Barron 3500 SAT List 41-50 From Alex

sophomoric

ADJ. /一知半解的；不成熟的/immature; half-baked, like a sophomore. Even if you're only a freshman, it's no compliment to be told your humor is sophomoric. The humor in Dumb and Dumber is sophomoric at best.

versatile

ADJ. /万能的；通用的；多面手的/having many talents; capable of working in many fields. She was a versatile athlete, earning varsity let¬ters in basketball, hockey, and track.

scurvy

ADJ. /下流的；卑鄙的，无理的；坏血病/despicable; contemptible. Peter Pan sneered at Captain Hook and his scurvy crew.

ribald

ADJ. /下流的；放荡的；亵渎的/wanton; profane. He sang a ribald song that offended many of the more prudish listeners.

unseemly

ADJ. /不体面的/unbecoming; indecent; in poor taste. When he put whoopie cushions on all the seats in the funeral par¬lor, his conduct was most unseemly.

unfathomable

ADJ. /不可理解的；不能渗透的/incomprehensible; impenetrable. Unable to get to the bottom of the mystery, Watson declared it was unfathomable.

unconscionable

ADJ. /不合理的；不道德的；过度的/unscrupulous; excessive. She found the loan shark's demands unconscionable and impossible to meet.

unprepossessing

ADJ. /不吸引人的/unattractive. During adolescence many attractive young people somehow acquire the false notion that their appearance is unprepossessing.

tendentious

ADJ. /偏见的；有目标的；预计好的/having an aim; biased; designed to fur¬ther a cause. The editorials in this periodical are tenden¬tious rather than truth-seeking.

robust

ADJ. /健壮的/vigorous; strong. After pumping iron and tak¬ing karate for six months, the little old lady was so robust that she could break a plank with her fist.

soporific

ADJ. /催眠的/sleep-causing; marked by sleepiness. Pro¬fessor Pringle's lectures were so soporific that even he fell asleep in class. also N.

somnolent

ADJ. /催眠的；半睡半醒的/half asleep. The heavy meal and the over¬heated room made us all somnolent and indifferent to the speaker.

simian

ADJ. /像猴的/monkeylike. Lemurs are nocturnal mammals and have many simian characteristics, although they are less intelligent than monkeys.

spry

ADJ. /充满生气的；活泼的；敏捷的/vigorously active; nimble. She was eighty years old, yet still spry and alert.

resonant

ADJ. /共鸣的/echoing; resounding; deep and full in sound. The deep, resonant voice of the actor James Earl Jones makes him particularly effective when he appears on stage.

withdrawn

ADJ. /内向的；孤僻的/introverted; remote. Rebuffed by his col¬leagues, the initially outgoing young researcher became increasingly withdrawn.

visceral

ADJ. /内脏的/felt in one's inner organs. She disliked the vis¬ceral sensations she had whenever she rode the roller coaster.

venturesome

ADJ. /冒险的/bold. A group of venturesome women were the first to scale Mt. Annapurna.

verbose

ADJ. /冗长的/wordy. Someone mute can't talk; someone verbose can hardly stop talking.

tepid

ADJ. /冷淡的；微热的/lukewarm. During the summer, I like to take a tepid bath, not a hot one.

spartan

ADJ. /刚毅的；朴素的；纪律严格的；斯巴达的/avoiding luxury and comfort; sternly disci¬plined. Looking over the bare, unheated room, with its hard cot, he wondered what he was doing in such spartan quar¬ters. Only his spartan sense of duty kept him at his post.

rigid

ADJ. /刚硬的；不屈的/stiff and unyielding; strict; hard and unbending. By living with a man to whom she was not married, George Eliot broke Victorian society's most rigid rule of respectable behavior.

strident

ADJ. /刺耳的；尖锐的；坚持不懈的/loud and harsh; insistent. Whenever Sue became angry, she tried not to raise her voice; she had no desire to appear strident.

virulent

ADJ. /剧毒的/extremely poisonous; hostile; bitter. Laid up with a virulent case of measles, Vera blamed her doctors because her recovery took so long. In fact, she became quite virulent on the subject of the quality of modern medical care.

sedulous

ADJ. /勤奋的；勤勤恳恳的/diligent; hardworking. After weeks of patient and sedulous labor, we completed our detailed analysis of every published SAT examination.

slapdash

ADJ. /匆促的/haphazard; careless; sloppy. From the number of typos and misspellings I've found in it, it's clear that Mario proofread the report in a remarkably slapdash fashion.

translucent

ADJ. /半透明的/partly transparent. We could not recog¬nize the people in the next room because of the translucent curtains that separated us.

transcendent

ADJ. /卓越的；非比寻常的/surpassing; exceeding ordinary limits; superior. For the amateur chef, dining at the four-star restaurant was a transcendent experience: the meal sur¬passed his wildest dreams.

unpalatable

ADJ. /厌恶的；不好吃的；味道糟糕的/distasteful; disagreeable. "I refuse to swallow your conclusion," said she, finding his logic unpalatable.

rudimentary

ADJ. /原始的；最初的；原来的/not developed; elementary; crude. Although my grandmother's English vocabulary was limited to a few rudimentary phrases, she always could make her¬self understood.

retroactive

ADJ. /反动的；（法律）追溯的（由制定之日前的某一天生效）/of a law that dates back to a period before its enactment. Because the law was retroactive to the first of the year, we found she was eligible for the pension.

voluble

ADJ. /口齿伶俐的；爱说话的/fluent; glib; talkative. The excessively voluble speaker suffers from logorrhea: he runs off at the mouth a lot!

tensile

ADJ. /可伸展的；可拉长的/capable of being stretched. Mountain climbers must know the tensile strength of their ropes. tentative ADJ. hesitant; not fully worked out or developed; experimental; not definite or positive. Unsure of his wel¬come at the Christmas party, Scrooge took a tentative step into his nephew's drawing room.

venial

ADJ. /可宽恕的/forgivable; trivial. When Jean Valjean stole a loaf of bread to feed his starving sister, he committed a venial offense.

soluble

ADJ. /可溶解的；可解决的/able to be dissolved; able to be explained. Sugar is soluble in water; put a sugar cube in water and it will quickly dissolve.

tangible

ADJ. /可触摸的；真实的/able to be touched; real; palpable. Although Tom did not own a house, he had several tangible assets-a car, a television, a PC-that he could sell if he needed cash.

tautological

ADJ. /同义反复的/needlessly repetitious. In the sentence "It was visible to the eye, " the phrase "to the eye" is tautological.

tantamount

ADJ. /同等的/equivalent in effect or value. Though Rudy claimed his wife was off visiting friends, his shriek of horror when she walked into the room was tantamount to a confession that he believed she was dead.

subsequent

ADJ. /后来的；接下来的/following; later. In subsequent lessons, we shall take up more difficult problems.

sovereign

ADJ. /君主的；至高无上的/efficacious; supreme or paramount; self¬governing. Professor Pennywhistle claimed his panacea was a sovereign cure for all chronic complaints. In medi¬cine the sovereign task of the doctor is to do no harm. Rebelling against the mother country, the onetime colony now proclaimed itself a sovereign state. also N.

valedictory

ADJ. /告别的/pertaining to farewell. I found the valedic¬tory address too long; leave-taking should be brief.

vociferous

ADJ. /喊叫的；吵闹的/clamorous; noisy. The crowd grew vocifer¬ous in its anger and threatened to take the law into its own hands.

satirical

ADJ. /嘲弄的/mocking. The humor of cartoonist Gary Trudeau often is satirical; through the comments of the Doonesbury characters, Trudeau ridicules political corrup¬tion and folly.

retrospective

ADJ. /回顾的/looking back on the past. The Museum of Graphic Arts is holding a retrospective showing of the paintings of Michael Whelan over the past two decades.

terrestrial

ADJ. /地的；地球的/earthly (as opposed to celestial); pertaining to the land. In many science fiction films, alien invaders from outer space plan to destroy all terrestrial life.

seismic

ADJ. /地震的/pertaining to earthquakes. The Richter scale is a measurement of seismic disturbances.

steadfast

ADJ. /坚定的；不渝的；忠诚的/loyal; unswerving. Penelope was steadfast in her affections, faithfully waiting for Ulysses to return from his wanderings.

stalwart

ADJ. /坚定的；强壮的/strong, brawny; steadfast. His consistent support of the party has proved that he is a stalwart and loyal member. also N.

substantial

ADJ. /坚实的；充实的/ample; solid; in essentials. The generous scholarship represented a substantial sum of money.

traumatic

ADJ. /外伤的/pertaining to an injury caused by violence. In his nightmares, he kept on recalling the traumatic experi¬ence of being wounded in battle.

tangential

ADJ. /外围的；切线的/peripheral; only slightly connected; digressing. Despite Clark's attempts to distract her with tan¬gential remarks, Lois kept on coming back to her main question: why couldn't he come out to dinner with Super¬man and her?

succulent

ADJ. /多汁的/juicy; full of richness. To some people, Florida citrus fruits are more succulent than those from Cali¬fornia. also N.

stilted

ADJ. /夸大的；充气的；虚胖的；踩高跷的/bombastic; inflated. His stilted rhetoric did not impress the college audience; they were immune to bom¬bastic utterances.

singular

ADJ. /奇的；独一无二的/unique; extraordinary; odd. Though the young man tried to understand Father William's singular behavior, he still found it odd that the old man incessantly stood on his head. singularity, N.

sumptuous

ADJ. /奢侈的；华丽的/lavish; rich. I cannot recall when I have had such a sumptuous Thanksgiving feast.

subservient

ADJ. /奴隶似的；奴性的/behaving like a slave; servile; obse¬quious. He was proud and dignified; he refused to be sub¬servient to anyone.

servile

ADJ. /奴隶的；奴性的/slavish; cringing. Constantly fawning on his employer, humble Uriah Heap was a servile creature.

salacious

ADJ. /好色的；淫荡的/lascivious; lustful. Chaucer's monk is not pious but salacious. a teller of lewd tales and ribald jests.

sportive

ADJ. /嬉戏的；玩闹的/playful. Such a sportive attitude is surprising in a person as serious as you usually are.

sedate

ADJ. /安静的；稳重的；低沉的/composed; grave. The parents were worried because they felt their son was too quiet and sedate.

sectarian

ADJ. /宗派主义的；地区主义的；宗派主义者；狭窄的/relating to a religious faction or subgroup; narrow-minded; limited. Far from being broad-minded, the religious leader was intolerant of new ideas, paying atten¬tion only to purely sectarian interests. sect. N.

timorous

ADJ. /害怕的/fearful; demonstrating fear. His timorous manner betrayed the fear he felt at the moment.

salubrious

ADJ. /对健康有益的，利于养生的/healthful. Many people with hay fever move to more salubrious sections of the country during the months of August and September.

ulterior

ADJ. /将来的；隐蔽的/situated beyond; unstated. You must have an ulterior motive for your behavior, since there is no obvious reason for it.

reverent

ADJ. /尊敬的；可敬的/respectful; worshipful. Though I bow my head in church and recite the prayers, sometimes I don't feel properly reverent. revere,V.

scrupulous

ADJ. /小心翼翼的；谨慎的/conscientious; extremely thorough. Though Alfred is scrupulous in fulfilling his duties at work, he is less conscientious about his obligations to his family and friends.

subdued

ADJ. /屈服的；柔和的；减弱的/less intense; quieter. Bob liked the subdued lighting at the restaurant because he thought it was roman¬tic. I just thought it was dimly lit.

submissive

ADJ. /屈服的；胆怯的/yielding; timid. When he refused to permit Elizabeth to marry her poet, Mr. Barrett expected her to be properly submissive; instead, she eloped!

titanic

ADJ. /巨大的/gigantic. Titanic waves beat against the majes¬tic S.S. Titanic, driving it against the concealed iceberg.

vapid

ADJ. /平淡单调的；索然无味的；缺乏想象力的/dull and unimaginative; insipid and flavorless. "Bor-ing!" said Jessica, as she suffered through yet another vapid lecture about Dead White Male Poets.

visionary

ADJ. /幻想的/produced by imagination; fanciful; mystical. She was given to visionary schemes that never materialized. also N.

venerable

ADJ. /庄严的；值得尊重的/deserving high respect. We do not mean to be disrespectful when we refuse to follow the advice of our venerable leader.

sublime

ADJ. /庄严的；崇高的；壮观的/exalted or noble and uplifting; utter. Lucy was in awe of Desi's sublime musicianship, while he was in awe of her sublime naiveté.

voluminous

ADJ. /庞大的/bulky; large. A caftan is a voluminous garment; most people wearing one look as if they're draped in a small tent.

resilient

ADJ. /弹性的/elastic; having the power of springing back. Highly resilient, steel makes excellent bedsprings. resilience, N.

sensual

ADJ. /感官的；肉欲的；感官论的/devoted to the pleasures of the senses; car-nal; voluptuous. I cannot understand what caused him to abandon his sensual way of life and become so ascetic.

unstinting

ADJ. /慷慨的；无保留的/giving generously; not holding back. The dean praised the donor of the new science building for her unstinting generosity.

slothful

ADJ. /懒的/lazy. Lying idly on the sofa while others worked, Reggie denied he was slothful: "I just supervise better lying down."

thespian

ADJ. /戏剧的/pertaining to drama. Her success in the school play convinced her she was destined for a thespian career. also N.

vindictive

ADJ. /报复性的/out for revenge; malicious. I think it's unwor¬thy of Martha to be so vindictive; she shouldn't stoop to such petty acts of revenge.

solicitous

ADJ. /担心的；关切的；期望的/worried; concerned. The employer was very solicitous about the health of her employees as replace¬ments were difficult to get.

volatile

ADJ. /挥发的；飞行的；可变的；爆炸的/changeable; explosive; evaporating rapidly. The political climate today is extremely volatile: No one can predict what the electorate will do next. Maria Callas's tem¬per was extremely volatile: The only thing you could predict was that she was sure to blow up. Acetone is an extremely volatile liquid: It evaporates instantly.

unassailable

ADJ. /攻不破的/not subject to question; not open to attack. Penelope's virtue was unassailable; while she waited for her husband to come back from the war, no other man had a chance.

unbridled

ADJ. /放肆的；肆虐的/violent. She had a sudden fit of unbridled rage.

uninhibited

ADJ. /放荡不羁的；不受限制的/unrepressed. The congregation was shocked by her uninhibited laughter during the sermon.

urbane

ADJ. /文雅的；高雅的；彬彬有礼的/suave; refined; elegant. The courtier was urbane and sophisticated. urbanity, N.

staccato

ADJ. /断奏；断唱/played in an abrupt manner; marked by abrupt sharp sound. His staccato speech reminded one of the sound of a machine gun.

spasmodic

ADJ. /断断续续的；间歇的/fitful; periodic. The spasmodic coughing in the auditorium annoyed the performers.

tenacity

N. /坚韧/firmness; persistence. Jean Valjean could not believe the tenacity of Inspector Javert. Here all Valjean had done was to steal a loaf of bread, and the inspector had pursued him doggedly for twenty years!

retribution

N. /复仇；补偿；惩罚/vengeance; compensation; punishment for offenses. The evangelist maintained that an angry deity would exact retribution from the sinners.

tycoon

N. /大亨/wealthy leader. John D. Rockefeller was a prominent tycoon.

scad

N. /大批的，许多/a great quantity. Refusing Dave's offer to lend him a shirt, Phil replied, "No, thanks, I've got scads of clothes."

strut

N. /大摇大摆；高视阔步/pompous walk; swagger. Looking at his self¬important strut as he swaggered about the parade ground, I could tell Colonel Blimp thought highly of himself. alsoV.

servitude

N. /奴隶身份；苦工/slavery; compulsory labor. Born a slave, Fred¬erick Douglass resented his life of servitude and plotted to escape to the North.

turpitude

N. /奸恶；卑鄙/depravity. A visitor may be denied admittance to this country if she has been guilty of moral turpitude.

subsistence

N. /存在；生存/existence; means of support; livelihood. In these days of inflated prices, my salary provides a mere subsistence.

skinflint

N. /守财奴；吝啬鬼/stingy person; miser. Scrooge was an ungener¬ous old skinflint until he reformed his ways and became a notable philanthropist.

solace

N. /安慰/comfort in trouble. I hope you will find solace in the thought that all of us share your loss.

symmetry

N. /对称；匀称/arrangement of parts so that balance is obtained; congruity. Something lopsided by definition lacks symmetry.

vignette

N. /小插图/picture; short literary sketch. The New Yorker published her latest vignette.

rivulet

N. /小溪/small stream. As the rains continued, the small trickle of water running down the hillside grew into a rivulet that threatened to wash away a portion of the slope.

trinket

N. /小玩意儿；密谋/knickknack; bauble. Whenever she traveled abroad, Ethel would pick up costume jewelry and other trin¬kets as souvenirs.

skiff

N. /小船/small, light sailboat or rowboat. Tom dreamed of owning an ocean-going yacht but had to settle for a skiff he could sail in the bay.

skirmish

N. /小规模战争；小打小闹/minor fight. Custer's troops expected they might run into a skirmish or two on maneuvers; they did not expect to face a major battle. alsoV.

wake

N. /尾迹；痕迹/trail of ship or other object through water; path of something that has gone before. The wake of the swan glid¬ing through the water glistened in the moonlight. Reporters and photographers converged on South Carolina in the wake of the hurricane that devastated much of the eastern seaboard.

summit

N. /巅峰；顶点/utmost height or pinnacle; highest point (of a mountain, etc.) The summit of the amateur mountain climber's aspirations was someday to reach the summit of Mount Everest.

wizardry

N. /巫术，魔术/sorcery; magic. Merlin the Magician amazed the knights with his wizardry.

serenity

N. /平静/calmness; placidity. The sound of air raid sirens pierced the serenity of the quiet village of Pearl Harbor. serpentine ADJ. winding; twisting. The car swerved at every curve in the serpentine road.

tranquillity

N. /平静；冷静/calmness; peace. After the commotion and excitement of the city, I appreciate the tranquillity of these fields and forests.

whelp

N. /幼兽/young wolf, dog, tiger, etc. This collie whelp won't do for breeding, but he'd make a fine pet.

wastrel

N. /废物；饭桶；放荡的人/profligate. His neighbors denounced him as a wastrelwho had dissipated his inheritance.

trajectory

N. /弹道；轨迹；抛物线/path taken by a projectile. The police tried to locate the spot from which the assassin had fired the fatal shot by tracing the trajectory of the bullet.

restitution

N. /归还；补偿/reparation; indemnification. He offered to make restitution for the window broken by his son.

yore

N. /往昔/time past. He dreamed of the elegant homes of yore, but gave no thought to their inelegant plumbing.

skeptic

N. /怀疑论者/doubter; person who suspends judgment until the evidence supporting a point of view has been exam¬ined. I am a skeptic about the new health plan; I want some proof that it can work. skepticism, N.

slight

N. /怠慢；斥责；侮辱/insult to one's dignity; snub. Hypersensitive and ready to take offense at any discourtesy, Bertha was always on the lookout for real or imaginary slights. alsoV.

torrent

N. /急流；洪水/rushing stream; flood. Day after day of heavy rain saturated the hillside until the water ran downhill in tor¬rents. torrential,ADJ.

resentment

N. /怨恨；愤恨/indignation; bitterness; displeasure. Not wanting to appear a sore loser, Bill tried to hide his resent¬ment of Barry's success.

resumption

N. /恢复；重新开始/taking up again; recommencement. During summer break, Don had not realized how much he missed university life: at the resumption of classes, however, he felt marked excitement and pleasure. resume,V.

wrath

N. /恼火；愤怒/anger; fury. She turned to him, full of wrath, and said, "What makes you think I'll accept lower pay for this job than you get?"

woe

N. /悲哀的/deep, inconsolable grief; affliction; suffering. Pale and wan with grief, Wanda was bowed down beneath the burden of her woes.

scenario

N. /情节；剧本大纲；（电影、歌剧）剧本/plot outline; screenplay; opera libretto. Scara¬mouche startled the other actors in the commedia troupe when he suddenly departed from their customary scenario and began to improvise.

xenophobia

N. /惧外的/fear or hatred of foreigners. When the refugee arrived in America, he was unprepared for the xenophobia he found there.

trepidation

N. /惧怕/fear; nervous apprehension. As she entered the office of the dean of admissions, Sharon felt some trepi¬dation about how she would do in her interview.

volition

N. /意志/act of making a conscious choice. She selected this dress of her own volition.

sluggard

N. /懒人/lazy person. "You are a sluggard, a drone, a parasite," the angry father shouted at his lazy son.

suffragist

N. /扩大参政权；扩大妇女参政权/advocate of voting rights (for women). In recognition of her efforts to win the vote for women, Con¬gress authorized coining a silver dollar honoring the suf¬fragistSusan B. Anthony

ruse

N. /技巧；策略，计谋/trick; stratagem. You will not be able to fool your friends with such an obvious ruse.

restraint

N. /抑制；控制/moderation or self-control; controlling force; restriction. Control yourself. young lady! Show some restraint!

talisman

N. /护身符；避邪物/charm to bring good luck and avert misfortune. Joe believed the carved pendant he found in Vietnam served him as a talisman and brought him safely through the war.

retaliation

N. /报仇/repayment in kind (usually for bad treat¬ment). Because everyone knew the Princeton Band had stolen Brown's mascot, the whole Princeton student body expected some sort of retaliation from Brown. retaliate,V.

sedition

N. /抵抗当局；反抗；暴动/resistance to authority; insubordination. His words, though not treasonous in themselves, were calcu¬lated to arouse thoughts of sedition.

warranty

N. /担保；保证/guarantee; assurance by seller. The pur¬chaser of this automobile is protected by the manufac¬turer's warranty that the company will replace any defective part for five years or 50,000 miles.

topography

N. /拓扑学/physical features of a region. Before the generals gave the order to attack, they ordered a complete study of the topography of the region.

sarcasm

N. /挖苦；讽刺/scornful remarks; stinging rebuke. Though Ralph pretended to ignore the mocking comments of his supposed friends, their sarcasm wounded him deeply.

spendthrift

N. /挥霍的人/someone who wastes money. Easy access to credit encourages people to turn into spendthrifts who shop till they drop.

tremor

N. /振动的/trembling; slight quiver. She had a nervous tremor in her right hand.

sheaf

N. /捆；扎（秸秆）/bundle of stalks of grain; any bundle of things tied together. The lawyer picked up a sheaf of papers as he rose to question the witness.

secession

N. /撤退；脱离/withdrawal. The secession of the Southern states provided Lincoln with his first major problem after his inauguration. secede,V.

strut

N. /支柱/supporting bar. The engineer calculated that the strut supporting the rafter needed to be reinforced. (sec¬ondary meaning)

subsidy

N. /政府的补助/direct financial aid by government, etc. Without this subsidy, American ship operators would not be able to compete in world markets.

saga

N. /斯堪的纳维亚的传说；传奇/Scandinavian myth; any legend. This is a saga of the sea and the men who risk their lives on it.

tyro

N. /新手/beginner; novice. For a mere tyro, you have pro¬duced some wonderfully expert results.

trek

N. /旅行/travel; journey. The tribe made their trek farther north that summer in search of game. alsoV.

vagrant

N. /无家可归的流浪者/a homeless wanderer. Because he was a stranger in town with no visible means of support, Martin feared he would be jailed as a vagrant. vagrancy, N.

vogue

N. /时尚/popular fashion. Jeans became the vogue on many college campuses.

simile

N. /明喻；比较/comparison of one thing with another, using the word like or as. "My love is like a red, red rose" is a simile.

vertigo

N. /晕眩/severe dizziness. When you test potential air¬plane pilots for susceptibility to spells of vertigo, be sure to hand out air-sickness bags.

sage

N. /智者；圣人/person celebrated for wisdom. Hearing tales of a mysterious Master of All Knowledge who lived in the hills of Tibet, Sandy was possessed with a burning desire to con¬sult the legendary sage. alsoADJ.

respite

N. /暂缓/interval of relief; time for rest; delay in punish¬ment. After working nonstop on this project for three straight months. I need a respite! For David, the two weeks vaca¬tioning in New Zealand were a delightful respite from the pressures of his job.

tyranny

N. /暴政；专制/oppression; cruel government. Frederick Dou¬glass fought against the tyranny of slavery throughout his life.

scapegoat

N. /替罪羊/someone who bears the blame for others. After the Challenger disaster, NASA searched for scape¬goats on whom they could cast the blame.

serendipity

N. /有发现意外之财的运气/gift for finding valuable or desirable things by accident; accidental good fortune or luck. Many scien¬tific discoveries are a matter of serendipity. Newton was not sitting under a tree thinking about gravity when the apple dropped on his head.

trappings

N. /服饰；装饰/outward decorations; ornaments. He loved the trappings of success: the limousines, the stock options, the company jet.

torso

N. /未完成的；残缺的/trunk of statue with head and limbs missing; human trunk. This torso, found in the ruins of Pompeii, is now on exhibition in the museum in Naples.

terminology

N. /术语学/terms used in a science or art. The special terminology developed by some authorities in the field has done more to confuse the layman than to enlighten him. terminus N. last stop of railroad. After we reached the rail¬road terminus, we continued our journey into the wilderness on saddle horses.

suavity

N. /柔和；愉快；温和/banity; polish. The elegant actor is particularly good in roles that require suavity and sophistication.

somnambulist

N. /梦游症患者/sleepwalker. The most famous somnam¬bulist in literature is Lady Macbeth; her monologue in the sleepwalking scene is one of the highlights of Shake¬speare's play.

trough

N. /槽；低谷/container for feeding farm animals; lowest point (of a wave, business cycle, etc.) The hungry pigs struggled to get at the fresh swill in the trough. The surfer rode her board, coasting along in the trough between two waves.

windfall

N. /横财/unexpected lucky event. This huge tax refund is quite a windfall.

residue

N. /残留物；余额/remainder; balance. In his will, he requested that after payment of debts, taxes, and funeral expenses, the residue be given to his wife. residual,ADJ.

stamina

N. /毅力；意志力/strength; staying power. I doubt that she has the stamina to run the full distance of the marathon race.

vernacular

N. /母语；本国；本来的东西/living language; natural style. Cut out those old-fashioned thee's and thou's and write in the vernacular. alsoADJ.

venom

N. /毒液；恶毒/poison; hatred. Bitten by a rattlesnake on his ankle, the cowboy contortionist curled up like a pretzel and sucked the venom out of the wound.

tarantula

N. /毒蜘蛛/venomous spider. We need an antitoxin to counteract the bite of the tarantula.

temperament

N. /气质；性情/characteristic frame of mind; disposition; emotional excess. Although the twins look alike, they differ markedly in temperament: Todd is calm, but Rod is excitable.

statute

N. /法令；条例/law enacted by the legislature. The statute of limitations sets the limits on how long you have to take legal action in specific cases.

vigor

N. /活力/active strength. Although he was over seventy years old, Jack had the vigor of a man in his prime. vigor¬OUS,ADJ.

scamp

N. /流氓，无赖/rascal. Despite his mischievous behavior, Mal¬colm was such an engaging scamp that his mother almost lacked the heart to punish him.

ruffian

N. /流氓；恶棍；痞子/bully; scoundrel. The ruffians threw stones at the police.

waif

N. /流浪儿童；流浪者/homeless child or animal. Although he already had eight cats, he could not resist adopting yet another feline waif.

vagabond

N. /流浪者/wanderer; tramp. In summer, college stu¬dents wander the roads of Europe like carefree vagabonds. alsoADJ.

vendetta

N. /深仇；世仇/blood feud. The rival mobs engaged in a bitter vendetta.

shambles

N. /混乱的地方；肉铺/wreck; mess. After the hurricane, the Car¬olina coast was a shambles. After the New Year's Eve party, the apartment was a shambles.

yen

N. /渴望；瘾/longing; urge. She had a yen to get away and live on her own for a while.

turbulence

N. /湍流；骚乱；动荡/state of violent agitation. Warned of approaching turbulence in the atmosphere, the pilot told the passengers to fasten their seat belts.

travesty

N. /滑稽化；滑稽模仿/comical parody; treatment aimed at making something appear ridiculous. The ridiculous decision the jury has reached is a travesty of justice.

rostrum

N. /演讲台；讲道坛/platform for speech-making; pulpit. The crowd murmured angrily and indicated that they did not care to lis¬ten to the speaker who was approaching the rostrum.

vortex

N. /漩涡；漩涡中心；（争斗、讨论的）中心/whirlwind; whirlpool; center of turbulence; predicament into which one is inexorably plunged. Sucked into the vortex of the tornado, Dorothy and Toto were car¬ried from Kansas to Oz.

vex

N. /激怒；惹恼/annoy; distress. Please try not to vex your mother; she is doing the best she can.

sleight

N. /灵巧的/dexterity. The magician amazed the audience with his sleight of hand.

zeal

N. /热心；热诚/eager enthusiasm. Katya's zeal was contagious; soon all her fellow students were busily making posters, inspired by her ardent enthusiasm for the cause. zealous,ADJ.

spate

N. /爆发；大洪水；一大群的/sudden flood or strong outburst; a large number or amount. After the spate of angry words that came pour¬ing out of him, Mary was sure they would never be recon¬ciled.

transgression

N. /犯罪/violation of a law; sin. Forgive us our transgressions; we know not what we do.

revelry

N. /狂欢/boisterous merrymaking. New Year's Eve is a night of revelry

zealot

N. /狂热者/fanatic; person who shows excessive zeal. Though Glenn was devout, he was no zealot, he never tried to force his beliefs on his friends.

solitude

N. /独身/state of being alone; seclusion. Much depends on how much you like your own company. What to one per¬son seems fearful isolation to another is blessed solitude.

rote

N. /生搬硬套；死记硬背/repetition. He recited the passage by rote and gave no indication he understood what he was saying.

virus

N. /病毒/disease communicator. The doctors are looking for a specific medicine to control this virus.

tanner

N. /皮革工人；6便士/person who turns animal hides into leather. Using a solution of tanbark, the tannertreated the cowhide, transforming it into supple leather.

tutelage

N. /监护/guardianship; training. Under the tutelage of such masters of the instrument, she made rapid progress as a virtuoso.

surveillance

N. /监视；监督/watching; guarding. The FBI kept the house under constant surveillance in the hope of capturing all the criminals at one time,

truism

N. /真实性/self-evident truth. Many a truism is summed up in a proverb; for example, "Marry in haste, repent at leisure."

veracity

N. /真实；准确性/truthfulness. Asserting his veracity, young George Washington proclaimed, "Father, I cannot tell a lie!"

verity

N. /真实；真理；真实的陈述/quality of being true; lasting truth or principle. Did you question the verity of Kato Kaelin's testimony about what he heard the night Nicole Brown Simpson was slain? To the skeptic, everything was relative: there were no eter¬nal verities in which one could believe.

sleeper

N. /睡眠；卧铺；枕木；冬眠的动物/something originally of little value or importance that in time becomes very valuable. Unnoticed by the critics at its publication, the eventual Pulitzer Prize winner was a classic sleeper.

slag

N. /矿渣；炉渣；渣滓/residue from smelting metal; dross; waste matter. The blast furnace had a special opening at the bottom to allow the workers to remove the worthless slag.

saboteur

N. /破坏分子；怠工者/one who commits sabotage; destroyer of property. Members of the Resistance acted as saboteurs, blowing up train lines to prevent supplies from reaching the Nazi army.

rubble

N. /碎片/broken fragments. Ten years after World War II, some of the rubble left by enemy bombings could still be seen.

shard

N. /碎片（陶瓷的）/fragment, generally of pottery. The archaeologist assigned several students the task of reassembling earth¬enware vessels from the shards he had brought back from the expedition.

seminary

N. /神学院；学院；发祥地/school for training future ministers; academy for young women. Sure of his priestly vocation, Terrence planned to pursue his theological training at the local Roman Catholic seminary.

theocracy

N. /神权政治/government run by religious leaders. Though some Pilgrims aboard the Mayflower favored the establish¬ment of a theocracy in New England, many of their fellow voyagers preferred a nonreligious form of government.

titter

N. /神经质的笑/nervous laugh. Her aunt's constant titter nearly drove her mad. alsoV.

verve

N. /神韵；活力；热情/enthusiasm; liveliness. She approached her stud¬ies with such verve that it was impossible for her to do poorly.

verbiage

N. /空话；大话/pompous array of words. After we had waded through all the verbiage, we discovered that the writer had said very little.

snicker

N. /窃笑/half-stifled laugh. The boy could not suppress a snicker when the teacher sat on the tack. alsoV.

subtlety

N. /精明；稀薄；微妙/perceptiveness; ingenuity; delicacy. Never obvious, she expressed herself with such subtlety that her remarks went right over the heads of most of her audience. subtle,ADJ.

tryst

N. /约会；幽会/meeting. The lovers kept their tryst even though they realized their danger.

sybarite

N. /纵情逸乐之徒/lover of luxury. Rich people are not always sybarites; some of them have little taste for a life of luxury.

termination

N. /结束/end. Though the time for termination of the project was near, we still had a lot of work to finish before we shut up shop. terminate,V.

upshot

N. /结果/outcome. The upshot of the rematch was that the former champion proved that he still possessed all the skills of his youth.

summation

N. /结算；累计；总结/act of finding the total; summary. In his summation, the lawyer emphasized the testimony given by the two witnesses.

suture

N. /缝合；缝合处/stitches sewn to hold the cut edges of a wound or incision; material used in sewing. We will remove the sutures as soon as the wound heals. alsoV.

virtue

N. /美德/goodness, moral excellence; good quality. Virtue carried to extremes can turn into vice: humility, for example, can degenerate into servility and spinelessness.

welter

N. /翻滚；挣扎；骚乱；搅乱/turmoil; bewildering jumble. The existing welter of overlapping federal and state programs cries out for immediate reform.

stereotype

N. /老套；一成不变；铅版/fixed and unvarying representation; stan¬dardized mental picture, often reflecting prejudice. Critics object to the character of Jim in The Adventures of Huckle¬berry Finn because he seems to reflect the stereotype of the happy, ignorant slave.

vise

N. /老虎钳/tool for holding work in place. Before filing its edges, the locksmith took the blank key and fixed it firmly between the jaws of a vise.

stigma

N. /耻辱；耻辱的标记；柱头；气门/token of disgrace; brand. I do not attach any stigma to the fact that you were accused of this crime; the fact that you were acquitted clears you completely.

throng

N. /聚集/crowd. Throngs of shoppers jammed the aisles. alsoV.

squalor

N. /肮脏；悲惨；贫穷/filth; degradation; dirty, neglected state. Rusted, broken-down cars in its yard, trash piled up on the porch, tar paper peeling from the roof, the shack was the picture of squalor. squalid,ADJ.

timidity

N. /胆怯/lack of self-confidence or courage. If you are to succeed as a salesman, you must first lose your timidity and fear of failure.

scaffold

N. /脚手架；绞刑架/temporary platform for workers; bracing frame¬work; platform for execution. Before painting the house, the workers put up a scaffold to allow them to work on the sec¬ond story.

spontaneity

N. /自发的；自然的；无预谋的/lack of premeditation; naturalness; freedom from constraint. When Anne and Amy met, Amy impulsively hugged her new colleague, but Anne drew back, unpre¬pared for such spontaneity. The cast over-rehearsed the play so much that the eventual performance lacked any spontaneity. spontaneous,ADJ.

reserve

N. /自我控制；疏远/self-control; formal but distant manner. Although some girls were attracted by Mark's air of reserve, Judy was put off by it, for she felt his aloofness indicated a lack of openness. reserved,ADJ.

soliloquy

N. /自言自语；独白/talking to oneself. The soliloquy is a device used by the dramatist to reveal a character's innermost thoughts and emotions.

tiller

N. /舵柄；农夫/handle used to move boat's rudder (to steer). Fearing the wind might shift suddenly and capsize the skiff, Tom kept one hand on the tiller at all times.

virtuoso

N. /艺术品鉴赏家/highly skilled artist. The child prodigy Yehudi Menuhin grew into a virtuoso whose violin performances thrilled millions. virtuosity, N.

tempo

N. /节奏，乐曲的速度/speed of music. I find the band's tempo too slow for such a lively dance.

stanza

N. /节；段落（诗的）；盘（棋的）/division of a poem. Do you know the last stanza of "The Star-Spangled Banner"?

tundra

N. /苔原；冻土/rolling, treeless plain in Siberia and arctic North America. Despite the cold, many geologists are trying to discover valuable mineral deposits in the tundra.

valor

N. /英勇；勇猛/bravery. He received the Medal of Honor for his valor in battle.

veneer

N. /薄板；外表/thin layer; cover. Casual acquaintances were deceived by his veneer of sophistication and failed to rec¬ognize his fundamental shallowness.

stipend

N. /薪金；津贴/pay for services. There is a nominal stipend for this position.

viper

N. /蝰蛇/poisonous snake. The habitat of the horned viper, a particularly venomous snake, is in sandy regions like the Sahara or the Sinai peninsula.

spangle

N. /衣服上亮晶晶的小金属饰件/small metallic piece sewn to clothing for orna-mentation. The thousands of spangles on her dress sparkled in the glare of the stage lights.

rift

N. /裂缝；破口/opening; break. The plane was lost in the stormy sky until the pilot saw the city through a rift in the clouds.

salvo

N. /解除武装；敬礼；保留条款/discharge of firearms; military salute. The boom of the enemy's opening salvo made the petrified private jump.

vigilance

N. /警惕/watchfulness. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

stratagem

N. /计谋；战略/deceptive scheme. We saw through his clever stratagem.

treatise

N. /论文/article treating a subject systematically and thoroughly. He is preparing a treatise on the Elizabethan playwrights for his graduate degree.

shyster

N. /讼棍；政界的奸诈之徒/lawyer using questionable methods. On L.A. Law, Brackman is horrified to learn that his newly-discov¬ered half brother is nothing but a cheap shyster.

satire

N. /讽刺的/form of literature in which irony, sarcasm, and ridicule are employed to attack vice and folly. Gulliver's Travels, which is regarded by many as a tale for children, is actually a bitter satire attacking man's folly.

touchstone

N. /试金石；准绳；标准；尺度/stone used to test the fineness of gold alloys; criterion. What touchstone can be used to measure the character of a person?

solecism

N. /语法错误；谬误/construction that is flagrantly incorrect gram¬matically. I must give this paper a failing mark because it contains many solecisms.

rhetoric

N. /说话的学问；花言巧语/art of effective communication; insincere lan¬guage. All writers, by necessity, must be skilled in rhetoric.

slander

N. /诽谤/defamation; utterance of false and malicious statements. Considering the negative comments politicians make about each other, it's a wonder that more of them aren't sued for slander. alsoV.

slur

N. /诽谤；侮辱/insult to one's character or reputation; slander. Polls revealed that the front-runner's standing had been badly damaged by the slurs and innuendoes circulated by his opponent's staff. also V. (secondary meaning)

toady

N. /谄媚的人；马屁精/servile flatterer; yes man. Never tell the boss any¬thing he doesn't wish to hear: he doesn't want an indepen¬dent adviser, he just wants a toady. alsoV.

tribute

N. /贡品；殷勤；颂词；礼物/tax levied by a ruler; mark of respect. The colonists refused to pay tribute to a foreign despot.

stricture

N. /责难；非难；限制/restriction; adverse criticism. Huck regularly disobeyed Miss Watson's rules and strictures upon his behavior: he wouldn't wear shoes, no matter what she said.

vicissitude

N. /转运/change of fortune. Humbled by life's vicissi¬tudes, the last emperor of China worked as a lowly gar¬dener in the palace over which he had once ruled.

travail

N. /辛苦劳作/painful labor. How long do you think a man can endure such travail and degradation without rebelling?

verge

N. /边界/border; edge. Madame Curie knew she was on the verge of discovering the secrets of radioactive ele¬ments. alsoV.

transition

N. /过渡；转换；跃迁/going from one state of action to another. During the period of transition from oil heat to gas heat, the furnace will have to be shut off.

transport

N. /运输；狂喜/strong emotion. Margo was a creature of extremes, at one moment in transports of joy over a vivid sunset, at another moment in transports of grief over a dying bird. also V. (secondary meaning)

torpor

N. /迟钝；麻木；不活泼/lethargy; sluggishness; dormancy. Throughout the winter, nothing aroused the bear from his torpor: he would not emerge from hibernation until spring. torpid,ADJ.

sojourn

N. /逗留/temporary stay. After his sojourn in Florida, he began to long for the colder climate of his native New Eng¬land home.

velocity

N. /速度/speed. The train went by at considerable velocity.

verisimilitude

N. /逼真/appearance of truth; likelihood. Critics praised her for the verisimilitude of her performance as Lady Macbeth. She was completely believable.

vestige

N. /遗迹；痕迹；残留物/trace; remains. We discovered vestiges of early Indian life in the cave. vestigial,ADJ.

sanctuary

N. /避难所/refuge; shelter; shrine; holy place. The tiny attic was Helen's sanctuary to which she fled when she had to get away from the rest of her family.

truculence

N. /野蛮；粗鲁/aggressiveness; ferocity. Tynan's reviews were noted for their caustic attacks and general tone of tru¬culence. truculent,ADJ.

tirade

N. /长篇慷慨激昂的演说/extended scolding; denunciation; harangue. Every time the boss holds a meeting, he goes into a lengthy tirade, scolding us for everything from tardiness to padding our expenses.

sinecure

N. /闲职，报纸茶水的工作/well-paid position with little responsibility. My job is no sinecure; I work long hours and have much responsibility.

rider

N. /附文；扶手/amendment or clause added to a legislative bill. Senator Foghorn said he would support Senator Filibuster's tax reform bill only if Filibuster agreed to add an antipollu¬tion riderto the bill.

retinue

N. /随行人员；扈从/following; attendants. The queen's retinue fol¬lowed her down the aisle.

stealth

N. /隐秘；隐藏；隐蔽行动/slyness; sneakiness; secretiveness. Fearing detection by the sentries on duty, the scout inched his way toward the enemy camp with great stealth.

seclusion

N. /隔离/isolation; solitude. One moment she loved crowds; the next, she sought seclusion. seclude,V.

scourge

N. /鞭笞；蹂躏/lash; whip; severe punishment. They feared the plague and regarded it as a deadly scourge. alsoV.

zenith

N. /顶点/point directly overhead in the sky; summit. When the sun was at its zenith, the glare was not as strong as at sunrise and sunset.

vertex

N. /顶点/summit. Let us drop a perpendicular line from the vertex of the triangle to the base.

sustenance

N. /食物；生计/means of support, food, nourishment. In the tropics, the natives find sustenance easy to obtain, due to all the fruit trees.

sycophant

N. /马屁精；阿谀奉承者/servile flatterer; bootlicker; yes man. Fed up with the toadies and flunkies who made up his entourage, the star cried, "Get out, all of you! I'm sick of sycophants!" sycophancy, N.

swindler

N. /骗子/cheat. She was gullible and trusting, an easy victim for the first swindler who came along.

turmoil

N. /骚动；混乱/great commotion and confusion. Lydia running off with a soldier! Mother fainting at the news! The Bennet household was in turmoil.

temerity

N. /鲁莽的/boldness; rashness. Do you have the temerity to argue with me?

talon

N. /鸟爪/claw of bird. The falconer wore a leather gauntlet to avoid being clawed by the hawk's talons.

scuffle

V. /徘徊（思考问题）；混战/struggle confusedly; move off in a confused hurry. The twins briefly scuffled, wrestling to see which of them would get the toy. When their big brother yelled, "Let go of my Gameboy!" they scuffled off down the hall. scurrilous ADJ. obscene; indecent. Your scurrilous remarks are especially offensive because they are untrue.

shimmer

V. /微光/glimmer intermittently. The moonlight shim¬mered on the water as the moon broke through the clouds for a moment. also N.

subjugate

V. /征服/conquer; bring under control. It is not our aim to subjugate our foe; we are interested only in establishing peaceful relations.

solicit

V. /恳求/request earnestly; seek. Knowing she needed to have a solid majority for the budget to pass, the mayor tele¬phoned all the members of the city council to solicit their votes.

supplicate

V. /恳求；祈祷/petition humbly; pray to grant a favor. We supplicate Your Majesty to grant him amnesty.

rue

V. /懊悔；后悔；感伤/regret; lament; mourn. Tina rued the night she met Tony and wondered how she ever fell for such a jerk. rueful,ADJ.

truncate

V. /截去尖端/cut the top off. The top of a cone that has been truncated in a plane parallel to its base is a circle.

shackle

V. /手铐；枷锁；脚镣/chain; fetter. The criminal's ankles were shack¬led to prevent his escape. also N.

wallow

V. /打滚；沉湎；堕落/roll in; indulge in; become helpless. The hip¬popotamus loves to wallow in the mud.

stigmatize

V. /打烙印；污蔑/brand; mark as wicked. I do not want to stig¬matize this young offender for life by sending her to prison.

winnow

V. /扬谷；分出好坏/sift; separate good parts from bad. This test will winnow out the students who study from those who don't bother.

wrench

V. /扭曲；扭伤；曲解；折磨；拉/pull; strain; twist. She wrenched free of her attacker and landed a powerful kick to his kneecap.

seethe

V. /扰乱的；沸腾/be disturbed; boil. The nation was seething with discontent as the noblemen continued their arrogant ways.

sanction

V. /批准，许可/approve; ratify. Nothing will convince me to sanction the engagement of my daughter to such a worth¬less young man.

validate

V. /批准；确认/confirm; ratify. I will not publish my findings until I validate my results.

withstand

V. /抵抗；经受住/stand up against; successfully resist. If you can withstand all the peer pressure in high school to cut classes and goof off, you should survive college just fine.

unravel

V. /拆开；解决/disentangle; solve. With equal ease Miss Marple unraveled tangled balls of yarn and baffling murder mysteries.

withhold

V. /拒给；保留/refuse to give; hold back. The tenants decided to withhold a portion of the rent until the landlord kept his promise to renovate the building.

temporize

V. /拖延时间；见风使舵/avoid commiting oneself; gain time. I cannot permit you to temporize any longer; I must have a definite answer today.

warrant

V. /授权；证明；批准/justify; authorize. Before the judge issues the injunction, you must convince her this action is warranted.

verbalize

V. /描述/put into words. I know you don't like to talk about these things, but please try to verbalize your feelings.

tender

V. /提供；扩充/offer; extend. Although no formal charges had been made against him, in the wake of the recent scandal the mayor felt he should tender his resignation.

sheathe

V. /插入鞘/place into a case. As soon as he recognized the approaching men, he sheathed his dagger and hailed them as friends.

table

V. /搁置/set aside a resolution or proposal for future con¬sideration. Because we seem unable to agree on this issue at the moment, let us table the motion for now and come back to it at a later date.

roil

V. /搅动（使水变浑）;激怒/to make liquids murky by stirring up sediment. Be careful when you pour not to roil the wine; if you stir up the sediment you'll destroy the flavor.

totter

V. /摇摆；摇摇欲坠/move unsteadily; sway, as if about to fall. On unsteady feet, the drunk tottered down the hill to the near¬est bar.

retract

V. /撤回，撤退/withdraw; take back. When I saw how Fred and his fraternity brothers had trashed the frat house, I decided to retract my offer to let them use our summer cottage for the weekend. retraction, N.

revoke

V. /撤回；取消/cancel; retract. Repeat offenders who continue to drive under the influence of alcohol face having their dri¬ver's licenses permanently revoked.

sustain

V. /支撑；延续/experience; support; nourish. He sustained such a severe injury that the doctors feared he would be unable to work to sustain his growing family.

transmute

V. /改变/change; convert to something different. He was unable to transmute his dreams into actualities.

spurn

V. /放弃；拒绝/reject; scorn. The heroine spurned the villain's advances.

slacken

V. /放松；放慢/slow up; loosen. As they passed the finish line, the runners slackened their pace.

succor

V. /救援；援助/aid; assist; comfort. If you believe that con man has come here to succor you in your hour of need, you're an even bigger sucker than I thought. also N.

suborn

V. /教唆/persuade to act unlawfully (especially to commit perjury). In The Godfather, the mobsters used bribery and threats to suborn the witnesses against Don Michael Cor¬leone.

strew

V. /散开；随意散开；散播/spread randomly; sprinkle; scatter. Preceding the bride to the altar, the flower girl will strew rose petals along the aisle.

wean

V. /断奶；丢弃/accustom a baby to not nurse; give up a cher¬ished activity. He decided he would wean himself away from eating junk food and stick to fruits and vegetables.

scrutinize

V. /明察/examine closely and critically. Searching for flaws, the sergeant scrutinized every detail of the private's uniform.

waive

V. /暂时放弃；屈从/give up temporarily; yield. I will waive my rights in this matter in order to expedite our reaching a proper decision.

savor

V. /有滋有味儿的；享受这种滋味/enjoy; have a distinctive flavor, smell, or quality. Relishing his triumph, the actor especially savored the cha¬grin of the critics who had predicted his failure.

simulate

V. /模仿；冒充/feign. He simulated insanity in order to avoid punishment for his crime.

slur

V. /模糊不清的说/speak indistinctly; mumble. When Sol has too much to drink, he starts to slur his words: "Washamatter? Cansh you undershtand what I shay?"

stanch

V. /止血；血流变检测/check flow of blood. It is imperative that we stanch the gushing wound before we attend to the other injuries.

taint

V. /污染，感染；污点/contaminate; cause to lose purity; modify with a trace of something bad. One speck of dirt on your utensils may contain enough germs to taint an entire batch of preserves.

scuttle

V. /沉没/sink. The sailors decided to scuttle their vessel rather than surrender it to the enemy.

snivel

V. /流鼻涕；啜泣；鼻子一把泪一把/run at the nose; snuffle; whine. Don't you come sniveling to me complaining about your big brother. sobriety N. moderation (especially regarding indulgence in alcohol); seriousness. Neither falling-down drunks nor stand-up comics are noted for sobriety. sober,ADJ.

squander

V. /浪费/waste. If you squander your allowance on candy and comic books, you won't have any money left to buy the new box of crayons you want.

steep

V. /浸泡，弄湿；陡坡；悬崖/soak; saturate. Be sure to steep the fabric in the dyebath for the full time prescribed.

superimpose

V. /添加/place over something else. Your attempt to superimpose another agency in this field will merely increase the bureaucratic nature of our government.

seep

V. /渗出；渗漏/ooze; trickle. During the rainstorm, water seeped through the crack in the basement wall and damaged the floor boards. seepage, N.

saturate

V. /湿透/soak thoroughly. Saturate your sponge with water until it can't hold any more.

slither

V. /滑动/slip or slide. During the recent ice storm, many people slithered down this hill as they walked to the station.

saunter

V. /漫步；闲逛/stroll slowly. As we sauntered through the park, we stopped frequently to admire the spring flowers.

rile

V. /激怒/vex; irritate; muddy. Red had a hair-trigger temper: he was an easy man to rile.

solder

V. /焊接/repair or make whole by using a metal alloy. The plumber fixed the leak in the pipes by soldering a couple of joints from which water had been oozing.

scale

V. /爬升；升高/climb up; ascend. In order to locate a book on the top shelf of the stacks, Lee had to scale an exceptionally rickety ladder.

rhapsodize

V. /狂热地描述；写狂想文，作狂想曲/to speak or write in an exaggeratedly enthu¬siastic manner. She greatly enjoyed her Hawaiian vacation and rhapsodized about it for weeks.

surmise

V. /猜测/guess. I surmise that he will be late for this meeting. also N.

tether

V. /用绳子绑；范围/tie with a rope. Before we went to sleep, we teth¬ered the horses to prevent their wandering off during the night.

swill

V. /痛饮/drink greedily. Singing "Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum," Long John Silver and his fellow pirates swilled their grog.

simper

V. /痴笑；傻笑/smirk; smile affectedly. Complimented on her appearance, Stella self-consciously simpered.

whimsical

ADJ. /无常的；古怪的/capricious; fanciful. In Mrs. Doubtfire, the hero is a playful, whimsical man who takes a notion to dress up as a woman so that he can look after his children, who are in the custody of his ex-wife. whimsy, N.

ruthless

ADJ. /无情的/pitiless; cruel. Captain Hook was a danger¬ous, ruthless villain who would stop at nothing to destroy Peter Pan.

unintimidating

ADJ. /无惧的/unfrightening. Though Phil had expected to feel overawed when he met Steve Young, he found the famous quarterback friendly and unintimidating.

unimpeachable

ADJ. /无懈可击的/blameless and exemplary. Her con¬duct in office was unimpeachable and her record is spotless.

ubiquitous

ADJ. /无所不在的/being everywhere; omnipresent. That Christmas "The Little Drummer Boy" seemed ubiquitous; David heard the tune everywhere.

witless

ADJ. /无知的；轻率的/foolish; idiotic. If Beavis is a half-wit, then Butthead is totally witless.

unaccountable

ADJ. /无责任的；无法解释的/inexplicable; unreasonable or mysteri¬ous. I have taken an unaccountable dislike to my doctor: "I do not love thee, Doctor Fell. The reason why, I cannot tell."

unequivocal

ADJ. /明白清楚的/plain; obvious; unmistakable. My answer to your proposal is an unequivocal and absolute "No."

susceptible

ADJ. /易受影响的；易感动的；易患病的/impressionable; easily influenced; having little resistance, as to a disease; receptive to. Said the patent medicine man to his very susceptible customer: "Buy this new miracle drug, and you will no longer be sus¬ceptible to the common cold."

vulnerable

ADJ. /易受攻击的/susceptible to wounds. His opponents could not harm Achilles, who was vulnerable only in his heel.

testy

ADJ. /易怒的/irritable; short-tempered. My advice is to avoid discussing this problem with him today as he is rather testy and may shout at you.

stellar

ADJ. /星体的；恒星的/pertaining to the stars. He was the stellar attraction of the entire performance.

salient

ADJ. /显著的；突出的；卓越的/prominent. One of the salient features of that newspaper is its excellent editorial page.

rife

ADJ. /普遍的/abundant; current. In the face of the many rumors of scandal, which are rife at the moment, it is best to remain silent.

transient

ADJ. /暂时的/momentary; temporary; staying for a short time. Lexy's joy at finding the perfect Christmas gift for Phil was transient, she still had to find presents for the cousins and Uncle Bob. Located near the airport, this hotel caters to a largely transient trade. transience, N.

temporal

ADJ. /暂时的/not lasting forever; limited by time; secular. At onetime in our history, temporal rulers assumed that they had been given their thrones by divine right.

surreptitious

ADJ. /暗中的；秘密的/secret; furtive; sneaky; hidden. Hoping to discover where his mom had hidden the Christmas pre¬sents, Timmy took a surreptitious peek into the master bed¬room closet.

swarthy

ADJ. /暗的；有雾的/dark; dusky. Despite the stereotypes, not all Italians are swarthy, many are fair and blond.

touchy

ADJ. /暴躁的；难以处理的；易上火的/sensitive; irascible. Do not mention his bald spot; he's very touchy about it.

tortuous

ADJ. /曲折的，蜿蜒的/winding; full of curves. Because this road is so tortuous, it is unwise to go faster than twenty miles an hour on it.

solvent

ADJ. /有偿付能力的/able to pay all debts. By dint of very frugal liv¬ing, he was finally able to become solvent and avoid bank¬ruptcy proceedings.

titular

ADJ. /有名无实的/nominal holding of title without obligations. Although he was the titular head of the company, the real decisions were made by his general manager.

savory

ADJ. /有味道的；吸引人的/tasty; pleasing, attractive, or agreeable. Julia Child's recipes enable amateur chefs to create savory deli¬cacies for their guests.

virtual

ADJ. /有效的；实质的；虚的/in essence; for practical purposes. She is a vir¬tual financial wizard when it comes to money matters.

tempestuous

ADJ. /有暴风雨的；暴乱的/stormy; impassioned; violent. Racket¬throwing tennis star John McEnroe was famed for his dis¬plays of tempestuous temperament.

toxic

ADJ. /有毒的/poisonous. We must seek an antidote for what¬ever toxic substance he has eaten. toxicity, N.

Sagacious

ADJ. /有洞察力的/perceptive; shrewd; having insight. My father was a sagacious judge of character: he could spot a phony a mile away. sagacity, N.

torrid

ADJ. /有激情的；热带的/passionate; hot or scorching. Harlequin Romances publish torrid tales of love affairs, some set in torrid climates.

salutary

ADJ. /有用的；有益的/tending to improve; beneficial; wholesome. The punishment had a salutary effect on the boy, as he became a model student.

striated

ADJ. /有细条纹的/marked with parallel bands; grooved. The glacier left many striated rocks. striate,V.

studied

ADJ. /有计划的；故意的；有想法的/not spontaneous; deliberate; thoughtful. Given Jill's previous slights, Jack felt that the omission of his name from the guest list was a studied insult.

unmitigated

ADJ. /未缓和的；绝对的/unrelieved or immoderate; absolute. After four days of unmitigated heat, I was ready to collapse from heat prostration. The congresswoman's husband was an unmitigated jerk: not only did he abandon her, he took her campaign funds, too!

wary

ADJ. /机警的；小心的/very cautious. The spies grew wary as they approached the sentry.

variegated

ADJ. /杂色的/many-colored. Without her glasses, Gretchen saw the fields of tulips as a variegated blur.

supple

ADJ. /柔顺的；顺从的；柔韧的/flexible; pliant. Years of yoga exercises made Grace's body supple.

underlying

ADJ. /根本的；在下面的；潜在的/fundamental; lying below. The underlying cause of the student riot was not the strict curfew rule but the moldy cafeteria food. Miss Marple seems a sweet little old lady at first, but there's an iron will underlying that soft and fluffy facade.

synoptic

ADJ. /概要的/providing a general overview; summary. The professor turned to the latest issue of Dissertation Abstracts for a synoptic account of what was new in the field. synop¬SiS, N.

subsidiary

ADJ. /次要的；辅助的/subordinate; secondary. This information may be used as subsidiary evidence but is not sufficient by itself to prove your argument. also N.

valid

ADJ. /正当的；有效的/logically convincing; sound; legally acceptable. You're going to have to come up with a better argument if you want to convince me that your reasoning is valid.

unerringly

ADJ. /正确无误的/infallibly. My teacher unerringly pounced on the one typographical error in my essay.

wry

ADJ. /歪曲的；扭曲的/twisted; with a humorous twist. We enjoy Dorothy Parker's verse for its wrywit.

staid

ADJ. /沉静的；安静的/sober; sedate. Her conduct during the funeral ceremony was staid and solemn.

taciturn

ADJ. /沉默寡言的/habitually silent; talking little. The stereotypi¬cal cowboy is a taciturn soul, answering lengthy questions with a "Yep" or "Nope."

unscathed

ADJ. /没有受伤的/unharmed. They prayed he would come back from the war unscathed.

Unctuous

ADJ. /油的；油质的；松软肥沃的/oily; bland; insincerely suave. Uriah Heep disguised his nefarious actions by unctuous protestations of his "humility."

therapeutic

ADJ. /治疗的；治疗学的/curative. Now better known for its race¬track, Saratoga Springs first gained attention for the thera¬peutic qualities of its famous "healing waters." therapy, N.

undulating

ADJ. /波浪的/moving with a wavelike motion. The Hilo Hula Festival was an undulating sea of grass skirts.

rousing

ADJ. /活跃的；煽动的/lively; stirring. "And now, let's have a rousing welcome for TV's own Roseanne Barr, who'll lead us in a rousing rendition of 'The Star-Spangled Banner."'

turbid

ADJ. /浑浊的；搅动了沉淀物的/muddy; having the sediment disturbed. The water was turbid after the children had waded through it.

wistful

ADJ. /渴望的/vaguely longing; sadly thoughtful. With a last wistful glance at the happy couples dancing in the hall, Sue headed back to her room to study for her exam.

sodden

ADJ. /湿透的/soaked; dull, as if from drink. He set his sod¬den overcoat near the radiator to dry.

waggish

ADJ. /滑稽的；爱开玩笑的/mischievous; humorous; tricky. He was a prankster who, unfortunately, often overlooked the damage he could cause with his waggish tricks. wag, N.

zany

ADJ. /滑稽的；疯狂的/crazy; comic. I can watch the Marx brothers' zany antics for hours.

vehement

ADJ. /激烈的；热烈的/forceful; intensely emotional; with marked vigor. Alfred became so vehement in describing what was wrong with the Internal Revenue Service that he began jumping up and down and frothing at the mouth. vehemence, N.

thermal

ADJ. /热的；热学的/pertaining to heat. The natives discovered that the hot springs made excellent thermal baths and began to develop their community as a health resort. also N.

restive

ADJ. /焦躁不安的；难以压抑的/restlessly impatient; obstinately resisting con-trol. Waiting impatiently in line to see Santa Claus, even the best-behaved children grow restive and start to fidget.

wily

ADJ. /狡猾的/cunning; artful. She is as wily as a fox in avoiding trouble.

unique

ADJ. /独一无二的/without an equal; single in kind. You have the unique distinction of being the only student whom I have had to fail in this course.

theoretical

ADJ. /理论的/not practical or applied; hypothetical. Bob was better at applied engineering and computer program¬ming than he was at theoretical physics and math. While I can still think of some theoretical objections to your plan, you've convinced me of its basic soundness.

treacly

ADJ. /甜蜜的/sticky sweet; cloyingly sentimental. Irritatingly cheerful, always looking on the bright side, Pollyanna speaks nothing but treacly sentimentalities. treacle, N.

vivacious

ADJ. /生动的/animated; lively. She had always been viva¬cious and sparkling.

virile

ADJ. /男子的；男子气概的/manly. I do not accept the premise that a man proves he's virile by being belligerent.

substantive

ADJ. /真实的；有实质的；大量的/essential; pertaining to the substance. Although the delegates were aware of the importance of the problem, they could not agree on the substantive issues.

transitory

ADJ. /短时间的/impermanent; fleeting. Fame is transitory: today's rising star is all too soon tomorrow's washed-up has-been. transitoriness, N.

squat

ADJ. /矮壮的；又短又厚的；蹲着的/stocky; short and thick. Tolkien's hobbits are somewhat squat, sturdy little creatures, fond of good ale, good music, and good mushrooms.

seedy

ADJ. /破烂不堪的；褴褛的；不合适的/run-down; decrepit; disreputable. I would rather stay in dormitory lodgings in a decent youth hostel than have a room of my own in a seedy downtown hotel.

schematic

ADJ. /示例的；示意性的/relating to an outline or diagram; using a system of symbols. In working out the solution to this logic puzzle, you may find it helpful to construct a simple schematic diagram outlining the order of events.

uncanny

ADJ. /离奇的/strange; mysterious. You have the uncanny knack of reading my innermost thoughts.

sparse

ADJ. /稀少的；稀疏的/not thick; thinly scattered; scanty. No matter how carefully Albert combed his hair to make it look as full as possible, it still looked sparse.

unprecedented

ADJ. /空前的/novel; unparalleled. For a first novel, Margaret Mitchell's novel Gone with the Wind was an unprecedented success.

vacuous

ADJ. /空虚的；空的/empty; inane. The vacuous remarks of the politician annoyed the audience, who had hoped to hear more than empty platitudes.

spatial

ADJ. /空间的/relating to space. NASA is engaged in an ongoing program of spatial exploration. When Jay says he's studying spatial relations, that doesn't mean he has rela¬tives in outer space.

uncouth

ADJ. /笨拙的；粗俗的/outlandish; clumsy; boorish. Most biogra¬phers portray Lincoln as an uncouth and ungainly young man.

succinct

ADJ. /简洁的；紧身的/brief; terse; compact. Don't bore your audi ence with excess verbiage: be succinct.

sententious

ADJ. /简洁的；警句式的，格言式的/terse; concise; aphoristic. After reading so many redundant speeches, I find his sententious style particularly pleasing.

terse

ADJ. /简洁；扼要的/concise; abrupt; pithy. There is a fine line between speech that is terse and to the point and speech that is too abrupt.

surly

ADJ. /粗暴的；阴沉的；板着脸的；无礼的/rude; cross. Because of his surly attitude, many people avoided his company.

viscid

ADJ. /粘合的/adhesive; gluey. The trunk of the maple tree was viscid with sap.

viscous

ADJ. /粘的/sticky; gluey. Melted tar is a viscous sub¬stance. Viscosity, N.

shrewd

ADJ. /精明；敏锐/clever; astute. A shrewd investor, he took clever advantage of the fluctuations of the stock market.

tonic

ADJ. /精神充沛的/invigorating; refreshing. The tart homemade ginger ale had a tonic effect on Kit: she perked right up. also N.

saccharine

ADJ. /糖精的；代糖的；极甜的/cloyingly sweet. She tried to ingratiate herself, speaking sweetly and smiling a saccharine smile.

ungainly

ADJ. /糟糕的；笨拙的/awkward; clumsy; unwieldy. "If you want to know whether Nick's an ungainly dancer, check out my bruised feet," said Nora. Anyone who has ever tried to carry a bass fiddle knows it's an ungainly instrument.

unwieldy

ADJ. /糟糕的；笨拙的/awkward; cumbersome; unmanageable. The large carton was so unwieldy that the movers had trou¬ble getting it up the stairs.

taut

ADJ. /紧张的；整洁的/tight; ready. The captain maintained that he ran a taut ship.

ruddy

ADJ. /红的；红润的，白里透红的；健康的/reddish; healthy-looking. Santa Claus's ruddy cheeks nicely complement Rudolph the Reindeer's bright red nose.

tenuous

ADJ. /纤细的/thin; rare; slim. The allegiance of our allies is held by rather tenuous ties.

wispy

ADJ. /纤细的；脆弱的/thin; slight; barely discernible. Worried about preserving his few wispy tufts of hair, Walter carefully mas¬saged his scalp and applied hair restorer every night.

sheer

ADJ. /纯粹的,，绝对的；透明的；峻峭的；避开，躲避；偏航，避开/very thin or transparent; very steep; absolute. Wearing nothing but an almost sheer robe, Delilah draped herself against the sheer temple wall. Beholding her, Sam¬son was overcome by her sheer beauty. Then she sheared his hair.

ultimate

ADJ. /终极的/final; not susceptible to further analysis. Sci¬entists are searching for ultimate truths.

sinewy

ADJ. /结实；硬朗的/tough; strong and firm. The steak was too sinewy to chew.

scanty

ADJ. /缺乏的；稀疏的/meager; insufficient. Thinking his helping of food was scanty, Oliver Twist asked for more.

verdant

ADJ. /翠绿的；生疏的；无经验的/green; lush in vegetation. Monet's paintings of the verdant meadows were symphonies in green.

seasoned

ADJ. /老练的/experienced. Though pleased with her new batch of rookies, the basketball coach wished she had a few more seasoned players on the team.

superficial

ADJ. /肤浅的；浅薄的/trivial; shallow. Since your report gave only a superficial analysis of the problem, I cannot give you more than a passing grade.

sordid

ADJ. /肮脏；卑鄙/filthy; base; vile. The social worker was angered by the sordid housing provided for the homeless.

turgid

ADJ. /肿胀的/swollen; distended. The turgid river threatened to overflow the levees and flood the countryside.

viable

ADJ. /能养活的；可行的/practical or workable; capable of maintaining life. That idea won't work. Let me see whether I can come up with a viable alternative.

vitriolic

ADJ. /腐蚀的；硫酸的；讽刺的/corrosive; sarcastic. Such vitriolic criticism is uncalled for.

supercilious

ADJ. /自大的；傲慢的/arrogant; condescending; patronizing. The supercilious headwaiter sneered at customers whom he thought did not fit in at a restaurant catering to an ultra¬fashionable crowd.

temperate

ADJ. /节制的；自我控制的/restrained; self-controlled; moderate in respect to temperature. Try to be temperate in your eating this holiday season; if you control your appetite, you won't gain too much weight.

thrifty

ADJ. /节省的；抠包的/careful about money; economical. A thrifty shopper compares prices before making major purchases.

wan

ADJ. /苍白的/having a pale or sickly color; pallid. Suckling asked, "Why so pale and wan, fond lover?"

wanton

ADJ. /荒唐的；挥霍的；放荡的；不受限制的/unrestrained; willfully malicious; unchaste. Pointing to the stack of bills, Sheldon criticized Sarah for her wanton expenditures. In response, Sarah accused Shel¬don of making an unfounded, wanton attack.

unwarranted

ADJ. /莫名其妙的；没来由的；冤枉的/unjustified; groundless; undeserved. Your assumption that I would accept your proposal is unwarranted, sir; I do not want to marry you at all. We could not understand Martin's unwarranted rudeness to his mother's guests.

unkempt

ADJ. /蓬乱的；粗野的；不洁的/disheveled; uncared for in appearance. Jeremy hated his neighbor's unkempt lawn: he thought its neglected appearance had a detrimental effect on neigh¬borhood property values.

sadistic

ADJ. /虐待狂的；残忍成性的/inclined to cruelty. If we are to improve condi- tions in this prison, we must first get rid of the sadistic warden.

sinuous

ADJ. /蜿蜒的；弯曲复杂的；不老实的/winding; bending in and out; not morally hon¬est. The snake moved in a sinuous manner.

sluggish

ADJ. /行动迟缓的/Slow; lazy; lethargic. After two nights without sleep, she felt sluggish and incapable of exertion.

sartorial

ADJ. /裁缝的；缝纫机的；缝匠肌的/pertaining to tailors. He was as famous for the sartorial splendor of his attire as he was for his acting.

threadbare

ADJ. /褴褛的；破烂不堪的/worn through till the threads show; shabby and poor. The poor adjunct professor hid the threadbare spots on his jacket by sewing leather patches on his sleeves.

tactile

ADJ. /触觉的/pertaining to the organs or sense of touch. His callused hands had lost their tactile sensitivity.

resigned

ADJ. /认命，顺从；听天由命/accepting one's fate; unresisting; patiently submissive. Resigned to his downtrodden existence, Bob Cratchit was too meek to protest Scrooge's bullying. resig¬nation, N.

sardonic

ADJ. /讽刺的/disdainful; sarcastic; cynical. The sardonic humor of nightclub comedians who satirize or ridicule patrons in the audience strikes some people as amusing and others as rude.

sphinx-like

ADJ. /谜的/enigmatic; mysterious. The Mona Lisa's sphinx-like expression has intrigued and mystified art lovers for centuries.

unassuming

ADJ. /谦逊的/modest. He is so unassuming that some people fail to realize how great a man he really is.

vituperative

ADJ. /责骂的/abusive; scolding. He became more vitu¬perative as he realized that we were not going to grant him his wish.

voracious

ADJ. /贪婪的；狼吞虎咽的/ravenous. The wolf is a voracious animal, its hunger never satisfied.

venal

ADJ. /贪污的/capable of being bribed. The venal policeman cheerfully accepted the bribe offered him by the speeding motorist whom he had stopped.

resplendent

ADJ. /辉煌的；光辉的/dazzling; glorious; brilliant. While all the adults were commenting how glorious the emperor looked in his resplendent new clothes, one little boy was heard to say, "But he's naked!"

Simplistic

ADJ. /过分单纯化的/oversimplified. Though Jack's solution dealt adequately with one aspect of the problem, it was simplistic in failing to consider various complications that might arise.

riveting

ADJ. /迷人的/absorbing; engrossing. The reviewer described Byatt's novel Possession as a riveting tale, one so absorbing that he had finished it in a single night.

winsome

ADJ. /迷人的/agreeable; gracious; engaging. By her win¬some manner, she made herself liked by everyone who met her.

retiring

ADJ. /退休的；谦虚的，害羞的/modest; shy. Given Susan's retiring personal¬ity, no one expected her to take up public speaking; sur¬prisingly enough, she became a star of the school debate team,

seemly

ADJ. /适宜的，合适的/proper; appropriate. Lady Bracknell did not think it was seemly for Ernest to lack a proper family: no baby abandoned on a doorstep could grow up to be a fit match for her daughter.

transparent

ADJ. /透明的；容易检测的，明晰的/easily detected; permitting light to pass through freely. John's pride in his son is transparent; no one who sees the two of them together can miss it.

universal

ADJ. /通用的/characterizing or affecting all; present every¬where. At first, no one shared Christopher's opinions; his the¬ory that the world was round was met with universal disdain.

slipshod

ADJ. /邋遢的；慢吞吞的；漫不经心的/untidy or slovenly; shabby. As a master craftsman, the carpenter prided himself on not doing slip¬shod work.

slovenly

ADJ. /邋遢的；漫不经心的/untidy; careless in work habits. Unshaven, sitting around in his bathrobe all afternoon, Gus didn't seem to care about the slovenly appearance he presented. The dark ring around the bathtub and the spider webs hanging from the beams proved what a slovenly housekeeper she was.

sinister

ADJ. /邪恶的/evil. We must defeat the sinister forces that seek our downfall.

sonorous

ADJ. /醒目的/resonant. His sonorous voice resounded through the hall.

vital

ADJ. /重要的；生命的；生机的/vibrant and lively; critical; living, breathing. The vital, highly energetic first aid instructor stressed that it was vital in examining accident victims to note their vital signs.

trenchant

ADJ. /锋利的/cutting; keen. I am afraid of his trenchant wit for it is so often sarcastic.

serrated

ADJ. /锯齿状的/having a sawtoothed edge. The beech tree is one of many plants that have serrated leaves.

sultry

ADJ. /闷热的，酷热的；放荡的；粗暴的/sweltering. He could not adjust himself to the sultryclimate of the tropics.

untenable

ADJ. /防不住的；防不胜防的；站不住的/indefensible; not able to be maintained. Wayne is so contrary that, the more untenable a position is, the harder he'll try to defend it.

somber

ADJ. /阴森的；昏暗的；抑郁的/gloomy; depressing; dark; drab. From the doctor's grim expression, I could tell he had somber news. Dull brown and charcoal gray are pretty somber colors; can't you wear something bright?

saturnine

ADJ. /阴郁的/gloomy. Do not be misled by his saturnine countenance; he is not as gloomy as he looks.

trite

ADJ. /陈腐的/hackneyed; commonplace. The trite and pre¬dictable situations in many television programs turn off many viewers, who, in turn, turn off their sets.

unsightly

ADJ. /难看的/ugly. Although James was an experienced emergency room nurse, he occasionally became queasy when faced with a particularly unsightly injury.

sporadic

ADJ. /零星的/occurring irregularly. Although you can still hear sporadic outbursts of laughter and singing outside, the big Halloween parade has passed; the party's over till next year.

tremulous

ADJ. /震荡的/trembling; wavering. She was tremulous more from excitement than from fear.

static

ADJ. /静态的/unchanging; lacking development. Why watch chess on TV? I like watching a game with action, not some¬thing static where nothing seems to be going on.

stagnant

ADJ. /静止的；单调的/motionless; stale; dull. Mosquitoes com¬monly breed in ponds of stagnant water. Mike's career was stagnant; it wasn't going anywhere, and neither was he! stagnate,V.

sacrosanct

ADJ. /非常神圣的/most sacred; inviolable. The brash insur¬ance salesman invaded the sacrosanct privacy of the office of the president of the company.

sophistry

N. /似真实假的/seemingly plausible but fallacious reasoning. Instead of advancing valid arguments, he tried to over¬whelm his audience with a flood of sophistries.

stint

N. /供应；分配；限量分配/supply; allotted amount; assigned portion of work. He performed his daily stint cheerfully and willingly. alsoV.

witticism

N. /俏皮话/witty saying; wisecrack. I don't mean any criti¬cism, but that last witticism totally hurt my feelings.

subterfuge

N. /借口；托辞/pretense; evasion. As soon as we realized that you had won our support by a subterfuge, we withdrew our endorsement of your candidacy.

supposition

N. /假定；假想/hypothesis; the act of supposing. I based my decision to confide in him on the supposition that he would be discreet. suppose,V.

voyeur

N. /偷窥者/Peeping Tom. Nancy called her brother a voyeur when she caught him aiming his binoculars at an upstairs window of the house of the newlyweds next door.

smirk

N. /傻笑/conceited smile. Wipe that smirk off your face! alsoV.

stalemate

N. /僵局/deadlock. Negotiations between the union and the employers have reached a stalemate; neither side is willing to budge from previously stated positions.

sibling

N. /兄弟姐妹/brother or sister. We may not enjoy being sib¬lings, but we cannot forget that we still belong to the same family.

vanguard

N. /先驱；先锋/forerunners; advance forces. We are the van¬guard of a tremendous army that is following us.

spectrum

N. /光谱/colored band produced when beam of light passes through a prism. The visible portion of the spectrum includes red at one end and violet at the other.

unanimity

N. /全体同意；全体一致/complete agreement. We were surprised by the unanimity with which members of both parties accepted our proposals. unanimous,ADJ.

stratum

N. /地层；社会阶层/layer of earth's surface; layer of society. Unless we alleviate conditions in the lowest stratum of our society, we may expect grumbling and revolt.

resolution

N. /坚定；决心；决定/determination; resolve. Nothing could shake his resolution that his children would get the best education that money could buy. resolute,ADJ.

skulk

V. /偷懒；偷偷的移动/move furtively and secretly. He skulked through the less fashionable sections of the city in order to avoid meeting any of his former friends.

yield

V. /屈服；放弃/give in; surrender. The wounded knight refused to yield to his foe.

venerate

V. /崇敬/revere. In Tibet today, the common people still venerate their traditional spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

sully

V. /弄脏；玷污/tarnish; soil. He felt that it was beneath his dignity to sully his hands in such menial labor.

trigger

V. /引起；触发；扳机/set off. John is touchy today; say one word wrong and you'll trigger an explosion.

sanctimonious

ADJ. /假正经的；假装神圣的/displaying ostentatious or hypocritical devoutness. You do not have to be so sanctimonious to prove that you are devout.

subpoena

N. /传票/writ summoning a witness to appear. The prosecutor's office was ready to serve a subpoena on the reluctant witness. alsoV.

retrograde

V. /倒退的/go backwards; degenerate. instead of advancing, our civilization seems to have retrograded in ethics and culture. alsoADJ.

superfluous

ADJ. /不必要的；多余的/unnecessary; excessive; overabundant. Betsy lacked the heart to tell June that the wedding present she brought was superfluous; she and Bob had already received five toasters. Please try not to include so many superfluous details in your report; just give me the facts. superfluity, N.

unrequited

ADJ. /不报答的，不回应的/not reciprocated. Suffering the pangs of unrequited love, Olivia rebukes Cesario for his hardheart¬edness.

unobtrusive

ADJ. /不显眼的；朴素的/inconspicuous; not blatant. Reluctant to attract notice, the governess took a chair in a far corner of the room and tried to be as unobtrusive as possible.

unruly

ADJ. /不服从的；倔强的/disobedient; lawless. The only way to curb this unruly mob is to use tear gas.

unwitting

ADJ. /不知情的/unintentional; not knowing. She was the unwitting tool of the swindlers.

trifling

ADJ. /不重要的/trivial; unimportant. Why bother going to see a doctor for such a trifling, everyday cold?

trivial

ADJ. /不重要的/unimportant; trifling. Too many magazines ignore newsworthy subjects and feature trivial affairs. trivia, N.

seamy

ADJ. /丑恶的；露出嘴脸的/sordid; unwholesome. In The Godfather, Michael Corleone is unwilling to expose his wife and chil¬dren to the seamy side of his life as the son of a Mafia don. sear V. char or burn; brand. Accidentally brushing against the hot grill, she seared her hand badly.

worldly

ADJ. /世俗的/engrossed in matters of this earth; not spiri¬tual. You must leave your worldly goods behind you when you go to meet your Maker.

secular

ADJ. /世俗的；现世的；永久的/worldly; not pertaining to church matters; temporal. The church leaders decided not to interfere in secular matters.

sophisticated

ADJ. /世故的；复杂的/worldly-wise and urbane; complex. When Sophie makes wisecracks, she thinks she sounds sophisticated, but instead she sounds sophomoric. The new IBM laptop with the butterfly keyboard and the built-in quadspeed FAX modem is a pretty sophisticated machine.

stringent

ADJ. /严厉的；迫切的/binding; rigid. I think these regulations are too stringent.

rigorous

ADJ. /严峻的；严格的；严厉的/severe; harsh; demanding; exact. Disliked by his superiors, the officer candidate in An Officer and a Gen¬tleman endured an extremely rigorous training program.

subjective

ADJ. /主观的；个人的/occurring or taking place within the subject; unreal. Your analysis is highly subjective; you have permit¬ted your emotions and your opinions to color your thinking.

thematic

ADJ. /主题的；主题相关的/relating to a unifying motif or idea. Those who think of Moby Dick as a simple adventure story about whaling miss its underlying thematic import.

sedentary

ADJ. /久坐的；坐惯的/requiring sitting. Disliking the effect of her sedentary occupation on her figure, Stacy decided to work out at the gym every other day.

stodgy

ADJ. /乏味的；保守的/stuffy; boringly conservative. For a young per¬son, Winston seems remarkably stodgy: you'd expect someone his age to show a little more life.

stolid

ADJ. /乏味的；单调的；冷漠的/dull; impassive. The earthquake shattered Stu-art's usual stolid demeanor; trembling, he crouched on the no longer stable ground.

rustic

ADJ. /乡村的；笨拙的，不舒服的/pertaining to country people; uncouth. The backwoodsman looked out of place in his rustic attire.

sacrilegious

ADJ. /亵渎的，天谴的/desecrating; profane. His stealing of the altar cloth was a very sacrilegious act.

vicarious

ADJ. /代理的；代理人的/acting as a substitute; done by a deputy. Many people get a vicarious thrill at the movies by imagin¬ing they are the characters on the screen.

tedious

ADJ. /令人厌倦的/boring; tiring. The repetitious nature of work on the assembly line made Martin's job very tedious. tedium, N.

voluptuous

ADJ. /令人满足的/gratifying the senses. The nobility during the Renaissance led voluptuous lives.

shoddy

ADJ. /以次充好的；赝品/sham; not genuine; inferior. You will never get the public to buy such shoddy material.

spurious

ADJ. /伪造的，欺骗的/false; counterfeit; forged; illogical. The antique dealer hero of Jonathan Gash's mystery novels gives the reader tips on how to tell spurious antiques from the real thing. Natasha's claim to be the lost heir of the Romanoffs was spurious: the only thing Russian about her was the vodka she drank!

specious

ADJ. /似是而非的/seemingly reasonable but incorrect; mis¬leading (often intentionally). To claim that, because houses and birds both have wings, both can fly, is extremely spe¬cious reasoning.

subliminal

ADJ. /低于极限的；下意识的/below the threshold. We may not be aware of the subliminal influences that affect our thinking.

subordinate

ADJ. /低级的；下级的；次要的/occupying a lower rank; inferior; submis¬sive. Bishop Proudie's wife expected all the subordinate clergy to behave with great deference to the wife of their superior.

tawdry

ADJ. /俗丽的；便宜且华而不实/cheap and gaudy. He won a few tawdry trin¬kets in Coney Island.

retentive

ADJ. /保持的；记性好的/holding; having a good memory. The pupil did not need to spend much time studying, for he had a retentive mind and remembered all he read.

rhetorical

ADJ. /修辞色彩的；花言巧语的/pertaining to effective communication; insincere in language. To win his audience; the speaker used every rhetorical trick in the book.

willful

ADJ. /顽固的；故意的/intentional; headstrong. Donald had planned to kill his wife for months; clearly, her death was a case of deliberate, willful murder, not a crime of passion committed by a hasty, willful youth unable to foresee the conse¬quences of his deeds.

tenacious

ADJ. /顽强的/holding fast. I had to struggle to break his tenacious hold on my arm.

subversive

ADJ. /颠覆性的；破坏性的/tending to overthrow; destructive. At first glance, the notion that styrofoam cups may actually be more ecologically sound than paper cups strikes most envi¬ronmentalists as subversive.

tractable

ADJ. /驯良的；温顺的；易处理的/docile; easily managed. Although Susan seemed a tractable young woman, she had a stubborn streak of independence that occasionally led her to defy the powers-that-be when she felt they were in the wrong.

sanguine

ADJ. /高兴的；有希望的；乐天的/cheerful; hopeful. Let us not be too san¬guine about the outcome; something could go wrong.

tacit

ADJ. /默许的；会意的/understood; not put into words. We have a tacit agreement based on only a handshake.

Stoic

ADJ. impassive; unmoved by joy or grief. I wasn't par¬ticularly stoic when I had my flu shot; I squealed like a stuck pig. also N.

verbatim

ADV. /逐字的/word for word. He repeated the message verbatim. alsoADJ.

whiff

N. /一吹；一喷/puff or gust (of air, scent, etc.); hint. The slightest whiff of Old Spice cologne brought memories of George to her mind.

swarm

N. /一大群；挤满，占满，蜂拥/dense moving crowd; large group of honey¬bees. At the height of the city hall scandals, a constant swarm of reporters followed the mayor everywhere. alsoV.

uniformity

N. /一致性；同样/sameness; monotony. At Persons magazine, we strive for uniformity of style; as a result, all our writers wind up sounding exactly alike.

reticence

N. /不动声色的；深藏不露的；沉默寡言的/reserve; uncommunicativeness; inclination to silence. Fearing his competitors might get advance word about his plans from talkative staff members, Hughes pre¬ferred reticence from his employees to loquacity. reticent,ADJ.

savant

N. /专家，学者/scholar. Our faculty includes many world¬famous savants.

rigor

N. /严格，苛刻；精确/severity. Many settlers could not stand the rigors of the New England winters.

solemnity

N. /严肃的；一本正经的/seriousness; gravity. The minister was con¬cerned that nothing should disturb the solemnity of the mar¬riage service. solemn,ADJ.

severity

N. /严肃；严格；激烈/harshness; intensity; sternness; austerity. The severity of Jane's migraine attack was so great that she took to her bed for a week.

utopia

N. /乌托邦/ideal place, state, or society. Fed up with this imperfect universe, Don would have liked to run off to Shangri-la or some other imaginary utopia. utopian, ADJ. vacillate V. waver; fluctuate. Uncertain which suitor she ought to marry, the princess vacillated, saying now one, now the other. The big boss likes his people to be decisive: when he asks you for your opinion, whatever you do, don't vacillate. vacillation, N.

squabble

N. /争吵/minor quarrel; bickering. Children invariably get involved in petty squabbles; wise parents know when to interfere and when to let the children work things out on their own.

spat

N. /争论；口角；扇巴掌/squabble; minor dispute. What had started out as a mere spat escalated into a full-blown argument.

yield

N. /产出；（投资的）回报/amount produced; crop; income on investment. An experienced farmer can estimate the annual yield of his acres with surprising accuracy. alsoV.

surrogate

N. /代理；代替/substitute. For a fatherless child, a male teacher may become a father surrogate.

tenure

N. /任期；（土地的）使用年限/holding of an office; time during which such an office is held. He has permanent tenure in this position and cannot be fired.

vantage

N. /优势/position giving an advantage. They fired upon the enemy from behind trees, walls and any other point of vantage they could find.

symbiosis

N. /共生现象/interdependent relationship (between groups, species), often mutually beneficial. Both the croco¬dile bird and the crocodile derive benefit from their symbio¬sis: pecking away at food particles embedded in the crocodile's teeth, the bird receives nourishment; the croco¬dile, meanwhile, receives proper dental hygiene. symbiotic,ADJ.

tome

N. /册；卷/large volume. He spent much time in the libraries poring over ancient tomes.

reverie

N. /冥想；发呆；白日梦/daydream; musing. He was awakened from his reverie by the teacher's question.

resolve

N. /决心；解决/determination; firmness of purpose. How dare you question my resolve to take up sky-diving! Of course I haven't changed my mind!

stupor

N. /冷漠；漠不关心/state of apathy; daze; lack of awareness. In his stupor, the addict was unaware of the events taking place around him.

vent

N. /出口，出路/a small opening; outlet. The wine did not flow because the air vent in the barrel was clogged.

watershed

N. /分水岭/crucial dividing point. The invention of the personal computer proved a historic watershed, for it opened the way to today's Information Age.

schism

N. /分离/division; split. Let us not widen the schism by further bickering.

roster

N. /列表/list. They print the roster of players in the sea¬son's program.

scabbard

N. /剑鞘/case for a sword blade; sheath. The drill mas¬ter told the recruit to wipe the blood from his sword before slipping it back into the scabbard.

revulsion

N. /剧变（情感的）；抽回；收手/sudden violent change of feeling; reaction. Many people in this country who admired dictatorships underwent a revulsion when they realized what Hitler and Mussolini were trying to do.

throes

N. /剧痛/violent anguish. The throes of despair can be as devastating as the spasms accompanying physical pain.

vendor

N. /卖主/seller. The fruit vendor sold her wares from a stall on the sidewalk.

satellite

N. /卫星/small body revolving around a larger one. Dur¬ing the first few years of the Space Age, hundreds of satel¬lites were launched by Russia and the United States.

spatula

N. /压舌板；抹刀；批灰刀/broad-bladed instrument used for spreading or mixing. The manufacturers of this frying pan recommend the use of a rubber spatula to avoid scratching the specially treated surface.

tenet

N. /原则；信条/doctrine; dogma. The agnostic did not accept the tenets of their faith.

retort

N. /反驳；曲颈甑/quick sharp reply. Even when it was advisable for her to keep her mouth shut, she was always ready with a quick retort. alsoV.

tantrum

N. /发脾气；暴怒/fit of petulance; caprice. The child learned that he could have almost anything if he had a tantrum.

turncoat

N. /叛徒；叛逆者/traitor. The British considered Benedict Arnold a loyalist; the Americans considered him a turncoat.

ventriloquist

N. /口技表演者/someone who can make his or her voice seem to come from another person or thing. This ventrilo¬quist does an act in which she has a conversation with a wooden dummy.

typhoon

N. /台风/tropical hurricane or cyclone. If you liked Twister, you'll love Typhoon!

synthesis

N. /合成/combining parts into a whole. Now that we have succeeded in isolating this drug, our next problem is to plan its synthesis in the laboratory. synthesize,V.

tautology

N. /同义反复/unnecessary repetition. "Joyful happiness" is an illustration of tautology.

title

N. /名字；等级；拥有权/right or claim to possession; mark of rank; name (of a book, film, etc.). Though the penniless Duke of Ragwort no longer held title to the family estate, he still retained his title as head of one of England's oldest families.

tightwad

N. /吝啬鬼/excessively frugal person; miser. Jill called Jack a tightwad because he never picked up the check.

tumult

N. /吵闹；混乱/commotion; riot; noise. She could not make her¬self heard over the tumult of the mob.

vampire

N. /吸血鬼/ghostly being that sucks the blood of the living. Children were afraid to go to sleep because of the many legends of vampires roaming at night.

respiration

N. /呼吸；呼吸作用；呼气/breathing; exhalation. The doctor found that the patient's years of smoking had adversely affected both his lung capacity and his rate of respiration.

zephyr

N. /和风；徐风/gentle breeze; west wind. When these zephyrs blow, it is good to be in an open boat under a full sail.

responsiveness

N. /响应的/state of reacting readily to appeals, orders, etc. The audience cheered and applauded, delight¬ing the performers by its responsiveness.

sentinel

N. /哨兵/sentry; lookout. Though camped in enemy terri¬tory, Bledsoe ignored the elementary precaution of posting sentinels around the encampment.

rotundity

N. /圆形，球状；洪亮的演讲/roundness; sonorousness of speech. Wash¬ington Irving emphasized the rotundity of the governor by describing his height and circumference.

tract

N. /地域；小册子/region of land (often imprecisely described); pam¬phlet. The king granted William Penn a tract of land in the New World. Penn then printed a tract in which he encour¬aged settlers to join his colony.

underscore

V. /强调/emphasize. Addressing the jogging class, Kim underscored the importance to runners of good nutrition.

subside

V. /下沉；平息；减退/settle down; descend; grow quiet. The doctor assured us that the fever would eventually subside.

temper

V. /中和；回火；调剂；锻炼/moderate; tone down or restrain; toughen (steel). Not even her supervisor's grumpiness could temper Nancy's enthusiasm for her new job.

stymie

V. /从中作梗；桩子；障碍物/present an obstacle; stump. The detective was stymied by the contradictory evidence in the robbery inves¬tigation. also N.

sham

V. /佯装；假的；赝品/pretend. He shammed sickness to get out of going to school. also N.

stultify

V. /使徒劳；使显得愚笨；拆台，办难堪/cause to appear or become stupid or inconsis¬tent; frustrate or hinder. His long hours in the blacking fac¬tory left young Dickens numb and incurious, as if the menial labor had stultified his brain.

sate

V. /使心满意足；使过度满足；使腻/satisfy to the full; cloy. Its hunger sated. the lion dozed.

stifle

V. /使窒息；扑灭/suppress; extinguish; inhibit. Halfway through the boring lecture, Laura gave up trying to stifle her yawns.

stupefy

V. /使麻木；使大吃一惊/make numb; stun; amaze. Disapproving of drugs in general, Laura refused to take sleeping pills or any other medicine that might stupefy her. stupefaction, N.

weather

V. /侵蚀；风化/endure the effects of weather or other forces. He weathered the changes in his personal life with difficulty, as he had no one in whom to confide.

retain

V. /保持；使用/keep; employ. Fighting to retain his seat in Con¬gress, Senator Foghorn retained a new manager to head his reelection campaign.

vouchsafe

V. /允许；赐予/grant; choose to give in reply; permit. Occa¬sionally the rock star would drift out onto the balcony and vouchsafe the crowd below a glimpse of her cele¬brated features. The professor vouchsafed not a word to the students' questions about what would be covered on the test.

surmount

V. /克服/overcome. Could Helen Keller, blind and deaf since childhood, surmount her physical disabilities and lead a productive life?

resolve

V. /决定；安排/decide; settle; solve. Holmes resolved to travel to Bohemia to resolve the dispute between Irene Adler and the king.

smelt

V. /冶炼；精炼/melt or blend ores, changing their chemical com¬position. The furnaceman smelts tin with copper to create a special alloy used in making bells.

wither

V. /凋谢；枯萎/shrivel; decay. Cut flowers are beautiful for a day, but all too soon they wither.

wane

V. /减少；变弱/decrease in size or strength; draw gradually to an end. When lit, does a wax candle wane?

sap

V. /减少；破坏/diminish; undermine. The element kryptonite has an unhealthy effect on Superman: it saps his strength.

unearth

V. /出土；发掘/dig up. When they unearthed the city, the archeologists found many relics of an ancient civilization.

sunder

V. /分裂/separate; part. Northern and southern Ireland are politically and religiously sundered.

stratify

V. /分门别类；分类；分层/divide into classes; be arranged into strata. As the economic gap between the rich and the poor increased, Roman society grew increasingly stratified.

sever

V. /切断/cut; separate. The released prisoner wanted to begin a new life and sever all connections with his criminal past. Dr. Guillotin invented a machine that could neatly sever an aristocratic head from its equally aristocratic body. Unfortu¬nately, he couldn't collect any severance pay. severance, N.

whittle

V. /切；削；损害/pare; cut off bits. As a present for Aunt Polly, Tom whittled some clothespins out of a chunk of wood.

rummage

V. /到处翻寻/ransack; thoroughly search. When we rum¬maged through the trunks in the attic, we found many sou¬venirs of our childhood days. also N.

stem

V. /制止流出/check the flow. The paramedic used a tourniquet to stem the bleeding from the slashed artery.

riddle

V. /刺出无数窟窿，打排孔；充斥，弥漫；通过粗眼筛子过滤；谜语；解决，解释；提出，解谜/pierce with holes; permeate or spread through¬out. With his machine gun, Tracy riddled the car with bullets till it looked like a slice of Swiss cheese. During the proof¬readers' strike, the newspaper was riddled with typos.

shear

V. /剪；修剪/cut or clip (hair, fleece); strip of something. You may not care to cut a sheep's hair, but Sarah shears sheep for Little Bo Peep.

swathe

V. /包装物；绷带/wrap around; bandage. When I visited him in the hospital, I found him swathed in bandages.

ruminate

V. /反复咀嚼；消化；深思；反刍/chew over and over (mentally, or, like cows, physically); mull over; ponder. Unable to digest quickly the baffling events of the day, Reuben ruminated about them till four in the morning.

supersede

V. /取代；推迟/cause to be set aside; replace; make obso¬lete. The new bulk mailing postal regulation supersedes the old one. If you continue to follow the old regulation, your bulk mailing will be returned to you.

rout

V. /吓跑；赶出；击退/stampede; drive out. The reinforcements were able to rout the enemy. also N.

tout

V. /吹捧/publicize; praise excessively. I lost confidence in my broker after he touted some junk bonds to me that turned out to be a bad investment.

wheedle

V. /哄骗；诱骗/cajole; coax; deceive by flattery. She knows she can wheedle almost anything she wants from her father.

scoff

V. /嘲弄，奚落/mock; ridicule. He scoffed at dentists until he had his first toothache.

revert

V. /回复；故态复萌/relapse; backslide; turn back to. Most of the time Andy seemed sensitive and mature, but occasionally he would revert to his smart-alecky, macho, adolescent self.

waylay

V. /埋伏；伏击；抢劫/ambush; lie in wait. They agreed to waylay their victim as he passed through the dark alley going home.

stoke

V. /填饱；司炉/stir up a fire; feed plentifully. As a Scout Marisa learned how to light a fire, how to stoke it if it started to die down, and how to extinguish it completely.

wax

V. /增长/increase; grow. With proper handling, his fortunes waxed and he became rich.

transcribe

V. /复制/copy. When you transcribe your notes, please send a copy to Mr. Smith and keep the original for our files. transcription, N.

resurge

V. /复活/rise again; flow to and fro. It was startling to see the spirit of nationalism resurge as the Soviet Union disinte¬grated into a loose federation of ethnic and national groups. resurgence, N.

swagger

V. /大摇大摆；自大/behave arrogantly or pompously; strut or walk proudly. The conquering hero didn't simply stride down the street; he swaggered. also N.

spawn

V. /孵化；下蛋/lay eggs. Fish ladders had to be built in the dams to assist the salmon returning to spawn in their native streams. also N.

satiate

V. /完全满足/satisfy fully. Having stuffed themselves until they were satiated, the guests were so full they were ready for a nap.

succumb

V. /屈服；屈从；死/yield; give in; die. I succumb to temptation whenever I see chocolate.

undermine

V. /破坏/weaken; sap. The recent corruption scan¬dals have undermined many people's faith in the city government. The recent torrential rains have washed away much of the cliffside; the deluge threatens to under¬mine the pillars supporting several houses at the edge of the cliff.

traverse

V. /穿过/go through or across. When you traverse this field, be careful of the bull.

vie

V. /竞争/contend; compete. Politicians vie with one another, competing for donations and votes.

tarry

V. /等候；逗留；混日子/delay; dawdle. We can't tarry if we want to get to the airport on time.

supplant

V. /篡位；取代/replace; usurp. Bolingbroke, later to be known as King Henry IV, fought to supplant his cousin, Richard III, as King of England.

usurp

V. /篡取/seize another's power or rank. The revolution ended when the victorious rebel general succeeded in his attempt to usurp the throne.

stint

V. /紧缩，节省/be thrifty; set limits. "Spare no expense," the bride's father said, refusing to stint on the wedding arrange¬ments.

thrive

V. /繁荣；昌盛/prosper; flourish. Despite the impact of the reces¬sion on the restaurant trade, Philip's cafe thrived.

splice

V. /绑定的；联合的/fasten together; unite. Before you splice two strips of tape together, be sure to line them up evenly. also N.

yoke

V. /结合；连接/join together, unite. I don't wish to be yoked to him in marriage, as if we were cattle pulling a plow. also N.

slake

V. /结束；平息；消除；伺候舒服/quench; sate. When we reached the oasis, we were able to slake our thirst.

writhe

V. /翻腾/twist in coils; contort in pain. In Dances with Snakes, the snake dancer wriggled sinuously as her boa constrictor writhed around her torso.

slough

V. /脱落；蜕皮/cast off. Each spring, the snake sloughs off its skin.

scavenge

V. /腐食；打扫/hunt through discarded materials for usable items; search, especially for food. If you need car parts that the dealers no longer stock, try scavenging for odd bits and pieces at the auto wreckers' yards. scavenger, N.

skimp

V. /节约的使用/provide scantily; live very economically. They were forced to skimp on necessities in order to make their limited supplies last the winter.

*vaporize

V. /蒸发/turn into vapor (steam, gas, fog, etc.). "Zap!" went Super Mario's atomic ray gun as he vaporized another deadly foe.

salvage

V. /补救；抢救；打捞；营救/rescue from loss. All attempts to salvage the wrecked ship failed. also N.

vent

V. /表达；发泄/express; utter. The angry teacher vented his wrath on his class.

retrench

V. /裁减，削减；紧缩，节约/cut down; economize. In order to be able to afford to send their children to college, they would have to retrench. retrenchment, N.

shroud

V. /裹尸；隐藏/hide from view; wrap for burial. Fog shrouded Dracula's castle, hiding the ruined tower beneath sheets of mist.

stipulate

V. /规定；明细化/make express conditions; specify. Before agreeing to reduce American military forces in Europe, the president stipulated that NATO inspection teams be allowed to inspect Soviet bases.

unfetter

V. /解放/liberate; free from chains. Chained to the wall for months on end, the hostage despaired that he would ever be unfettered.

unfrock

V. /解除神职/to strip a priest or minister of church authority. To disbar a lawyer, to unfrock a priest, to suspend a doctor's license to practice-these are extreme steps that the authorities should take only after careful considera¬tion.

substantiate

V. /证实；验证/establish by evidence; verify; support. These endorsements from satisfied customers substantiate our claim that Barron's How to Prepare for the SAT I is the best SAT-prep book on the market.

traduce

V. /诽谤；中伤/expose to slander. His opponents tried to tra¬duce the candidate's reputation by spreading rumors about his past.

vilify

V. /诽谤；辱骂/slander. Waging a highly negative campaign, the candidate attempted to vilify his opponent's reputation. vili¬fication, N.

upbraid

V. /责备/severely scold; reprimand. Not only did Miss Minchin upbraid Ermengarde for her disobedience, but she hung her up by her braids from a coat rack in the classroom. uproarious ADJ. marked by commotion; extremely funny; very noisy. The uproarious comedy hit Ace Ventura: Pet Detective starred Jim Carrey, whose comic mugging pro¬voked gales of uproarious laughter from audiences coast to coast.

stem from

V. /起因于/arise from. Milton's problems in school stemmed from his poor study habits.

surpass

V. /超越/exceed. Her SAT I scores surpassed our expectations.

scruple

V. /踌躇；忧郁/fret about; hesitate, for ethical reasons. Fearing that her husband had become involved in an affair, she did not scruple to read his diary. also N.

veer

V. /转向/change in direction. After what seemed an eter¬nity, the wind veered to the east and the storm abated.

swerve

V. /转向；突然转向/deviate; turn aside sharply. The car swerved wildly as the driver struggled to regain control of the wheel.

scurry

V. /轻快的；活泼的移动/move briskly. The White Rabbit had to scurry to get to his appointment on time.

vindicate

V. /辩护；维护/clear from blame; exonerate; justify or sup¬port. The lawyer's goal was to vindicate her client and prove him innocent on all charges. The critics' extremely favorable reviews vindicate my opinion that The Madness of King George is a brilliant movie.

revile

V. /辱骂，谩骂，诽谤/attack with abusive language; vilify. Though most of his contemporaries reviled Captain Kidd as a notorious, bloody-handed pirate, some of his fellow merchant-cap¬tains believed him innocent of his alleged crimes.

trespass

V. /过失；侵入/unlawfully enter the boundaries of some else's property. The wicked baron flogged any poacher who tres¬passed on his private hunting grounds. also N.

scuttle

V. /迈着碎步轻快的走/scurry; run with short, rapid steps. The bug scut¬tled rapidly across the floor.

scintillate

V. /迸出火花；发出闪烁/sparkle; flash. I enjoy her dinner parties because the food is excellent and the conversation scintil¬lates.

wince

V. /退缩/shrink back; flinch. The screech of the chalk on the blackboard made her wince.

shirk

V. /逃避，推卸；避免/avoid (responsibility, work, etc.); malinger. Brian has a strong sense of duty; he would never shirk any responsibility.

tantalize

V. /逗弄；使其干着急/tease; torture with disappointment. Tom loved to tantalize his younger brother with candy; he knew the boy was forbidden to have it.

shun

V. /避免/keep away from. Cherishing his solitude, the recluse shunned the company of other human beings.

rig

V. /配备；装备/fix or manipulate. The ward boss was able to rig the election by bribing people to stuff the ballot boxes with bal¬lots marked in his candidate's favor.

retrieve

V. /重新得到；找回/recover; find and bring in. The dog was intelligent and quickly learned to retrieve the game killed by the hunter.

whet

V. /锐化；刺激/sharpen; stimulate. The odors from the kitchen are whetting my appetite; I will be ravenous by the time the meal is served.

suppress

V. /镇压；抑制；查禁/stifle; overwhelm; subdue; inhibit. Too polite to laugh in anyone's face, Roy did his best to suppress his amusement at Ed's inane remark.

waffle

V. /闲聊；胡扯/speak equivocally about an issue. When asked directly about the governor's involvement in the savings and loan scandal, the press secretary waffled, talking all around the issue.

smolder

V. /闷烧；随时准备爆发/burn without flame; be liable to break out at any moment. The rags smoldered for hours before they burst into flame.

swelter

V. /闷热；中暑/be oppressed by heat. I am going to buy an air conditioning unit for my apartment as I do not intend to swelter through another hot and humid summer.

thwart

V. /阻碍；挫败/baffle; frustrate. He felt that everyone was trying to thwart his plans and prevent his success.

secrete

V. /隐匿；藏匿；分泌/hide away; produce and release a substance into an organism. The pack rat secretes odds and ends in its nest; the pancreas secretes insulin in the islets of Langerhans. sect N. separate religious body; faction. As university chaplain, she sought to address universal religious issues and not limit herself to concerns of any one sect.

sequester

V. /隐退；隔离/isolate; retire from public life; segregate; seclude. Banished from his kingdom, the wizard Prospero sequestered himself on a desert island. To prevent the jurors from hearing news broadcasts about the case, the judge decided to sequester the jury.

warble

V. /颤声轻唱；鸟鸣/sing; babble. Every morning the birds warbled outside her window. also N.

waft

V. /飘荡；信号/moved gently by wind or waves. Daydreaming, he gazed at the leaves that wafted past his window.

surfeit

V. /饮食过度；恶心/satiate; stuff; indulge to excess in anything. Every Thanksgiving we are surfeited with an overabun¬dance of holiday treats. also N.

whinny

V. /马嘶/neigh like a horse. When he laughed through his nose, it sounded as if he whinnied.