upstart; nouveau riche; new money; piece promoted to gold general
swing; shake; appearance; behaviour; pretence (pretense); show; going to restaurant, hotel etc. without a reservation or introduction
to chip; to nick; to break; to lack
close call; narrow margin; the eleventh hour
birth date; date of birth; DOB
to be in the news; to be talked about; to become a popular topic of conversation; to become the talk of the town; to become topical
with profound (often hidden) meaning; pregnant with significance; meaningful; suggestive; interesting
December; twelfth month of the lunar calendar
(former) imperial university
to let slip a secret; to let the cat out of the bag
permanence; immortality; eternity
saying; maxim; aphorism; proverb
to remove; to eliminate; to eradicate; to exclude; to except
valley floor; bottom of a gorge; bottom of a ravine
to be touching; to be moving
shaking; trembling; pitching; disturbance; unrest; agitation
medical world; medical circles; medical community
to compete; to contest; to quarrel; to argue; to deny (e.g. evidence)
to compete for the first place; to be one of the best
great man; great god; hero; big man
small child; pipsqueak; short person; midget; small animal; runt
ugly man; (arch.) strong, brawny man
dreamer; daydreamer; visionary
supremacy (over a nation); hegemony; domination; championship; victory
goal; target; aim; mark; sign; landmark
Eastern philosophy; Asian philosophy
deep knowledge; attainments; scholarship
molding; moulding; shaping; modelling (i.e. plastic arts); modeling
to reach an agreement; to come to an understanding; to compromise (with); to get along well with
origin; beginning; source; rise
plain; simple; reserved (behaviour, attitude, etc.); modest; quite; a (little) bit