Dribs and Drabs of English——Mar 2nd

Sons of guns/son of a gun: a rascal, a scamp; 淘气鬼，捣蛋鬼，无赖，流氓。
used to express annoyance, disappointment or surprise.
Sean Pen used it in his Oscar acceptance speech: " You commie homo-loving sons of guns..."

Yakuza：日本黑帮（三口组），流氓，歹徒，混混。
ya(8),ku(9),za(3)是牌赌中最坏的组合,比喻其为渣滓。
Now the yakuza has lost its samurai spirit to moneymaking.

mea culpa: （拉丁语）我的过失、错误；认错；道歉；放弃政治信仰。
有时为了加强语气，会插入maxima。mea maxima culpa = my most/grievous fault.

beat around the bush: 避开讨论, 兜圈子，不坦率地说
NOT to beat around the bush, but the budgeting process at most companies has to be the most ineffective practice in management。

eschew: 避开，远避
Policymakers mostly eschew metaphysics。

acquiesce：默许，勉强同意
The whistleblower comes to realise that the president acquiesces in corruption of the grossest kind, and flees for his life into exile.

The phrases to express the psychological damage war can cause:
In the civil war, it was soldier's heart; in the first world war, shell-shock; in the second, battle fatigue. Now it is known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

hobnob: 亲切交谈；过从甚密
After years of hobnobbing with international sports stars, Sir Allen Stanford, a financier accused by American authorities of an $8 billion fraud, now seems short of friends.

Ponzi Scheme: 庞氏骗局（得名于始作俑者Charles Ponzi ）
A Ponzi scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to investors from their own money or money paid by subsequent investors rather than from profit. The term "Ponzi scheme" is used primarily in the United States , while other English-speaking countries do not distinguish colloquially between this scheme and other pyramid schemes.