But first, there are a number of terms which we are in the habit of using in a vague though not unintelligible way, and which it is as well now to define. These terms are the tools with which we are to work, and the first thing is to sharpen them. It is nothing to us that they have been sharpened a thousand times before; they always get dull in the using, and every new workman has a right to carry them to the grindstone and sharpen them to suit himself.英文原著 · 《Medical Essays》
At eleven Ashmead introduced his friend "Sharpus, manager of Drury Lane Theater," and watched the fencing match with some anxiety, Ina being little versed in guile. But she had tact and self-possession; and she was not an angel, after all, but a woman whose wits were sharpened by love and suffering.英文原著 · 《A Woman-Hater》
Then he asked me, ``Were you brought up on a farm?'' I said, ``Yes; in the Berkshire Hills of Massachusetts.'' He then threw his leg over the corner of the big chair and said, ``I have heard many a time, ever since I was young, that up there in those hills you have to sharpen the noses of the sheep in order to get down to the grass between the rocks.'' He was so familiar, so everyday, so farmer-like, that I felt right at home with him at once.英文原著 · 《Acres of Diamonds》
She had turned her face again to the pillow. At last she answered in muffled tones, " You know." Thereafter came a long silence full of sharpened pain. It was Marjory who spoke first. "I have saved my pride, daddy, but-I have-lost-everything --else." Even her sudden resumption of the old epithet of her childhood was an additional misery to the old man. He still said no word. He knelt, gripping her fingers and staring at the wall.英文原著 · 《Active Service》
Stockmann. Well, I think I have had a visit from every one of the devil's messengers to-day! But now I am going to sharpen my pen till they can feel its point; I shall dip it in venom and gall; I shall hurl my inkpot at their heads!英文原著 · 《An Enemy of the People》
It was just light; there was a smell of grass. 'Fleur!' he thought; 'Fleur!' It was mysteriously white out of doors, with nothing awake except the birds just beginning to chirp. 'I'll go down into the coppice,' he thought. He ran down through the fields, reached the pond just as the sun rose, and passed into the coppice. Bluebells carpeted the ground there; among the larch-trees there was mystery--the air, as it were, composed of that romantic quality. Jon sniffed its freshness, and stared at the bluebells in the sharpening light. Fleur! It rhymed with her!英文原著 · 《Awakening & To Let》
If I talk it through with you, sharpen my focus, I'll be able to start digging out tomorrow.美剧 · 《Billions》
Sharpen up the question so I can give you a good answer.美剧 · 《Billions》
It's time for you folks to sharpen your pencils, and you better come back with one Traci Lords of an idea.美剧 · 《Billions》
You need to sharpen your odachi and slice a hole in the universe between you and where you're going.美剧 · 《Billions》