Pb03  +  539343 Thu, 10 Jul 08 02:58 PM Hi everyone, I'm confused about the meaning and usage of some words. Would you take a look at the sentences below and comment some? Thank you very much~! pb -- Q 1: What do you think is the most proper meaning of the phrase 'made light of' in the context ? I thought it as 'covering' those bad situation but found a definition in the dictionary --' treat as unimportant or trivial,'  which seems awkward to me. By the early nineteenth century, church and labor groups as well as school teachers in Europe began complaining about the sufferings and cruelty that young working children had to undergo. Charles Dickens’ book Oliver Twist made light of the moral and social evils of child exploitation. Then Britain and the United States passed laws to regulate child labor. Q 2: In those two cases below, how should I understand " little "?          a little  or hardly nothing ? The reason I ask about this is that as I know, there is a technical difference between 'little' and 'a little.' So... what do you think about it? Before the advent of industrialization in Europe, children were made to do the dirty work, often working for little or nothing at jobs such as chimney sweeping and spinning. Today many countries have laws regulating the employment of a child, but lots of young children in undeveloped countries still work many hours for little pay. Pb03 Joined on Tue, Apr 3 2007 Full Member 258

	CalifJim  +  539444 Thu, 10 Jul 08 06:49 PM 1.  There's nothing wrong with the definition you found in the dictionary. The book made light of the evils of child exploitation.  = The book treated the evils of child exploitation as trivial. 2. for little = for hardly anything = for almost nothing for little pay = for hardly any pay = for almost no pay CJ  CalifJim Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004 California Veteran Member 22,441 "There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche