541.iminish v. 减少，衰退
【反】increase
She has talked of ending her program in the next year or two and moving on to other projects, but her charismatic appeal is unlikely to diminish.
她曾提到在明年或后年结束现在的节目，进行别的计划，但她的超群美丽似不会稍减。
注：charismatic adj. 富超凡魅力的
542.discipline v. 惩罚
【同】punish
Brookner claimed she was denied promotion after she disciplined subordinates for drinking, carousing, and, in one case, wife beating.
布鲁克纳宣称，因为部属喝酒、狂欢宴饮，还有一次打老婆，被她惩戒，之后她为此而不得不提升。
543.disclose v. 揭发
【同】reveal
Tax authorities disclosed in July that they had conducted their first ever investigation of a sumo stable.
税务机关在7月宣布，已经对某相扑道馆进行首次查税工作。
544.disdain v. 厌恶
【同】contempt scorn
By his own account, he does not simply disdain coffee; he rages against it, preaches of its evils, overturns coffee urns in restaurants.
套用他的说法，他不只厌恶咖啡，还大骂咖啡，四处宣扬咖啡的弊端，在餐厅里打翻咖啡壶。
注：reach v. 宣扬，提倡
545.dissolve v. 解体
When the Soviet Union dissolved and Russian-style communism expired in the late 1980s, many thought the bear and the dragon would become even more fundamentally antagonistic.
80年代末期，苏联解体，俄国式的共产主义结束，很多人认为俄国熊和中国龙将在基本观念上更加对立。
546.distract v. 使分神
【同】sidetrack
He played in Little while growing up in Delaware, partly to distract himself from a “horrible childhood” marked by his mother’s dying of cancer.
他在特拉华长大，当时他在少年棒球联盟打球，这么做部分是为了让自己远离因母亲死于癌症而记忆深刻的“悲惨童年”。
547.drain v. 排干，流掉，逐渐耗竭
If the conflict descends into guerrilla warfare, it may move off the world’s front pages, but it will continue to drain Moscow’s resources and weaken Yeltsin.
如果战争转为零星的游击战，这场战争或许就会失去世人的关注，但仍将继续耗费莫斯科的资源，削弱叶利钦的气势。
548.dwarf v. 令相形见绌
The social and economic changes that are taking place there (China) are so sweeping as to dwarf all others I see elsewhere in this dynamic part of the world.
中国正进行的社会、经济改变非常广泛，相比之下，在这个充满活力的（亚洲）地区，其他国家的改变反而显得微不足道。
549.elaborate v. 详述 adj. 精心制作的，精巧的
Elaborates Time Zagat, publisher of the Zagat restaurant guides, …”The food doesn’t have to be all that good, as long as it doesn’t poison you. You go because you are interested.”
《扎加特餐厅指南》发行人扎加特解释说：“食物没必要太好，只要不毒死你就可以了。你到那里去是因为你有兴趣。”
550.embed v. 植入，深植于
Already familiar in Western Europe and parts of Asia, smart cards resemble credit cards but contain an embedded microchip that keeps track of values stored on the silicon.
IC卡在西欧以及亚洲某些地区已行之有年，外型类似信用卡，但卡中嵌入一块微晶片，可记录该卡的剩余款项。
注：to keep track of 随时注意（某人或情况的发展）