热门词汇细解读（六）

        Clearance¹：官方证明书

　　Lenovo Group has obtained U.S. government clearance for the purchase of IBM's PC unit.

　　Fish out of water：如鱼离水

　　“'Pacifier' did better than anyone expected， but you can't underestimate the family audience，” said Paul Dergarabedian， president of Exhibitor Relations Co.， which tracks box-office figures. “I think people like to see a fish-out-of-water story， an action star in a very unexpected role.”

　　Distillate fuel：馏出燃料

　　On Wednesday， a US government report showed that inventories² of distillate fuel， a category that include heating oil and diesel³， fell 1.7 million barrels to 110 million. Analysts⁴ had expected a 1.2-million-barrel decline.

　　PSP：便携式游戏机

　　The PSP machine， a challenger to Nintendo Co.'s long-standing grip on the handheld video gaming market， will be sold as a “value pack” for $250 in the United States and for $300 Canadian dollars. It will include numerous accessories and - for the first million sold - a copy of the “Spider-Man 2” movie on the new Universal Media Disc format⁵ that Sony designed for the PSP.

　　Shoot up：暴涨，迅速生长

　　Shares in Google jumped 9 percent to a record high after the company reported net income shot up more than seven times from a year earlier， beating estimates by a wide margin⁶.

　　Holidaymaker：度假者

　　The devastating⁷ tsunami⁸ that wiped out cities， seaside communities and holiday resorts in southern Asia has not put holidaymakers off visiting the region， a survey has found.

　　Get an edge：取胜

　　When it comes to recruiting students for college， admissions officials are turning to increasingly outlandish stunts⁹ to get the attention of high schoolers. Birthday cards， ski weekends and even reality TV shows are being used by colleges and universities to get an edge.

　　Shirtsleeve：只穿衬衣的，非正式的

　　Hiring the shirtsleeve crowd represents a shift in the economy toward higher-paying jobs and a more skilled workforce¹⁰. It also indicates that some companies that squeezed their middle managements four years ago are starting to rebuild them.

　　assembly line：装配线

　　Airbus agreed with Premier¹¹ Wen Jiabao on Sunday to study the possibility of setting up an assembly line in China —— a move that could see its jets being built outside Europe for the first time.

　　attrition：人员自然缩减

　　Wagoner said the job cuts will come primarily through attrition and early-retirement packages to mitigate¹² the impact on workers.