1. whittle away 削弱；削减
He began to whittle away all powers of the government that he did not control.
他开始削弱他所未能控制的一切政府权力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.
美国需要严控国防开支，因为其目前的开支相当于排在它之后的20个国家的国防开支的总和PoA+3^mw9G_@!。

3. hold up sth/sb. 阻碍；耽搁
Driving the kids to school held me up.
我因为送孩子上学耽搁了pt|^df%*Ff]。

4. set a bar for sth. 为……设置标准
Be sure not to set too high a bar for an entry level job, or you may have trouble landing one at all.
入门性质的工作标准不要设置得太高，否则你就可能很难找到工作+Z76K@=Q!5。