The house was now a shell gutted by flames.

房子烧得只剩个空骨架了。

《牛津词典》

"The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn't look like it's standing with its pant legs pulled up," said Huff.

“外壳遮住了桩子，这样房子看起来就不像拉着裤腿站着。”赫夫说。

youdao

Whether the White House could have got more from an already shell-shocked Congress remains an open question.

白宫是否能从已经开壳的国会得到更多的资金还是一个悬而未决的问题。

youdao

The leaders of ExxonMobil,Shell, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, as well as BP America, testified before a House of Representatives committee Tuesday.

VOA: standard.2010.06.15

This week Inhabitat shined a light on the future of high-tech architecture as we brought you 20 stunning sun-powered homes that are getting ready to battle it out in this year's Solar Decathlon - including Team New York's prefab Roof Pod, Canada's TRTL solar shell house, and China's Y Container home.

ENGADGET: Inhabitat's Week in Green: sun-powered homes, retro robots and a solar laptop chipset

While the Senate passed a bill in March in a bipartisan 72-24 vote, the House has only a shell bill to offer, plus its "non-negotiable" insistence on mandatory approval of Keystone XL. The Senate majority has its own bazooka: a presidential veto if Keystone XL is in the bill.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

While the foundations were being dug, a steel-and-timber-framed shell of the house was built off-site.

WSJ: Striking Gold in the Backyard