介绍:
1) Catch-22
-To apply for a job, you need to have a few years of experience. But in order to gain experience, you need to get a job first. It's a catch-22.
-If you don't have a place to stay, you can't get a job and with no job, you can't get an apartment. It's a Catch-22 situation.
-Girls always find guys who have a girlfriend more attractive, because girls like something they cannot have. But guys cannot be attractive to a girl until he has a girlfriend. It's a catch-22.
Definition: A catch-22 is a paradoxical situation from which an individual cannot escape because of contradictory rules.
Etymology: Joseph Heller coined the term in his 1961 novel Catch-22, which describes absurd bureaucratic constraints on soldiers in World War II. The term is introduced by the character Doc Daneeka, an army psychiatrist who invokes "Catch 22". He says that any pilot who tries to avoid flying missions on the ground of insanity, ironically just proved that he is sane. As a result he cannot be declared insane.
Examples:
A. With a second child family planning policy in place, many women find themselves in a catch 22 situation, if they decide to have a second child, they will have to discontinue their career and if they are reluctant to discontinue their career, they won't be able to have a second child.
B. A job vacancy appeared but it's a catch 22 opportunity, she has to move to Shanghai and be separated from her family. The job also does not pay enough to allow her to rent an apartment.
2）Pow-wow
-The Military officers had a pow-wow on how to deal with the discovery of crashed nuclear submarine in foreign waters.
-The company had a pow-wow on who should be the next boss after the last boss retired suddenly.
-The relay team had a pow-wow to decide who should finish the race.
Definition: A brief discussion about a matter concerning a person or event. Usually to come to a unanimous conclusion that needs to be addressed quickly
Etymology: It is a gathering of some of North America's Native people. The word derives from the Narragansett word powwaw, meaning "spiritual leader"
Examples:
A. The professor was killed in a car crash on his way to deliver a lecture to the students and the university faculty had a pow-wow to remedy the situation.
B. Before tying the knot, the young man was not expected to be given a betrothal gift list by his fiancee and he decided to call her parents to have a pow-wow on this thorny matter
