• I watched the baseball game through my binoculars.
• Naval delegations from five Pacific-rim countries stood on the deck of the 80,000-ton U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk at seas off Guam Tuesday, to observe Tandem Thrust, a combined maritime exercise. Aiming their binoculars seaward, the members watched closely as U.S. aircraft fired upon a huge floating target, the retired U.S. cruiser Oklahoma City. However, the two Harpoon missiles only created meager damages to the target. Then it was the South Korean Navy's turn. A 1,200-ton submarine, Lee Chun-ham, fired a 1.5-ton torpedo from 8km from the target. Seconds later, there was a loud roar, then an explosion that sent a huge column of water shooting upward through the air. On the deck of the Kitty Hawk, there was loud applause and shouts of congratulations to the South Korean naval delegation. The applause then turned into awe, as the target ship, broke in two and sank like a rock. Nobody expected the 10,640-ton battle ship to be sunk with a single torpedo, especially one fired by a small diesel-powered submarine from South Korea. [Korea Herald Mar.27th 1999]

2. binocular vision : the ability to focus both eyes on one object, possessed by humans, monkeys, and some birds

3. binary [binarius < bini, two by two < bis, double < bi-, two] : designating or of a number system in which the base used is two, each number being expressed in powers of two by using only two digits, specif. 0 and 1

• A U.S.-based Korean astronomer claims that she has discovered an extrasolar planet orbiting a "binary star," reversing the traditional theory that all planets revolve around a single star. The new discovery suggests there are more planetary systems than thought so far. Rhie Son-hong, a researcher at the University of Notre Dame("노틀담의 곱추"의 영화 제목에 나옴), and her husband and co-worker David Bennett, reported their finding to the latest issue of science journal "Nature." A binary star is a pair of stars in orbit around a common center of gravity. Half of all stars in the Milky Way, and up to two-thirds of the stars outside of the Solar System, are known to be members of binary or multiple star systems. [Korea Herald Nov.8th 1999]

4. bimetal [bi-, two + metal] : a bimetallic substance / 바이메탈

• Bimetal consists of two ore more metallic strips with different thermal expansion bonded together. When heated up it bends in a pre-determined manner and can be used to monitor, measure or regulate heat. Its main applications are in thermostats for room heaters or water mixing but they are also used to control toasters and indicators in automobiles.

5. bimetallic : of, containing, or using two metals, often two metals bonded together

• The bimetallic steam traps can conserve energy by discharging sub-cooled condensate in those applications which can utilize sensible heat.

6. bimetallism : the use of two metals, usually gold and silver, as the monetary standard, with fixed values in relation to each other

• bimetallism --- in economic history, a monetary system in which two commodities, usually gold and silver, were used as a standard and coined at a fixed ratio. The system was designed to create a monetary unit with more stability than one based on a single metal. In a bimetallic system, the ratio, which is determined by law, is expressed in terms of weight, e.g., 16 oz of silver equal 1 oz of gold, or a ratio of 16 to 1. The legal ratio has no relationship to the commercial value of the metals, which fluctuates constantly. This discrepancy between the commercial and face values of the two metals made bimetallism too unstable for most modern nations. The system was practiced in the U.S.and other countries (except England, where gold was used) in the 18th and 19th cent.
• Bimetallism does not appear desirable on a welfare basis. Among steady states, we prove that welfare under monometallism is higher than under any bimetallic equilibrium. We compute welfare and the variance of the price level under a variety of regimes (bimetallism, monometallism with and without trade money) and find that bimetallism can significantly stabilize the price level, depending on the covariance between the shocks to the supplies of metals.

7. bimonthly : happening every two months/ 또한 "한달에 2번"이라는 의미도 있으나 그런 뜻으로는 semimonthly가 더 잘 쓰입니다.

• As expected, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Korea (BOK) yesterday raised the overnight call rate by 0.25 percentage points to 5 percent for February in a bid to narrow the gap between short and long-term interest rates. The rate increase marks the first time the central bank's decision-making body has hiked the nation's benchmark short-term rate since May last year. It also represents the Seoul government's confidence that local markets are stable enough to absorb a short-term rate hike. "The rate hike is designed to induce the nation's long-term rate to drop and thus reduce the difference between short and long-term rates," BOK Gov. Chon Chol-hwan said after the committee's bimonthly(아래 예문으로 보아 "6개월 마다의" 라는 의미로 쓰였으므로 semimonthly로 쓰는 것이 바람직함) meeting. Chon also chairs the policy-making body.
  [Korea Herald Feb.11th 2000]
• The monetary authorities will maintain the overnight call rate at the present level of 4.7 percent this month, retaining its soft monetary policy, Bank of Korea Gov. Chon Chol-hwan said yesterday. "The Monetary Policy Committee decided not to change its policy bias in October in order to focus on calming down local financial markets," Gov. Chon said after the semi-monthly committee meeting.
  [Korea Herald Oct.8th 1999]

8. biennial [bi-, two + annus, year + -al] : happening every two years/biyearly

• The Seoul city government yesterday unveiled its plan to begin holding a biennial international festival next year combining state-of-the-art technologies and the arts. The inaugural festival, "Media-City Seoul 2000," will be held for two months from September next year at Seoul's major museums and cultural centers. 
  [Korea Herald Nov. 22nd 1999]
• Seoul will host the 11th International Anticorruption Conference (IACC), the world's premier forum on fighting corruption organized by Transparency International, in 2003. More than 1,000 people representing anticorruption law-enforcement agencies from around the world are expected to attend the biennial
  conference, whose inaugural session was held in Washington in 1983. [Korea Herald Oct. 30th 1999]

"비엔날레"가 여기서 유래합니다. 즉 2년에 1번 열리는 것이지요. "1년에 2번"이라는 의미로는 biannual(ly), semiannual(ly)가 있습니다.

9. biannual : coming twice a year/ semiannual

• Reflecting the machine tool industry's increasing importance, the government held the Seoul International Machine Tool Show (SITMOS) '98 - one of the biggest event of its kind in the country - at the Korea Exhibition Center (KOEX) April 22- 29. More than 220 companies from 15 countries participated in the ninth SITMOS fair, displaying products and exchanging information. The show has been held biannually since 1984. The participants break down to 145 Korean firms, followed by 34 from Germany, eight from Italy, seven from Spain, six from Switzerland, four from Japan and three from the United States.
  [Korea Herald May. 27th 1998]
• For enhanced checkup of foreign currency movement, the latest set of measures calls for firms to disclose their major foreign currency dealings quarterly from Jan. 1, 2000. Until then, they will have to publicize them semiannually. To effectively detect an abrupt short-term movement of huge funds after April 1, the government will also devise a comprehensive monitoring system for transactions in currency, stock and futures markets, officials said. 
  [Korea Herald Feb. 18th 1999]

10. bicameral [bi-, two + cameral, of the chamber of a judge, legislature, etc.] : made up of or having two legislative chambers/ (국회가)양원제의

• Congress is a bicameral legislature.
• One day when Jefferson was visiting George Washington at Mount Vernon, they compared and debated the merits of a unicameral system versus a bicameral one. Washington was clearly in favor of the latter. After much argument and discussion, tea was served. Abruptly Washington turned to Jefferson and said, "You, sir, have just demonstrated the superior excellence of the bicameral system, by your own hand." "I! How is that?" asked Jefferson. "You have poured your tea from your cup out into the saucer to cool. We want the bicameral system to cool things. A measure originates in one house, and in heat is passed. The other house will serve as a wonderful cooler; and, by the time it is debated and modified by various amendments there, it is much more likely to become an equitable law! No, we can't get along without the saucer in our system." Whether this encounter actually took place, and whether or not this story is historically accurate is beside the point, I suppose, although the United States did end up with a bicameral legislature which has worked relatively well over the years. 
  [Korea Herald Feb. 18th 1999]

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First uploaded : January 21, 2000 / Last updated : March 6, 2002