandemic unemployment benefits will be extended.
elephant walk
An elephant walk is a USAF term for the taxiing of military aircraft right before takeoff, when they are in close formation. Often, it takes place right before a minimum interval takeoff.
“大象行走”（elephant walk）是一个美国空军术语，形容多架军机起飞前以最小的间距首尾相连滑行，以便最短时间起飞最多架军机。
Ten U.S. Air Force’s refueling tanker aircraft, includes eight newest KC-46A Pegasus and two KC-135s, were a part of Wednesday’s elephant walk exercise at McConnell Air Force Base, Kansas. McConnell’s tanker aircrews and maintenance personnel were tested on their ability to rapidly generating multiple sorties during a weather evacuation exercise.
Realpolitik
noun [ U ]/reɪˈɑːlˌpoʊ.lɪ.tiːk/ (Cambridge)
practical politics, decided more by the urgent needs of the country, political party, etc., than by morals or principles
（基于目前的需要而不是道义和原则的）现实政治，实用政治，实力政策
The Left and Right united in attacking Henry Kissinger as an amoral practitioner of realpolitik who had subverted American ideals: to the former he was a war criminal who had wantonly deployed American power abroad; to the latter, an appeaser who had not deployed it enough.
the like of sb/sth; sb’s/sth’s like
(also the likes of sb/sth)
a person, thing, or group similar in character or quality to the one mentioned
…之类
The British Foreign Office referred to Henry Kissinger at the time as “the Wizard of the Western World’” and Playboy Bunnies voted him the man they would prefer to date in 1972—no small accomplishments for an expert on the Congress of Vienna who spent much of his early career at Harvard, where his cohort included the likes of Samuel Huntington, Stanley Hoffmann, and Zbigniew Brzeziński. (National Interest)
slugger
noun [ C ] US informal /ˈslʌɡ.ɚ/
a baseball player who hits the ball very hard
用力击球的棒球运动员
The excoriation is typically punctuated by a binder slam and a determined stride away from the lectern, almost like the slugger who doesn’t bother to watch the pitch he just swatted as it sails into the bleacher seats. The unspoken message seems to be: Take that, hacks! (Washington Post)
scripted
adjective /ˈskrɪp.tɪd/
A scripted speech or broadcast has been written before it is read or performed.
（讲话或广播）使用稿子的，照稿子念的 （Cambridge）
He read from a scripted speech and refused to answer any questions at all at the end of it. 他照着事先写好的演讲稿念，在最后的时候拒绝回答任何问题。