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reader question: in this passage – president hugo chavez of venezuela is a man known for his surprising and often headline grabbing announcements but this latest one is extraordinary even by his standards. he's called on the left-wing colombian farc rebels to lay down their arms and release their hostages. it amounts to an all-out about-face in policy for the man who, only a few months ago, called on colombia and the international community to stop branding the group a terrorist organization and instead recognize the farc as a 1 rebel army (bbc, june 9, 2008) – what does "about face" mean? my comments: about-face is not about the face, as in "losing face". an about-face instead means a 180-degree change from the position of attention, hence in president chavez's case a complete change in policy. about-face is the same as about-turn, both originally a military term for turning around. if you look "face" up in the dictionary, you'll see one of its meanings as "be opposite". for example: they stood facing each other for a few minutes (longman), meaning they stood opposite each other face-to-face, eye-to-eye. my bedroom faces north, meaning that, well, i don't get any sun during the day if i get to stay in bed – not that i mind because i don't get to stay in bed during the day anyway. anyways, it is perhaps from "face" being "be opposite" that in the army, when a commander calls his men to turn around he shouts: "about face!" or "about turn!" the terms are nowadays used everywhere of course to mark a total turn or change in position, direction, policy. naturally, "about-face" and "about-turn" are the same as "turnabout", as in "a turnabout in public opinion", or "turnaround", as in "a turnaround in fortune". here are examples: 1. about-face (change in policy): central bank chiefs, including those in britain, the euro zone and canada, may follow the u.s. federal reserve chairman, ben bernanke, in an about-face, shifting toward supporting economic growth and away from fighting inflation. - in an about-face, central banks may start cutting rates, international 2 tribune, october 1, 2007. 2. about-turn (change in policy): a headline: in about turn, bush signs climate change bill - the 3, december 20, 2007. 3. turn about (move the body to face another direction): the short gentleman turned about towards carrie, and she arose and came forward. - sister carire, theodore dreiser. 4. turnabout (change of position): in a major diplomatic defeat for the us, britain broke ranks wednesday and joined more than 100 nations in agreeing in principle to an international ban on cluster bombs, the small, 4 weapons that have killed thousands of 5 in the aftermath of battle... advocates of the ban said britain's turnabout wednesday broke open the doors and led to several other nations' dropping significant objections to the agreement. - british turnabout key to cluster bomb ban, los angeles times, may 29, 2008. 5. turn around (change for the better): another headline: economy has turned around, but look for yellow flags (usa today.com, february 1, 2004). 6. turnaround (change of fortune): swiss no. 1 roger federer in his bid to get over his humiliating defeat in the french open final has flown to halle and is hoping for aturnaround in the run-up to the third grand slam of the year – wimbledon. - federer hopes for a turnaround in halle, yahoo.com, june 11, 2008. 点击  收听单词发音
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