present age; present day; contemporary; modern era; modern times; contemporary era
stage (of a theatre, concert hall, etc.); stage performance; stage production; setting (of a story); scene; sphere (of activity)
sweet and sour; bittersweet (feeling)
commonplace; ordinary; typical; ubiquitous; run-of-the-mill; mundane
complaint; troubles; objection; grievance
to lend an ear (to); to hear out; to listen to
thanks to ...; owing to ...; because of ...
little by little; bit by bit
to slide; to slip off; to get dislocated; to be out of alignment; to get dislodged; to deviate
... years old; age (of) ...
to surround; to encircle; to enclose; to fawn over (someone); to play up to; to curry favor with
environment; surroundings; circumstances
dangerous; in danger; facing imminent danger; precarious (situation); perilous (state, balance, etc.); in doubt
currently nowhere to be seen; unknown where it went; disappeared into thin air
being lost for words; becoming speechless; jueju (Chinese quatrain with lines of either five or seven syllables)
a puff; a smoke; (short) rest; break; one dose (of medicine or poison); (brief) lull
refreshment; something refreshing; welcome relief; tonic; refreshing medicine
warm and gentle (mood); warm glow
warm; mild; (pleasantly) hot; considerate; kind; genial
look!; see!; here!; there!; hey!
brutal (atmosphere, society, etc.); savage; fierce; violent; bloodthirsty; stark
to be too numerous; to be too much
object of romantic interest; potential love interest
to go around; to make a circle around; to surround; to circle; to come around (of a season, anniversary, turn, etc.); to return
to occur to; to remind of; to come to mind
racing (of an engine); idling; spinning (without grabbing; of wheels); going round in circles (of an argument, discussion, etc.); going nowhere; being fruitless
use; exercise (of one's right, authority, power, etc.)
interference; intervention; meddling
to desire; to wish; to beg; to request; to have something done for oneself
obedient; meek; honest; frank; straight (e.g. hair); without peculiarity
(spoken) line (in a play, film, comic, etc.); one's lines; comment; remark; stock phrase; set phrase
alteration; falsification; faking
joy; delight; rapture; pleasure; gratification; rejoicing
now (when it is already much too late); at this stage; afresh; anew; again
one; 1; best; first; foremost; beginning; start
to finish; to get through with; to graduate; to come to an end; to end; to finish doing ...
purposely (of something needless, unexpected or seemingly counterproductive, etc.); daringly (doing something); not necessarily; not particularly; (arch.) definitely not
to bring (something); to take along; to fetch; to get
poor (at); weak (in); not very good (at); not one's cup of tea; not one's favorite
to fiddle with; to monkey around with
by the way; incidentally; well; even if; no matter (what, where, how, etc.)
betterment; improvement; kaizen (Japanese business philosophy of continuous improvement)
being done for; giving up; being in a hopeless situation; not knowing what to do; being brought to one's knees; (lit.) throwing up (one's) hands