Dribs and Drabs of English——Mar 26th

toehold: 微小的优势；小立足点
By then most long-established brands were nowhere to be found or had lost their toehold in the mainstream market.

take a gander: 看一看
Take a gander at the executive summary.

extemporize:即席发言，即兴演奏 （新进美国总统的雄辩滔滔，电子题词器（teleprompter）功不可没）
The important point with Obama is that the content, command of fact and concept, and overall intelligence of his extemporized answers matched that of the scripted presentation.

threadbare: 俗套的
China's record as a citizen of the world is strikingly threadbare.

slog:步履艰难地行进；跋涉；
Moreover, it would surely defeat the quintessence of education which is to open up one's mind to develop potential and creativity, and not merely to slog relentlessly for better grades at all costs.

stopgap:权宜之计；补缺者；临时替代人
take Both stopgap and radical measures： 标本兼治。

devil in the details:千里之堤，溃于蚁穴；
As the old saying goes," The devil is in the details," meaning that most of the real problems become apparent only when you get down to specifics.

otherworldly:来世的，超脱尘世的，空想的；
Until recently such a question would have seemed otherworldly.