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）
dead heat
noun [ C ]
a competition in which two or more competitors finish at exactly the same time or with exactly the same result
（竞赛结果）平局，不分胜负
The race ended in a dead heat. 赛跑最终不分胜负。
The opinion polls show the three election candidates in a dead heat (with each other). 民意调查显示3位候选人难分高下。(Cambridge)
Dead Heat In Texas. A new Dallas Morning News-University of Texas at Tyler poll in a Texas finds Donald Trump and Joe Biden deadlocked in the presidential race, 43% to 43%.
rise to the occasion/challenge
to show that you can deal with a difficult situation successfully
成功应对困难；临危不乱; 挺身而出
In the exam she rose to the occasion and wrote a brilliant essay. 在考试中，她临场发挥写出了一篇非常出色的文章。(Cambridge)
Governors Rise to the Occasion as Trump Stumbles. As Washington has stumbled, governors of both parties have acted to fill the void. States have pleaded with Washington for help, and sometimes have gotten it.
jockey
verb [ I ] /ˈdʒɑː.ki/
to attempt to get power or get into a better position than other people using any methods you can
运用各种手段谋利
Since the death of the president, opposition parties and the army have been jockeying for power. 总统死后，各反对党和军队一直在争权夺利。
As the singer came on stage, the photographers jockeyed for position at the front of the hall. 歌星一上台，摄影师就在演播厅前部争抢位置。（Cambridge）
“In effect, a scramble is underway to define who counts as deserving of a piece of the multi-trillion dollar federal rescues. The risk is that this fuels a sense of scarcity, of zero-sum jockeying. It has the potential to limit the government’s response and suspend help to affected individuals, businesses and governments before the crisis is anywhere close to ending.” (CNN)
dally
verb [ I ] /ˈdæl.i/
to waste time or do something slowly
蹉跎，浪费光阴；磨洋工，做事磨蹭 (Cambridge)
As Trump dallied, governors moved on their own to order their residents to stay at home. When the president threatened to force states to lift those restrictions, governors resisted. When Trump supported protesters demanding that their states be opened up, many governors — though not all — said they would follow federal guidelines to the letter or even go beyond.
atavistic
(ætəvɪstɪk ) adjective [usually ADJECTIVE noun]
Atavistic feelings or behaviour seem to be very primitive, like the feelings or behaviour of our earliest ancestors; happening because of a very old habit from a long time ago in human history, not because of a conscious decision or because it is necessary now
（行为）返祖性的；原始的
“The fear is that Trump will be content with allowing the race to develop and distribute the vaccine to devolve into a global contest — and that poorer countries will be left behind in the rush to procure doses. In essence: that the president’s ‘America First’ view of world affairs as an atavistic scramble for power will lead to unnecessary suffering and death.” (Politico)
warp
verb wɔːrp/
If something warps someone’s character, it damages them or it influences them in a bad way.
I never had any toys, my father thought that they would warp my personal values.
使（人或人的行为）反常，使变得乖戾；扭曲
“The polls clearly show that Biden is ahead and by a larger margin than Hillary Clinton was on the eve of the 2016 election. You might think that would make people believe that Biden is more likely to win, even if it were far from a certainty.” . “Yet, the evidence suggests that Trump’s surprising 2016 victory has warped people into believing that Trump has some magic up his sleeve. They don’t believe he will lose.”
posit
verb [ T ] formal /ˈpɑː.zɪt/
to suggest something as a basic fact or principle from which a further idea is formed or developed
假想，设想
[ + that ] If we posit that wage rises cause inflation, it follows that we should try to minimize them. 如果我们假设工资上涨会导致通货膨胀的话，那么我们应该尽可能地减小工资上涨幅度。(Cambridge)
Ratcliffe’s official, verified campaign Twitter account follows several accounts on the political fringe, including a 9/11 Truther account with just one follower besides himself and four promoting the outlandish QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that the world is run by a cabal of Democratic pedophile-cannibals — and has been ruled a potential source of domestic terrorism by the FBI.
punk
verb informal US /pʌŋk/
past tense: punked
trick or deceive. “the Associated Press got punked with a fake tweet”
欺骗，隐瞒
“What is it about President Obama that really gets under your skin? Is it because he’s smarter than you? Better educated? Made it on his own—didn’t need Daddy’s help? Wife is more accomplished? Better looking? I don’t know, what is it, what is it about him? That he’s a black man that’s accomplished being president? That he punked you on the whole birth certificate thing? What is it about him? Just wondering.” （CNN）
