"Two sides of the same coin" nghĩa là gì?

Photo by Pranav Kumar Jain on Unsplash

"Two sides of the same coin" = hai mặt của đồng xu -> nghĩa là hai thứ/yếu tố tưởng rằng khác biệt nhưng lại liên quan tới nhau.

Ví dụ

To its peril (nguy hiểm), our country is embracing problematic behaviors that are two sides of the same coin. We are only seeking out information that supports our opinions and narratives. Many want that “Aha!” moment on social media by posting a link to promote (quảng bá) personal viewpoints. No discussion, no mention of the validity (tính hiệu lực) of the research, nor its testing in the scientific community. It merely supports one’s idea, so that becomes sufficient (đầy đủ).

Despite their obvious (rõ ràng) differences, it is becoming ever more apparent (rõ rành rành) that depression and dementia (mất trí nhớ) may be two sides of the same coin. 

We have always described it as having two sides of the same coin with the same management team. By day it is a café bistro (quán), offering a great eclectic mix of locally sourced breakfasts with a broad mix of lunch and brunch [dishes] and then in an evening we pretty much use the same space but translated into British fine-dining, offering four starters, four mains and four desserts.

"Most elections (cuộc bầu cử) have been two sides of the same coin," Jackson said. "A Trump election is a different coin, altogether." 

Ngọc Lân

Bài trước: "He who pays the piper calls the tune" nghĩa là gì?

"He who pays the piper calls the tune" nghĩa là gì?

Photo by Clem Onojeghuo on Unsplash

"He who pays the piper calls the tune" = người trả tiền cho người chơi đàn sẽ quyết định giai điệu -> nghĩa là ai trả tiền thì người đấy có quyền quyết định.

Ví dụ

“You know, there’s an old line of, ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune,’” said McGehee, who has been working on campaign-finance reform (sửa đổi) for more than 30 years. “That’s pretty much a description of the money and politics system in Washington.”

He who pays the piper, calls the tune. Long held spiritual (tâm linh) values must be sacrificed (hi sinh) on the altar (bàn thờ) of economic expediency (thiết thực).

“He who pays the piper calls the tune”; is it not time, as is the practice in other major corporations, that the BBC should be made to answer to its shareholders (người giữ cổ phiếu), namely the general public, in terms of the broadcast content and appointments and levels of remuneration (thù lao)?

There’s an adage that says, ‘He who pays the piper calls the tune.’ The obas were the tax collectors in those days, even when the British were here.  But when the indirect (gián tiếp) rule came, they took everything away. What the obas don’t collect money for, they don’t have a say in it.

Ngọc Lân

Bài trước: "Get in tune with the times" nghĩa là gì?

"Get in tune with the times" nghĩa là gì?

Photo by Esaias Tan on Unsplash

"Get in tune with the times" = theo nhịp điệu thời đại -> nghĩa là sống, cập nhật thông tin mới nhất, bắt kịp thời đại.

Ví dụ

While all parties (đảng phái) are desperately trying to get in tune with the times by committing themselves to a green agenda, and proclaiming that climate change is the great issue of the day, the Green Party has obviously better credentials (thích hợp) on the issue than anybody else.

Time for NJ to get in tune with the times. Legalize (hợp pháp hóa) this and quit wasting police resources on this nonsense. Go after the real problems on Auburn, Fair, Governor, 10th ave and a whole bunch of other tourist destinations.

A lot of those dogs, aren't even registered (đăng ký). Is that still a law in tiverton? Yes, it's 2013, Tiverton needs to get in tune with the times. Our neighbors dog pooped (đại tiện) in our yard for years in addition to his aggressive behavior in OUR yard, limiting us to even work in our own garden. Yes, it is way past due.

Ngọc Lân

Bài trước: "Tender love and care" nghĩa là gì?

"Get to the point" nghĩa là gì?

2020 Presidential debate. Photo courtesy: Ron Frazier

"Get to the point" = đi vào trọng tâm -> nghĩa là hay ngưng nói lòng vòng và nói về vấn đề chính.

Ví dụ

At Amras Communications we don’t mince words (nói thẳng, nói toạc móng heo) we like to get to the point. You may be able to capture a potential investor’s attention but you will only have it for a very limited time, so make sure you get everything they need to know across before they move on to their next task. Always remember to KISS — Keep It Short and Simple.

It was the longest night of my life. The debate dragged on forever. And he continued to not answer the questions. Well, he did answer. His replies just didn’t have much to do with the questions that were asked. It was frustrating. It was annoying. I don’t mind saying, it ticked me off. There were important issues on the table. Could we just get to the point already?

People have egos and neuroses. Asking them to, you know, get to the point already could “be perceived as aggressive, or combative (hiếu chiến),” says the journalist Lea Goldman, a former senior executive editor at A&E, Hearst, and Refinery 29 who’s done more than her fair share (cực kỳ nhiều) of interviews. If you really want or need some information from the person who is talking, Goldman notes, then “the goal is always that you make your subject as comfortable as possible so they open up to you as much as possible.”

Ngân Nguyễn

Bài trước: "Knock on wood" nghĩa là gì?

"Tender love and care" nghĩa là gì?

Photo by Dominik Lange on Unsplash

"Tender love and care" -> nghĩa là chăm sóc, trông nom, quan tâm, yêu thương và bảo vệ. 

Ví dụ

Generation after generation, the remake remained a commonplace (cũ rích) item in a console library, a steadily bought nostalgia (hoài niệm) grab that, with the right amount of tender love and care, could become the definitive version of the game.

We all know that ultraviolet (tia cực tím) sunrays are harmful to the skin; thankfully, we have an array of sunscreens to keep us protected. In the same way, our homes need the same tender love and care when it comes to finding the right paint (sơn) to protect them.

The poor building’s an eyesore (chướng mắt) and it’s almost like downtown Watertown and the city doesn’t deserve to have something looking like this. So somebody’s got to take over this building and give it some tender love and care.

There is no denying the fact that men too have started taking care of how they look. In fact, the simple funda of TLC (Tender, Love, and Care) applies to the contemporary men as well.

Ngọc Lân

Bài trước: "The toothpaste is out of the tube" nghĩa là gì?

"The toothpaste is out of the tube" nghĩa là gì?

Photo by Anastasiia Ostapovych on Unsplash

"The toothpaste is out of the tube" = kem đánh răng đã ra ngoài tuýp -> nghĩa là tình huống không thể đảo ngược/phục hồi lại như cũ. 

Ví dụ

For now, the toothpaste is out of the tube, there’s nothing that can be done, except (ngoài việc) keep your eyes on Microsoft Security Response Center and Patch Tuesday alerts (cảnh báo).

One former executive goes so far as to shrug that there’s little that can be done, as “the toothpaste is out of the tube.” Of all the talking heads, pleasantly prattling (nói vớ vẩn) away about business models, only Zuboff comes close to the scale of the problem when she says that the market in data — “human futures” — should be abolished.

Once the toothpaste is out of the tube, it’s exceedingly (cực kỳ) hard to get it back in. And mistakes at the first trick are hard to overcome (vượt qua) even if you have 12 more tricks to do it.

Now all of a sudden that they’ve been called out now they want to make it good. Well, the toothpaste is out of the tube. It’s too late and now we want to restore justice (công lý) we want to restore civility.

Ngọc Lân

Bài trước: "Another string to your bow" nghĩa là gì?

Thua vợ hết

đi nghỉ mát, chồng cứ đòi ở khách sạn 5 sao, vợ bảo hay là đi cắm trại, thế là phải ở khách sạn rẻ hơn (3 sao thôi, đúng ý vợ :)

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Hello, Dan.

My family recently took a vacation in Greece, where we stayed in expensive five-star hotels. But I kept wondering if I would really have enjoyed the trip less if we had stayed at cheaper places. We are active travelers who are often away from the hotel. During the day we are swimming, hiking, touring ruins, scuba diving or kayaking. How can I can I get my husband to be happy in a less expensive hotel?

—Patricia 

I suspect that it will be hard for your husband to enjoy a three-star hotel when he's used to five-star hotels. What I would do is focus his attention on the activities you would be able to afford as a result of staying in a cheaper hotel. On your next vacation, plan such a day of special activities at the end of the trip, so that it has the best chance at influencing his overall memory of the vacation. You can use that day as an example of what you could afford if you spent less on accommodations.

And if that doesn't work, suggest that all of you go camping instead. With roughing it as an alternative, you will most likely end up in a three-star hotel as a compromise (thỏa hiệp).

Bài trước: Điều giản dị

Để có nhiều người hiến tạng

khuyến khích họ ghi danh là người hiến tặng tiềm năng đã, như vậy, khi có bệnh nhân, vấn đề có nên hiến (thận, v.v...) hay không ko còn là lý thuyết nữa, mà là cứu giúp một con người cụ thể...

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Dear Dan,

My brother has kidney failure (suy thận), and the transplant wait list (danh sách đợi ghép thận) for deceased (đã mất, quá cố) donors is too long to help him in time. So he's looking into finding a living donor (unfortunately, my blood type isn't a match).

The risks for living donors are minimal, and the average donor experiences no impact on their kidney function or life expectancy (tuổi thọ). But kidney donation is a major surgery, and it carries costs—time off work, some discomfort and several weeks of recovery.

What can I do to encourage people to consider becoming living donors?

—Paul 

When people think about organ donation in the abstract, they might not be too eager to volunteer. But they are more likely to act if there is an actual person who needs help. So I would start by encouraging people to do the simple part of organ donation, which is to register as a potential donor. Then, if a patient turns out to match with them, the question of whether to donate will be less theoretical—it will be about helping a particular person.

Bài trước: Cú huých để giảng viên đại học thêm yêu nghề

Cách tặng quà để thắt chặt tình bạn

đó là tặng những món quà nhỏ, nhiều lần,

như khảo sát: người hâm mộ trả tiền nhiều hơn để được hôn diễn viên ngôi sao ba ngày sau, hơn là... hôn ngay lập tức, vì họ... hấp háy đợi :)

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Dear Dan,

I enjoy giving gifts to my best friend, and I was wondering which approach would be better for strengthening our friendship: giving her big gifts twice a year, on her birthday and Christmas, or giving smaller gifts more frequently?

—Aubrey 

I suspect that giving smaller but more frequent gifts will do more to reinforce your relationship. The pleasure of receiving a gift lies less in possessing the item itself—which is exciting at first but quickly grows familiar—than in looking forward to it.

A 1987 study by the pioneering behavioral economist George Loewenstein showed that people were willing to pay more to kiss a movie star when they could wait three days, compared with kissing them immediately; they were willing to pay a premium for the pleasure of looking forward to the kiss.

Similarly, if you know that on the first of every month you will get a small gift, you can start looking forward to it and so enjoy the gift days before you get it.

Bài trước: Khi hàng xóm thích làm ồn

Đừng nản

cháy nhà -> dùng bia dập lửa

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A California man was trying to protect his home from the LNU Lightning Complex fire, and he used the only thing he had to put out the flames (ngọn lửa) — beer.

... As his family packed up, Little made up his mind. He wasn’t leaving. He was staying and protecting his home.

Little’s family already lost their home five years ago in an attic fire, and their rebuild was set to finish this year... Little has hoses around the property, but he wasn’t prepared for the water to turn off. He grabbed a rake (cái cào) and started clearing dry grass.

Bài trước: Không ngờ tệ đến vậy

Trí khôn của các chính trị gia

có phân biệt được vấn đề hay cơ hội không? liệu có thông minh hơn hàng triệu người đầu tư chứng khoán - những người mất tiền túi cho các quyết định của họ...

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trích dẫn hôm nay… is from pages 74-75 of the May 9th, 2020, draft of the important forthcoming monograph from Deirdre McCloskey and Alberto Mingardi, The Illiberal and Anti-Entrepreneurial State of Mariana Mazzucato:

Politicians and policy makers insistently (khăng khăng, bo bo) raise the alarm (cảnh báo). They say that they are fixing those grievous (trầm trọng, nặng) imperfections (không hoàn hảo, bất toàn) caused by natural liberty, fixing the “problems” that every generation of politicians discerns anew. (The vocabulary of social “problems,” and their solution with “policies,” by the way, grew up in the 19th century along with New Liberalism and socialism.) Yet we wonder how the politicians and policy makers discern the problems, and opportunities, and how they know in the longer view better than stock markets specialized in making such judgments, and risking personal wealth in making them? Why would someone with no skin in the game do better than people who have plenty of such skin, being holders of stock in a market in which hour by hour the future is forecasted? We wonder.

DBx: I, too, wonder. Protectionists and industrial-policy advocates talk blithely (vô tình) and incessantly (không ngừng, không dứt, liên miên) about using government coercion (ép buộc, áp bức) to arrange for this happier outcome and to prevent that deviation (chệch hướng) from an imagined ideal. But never, ever do they reveal just how government officials will acquire the information necessary to outperform competitive market processes.

…..

Of course, protectionists and industrial-policy advocates are careful never to use the word “coercion.” Doing so would raise alarms about the true nature of their project. They wish to pass off their schemes as gentle (nhẹ nhàng, thoải mái; lịch thiệp, cao quý) assistance (hỗ trợ) offered by the intelligent, noble (quý tộc, quý phái), and wise few to the stupid, grasping, and imprudent many. In fact, protectionists and industrial-policy advocates get defensive when someone, such as Mike Munger, pulls back the curtain to expose the reality of their schemes. But this reality – the reality that behind every tariff and every subsidy are loaded, pointed guns operated at the command of flesh-and-blood human beings – cannot, in the end, be plausibly denied.

Bài trước: Luật chống độc quyền Sherman tại Mỹ