NewHopeR
Senior Member
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2009
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Chinese
- Home Country
- China
- Current Location
- China
Does "ruthless efficiency" mean "retarded and inhumaine efficiency"?
The collocation (ruthless + efficiency) looks strange to me.
Context:
The daughter of a revolutionary luminary, Ms. Gu, 53, was among the first generation of lawyers educated after the Cultural Revolution, the decade of social chaos during which schools were closed. As her husband rose through the party hierarchy, she ran successful law practice and wrote a book on the foibles of American courts — and what she described as the ruthless efficiency of China’s legal system.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/w...nalty-for-gu-kailai.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp
The definition of "ruthless" I got from OneLook:
ADJECTIVE:
Having no compassion or pity; merciless: ruthless cruelty; ruthless opportunism.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
adjective
feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted
Collins English Dictionary
willing to make other people suffer so that you can achieve your goals
Macmillan Dictionary
The collocation (ruthless + efficiency) looks strange to me.
Context:
The daughter of a revolutionary luminary, Ms. Gu, 53, was among the first generation of lawyers educated after the Cultural Revolution, the decade of social chaos during which schools were closed. As her husband rose through the party hierarchy, she ran successful law practice and wrote a book on the foibles of American courts — and what she described as the ruthless efficiency of China’s legal system.
More:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/21/w...nalty-for-gu-kailai.html?pagewanted=2&_r=1&hp
The definition of "ruthless" I got from OneLook:
ADJECTIVE:
Having no compassion or pity; merciless: ruthless cruelty; ruthless opportunism.
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
adjective
feeling or showing no mercy; hardhearted
Collins English Dictionary
willing to make other people suffer so that you can achieve your goals
Macmillan Dictionary
