whittling

Shape ( stone or wood, for example) by whittling away at it.

在木头或者石头上削使之成形。

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Sometimes he'd quiet down and just stare sadly at the floor, like a man whittling.

有时他会静下来，纯粹悲哀地凝视着地板，象一个正在用小刀削刻的人。

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The government is whittling away at the rights of citizens.

政府正在逐渐削弱公民的权利。

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Organizations make themselves "more slimly and more scant" to answer a world-wide competition by the innovation of whittling down people and adopting new originality such as TQM and JIT.

组织回应全球性竞争的方式之一就是力图使自己变得“更纤细和更吝啬”：“规模削减”、“扁平化”的改革一浪高过一浪，TQM、JIT等新创意不断出现。

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the mere thought can conjure up ideas of hand-cranking appliances and whittling your own kitchen table.

不经意间的想法能让人想到手摇装置，使你的橱房餐桌面积逐渐变小。

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Employers will continue the long-term trend of whittling retirement security by freezing or abolishing the few remaining defined-benefit pension plans and reducing company contributions to 401 ( k) plans.

雇主冻结、取消剩余为数不多的确定收益的养老金计划，同时还减少了公司对401（k）计划（美国公司的工资储蓄投资养老计划——译注）的缴纳金额，从而延续削减退休保障的长期趋势。

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Some changes have a lengthy process of whittling down barriers to equal treatment.

有的变化是一个长期的,消除平等障碍的过程.

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Chitty sat in his rocking-chair whittling wood.

奇蒂坐在摇椅上削着木头。

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By whittling off unwanted parts, the car's performance will be brought into full play.

削去累赘的部分能最大限度地提高该汽车的性能.

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Archie's whittling annoyed her and she frowned at him.

阿尔奇在那里削木头,她也感到不舒服,对着他直皱眉头.

飘（部分）

Chris was a slender blond who was whittling away. He stood there all during the picture.

那个身材削瘦,金发碧眼的男青年叫克里斯,他一直在不停地削木头. 整个片子中他一直都在那里.

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Inflation has been whittling away their savings.

通货膨胀使他们的积蓄不断减少.

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is there any way of whittling down this thicket of medical theorising?

有什么办法削平这片医学推理的荆棘么？

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He is whittling down the branch with a knife to make a handle for his hoe.

他在用刀削树枝做一把锄头柄.

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Noise control technique of whittling machine

削片机噪声及其控制技术

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