like nothing

[easychen]

Hi, everybody! Here's a text:

With the Olympics coming to Beijing in 2008, this is exactly what China needs from the mayor of the host city: The Olympics is not just another international conference. The city's infrastructure, tolerance and management skills will be tested like nothing since June 1989, when a huge crowd in Tiananmen Square exploded onto the history books in an unforgettable splurge of bloodshed.

Would anyone tell me what the term"like nothing" means here?

Many thanks!

 

[la grive solitaire]

like nothing = will be tested in a way that they haven't been tested since June 1989.

Although understandable, I find the use of "like nothing" here odd and awkward...

 

[Dimcl]

It means that since June, 1989, "nothing else" has tested the city's capacity like the Olympics will.

At first glance, I agreed with LGS' opinion until I re-examined the sentence. "like nothing" sounds like something a kid would say. I think that my perception was coloured by the fact that the original sentence had the phrase highlighted. Its meaning is "...tested like nothing has tested it since June, 1989..."

 

[easychen]

Thank you for your help, LGS and Dimcl. I think both of you were right about that.