Book Reviews on New Book About Mme Chiang

choi

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The new book is
Hannah Pakula, The Last Empress; Madame Chiang Kai-shek and the Birth of
Modern China. Simon & Schuster, 2009.

(1) Melanie Kirkpatrick, Bookshelf | China's Mysterious Lady; The troubled
times and varied ambitions of Madame Chiang Kai-shek.. Wall Street Journal,
Nov. 4, 2009.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703574604574500412440365156.html

Note:
(a) Clare Boothe Luce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clare_Boothe_Luce
(After divorce, "[o]n November 23, 1935, [Ann] Boothe married Henry Robinson
Luce, the wealthy and influential publisher of Time, Fortune, and Life")
(b) to appropriate (vt. for "transitive verb"): "to take without permission"
rap (n.): "a negative and often undeserved reputation or charge —often used
with bum or bad" www.m-w.com
(c) belle (n.; French] a girl or woman who is popular and beautiful or
attractive
(d) Dragon Lady (character)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon_Lady_(character)

(2) Dwight Garner, Books of the Times | Wartime China’s Elegant Enigma.
New York Times, Nov. 4, 2009.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/04/books/04garner.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=chiang&st=cse

Note:
(a) The "yeoman" in "a yeoman work" (adj.): "characterized by laborious
effort and great usefulness"
(b) piquant (adj.): "agreeably stimulating to the palate"
(c) to lay on: "to take on (as flesh, fat) <laid 10 pounds on in a month>"
(d) shan't: "shall not"
(e) bangs (n): translated as 劉海 in Taiwan
(f) discursion (n.): "DIGRESSION"
(g) to pepper (vt., vi.): "to cover with small dots, marks"
(h) indehiscent (adj.): "remaining closed at maturity <indehiscent fruits>"

Note: These are fruits (e.g. berries) that do not open to release their
seeds.
(i) ochlocracy (n; Gk ochlos: crowd, mob): "government by the mob; mob rule"

My comment:
(a) Regarding the sentence "Soong Mei-ling could lay on a 'Scarlett O’Hara
accent' she’d picked up in Georgia": it means that Ms. Soong put on the
accent to dramatize. There, "Ah" is the Southern accent for "I."
(b) Except noted otherwise, all English definitions in this posting come
from Webster (3rd ed., 1961).

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※ 修改:．choi 于 Nov  5 15:46:42 修改本文．[FROM: 128.197.0.0]