1. prick up

粗涂；竖起；（风）加剧

eg. Oh,what secret is it? I've already pricked up my ears.

啊，什么秘密?我已竖起耳朵听着哩。

eg. The captain ordered the ship's course to be pricked up.

船长命令绘制船只的航道。

2. by then

到那时候

eg. By then, some plants will be flowering shortly after Christmas.

到那时，某些植物将在圣诞节后不久就开花。

eg. By then, he said, his team might be able to make a definitive statement about supersymmetry and some other theories to explain physics beyond the Standard Model.

他说，到那时，针对超对称性和一些连标准模型都无法很好解释的物理学，他的小组就能够提供一个具有权威性的说明了。

3. at the edge of

在…… 在边缘上

eg. At the edge of life everything is an occasion for death.

在生命的边缘，一切都是导致死亡的原因。

eg. It was hot summer and at the edge of the desert it was like a furnace.

那是一个炎热的夏天，在沙漠的边缘，天热得像火炉一样。