Yam asks:
Please explain this sentence (The long time lag between the weapons’ arrival and the Bosnians’ training would leave them extremely vulnerable to snap Serb offensives – Maybe Next Time, Time magazine, October 10, 1994), especially the word “snap”, as in “snap Serbian offensive”.
My comments:
This is an old story, but...
Okay, the United States is always shipping weapons to this country and that. This time, they promised to ship weapons to the Bosnians. But it would take time for the weapons to arrive. Even after the weapons arrived, the Bosnians would need time to train and get used to using those weapons. And the time in between (that long time lag) is when they could be vulnerable to attacks by the Serbs.
Snap attacks (offensive), that is.
In other words, quick hit and run attacks.
All you need to remember about the word “snap” is that it involves activities that are short, crisp and quick.
Quick and snappy like the sound of the finger snap. Do it yourself. Make a quick brush of the tip of your middle finger with the base of your thumb and hear it, a sharp, short noise – got to move your fingers quick enough to make it work, of course.
Or when you snap a stick in two, the stick breaks in two in an instant.
Or when people talk about a cold snap, they are talking about the weather, of temperatures dropping sharply all of a sudden – usually before climbing back up again soon.
Or when you say something rude to someone and they snap right back, they bark back at you without delay – and you deserve it too.
Or if you’re always making snap decisions, you do not think carefully before making those decisions.
Anyways, and in short, whenever something snaps, it happens real quickly, as Woody Allen, in one of his earlier standup routines, tells of his parents’ reaction to his kidnapping:
Finally, my parents realize that I’m kidnapped and they snap into action immediately: they rent out my room.
Well, what were they supposed to do? The folks lived in New York, you know. If they found it imperative to squeeze a quick buck from their missing son’s room for a day or two, who are we to blame them?
Not in today’s economy at any rate.
2014年职称英语综合类的练习题之阅读理解4
2013职称英语综合类的阅读理解考前强化题8
2013职称英语综合C真题阅读理解的原文第十一篇
2014年职称英语综合类的阅读理解每日一练第1天
2013职称英语综合类的阅读理解考前强化题5
2012职称英语考试理工类的阅读理解模拟题3
2014年职称英语综合类的练习题之阅读理解8
2013职称英语综合类的阅读理解考前强化题10
2012职称英语考试理工类的阅读理解模拟题8
2013职称英语综合类的阅读理解考前强化题()
2013年职称英语理工类的b级阅读理解练习题3
2014年职称英语综合类的阅读理解练习题3
2013职称英语综合B真题阅读理解的原文第三十篇
2012职称英语考试理工类的阅读理解模拟题6
职称英语考试阅读理解重点句型的整理6
职称英语考试阅读理解重点句型的整理3
2014年职称英语综合类的练习题之阅读理解3
2014年职称英语综合类的练习题之阅读理解7
2014年职称英语考试综合类的阅读理解备考练习题及答案3
2014年职称英语综合类的练习题之阅读理解2
职称英语考试阅读理解重点句型的整理
2014年职称英语考试综合类的阅读理解练习题16
2013职称英语综合类的阅读理解考前强化题1
2012职称英语考试理工类的阅读理解模拟题13
2014年职称英语考试综合类的阅读理解备考练习题及答案1
2013职称英语综合类的阅读理解考前强化题7
2014年职称英语综合类的练习题之阅读理解1
2013职称英语综合A真题阅读理解的原文第三十八篇
2013职称英语综合类的B级真题及答案阅读理解
2014年职称英语综合类的阅读理解练习题5
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |