Word: aback
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Like, I imagine, many of my fellow students at the College, I was quite taken aback by the letter from Gladden J. Pappin ’04 (Letters, “Secret Court Rightly Punished Immorality,” Dec. 9). There’s little question that he is in the extreme minority at Harvard in his views. However, I was somewhat disheartened to see a debate spring up on my House open list (as I imagine it may have on many lists) in which the consensus seemed to be, “What can you do, it?...
...answer is yes, or at least probably. Fellowship was often quiet and deliberately paced. Two Towers is an unabashed action film. Even Ian McKellen, as the wizard Gandalf, does his share of fighting. Those who appreciate the finer points of Tolkien's work may be taken aback by the new film's high-tech grandiosity. "It's impressive," says Two Towers star Viggo Mortensen, "but if you have that much emphasis on special effects, it's unavoidable that you'll lose some of the poetry and intimacy of the story." Still, those who prefer grunting, beastly warriors brandishing scimitars...
Ultimately, however, class marshal is not a popularity contest. The chosen eight say they didn’t do any of these things to become marshals, and were often extremely taken aback by the suggestion that they are “popular.” Instead, as Pat enthusiastically states, the marshals of 2003 are simply hoping to plan “the best senior year ever...
...speech in China in 1998, a bright young American student stood up to ask a question. Why, Patrice Lumumba Ford wanted to know, had charges against Oliver North concerning the Iran-contra scandal been dropped during Bush's term in office nearly a decade earlier? Bush was taken aback by the directness of the question, according to several people present at the Johns Hopkins Nanjing Center...
Jennifer A. Follen, the first woman hired, said she “shrugged it off” when her boss warned her that people might be taken aback by her presence...