hoi polloi: 庶民，普通老百姓
If someone refers to the hoi polloi, they are referring in a humorous or rather rude way to ordinary people, in contrast to rich, well-educated, or upper-class people.
The upper class cannot very well stand by as they begin to resemble the hoi polloi.
hocus-pocus: 哄骗
If you describe something as hocus-pocus, you disapprove of it because you think it is false and intended to trick or deceive people.
Witch doctors must have some track record or they would lose all credibility, and they do blend their hocus-pocus with genuine practical knowledge such as herbal remedies and predictions of events (for instance, the weather) that are more accurate than chance.
go out on a limb: 承担风险；to take a risk; to hazard a guess
bodice-ripper: 关于两性之间浪漫的情爱小说或电影
vis-à-vis: face-to-face with;
Others are threatened, frustrated, and even humiliated by this close contact, which, among other things, makes it very easy for people to see where they stand in the world vis-à-vis everyone else.
dead hand: 不散的阴魂；难以消除的不利影响（只用单数）；旧势力
You can refer to something which has a bad or depressing influence on a particular situation as a dead hand.
They do this in defiance of their authoritarian governments, which prefer to use their media not to encourage honest debate but rather to blame all their problems on others —on America, on Israel, or on a legacy of Western colonialism, on anything and anyone but the dead hand of these authoritarian regimes.
a level playing field: 平等状态，公平竞争环境
People can achieve their full potential on a level playing field
stave off：阻挡，延缓
The more people with the imagination of 11/9, the better chance we have of staving off another 9/11.
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