Jeremy was enjoying becoming acquainted with the trappings of the rich, even if it was only a fleeting acquaintance.

Could you explain "fleeting acquaintance"?

My comments:

Anything that fleets moves very fast, as in, he has a fleet of foot, i.e. he is quick.

An acquaintance is someone you know but not too well, perhaps someone you have just met.

A fleeting acquaintance, hence, is a relationship that doesn't last long. In other words, you've lost contact with someone before you get to know them well.

In the above example, Jeremy was becoming acquainted with having lots of money at hand. That means he's just getting to know what it feels like to be very rich.

But alas, it was a fleeting acquaintance. In other words, very soon he's poor again.

If he could help it, Jeremy might prefer to have taken his time and got acquainted with leading a rich life slowly.

But apparently he, like most people are today, was in a lot of hurry. What for?

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Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文僅代表作者本人觀點，與本網立場無關。歡迎大家討論學術問題，尊重他人，禁止人身攻擊和發布一切違反國家現行法律法規的內容。

About the author:

Zhang Xin（張欣） has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.