Reader question:
What does this headline – A sea change on immigration? – mean?
My comments:
It means a major change in immigration policy.
Sea change is an idiom, referring to drastic change, fundamental change, a total about turn, a radical, dramatic, even mythical change, or in Chinese parley, 沧海桑田般的改变.
I don't usually explain English idioms with Chinese, as I see that as a poor habit (preventing one from thinking in terms of English when communicating in that language). But sea change is an exception. You see, it matches perfectly with the Chinese idiom, in both meaning and in terms of the mythical.
The English idiom is said to have been first used by none other than William Shakespeare.
In The Tempest, published in 1610, Shakespeare wrote:
Full fathom five thy father lies
Of his bones are coral made
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell
Ding-dong
Hark! Now I hear them – Ding-dong, bell.
The Chinese idiom 沧海桑田
"It must have been five- or six-hundred years since I saw you last," says one, a woman known as Ma Gu. "As a matter of fact, since I became a fairy, I've seen the sea morph into mulberry fields and vice versa no less than three times. In fact, the last time I visited Penglai (a celestial mountain off the coast of Qingdao, where Olympic yachting events are to be held next month) I did not fail to notice that the waters were shallower than before. I won't be surprised if the East Sea turns into dry land once again."
"Indeed, impossible is nothing", echoes the other by the name of Wang Yuan, adding with a chuckle, "No wonder ancients often talk of whipping up a dust while riding horses in the sea. Now I see what it means."
Anyways, that's sea change. I told the stories, by the way, just for the sake of telling them, to show that I can tell tales (vain, I know). I am not suggesting that you put "sea change" into 沧海桑田 any time you see it. You'll risking sounding silly if you do. And if you do, don't blame me for not having warned you first.
Now that I've satisfied my own vanity and warned you over translations, let's see a few more examples of "sea change" in the news:
1. A sea change for swimming
In the wake of Michael Phelps' success, his sport has entered the era of the 'professional' swimmer.
2. In the not-so-distant past, every summer blockbuster had to have its own chartbusting theme song...
But, musicals like Mamma Mia! aside, recent blockbusters have been bereft of big-name ballads. From X-Men to Pirates of the Caribbean, there isn't a power chord in sight.
Most striking of all is the complete absence of rock music in the rebooted Batman franchise.
Hans Zimmer, who co-wrote the soundtrack for Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, says his vision of Gotham City has no room for the likes of U2, Prince and R Kelly.
"There was never any doubt that we were going to be songless," says the Oscar-winning composer.
"And, trust me, we were flooded with requests from every band in the world. I actually had to say no to some really interesting people."
Zimmer's decision, taken in collaboration with director Chris Nolan and co-composer James Newton-Howard, reflects asea-change in the way film-makers approach soundtracks.
3. Nowadays, people write to Ehrenreich with their workplace horror stories. The most shocking in the new book came from an ex-employee of one large retailer, who told Ehrenreich that in 2003 the company held him captive for six hours and interrogated him for giving a colleague a discount on a videogame, before getting him to write a false confession and firing him. A former colleague alleged that such incidents were not unusual.
With Obama ascending there is hope of a sea change, although Ehrenreich remains characteristically cautious. She sees him "tacking to the right" and was disheartened by his choice of economic adviser, Jason Furman, "who was to the far right of the Democratic Party and made his reputation as a defender of Wal-Mart [one of her principal targets in Nickel and Dimed]. And so in a way, I thought, OK, I'm not going to pay [Obama] any attention for a while."
牛津实用英语语法:302 被动语态形式
牛津实用英语语法:282 其他表示命令的方式
牛津实用英语语法:280 误连分词
牛津实用英语语法:258 用做主语
牛津实用英语语法:301 wish(that)+主语+would
牛津实用英语语法:305 介词与被动态动词连用
牛津实用英语语法:314 间接引语中的不定式和动名词结构
牛津实用英语语法:296 would like和 want
牛津实用英语语法:297 would rather/sooner和prefer/would prefe
牛津实用英语语法:272 现在(或称主动)分词
牛津实用英语语法:288 may/might as well+动词原形表示劝告
牛津实用英语语法:325 must和needn’t
牛津实用英语语法:269 agree/agree to,mean,propose
牛津实用英语语法:298 表示偏爱的另一些例句
牛津实用英语语法:290虚拟语气形式
牛津实用英语语法:283 can/could/may/might I/we?表示请求
牛津实用英语语法:300 wish+ 主语+ 虚拟过去时
牛津实用英语语法:268 regret,remember,forget
牛津实用英语语法:261 后面可以跟动名词的动词
牛津实用英语语法:278 分词的完成式(主动语态)
牛津实用英语语法:259 介词之后的动名词
牛津实用英语语法:243 动词或动词+宾语之后的不定式
牛津实用英语语法:287 劝告的形式
牛津实用英语语法:299 wish,want和would like
牛津实用英语语法:303 主动和被动时态对照表A 时态/
牛津实用英语语法:326 并列连词
牛津实用英语语法:276 代替主句的现在分词短语
牛津实用英语语法:304 被动态的各种用法
牛津实用英语语法:281 祈使句表示命令
牛津实用英语语法:291 虚拟现在时的用法
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