“赌王”何鸿燊去世
据港媒，赌王何鸿燊（Stanley Ho）去世，享年98岁。
无注释原文：
Stanley Ho, ‘King of Gambling’ Who Built Macau, Dies at 98
Bloomberg
Stanley Ho, a onetime kerosene trader who built a casino empire in Macau that propelled the Chinese island past Las Vegas as the world’s biggest gambling hub, has died at age 98, his daughter Pansy said.
Known as the King of Gambling, Ho dominated gaming in the former Portuguese colony after winning a monopoly license in 1961. His SJM Holdings Ltd. flourished as China’s economic opening created a flood of new wealth in a country with a passion for gambling. SJM now controls 20 casinos on an island of about 10 square miles.
Ho’s rise transformed Macau from a commercial backwater into the “Las Vegas of Asia” by exploiting its big advantage over the rest of China -- casinos were legal. As his fortune swelled, he expanded beyond the island, building residential and office buildings in Hong Kong. In 1984, he won a license to operate a casino in Portugal and spent $30 million to open the Casino Pyongyang in North Korea in 2000.
Ho’s Macau monopoly expired in 2001, two years after China regained control of the island from Portugal. China then granted licenses to competitors, including Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts Ltd. Rather than hurting Ho, the increased competition coupled with China’s booming economy accelerated Macau’s growth into the world’s biggest gaming hub and Ho’s fortunes ballooned.
The city’s gaming revenue has become a barometer of the economy of China, where two thirds of its gamblers are from. While casino takings have usually grown with China’s GDP, it plummeted in 2014 when China launched an anti-corruption campaign and again in 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic triggered a 97% drop in revenue as Chinese gamblers were prevented from travel into the place.
Ho fathered 17 children with four women and when he retired around mid-2018, he passed some of the top roles at SJM to his heirs. Daisy Ho, his daughter, became chairman and executive director. Angela Leong, SJM’s second-largest shareholder whom Ho referred to as his fourth wife, became co-chair with another executive director.
Still, the succession reopened long-simmering family rivalries. In January 2019, Pansy, his eldest daughter with his second wife, joined forces with some siblings in an alliance that holds sway over a controlling stake in SJM, giving her the upper hand over Leong in the fight for the jewel in the crown of Ho’s $14.9 billion empire. Pansy, one of Hong Kong’s richest people, is also executive chairman of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., which runs most of the ferries between Hong Kong and Macau.
Ho was born Nov. 25, 1921, into a wealthy Hong Kong family of Chinese and European descent and attended university in the city. His family’s circumstances deteriorated during World War II, when the Japanese invaded the British colony. At age 21, he fled to neutral Macau where he got his start trading everything from kerosene to airplanes, at a time when the island was best known for fishing and producing fireworks and incense.
Ho was an avid ballroom dancer and a former Hong Kong tennis champion. He won the Chinese Recreation Club doubles competition for older players for several years running into his 80s. Ho also carried the Olympic torch in 2008.
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含注释全文：
Stanley Ho, ‘King of Gambling’ Who Built Macau, Dies at 98
Bloomberg
Stanley Ho, a onetime kerosene trader who built a casino empire in Macau that propelled the Chinese island past Las Vegas as the world’s biggest gambling hub, has died at age 98, his daughter Pansy said.
kerosene
kerosene /ˈkɛrəˌsiːn/ 表示“煤油”，英文解释为“Kerosene is a clear, strong-smelling liquid which is used as a fuel, for example in heaters and lamps.”
casino
casino /kəˈsiːnəʊ/ 表示“赌场”，英文解释为“A casino is a building or room where people play gambling games such as roulette.”
propel
表示“推动；驱动；推进”，英文解释为“to move, drive or push sth forward or in a particular direction”举个🌰：
The film propelled him to international stardom.
这部电影使他成为了国际巨星。
Known as the King of Gambling, Ho dominated gaming in the former Portuguese colony after winning a monopoly license in 1961. His SJM Holdings Ltd. flourished as China’s economic opening created a flood of new wealth in a country with a passion for gambling. SJM now controls 20 casinos on an island of about 10 square miles.
monopoly /məˈnɒpəlɪ/
1）表示“垄断；专营服务；被垄断的商品（或服务）”，英文解释为“the complete control of trade in particular goods or the supply of a particular service; a type of goods or a service that is controlled in this way”举个🌰：
Electricity, gas and water were considered to be natural monopolies.
电、煤气和水垄断经营过去被认为是理所当然的。
2）表示“独占；专利；专利品”，英文解释为“the complete control, possession or use of sth; a thing that belongs only to one person or group and that other people cannot share”举个🌰：
A good education should not be the monopoly of the rich.
良好的教育不应该成为富人的专利。
Ho’s rise transformed Macau from a commercial backwater into the “Las Vegas of Asia” by exploiting its big advantage over the rest of China -- casinos were legal. As his fortune swelled, he expanded beyond the island, building residential and office buildings in Hong Kong. In 1984, he won a license to operate a casino in Portugal and spent $30 million to open the Casino Pyongyang in North Korea in 2000.
backwater
表示“与世隔绝的（或缺乏生气的、落后的）地区；闭塞落后的地区”，英文解释为“a place that is away from the places where most things happen, and is therefore not affected by events, progress, new ideas, etc.”如：a sleepy/quiet/rural backwater 沉寂的/宁静的/乡下的落后地区。
🎬 电影《不良教育》（The Bad Education Movie）中的台词提到：Cornwall is not some mediaeval backwater. 康沃尔不是什么中世纪落后地区。
🎬 电影《外乡人》（Outlander）中的台词提到：What kind of backwater are you from? 你是从哪个落后地方来的？
swell
表示“使增大; 增大；肿胀，肿，膨胀”，英文解释为“to become larger and rounder than usual; to (cause to) increase in size or amount”举个🌰：
Last year's profits were swelled by a fall in production costs.
去年因生产成本下降，利润有所增加。
Ho’s Macau monopoly expired in 2001, two years after China regained control of the island from Portugal. China then granted licenses to competitors, including Sheldon Adelson’s Las Vegas Sands and Wynn Resorts Ltd. Rather than hurting Ho, the increased competition coupled with China’s booming economy accelerated Macau’s growth into the world’s biggest gaming hub and Ho’s fortunes ballooned.
grant
表示“（尤指正式地或法律上）同意，准予，允许 ”，英文解释为“to agree to give sb what they ask for, especially formal or legal permission to do sth”举个🌰：
The bank finally granted a ¥10000 loan to me.
银行终于同意给我贷款10000元。
balloon
作动词，熟词僻义，表示“（数量上）猛增”，英文解释为“When something balloons, it increases rapidly in amount.”举个🌰：
The jail's female and minority populations have both ballooned in recent years.
该监狱的女性及少数民族犯人在近几年都猛增了。
The city’s gaming revenue has become a barometer of the economy of China, where two thirds of its gamblers are from. While casino takings have usually grown with China’s GDP, it plummeted in 2014 when China launched an anti-corruption campaign and again in 2020, after the coronavirus pandemic triggered a 97% drop in revenue as Chinese gamblers were prevented from travel into the place.
barometer
表示“（显示经济、社会、政治变化的）晴雨表，标志，指标”，英文解释为“something that shows the changes that are happening in an economic, social or political situation”举个🌰：
Infant mortality is a reliable barometer of socio-economic conditions.
婴儿死亡率是社会经济状况的可靠指标。
plummet
plummet /ˈplʌmɪt/一词又来了，最近一次在《纽约时报》这头版，“爆表”了文中就提到过，表示“（数量、比率、价格）暴跌”，英文解释为“If an amount, rate, or price plummets, it decreases quickly by a large amount.”举个🌰：
In Tokyo share prices have plummeted for the sixth successive day.
在东京，股价已经是连续第6天暴跌了。
瑞幸咖啡怎么了？文中也出现过，CNBC的标题Shares of China’s Luckin Coffee plummet 80% after investigation finds COO fabricated sales就用到了plummet这个词。
类似的表达「暴跌」的词有：plummet，tank，sink，plunge和slump，欢迎补充。
Ho fathered 17 children with four women and when he retired around mid-2018, he passed some of the top roles at SJM to his heirs. Daisy Ho, his daughter, became chairman and executive director. Angela Leong, SJM’s second-largest shareholder whom Ho referred to as his fourth wife, became co-chair with another executive director.
father
father作动词，1）表示“成为…的父亲；做…的父亲”，英文解释为“to become the father of a child by making a woman pregnant”举个🌰：
He claims to have fathered over 20 children.
他声称有20多个亲生子女。
2）表示“创立（新思想）；创造，发明（新方法）”，英文解释为“to create new ideas or a new way of doing sth”。
Still, the succession reopened long-simmering family rivalries. In January 2019, Pansy, his eldest daughter with his second wife, joined forces with some siblings in an alliance that holds sway over a controlling stake in SJM, giving her the upper hand over Leong in the fight for the jewel in the crown of Ho’s $14.9 billion empire. Pansy, one of Hong Kong’s richest people, is also executive chairman of Shun Tak Holdings Ltd., which runs most of the ferries between Hong Kong and Macau.
long-simmering
long-simmering 酝酿已久的，simmer作动词，表示“（冲突或争吵）酝酿; 趋于激化”，英文解释为“If a conflict or a quarrel simmers, it does not actually happen for a period of time, but eventually builds up to the point where it does.”如：bitter divisions that have simmered for more than half a century 酝酿了半个多世纪的严重分歧。
join forces
join forces = combine efforts，表示“齐心协力；合力；联合起来；联合力量”，英文解释为“If you join forces with someone, you work together in order to achieve a common aim or purpose.”
防弹少年团与戳爷合作一文中提到两人合作新歌就可以说：Pop superstars BTS and Troye Sivan will be joining forces for a new single ...
纽约时报2017年一篇讲萨德的文章中提到：Joining forces with the farmers were political activists who argued that the Thaad deployment would only increase military tensions on the Korean Peninsula. 政治活动人士也与农民联手反对，认为部署萨德只会加剧朝鲜半岛的军事紧张局势。
hold sway
表示“掌握权力；有很大影响”，英文解释为“to have power or a very strong influence”举个🌰：
These beliefs hold sway over whole districts.
这些信仰在整个地区处于支配地位。
🎬 电影《斯隆女士》（Miss Sloane）中的台词提到：Our third is to identify who holds sway in target states 第三个就是，找到操控重点州票数的关键人物。
the upper hand
表示“上风；有利位置”，英文解释为“If you have the upper hand, you have more power than anyone else and so have control.”举个🌰：After hours of fierce negotiations, he gained/got/had the upper hand.
经过几个小时的激烈谈判，他最终占了上风。
the jewel in the crown
表示“王冠上的宝石，最珍贵的部分”，英文解释为“the best or most valuable part of something”。
Ho was born Nov. 25, 1921, into a wealthy Hong Kong family of Chinese and European descent and attended university in the city. His family’s circumstances deteriorated during World War II, when the Japanese invaded the British colony. At age 21, he fled to neutral Macau where he got his start trading everything from kerosene to airplanes, at a time when the island was best known for fishing and producing fireworks and incense.
descent
1）表示“血缘关系，家族关系；祖先；出身”，英文解释为“the state or fact of being related to a particular person or group of people who lived in the past”举个🌰：
She's a woman of mixed/French descent.
她是一个混血/法裔女人。
2）表示“下降，下落；下沉”，英文解释为“a movement down”，举个🌰：
The plane began (to make) its final descent into the airport.
飞机开始（做）最终下降，准备在机场着陆。
3）还可以表示“不期而至，突然到达”，英文解释为“an occasion when a group of people arrive somewhere, usually suddenly or unexpectedly”，举个🌰：
We weren't prepared for the descent of thousands of journalists on the town.
我们没想到数千名记者会突然来到镇上。
incense
表示“香（尤指宗教礼仪用的）”，英文解释为“a substance that produces a pleasant smell when you burn it, used particularly in religious ceremonies”。
Ho was an avid ballroom dancer and a former Hong Kong tennis champion. He won the Chinese Recreation Club doubles competition for older players for several years running into his 80s. Ho also carried the Olympic torch in 2008.
avid
表示“热衷的；酷爱的”，英文解释为“very enthusiastic about sth (often a hobby)”，如：an avid reader/collector 酷爱阅读/收藏的人。
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