1. whittle away 削弱；削減
He began to whittle away all powers of the government that he did not control.
他開始削弱他所未能控制的一切政府權力l&b7t#BHOC-+.Kj。

2. rein in 控制
It needs to rein in its defence spending, which is currently equivalent to that of the next 20 countries combined.
美國需要嚴控國防開支，因為其目前的開支相當于排在它之后的20個國家的國防開支的總和PoA+3^mw9G_@!。

3. hold up sth/sb. 阻礙；耽擱
Driving the kids to school held me up.
我因為送孩子上學耽擱了pt|^df%*Ff]。

4. set a bar for sth. 為……設置標準
Be sure not to set too high a bar for an entry level job, or you may have trouble landing one at all.
入門性質的工作標準不要設置得太高，否則你就可能很難找到工作+Z76K@=Q!5。