SAT Barron Vocabulary 19-40

glib

ADJ. /光滑，柔顺；口齿伶俐，圆滑/fluent; facile; slick. Keeping up a steady patter to entertain his customers, the kitchen gadget salesman was a glib speaker, never at a loss for a word.

immune

ADJ. /免疫；抵抗/resistant to; free or exempt from. Fortunately, Florence had contracted chicken pox as a child and was immune to it when her baby broke out in spots.

gratis

ADJ. /免费的/free. The company offered to give one package gratis to every purchaser of one of their products. alsoADJ.

invasive

ADJ. /入侵的/tending to spread aggressively; intrusive. Giving up our war with the invasive blackberry vines that had taken over the back yard, we covered the lawn with concrete. invade,V.

panoramic

ADJ. /全景的/related to an unobstructed and compre¬hensive view. On a clear day, from the top of the World Trade Center you can get a panoramic view of New York City and parts of New Jersey and Long Island. panorama, N.

impartial

ADJ. /公平的/not biased; fair. Knowing she could not be impartial about her own child, Jo refused to judge any match in which Billy was competing.

judicious

ADJ. /公平的/sound in judgment; wise. At a key moment in his life, he made a judicious investment that was the foundation of his later wealth.

pivotal

ADJ. /关键的/crucial; key; vital. The new "smart weapons" technology played a pivotal role in the quick resolution of the war with Iraq.

intrinsic

ADJ. /内在的；固有的/essential; inherent; built-in. Although my grandmother's china has little intrinsic value, I shall always cherish it for the memories it evokes.

introspective

ADJ. /内省的；反省的/looking within oneself. Though young Francis of Assisi led a wild and worldly life, even then he had introspective moments during which he examined his soul. introvert N. one who is introspective; inclined to think more about oneself. In his poetry, he reveals that he is an intro¬vert by his intense interest in his own problems. alsoV.

redundant

ADJ. /冗余的；多余的/superfluous; repetitious; excessivejy wordy. The bottle of wine I brought to Bob's was certainly redundant how was I to know Bob owned a winery? In your essay, you repeat several points unnecessarily; try to be less redundant in the future. redundancy, N.

hibernal

ADJ. /冬天的/wintry. Bears prepare for their long hibernal sleep by overeating.

glacial

ADJ. /冰河的，冰川的/like a glacier; extremely cold. Never a warm person, when offended John could seem positively glacial.

impetuous

ADJ. /冲动的，鲁莽的/violent; hasty; rash. "Leap before you look" was the motto suggested by one particularly impetuous young man.

metallurgical

ADJ. /冶金的/pertaining to the art of removing metals from ores. During the course of his metallurgical research, the scientist developed a steel alloy of tremendous strength.

impassive

ADJ. /冷漠的/without feeling; imperturbable; stoical. Refusing to let the enemy see how deeply shaken he was by his capture, the prisoner kept his face impassive.

phlegmatic

ADJ. /冷静的；平静的；不易被激起的/calm; not easily disturbed. The nurse was a cheerful but phlegmatic person, unexcited in the face of sudden emergencies.

preeminent

ADJ. /出色的；出类拔萃的/outstanding; superior. The king traveled to Boston because he wanted the preeminent surgeon in the field to perform the operation.

insulated

ADJ. /分离；隔离/set apart; isolated. A well-to-do bachelor, James spent his money freely, insulated from the cares of his friends, who had families to support.

graduated

ADJ. /分级；排序/arranged by degrees (of height, difficulty, etc.). Margaret loved her graduated set of Russian hollow wooden dolls; she spent hours happily putting the smaller dolls into their larger counterparts.

nascent

ADJ. /初生的/incipient; coming into being. If we could identify these revolutionary movements in their nascent state, we would be able to eliminate serious trouble in later years.

pungent

ADJ. /刺激的；辛辣的；尖锐的/stinging; sharp in taste or smell; caustic. The pungent odor of ripe Limburger cheese appealed to Simone but made Stanley gag.

raspy

ADJ. /刺耳的；焦躁的/grating; harsh. The sergeant's raspy voice grated on the recruits' ears.

frigid

ADJ. /刺骨寒/intensely cold. Alaska is in the frigid zone.

industrious

ADJ. /勤奋的，努力的/diligent; hard-working. Look busy when the boss walks by your desk; it never hurts to appear indus¬trious. industry, N.

inclusive

ADJ. /包揽一切的/tending to include all. The comedian turned down the invitation to join the Players' Club, saying any club that would let him in was too inclusive for him.

precipitate

ADJ. /匆忙的；突然的；未成熟的；草率的/rash; premature; hasty; sudden. Though I was angry enough to resign on the spot, I had enough sense to keep myself from quitting a job in such a precipi¬tate fashion.

nefarious

ADJ. /十恶不赦的/very wicked. The villain's crimes, though various, were one and all nefarious.

flamboyant

ADJ. /华丽的/ornate. Modern architecture has dis¬carded the flamboyant trimming on buildings and empha¬sizes simplicity of line.

florid

ADJ. /华丽的；红润的/ruddy; reddish; flowery. If you go to Florida and get a sunburn, your complexion will look florid.

ornate

ADJ. /华丽的；过分装饰的/excessively or elaborately decorated. With its elaborately carved, convoluted lines, furniture of the Baroque period was highly ornate.

gaudy

ADJ. /华而不实的/flashy; showy. The newest Trump skyscraper is typically gaudy, covered in gilded panels that gleam in the sun.

monolithic

ADJ. /单片的，单块的；一体不动摇的/solidly uniform; unyielding. Knowing the importance of appearing resolute, the patriots sought to present a monolithic front.

monochromatic

ADJ. /单色的/having only one color. Most people who are color blind actually can distinguish several colors; some, however, have a truly monochromatic view of a world all in shades of gray.

humdrum

ADJ. /单调的/dull; monotonous. After his years of adven¬ture, he could not settle down to a humdrum existence.

monosyllabic

ADJ. /单音节的/having only one syllable. No matter what he was asked, the taciturn New Englander answered with a monosyllabic "Yep" or "Nope." monosyllable, N.

frenetic

ADJ. /发狂的/frenzied; frantic. His frenetic activities con¬vinced us that he had no organized plan of operation.

marred

ADJ. /受损的/damaged; disfigured. She had to refinish the marred surface of the table. mar,V.

protean

ADJ. /变化多端的/versatile; able to take on many shapes. A remarkably protean actor, Alec Guinness could take on any role.

fickle

ADJ. /变化无常的；薄情的/changeable; faithless. As soon as Romeo saw Juliet, he forgot all about his old girlfriend Rosaline. Was Romeo fickle?

quizzical

ADJ. /古怪的；嘲弄的；令人好奇的/teasing; bantering; mocking; curious. When the skinny teenager tripped over his own feet stepping into the bullpen, Coach raised one quizzical eyebrow, shook his head, and said, "Okay, kid. You're here, let's see what you've got."

prehensile

ADJ. /可以得到的；可以抓住的/capable of grasping or holding. Monkeys use not only their arms and legs but also their prehensile tails in traveling through the trees.

navigable

ADJ. /可以通航的/wide and deep enough to allow ships to pass through; able to be steered. So much sand had built up at the bottom of the canal that the waterway was barely navigable.

reparable

ADJ. /可修复的/capable of being repaired. Fortunately, the damages we suffered in the accident were reparable and our car looks brand new.

negligible

ADJ. /可忽略不计的/so small, trifling, or unimportant that it may be easily disregarded. Because the damage to his car had been negligible, Michael decided he wouldn't bother to report the matter to his insurance company.

redoubtable

ADJ. /可怕的/formidable; causing fear. During the Cold War period, neighboring countries tried not to offend the Russians because they could be redoubtable foes.

gruesome

ADJ. /可怕的/grisly; horrible. His face was the stuff of nightmares: all the children in the audience screamed when Freddy Kruger's gruesome countenance was flashed on the screen.

pathetic

ADJ. /可怜的，触动人心的/causing sadness, compassion, pity; touch¬ing. Everyone in the auditorium was weeping by the time he finished his pathetic tale about the orphaned boy.

odious

ADJ. /可恨的；可耻的/hateful; vile. Cinderella's ugly stepsisters had the odious habit of popping their zits in public.

heinous

ADJ. /可恶的，令人深恶痛绝/atrocious; hatefully bad. Hitler's heinous crimes will never be forgotten.

remediable

ADJ. /可挽回的/reparable. Let us be grateful that the damage is remediable.

palatable

ADJ. /可接受的；美味的/agreeable; pleasing to the taste. Neither Jack's underbaked opinions nor his overcooked casseroles were palatable to Jill.

permeable

ADJ. /可渗透的，可学习的/penetrable; porous; allowing liquids or gas to pass through. If your jogging clothes weren't made out of permeable fabric, you'd drown in your own perspira-tion (figuratively speaking).

inconsequential

ADJ. /不合理的，不重要的/insignificant; unimportant. Brushing off Ali's apologies for having broken the wineglass, Tamara said, "Don't worry about it; it's inconsequential."

incompatible

ADJ. /不和谐；不兼容/inharmonious. The married couple argued incessantly and finally decided to separate because they were incompatible. incompatibility, N.

inarticulate

ADJ. /不善于表达的；口齿不清的/speechless; producing indistinct speech. He became inarticulate with rage and uttered sounds with¬out meaning.

partial

ADJ. /不完善的；偏爱的/incomplete; having a liking for something. In this issue we have published only a partial list of contribu¬tors because we lack space to acknowledge everyone. I am extremely partial to chocolate eclairs.

insatiable

ADJ. /不容易伺候的；贪婪的/not easily satisfied; unquenchable; greedy. David's appetite for oysters was insatiable: he could easily eat four dozen at a single sitting.

indubitable

ADJ. /不容置疑的；无疑的/unable to be doubted; unquestionable. Auditioning for the chorus line, Molly was an indubitable hit: the director fired the leading lady and hired Molly in her place!

indomitable

ADJ. /不屈服的；不可被征服的/unconquerable; unyielding. Focusing on her game despite all her personal problems, tennis cham¬pion Steffi Graf proved she had an indomitable will to win.

loath

ADJ. /不情愿的；勉强/reluctant; disinclined. Romeo and Juliet were both loath for him to go.

grudging

ADJ. /不情愿；勉强/unwilling; reluctant; stingy. We received only grudging support from the mayor despite his earlier promises of aid.

impious

ADJ. /不敬的；不礼貌的/irreverent. The congregation was offended by her impious remarks.

noncommittal

ADJ. /不明朗的，不表态的；中庸的，未决的/neutral; unpledged; undecided. We were annoyed by his noncommittal reply for we had been led to expect definite assurances of his approval.

puny

ADJ. /不显著的；不明显的；细微的/insignificant; tiny; weak. Our puny efforts to stop the flood were futile.

paltry

ADJ. /不显著的；微小的/insignificant; petty; trifling. One hundred dollars for a genuine imitation Rolex watch! Lady, this is a paltry sum to pay for such a high-class piece of jewelry.

perverse

ADJ. /不正当的，邪恶的，做作的 ；硬脖子的/stubbornly wrongheaded; wicked and per¬verted. When Jack was in a perverse mood, he would do the opposite of whatever Jill asked him. When Hannibal Lecter was in a perverse mood, he ate the flesh of his vic¬tims. Jack acted out of perversity. Hannibal's act proved his perversion.

irrelevant

ADJ. /不相关的，不照号的/not applicable; unrelated. No matter how irrelevant the patient's mumblings may seem, they give us some indications of what he has on his mind.

irreconcilable

ADJ. /不相容的；矛盾的/incompatible; not able to be resolved. Because the separated couple were irreconcilable, the marriage counselor recommended a divorce.

impertinent

ADJ. /不相干的；鲁莽的/insolent; rude. His neighbors' impertinent curiosity about his lack of dates angered Ted. It was down¬right rude of them to ask him such personal questions.

inept

ADJ. /不相称的，不合适的，不称职的/lacking skill; unsuited; incompetent. The inept glovemaker was all thumbs.

indeterminate

ADJ. /不确定/uncertain; not clearly fixed; indefinite. That interest rates shall rise appears certain; when they will do so, however, remains indeterminate.

precarious

ADJ. /不确定的；冒风险/uncertain; risky. Saying the stock would be a precarious investment, the broker advised her client against purchasing it.

insurmountable

ADJ. /不能克服的，不能超越的/overwhelming; unbeatable; insupera¬ble. Faced by almost insurmountable obstacles, the mem¬bers of the underground maintained their courage and will to resist.

indissoluble

ADJ. /不能分解的；永久的/permanent. The indissoluble bonds of marriage are all too often being dissolved.

irrevocable

ADJ. /不能取消的；不能变更的/unalterable; irreversible. As Sue dropped the "Dear John" letter into the mailbox, she suddenly had second thoughts and wanted to take it back, but she could not: her action was irrevocable.

irretrievable

ADJ. /不能复原的；不能挽回的/impossible to recover or regain; irrepara¬ble. The left fielder tried to retrieve the ball, but it flew over the fence, bounced off a wall, and fell into the sewer: it was irretrievable.

implacable

ADJ. /不能平静的/incapable of being pacified. Madame Defarge was the implacable enemy of the Evremonde family.

irreparable

ADJ. /不能弥补的，不能修复的；无可挽救的/not able to be corrected or repaired. Your apology cannot atone for the irreparable damage you have done to her reputation.

irremediable

ADJ. /不能挽回的；不能治愈的/incurable; uncorrectable. The error she made was irremediable; she could see no way to repair it.

impermeable

ADJ. /不能渗透的/impervious; not permitting passage through its substance. This new material is impermeable to liquids.

incongruous

ADJ. /不调和的；荒谬的/not fitting; absurd. Dave saw nothing incongruous about wearing sneakers with his tuxedo; he couldn't understand why his date took one look at him and started to laugh. incongruity, N.

licentious

ADJ. /不道德的；下流的；放纵的/amoral; lewd and lascivious; unrestrained. Unscrupulously seducing the daughter of his host, Don Juan felt no qualms about the immorality of his licentious behavior.

incidental

ADJ. /不重要的；少数的/not essential; minor. The scholarship cov¬ered his major expenses at college and some of his inci¬dental expenses as well.

ignoble

ADJ. /不高贵的；不光彩的/of lowly origin; unworthy. This plan is inspired by ignoble motives and I must, therefore, oppose it.

peremptory

ADJ. /专制的；强硬的，专横的/demanding and leaving no choice. From Jack's peremptory knock on the door, Jill could tell he would not give up until she let him in.

prosaic

ADJ. /事实的；平淡的；缺乏想象力的/dull and unimaginative; matter-of-fact; factual. Though the ad writers came up with an original way to pub¬licize the product, the head office rejected it for a more pro¬saic, ordinary slogan.

reciprocal

ADJ. /互相的；互动的；互惠的/mutual; exchangeable; interacting. The two nations signed a reciprocal trade agreement.

humane

ADJ. /仁慈/marked by kindness or consideration. It is ironic that the Humane Society sometimes must show its compassion toward mistreated animals by killing them to put them out of their misery.

menial

ADJ. /仆人的；卑贱的/suitable for servants; lowly; mean. Her wicked stepmother forced Cinderella to do menial tasks around the house while her ugly stepsisters lolled around painting their toenails.

irksome

ADJ. /令人厌恶的；冗长乏味的/annoying; tedious. He found working on the assembly line irksome because of the monotony of the operation he had to perform. irk,V.

picaresque

ADJ. /以歹徒为题材的文学作品的/pertaining to rogues in literature. Tom Jones has been hailed as one of the best picaresque nov¬els in the English language.

fallow

ADJ. /休耕地；潜伏的；不活跃的/plowed but not sowed; uncultivated. Farmers have learned that it is advisable to permit land to lie fallow every few years.

mellifluous

ADJ. /优美的；流畅的；蜜一样的/sweetly or smoothly flowing; melodious. Ital¬ian is a mellifluous language, especially suited to being sung.

implicit

ADJ. /会意的，意会而不言传；暗示的/understood but not stated. Jack never told Jill he adored her; he believed his love was implicit in his actions.

orthodox

ADJ. /传统的；保守的/traditional; conservative in belief. Faced with a problem, he preferred to take an orthodox approach rather than shock anyone. orthodoxy, N.

purported

ADJ. /传说的；谣传的/alleged; claimed; reputed or rumored. The purported Satanists sacrificing live roosters in the park turned out to be a party of Shriners holding a chicken barbecue.

hypocritical

ADJ. /伪善；欺骗/pretending to be virtuous; deceiving. Believing Eddie to be interested only in his own advance¬ment, Greg resented his hypocritical posing as a friend. hypocrisy, N.

plausible

ADJ. /似是而非的/having a show of truth but open to doubt; specious. Your mother made you stay home from school because she needed you to program the VCR? I'm sorry, you'll have to come up with a more plausible excuse than that.

lateral

ADJ. /侧面的，侧向的/coming from the side. In order to get good plant growth, the gardener must pinch off all lateral shoots.

garish

ADJ. /俗气；颜色太杂/over-bright in color; gaudy. She wore a gaudy rhinestone necklace with an excessively garish gold lame dress.

inverse

ADJ. /倒转的/opposite. There is an inverse ratio between the strength of light and its distance.

listless

ADJ. /倦怠的，冷漠的/lacking in spirit or energy. We had expected him to be full of enthusiasm and were surprised by his list¬less attitude.

marked

ADJ. /值得注意的；报仇的目标/noticeable or pronounced; targeted for vengeance. He walked with a marked limp, a souvenir of an old I.R.A. attack. As British ambassador, he knew he was a marked man, for he knew the Irish Republican Army wanted him dead.

prone

ADJ. /倾向于/inclined to; prostrate. She was prone to sudden fits of anger during which she would lie prone on the floor, screaming and kicking her heels.

inclined

ADJ. /倾向；倾向于，弯曲/tending or leaning toward; bent. Though I am inclined to be skeptical, the witness's manner inclines me to believe his story. alsoV.

mannered

ADJ. /做作的，矫饰的/affected; not natural. Attempting to copy the style of his wealthy neighbors, Gatsby adopted a man¬nered, artificial way of speech.

portly

ADJ. /健壮的；肥胖的；魁梧的/stately; stout. The overweight gentleman was referred to as portly by the polite salesclerk.

fortuitous

ADJ. /偶然的/accidental; by chance. Though he pre¬tended their encounter was fortuitous, he'd actually been hanging around her usual haunts for the past two weeks, hoping she'd turn up.

overbearing

ADJ. /傲慢专横的/bossy and arrogant; decisively impor¬tant. Certain of her own importance, and of the unimpor¬tance of everyone else, Lady Bracknell was intolerably overbearing in her manner. "In choosing a husband," she said, "good birth is of overbearing importance; compared to that, neither wealth nor talent signifies."

inane

ADJ. /傻；粗心/silly; senseless. There's no point to what you're saying. Why are you bothering to make such inane remarks?

monastic

ADJ. /僧侣的；遁入空门的，不问世事/related to monks or monasteries; removed from worldly concerns. Withdrawing from the world, Thomas Merton joined a contemplative religious order and adopted the monastic life.

replete

ADJ. /充满的；充足的/filled to the brim or to the point of being stuffed; abundantly supplied. The movie star's memoir was replete with juicy details about the love life of half of Hollywood.

innate

ADJ. /先天的，天生的/inborn. Mozart's parents soon recognized young Wolfgang's innate talent for music.

glossy

ADJ. /光滑有光泽的/smooth and shining. I want this photograph printed on glossy paper, not matte.

imperial

ADJ. /帝王的；皇帝的/like an emperor; related to an empire. When hotel owner Leona Helmsley appeared in ads as Queen Leona standing guard over the Palace Hotel, her critics mocked her imperial fancies.

hulking

ADJ. /大量的，巨大的/massive; bulky; great in size. Despite his hulking build, the heavyweight boxing champion was sur¬prisingly light on his feet. hulk, N.

jovial

ADJ. /天性善良的；好的；高兴的，愉快的/good-natured; merry. A frown seemed out of place on his invariably jovial face.

inflated

ADJ. /夸张的，虚华的，被放大的/exaggerated; pompous; enlarged (with air or gas). His claims about the new product were inflated, it did not work as well as he had promised.

outlandish

ADJ. /奇异的；偏僻的；前卫的/bizarre; peculiar; unconventional. The eccentric professor who engages in markedly outlandish behavior is a stock figure in novels with an academic setting.

militant

ADJ. /好战的/combative; bellicose. Although at this time he was advocating a policy of neutrality, one could usually find him adopting a more militant attitude. also N.

martial

ADJ. /好战的；尚武的/warlike. The sound of martial music inspired the young cadet with dreams of military glory.

prurient

ADJ. /好色的；渴望的/having or causing lustful thoughts and desires. Aroused by his prurient impulses, the dirty old man leered at the sweet young thing and offered to give her a sample of his "prowess."

formidable

ADJ. /威胁的，险恶的/menacing; threatening. We must not treat the battle lightly for we are facing a formidable foe.

marital

ADJ. /婚姻的/pertaining to marriage. After the publication of his book on marital affairs, he was often consulted by mar¬ried people on the verge of divorce.

nuptial

ADJ. /婚姻的/related to marriage. Reluctant to be married in a traditional setting, they decided to hold their nuptial cere¬mony at the carousel in Golden Gate Park.

infantile

ADJ. /婴儿的，幼稚的/childish. When will he outgrow such infantile behavior?

filial

ADJ. /子女的/pertaining to a son or daughter. Many children forget their filial obligations and disregard the wishes of their parents.

forlorn

ADJ. /孤苦的，凄凉的/sad and lonely; wretched. Deserted by her big sisters and her friends, the forlorn child sat sadly on the steps awaiting their return.

hackneyed

ADJ. /常见的；不希罕，陈腐/commonplace; trite. When the reviewer criticized the movie for its hackneyed plot, we agreed; we had seen similar stories hundreds of times before.

parched

ADJ. /干旱的；干渴的/extremely dry; very thirsty. The parched desert landscape seemed hostile to life.

pragmatic

ADJ. /实际的；注重实效的/practical (as opposed to idealistic); con¬cerned with the practical worth or impact of something. This coming trip to France should provide me with a pragmatic test of the value of my conversational French class.

fallible

ADJ. /容易犯错的/liable to err. I know I am fallible, but I feel con¬fident that I am right this time.

magnanimous

ADJ. /宽宏大量的/generous; great-hearted. Philan¬thropists by definition are magnanimous; misers, by defini¬tion, are not. Cordelia was too magnanimous to resent her father's unkindness to her; instead, she generously forgave him. magnanimity, N.

munificent

ADJ. /宽宏大量的；慷慨大方的/very generous. Shamelessly fawning over a particularly generous donor, the dean kept on referring to her as "our munificent benefactor." munificence, N.

indulgent

ADJ. /宽容，纵容，溺爱/humoring; yielding; lenient. Jay's mom was excessively indulgent she bought him every Nintendo car¬tridge and video game on the market. She indulged Jay so much, she spoiled him rotten.

germane

ADJ. /密切相关/pertinent; bearing upon the case at hand. The judge refused to allow the testimony to be heard by the jury because it was not germane to the case.

hermetic

ADJ. /密封的，气密的/sealed by fusion so as to be airtight. After you sterilize the bandages, place them in a container and seal it with a hermetic seal to protect them from contamina¬tion by airborne bacteria.

imperceptible

ADJ. /察觉不到的/unnoticeable; undetectable. Fortu¬nately, the stain on the blouse was imperceptible after the blouse had gone through the wash.

meticulous

ADJ. /小心翼翼的/excessively careful; painstaking; scrupu¬lous. Martha Stewart was a meticulous housekeeper, fuss¬ing about each and every detail that went into making up her perfect home.

incisive

ADJ. /尖锐；深刻，激烈/cutting; sharp. His incisive remarks made us see the fallacy in our plans.

pious

ADJ. /尽职的；虔诚的/devout; religious. The challenge for church people today is how to be pious in the best sense, that is, to be devout without becoming hypocritical or sanctimonious. piety, N.

itinerant

ADJ. /巡回的/wandering; traveling. He was an itinerant peddler and traveled through Pennsylvania and Virginia selling his wares. also N.

mammoth

ADJ. /巨大的/gigantic; enormous. To try to memorize every word on this vocabulary list would be a mammoth undertak¬ing; take on projects that are more manageable in size.

gargantuan

ADJ. /巨大的/huge; enormous. The gargantuan wrestler was terrified of mice.

prodigious

ADJ. /巨大的/marvelous; enormous. Watching the champion weight lifter heave the weighty barbell to shoul¬der height and then boost it overhead, we marveled at his prodigious strength.

ludicrous

ADJ. /可笑的，滑稽的；不重要的/laughable; trifling. Let us be serious; this is not a ludicrous issue.

practicable

ADJ. /可行的/feasible. The board of directors decided that the plan was practicable and agreed to undertake the project.

feasible

ADJ. /可行的/practical. Is it feasible to build a new stadium for the Yankees on New York's West Side? Without addi¬tional funding, the project is clearly unrealistic.

optional

ADJ. /可选的/not obligatory; left to one's choice. Most col¬leges require applicants to submit SAT I scores; at some colleges, however, submitting SAT I scores is optional.

potable

ADJ. /可饮用的/suitable for drinking. The recent drought in the Middle Atlantic states has emphasized the need for exten¬sive research in ways of making sea water potable. also N.

pristine

ADJ. /史前的；质朴的/characteristic of earlier times; primitive; unspoiled. This area has been preserved in all its pristine wildness.

herbivorous

ADJ. /吃粮食的（动物）/grain-eating. Some herbivorous animals have two stomachs for digesting their food.

propitious

ADJ. /吉利的；有利的/favorable; fortunate; advantageous. Chloe consulted her horoscope to see whether Tuesday would be a propitious day to dump her boyfriend.

kindred

ADJ. /同族的，同类的；血缘的/related; belonging to the same family. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn were two kindred spirits. also N.

homogeneous

ADJ. /同类的/of the same kind. Because the student body at Elite Prep was so homogeneous, Sara and James decided to send their daughter to a school that offered greater cultural diversity. homogenize,V.

reputed

ADJ. /名誉好的；有名气的；名誉的/supposed. Though he is the reputed father of the child, no one can be sure. repute, N.

miserly

ADJ. /吝啬的；贪婪的；坏的/stingy; mean. Transformed by his vision on Christmas Eve, mean old Scrooge ceased being miserly and became a generous, kind old man.

graphic

ADJ. /图像的；图画的/pertaining to the art of delineating; vividly described. I was particularly impressed by the graphic pre¬sentation of the storm.

pliable

ADJ. /圆滑的；柔韧的；易弯曲的/flexible; yielding; adaptable. In remodeling the bathroom, we have replaced all the old, rigid lead pipes with new, pliable copper tubing.

malevolent

ADJ. /坏心肠的/wishing evil. lago is a malevolent villain who takes pleasure in ruining Othello.

maudlin

ADJ. /多愁善感/effusively sentimental. Whenever a particu¬larly maudlin tearjerker was playing at the movies, Marvin would embarrass himself by weeping copiously.

multifarious

ADJ. /多样的；各式各样的/varied; greatly diversified. A career woman and mother, she was constantly busy with the multi¬farious activities of her daily life.

officious

ADJ. /多管闲事的/meddlesome; excessively pushy in offering one's services. Judy wanted to look over the new computer models on her own, but the officious salesman kept on butting in with "helpful" advice until she was ready to walk out of the store.

multilingual

ADJ. /多语种的/having many languages. Because they are bordered by so many countries, the Swiss people are multilingual.

polyglot

ADJ. /多语言/speaking several languages. New York City is a polyglot community because of the thousands of immi¬grants who settle there.

multifaceted

ADJ. /多面的/having many aspects. A multifaceted composer, Roger Davidson has recorded original pieces that range from ragtime tangos to choral masses.

gusty

ADJ. /多风的/windy. The gusty weather made sailing precari¬ous.

nocturnal

ADJ. /夜的/done at night. Mr. Jones obtained a watch¬dog to prevent the nocturnal raids on his chicken coops.

jaunty

ADJ. /无忧无虑的，快乐的，轻松的/lighthearted; animated; easy and carefree. In An American in Paris, Gene Kelly sang and danced his way through "Singing in the Rain" in a properly jaunty style.

inexorable

ADJ. /无情的；残酷的/relentless; unyielding; implacable. After listening to the pleas for clemency, the judge was inex¬orable and gave the convicted man the maximum punish-ment allowed by law.

invulnerable

ADJ. /无懈可击的/incapable of injury. Achilles was invul¬nerable except in his heel.

omnivorous

ADJ. /无所不吃的；杂食的/eating both plant and animal food; devouring everything. Some animals, including man, are omnivorous and eat both meat and vegetables; others are either carnivorous or herbivorous.

omnipresent

ADJ. /无所不在的/universally present; ubiquitous. On Christmas Eve, Santa Claus is omnipresent.

omniscient

ADJ. /无所不知的/all-knowing. I do not pretend to be omni¬scient, but I am positive about this fact.

omnipotent

ADJ. /无所不能的；全能的/all-powerful. The monarch regarded him¬self as omnipotent and responsible to no one for his acts.

ineffectual

ADJ. /无效的，弱的/not effective; weak. Because the candi¬date failed to get across his message to the public, his campaign was ineffectual.

invincible

ADJ. /无敌的/unconquerable. Superman is invincible.

inviolable

ADJ. /无敌的；神圣不可亵渎的/secure from corruption, attack, or violation; unassailable. Batman considered his oath to keep the peo¬ple of Gotham City inviolable: nothing on earth could make him break this promise.

immaculate

ADJ. /无暇的/spotless; flawless; absolutely clean. Ken and Jessica were wonderful tenants and left the apartment in immaculate condition when they moved out.

gratuitous

ADJ. /无条件的；无理由的；免费的/given freely; unwarranted; uncalled for. Quit making gratuitous comments about my driving; no one asked you for your opinion.

irrational

ADJ. /无理的，缺乏逻辑的；不理智的/illogical; lacking reason; insane. Many peo¬ple have such an irrational fear of snakes that they panic at the sight of a harmless garter snake.

intrepid

ADJ. /无畏的/fearless. For her intrepid conduct nursing the wounded during the war, Florence Nightingale was honored by Queen Victoria.

incontrovertible

ADJ. /无疑的，无可争议的/indisputable; not open to question. Unless you find the evidence against my client absolutely incontrovertible, you must declare her not guilty of this charge.

fledgling

ADJ. /无经验的/inexperienced. While it is necessary to pro¬vide these fledgling poets with an opportunity to present their work, it is not essential that we admire everything they write. also N.

inefficacious

ADJ. /无能的，无效的/not effective; unable to produce a desired result. All Lois's coaxing and urging was ineffica¬cious: Clark still refused to join her and Superman for din¬ner. inefficacy, N.

impotent

ADJ. /无能的；弱的/weak; ineffective. Although he wished to break the nicotine habit, he found himself impotent in resist¬ing the craving for a cigarette.

impassable

ADJ. /无路可通的；没法通行/not able to be traveled or crossed. A giant redwood had fallen across the highway, blocking all four lanes: the road was impassable.

illimitable

ADJ. /无限/infinite. Man, having explored the far corners of the earth, is now reaching out into illimitable space.

precocious

ADJ. /早熟的/advanced in development. Listening to the grown-up way the child discussed serious topics, we couldn't help remarking how precocious she was. precocity, N.

overt

ADJ. /明显的；公然的/open to view. According to the United States Constitution, a person must commit an overt act before he may be tried for treason.

lucid

ADJ. /明晰的；聪明的/easily understood; clear; intelligible. Ellen makes an excellent teacher: her explanations of technical points are lucid enough for a child to grasp.

manifest

ADJ. /明白的，显然的；证明，表现/evident; visible; obvious. Digby's embar¬rassment when he met Madonna was manifest: his ears turned bright pink, he kept scuffing one shoe in the dirt, and he couldn't look her in the eye.

lethargic

ADJ. /昏睡的；瞌睡的/drowsy; dull. The stuffy room made her lethargic: she felt as if she was about to nod off.

palpable

ADJ. /易于领会的；明显的/tangible; easily perceptible; unmistakable. The patient's enlarged spleen was palpable: even the first year medical student could feel it.

gullible

ADJ. /易受骗的/easily deceived. Overly gullible people have only themselves to blame if they fall for con artists repeat¬edly. As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

irascible

ADJ. /易怒的；暴躁的/irritable; easily angered. Miss Minchin's iras¬cible temper intimidated the younger schoolgirls, who feared she'd burst into a rage at any moment.

invidious

ADJ. /易招嫉妒的；不公平的/designed to create ill will or envy. We disre¬garded her invidious remarks because we realized how jealous she was.

ostensible

ADJ. /显然的；虚假的/apparent; professed; pretended. Although the ostensible purpose of this expedition is to discover new lands, we are really interested in finding new markets for our products.

patent

ADJ. /显而易见的；公开查阅的/open for the public to read; obvious. It was patent to everyone that the witness spoke the truth. also N.

notable

ADJ. /显著的；值得注意的/conspicuous; important; distinguished. Nor¬mally notable for his calm in the kitchen, today the head cook was shaking, for the notable chef Julia Child was com-ing to dinner.

generic

ADJ. /普通的/characteristic of an entire class or species. Sue knew so many computer programmers who spent their spare time playing fantasy games that she began to think that playing Dungeons & Dragons was a generic trait.

nondescript

ADJ. /普通的/undistinctive; ordinary. The private detec¬tive was a short, nondescript fellow with no outstanding fea¬tures, the sort of person one would never notice in a crowd.

mediocre

ADJ. /普通的，一般的/ordinary; commonplace. We were disap¬pointed because he gave a rather mediocre performance in this role.

insalubrious

ADJ. /有害的/unwholesome; not healthful. The mos¬quito-ridden swamp was an insalubrious place, a breeding ground for malarial contagion.

noisome

ADJ. /有害的，有毒的；恶臭的/foul-smelling; unwholesome. The noisome atmosphere downwind of the oil refinery not only stank, it damaged the lungs of everyone living in the area.

malleable

ADJ. /有延展性的；可锻的/capable of being shaped by pounding; impressionable. Gold is a malleable metal, easily shaped into bracelets and rings. Fagin hoped Oliver was a mal-leable lad, easily shaped into a thief.

potent

ADJ. /有效的/powerful; persuasive; greatly influential. Look¬ing at the expiration date on the cough syrup bottle, we wondered whether the medication would still be potent. potency, N.

mottled

ADJ. /有斑点的；弄脏的/blotched in coloring; spotted. When old Fal¬staff blushed, his face was mottled with embarrassment, all pink and purple and red.

odorous

ADJ. /有气味的/having an odor. This variety of hybrid tea rose is more odorous than the one you have in your garden.

insightful

ADJ. /有洞察力的/discerning; perceptive. Sol thought he was very insightful about human behavior, but he was actually clueless as to why people acted the way they did.

perceptive

ADJ. /有洞察力的，警觉的；智慧的/insightful; aware; wise. Although Maud was a generally perceptive critic, she had her blind spots: she could never see flaws in the work of her friends.

practical

ADJ. /有用的；经验的；实践证明的/based on experience; useful. He was a practical man, opposed to theory.

qualified

ADJ. /有资格的；有限制的；被限制的/limited; restricted. Unable to give the candi¬date full support, the mayor gave him only a qualified endorsement. (secondary meaning)

provident

ADJ. /有远见的/displaying foresight; thrifty; preparing for emergencies. In his usual provident manner, he had insured himself against this type of loss.

hazy

ADJ. /朦胧的；模糊的/slightly obscure. In hazy weather, you cannot see the top of this mountain.

inchoate

ADJ. /未成型的，早期的，刚开始的，发展中的/recently begun; rudimentary; elementary. Before the Creation, the world was an inchoate mass.

germinal

ADJ. /未成熟的，幼芽的/pertaining to a germ; creative. Such an idea is germinal, I am certain that it will influence thinkers and philosophers for many generations.

leery

ADJ. /机敏的；狡猾的/suspicious; cautious. Don't eat the sushi at this restaurant; I'm a bit leery about how fresh the raw fish is.

pied

ADJ. /杂色的；斑驳的/variegated; multicolored. The Pied Piper of Hamelin got his name from the multicolored clothing he wore.

paramount

ADJ. /极其重要的/foremost in importance; supreme. Proper nutrition and hygiene are of paramount importance in ado¬lescent development and growth.

minute

ADJ. /极小的/extremely small. The twins resembled one another closely; only minute differences set them apart.

lilliputian

ADJ. /极小的/extremely small. Tiny and delicate, the model was built on a lilliputian scale. also N.

minuscule

ADJ. /极小的/extremely small. Why should I involve myself with a project with so minuscule a chance for success?

rapacious

ADJ. /极度贪婪的；捕食的；掠夺的/excessively greedy; predatory. The rapa¬cious brigands stripped the villagers of all their posses¬sions. rapacity, N.

haggard

ADJ. /枯槁的；憔悴的/wasted away; gaunt. After his long illness, he was pale and haggard.

lithe

ADJ. /柔软的/flexible; supple. Her figure was lithe and willowy.

limber

ADJ. /柔韧的；可塑的/flexible. Hours of ballet classes kept him limber.

pensive

ADJ. /沉思默想的；忧心忡忡的/dreamily thoughtful; thoughtful with a hint of sadness; contemplative. The pensive lover gazed at the portrait of his beloved and deeply sighed.

placid

ADJ. /平静的/peaceful; calm. After his vacation in this placid section, he felt soothed and rested.

puerile

ADJ. /幼稚的，孩子气的/childish. His puerile pranks sometimes offended his more mature friends.

pandemic

ADJ. /广泛传播的，流行的/widespread; affecting the majority of peo¬ple. They feared the AIDS epidemic would soon reach pan¬demic proportions.

reprehensible

ADJ. /应该谴责的/deserving blame. Shocked by the viciousness of the bombing, politicians of every party uni¬formly condemned the terrorists' reprehensible deed.

incipient

ADJ. /开始；早期的/beginning; in an early stage. I will go to sleep early for I want to break an incipient cold.

piquant

ADJ. /开胃的；辛辣的；刺激的；淘气顽皮的/pleasantly tart-tasting; stimulating. The piquant sauce added to our enjoyment of the meal. piquancy, N.

incredulous

ADJ. /怀疑的/withholding belief; skeptical. When Jack claimed he hadn't eaten the jelly doughnut, Jill took an incredulous look at his smeared face and laughed. incredulity, N.

ghastly

ADJ. /恐怖的/horrible. The murdered man was a ghastly sight.

malignant

ADJ. /恶性的，伤害的；致命的/injurious; tending to cause death; aggres¬sively malevolent. Though many tumors are benign, some are malignant, growing out of control and endangering the life of the patient.

malicious

ADJ. /恶毒的/hateful; spiteful. Jealous of Cinderella's beauty, her malicious stepsisters expressed their spite by forcing her to do menial tasks. malice, N.

malodorous

ADJ. /恶臭的/foul-smelling. The compost heap was most malodorous in summer.

fetid

ADJ. /恶臭的/malodorous. The neglected wound became fetid.

putrid

ADJ. /恶臭的；腐烂的/foul; rotten; decayed. The gangrenous condi¬tion of the wound was indicated by the putrid smell when the bandages were removed. putrescence, N.

penitent

ADJ. /悔过的/repentant. When he realized the enormity of his crime, he became remorseful and penitent, also N.

histrionic

ADJ. /戏剧性的/theatrical. He was proud of his histrionic ability and wanted to play the role of Hamlet, histrionics, N.

percussion

ADJ. /打击/striking one object against another sharply. The drum is a percussion instrument. also N.

iconoclastic

ADJ. /打破旧习/attacking cherished traditions. Deeply iconoclastic, Jean Genet deliberately set out to shock con¬ventional theatergoers with his radical plays.

obdurate

ADJ. /执拗的；顽固的/stubborn. He was obdurate in his refusal to listen to our complaints.

impenitent

ADJ. /执迷不悟的/not repentant. We could see from his tough guy attitude that he was impenitent.

gnarled

ADJ. /扭曲/twisted. The gnarled oak tree had been a landmark for years and was mentioned in several deeds.

pertinacious

ADJ. /拒不屈服；反抗/stubborn; persistent. He is bound to succeed because his pertinacious nature will not permit him to quit.

refractory

ADJ. /按不住的；不服气的；倔强的/stubborn; unmanageable. The refractory horse was eliminated from the race when he refused to obey the jockey.

fastidious

ADJ. /挑剔的；难伺候的/difficult to please; squeamish. Bobby was such a fastidious eater that he would eat a sandwich only if his mother first cut off every scrap of crust.

repellent

ADJ. /排斥的/driving away; unattractive. Mosquitoes find the odor so repellent that they leave any spot where this liq¬uid has been sprayed. also N.

impending

ADJ. /接近的；附近的/nearing; approaching. The entire country was saddened by the news of his impending death.

propulsive

ADJ. /推进的；有推进力的/driving forward. The jet plane has a greater propulsive power than the engine-driven plane.

maladroit

ADJ. /搞砸的；笨拙的/clumsy; bungling. How maladroit it was of me to mention seeing you out partying last night! From the look on his face, I take it that your boyfriend thought you were otherwise occupied.

ramshackle

ADJ. /摇摆的；摇摇欲坠的/rickety; falling apart. The boys propped up the ramshackle clubhouse with a couple of boards.

mendacious

ADJ. /撒谎成性的；撒谎的，假的/lying; habitually dishonest. Distrusting Huck from the start, Miss Watson assumed he was menda¬cious and refused to believe a word he said.

offensive

ADJ. /攻击的；冒犯的/attacking; insulting; distasteful. Getting into street brawls is no minor matter for professional boxers, who are required by law to restrict their offensive impulses to the ring.

profligate

ADJ. /放荡的；放肆的；不检点的/dissipated; wasteful; wildly immoral. Although surrounded by wild and profligate companions, she nevertheless managed to retain some sense of decency.

pontifical

ADJ. /教皇的；主教的/pertaining to a bishop or pope; pompous or pretentious. From his earliest days at the seminary, John seemed destined for a high pontifical office. However, he sounded so pompous when he pontificated that he never was chosen pontiff after all.

prim

ADJ. /整洁的；精准的，精确的/very precise and formal; exceedingly proper. Many people commented on the contrast between the prim attire of the young lady and the inappropriate clothing worn by her escort.

fitful

ADJ. /断断续续；间歇/spasmodic; intermittent. After several fitful attempts, he decided to postpone the start of the project until he felt more energetic.

innovative

ADJ. /新奇的；创新的/novel; introducing a change. The estab¬lishment of our SAT I computer data base has enabled us to come up with some innovative tactics for doing well on the SAT.

methodical

ADJ. /方法论的；系统化的/systematic. An accountant must be methodical and maintain order among his financial records.

inalienable

ADJ. /无可取代的；不能给与的/not to be taken away; nontransferable. The Declaration of Independence mentions the inalienable rights that all of us possess.

irreproachable

ADJ. /无可指责的；没有缺点的/blameless; impeccable. Homer's con¬duct at the office party was irreproachable; even Marge didn't have anything bad to say about how he behaved.

insubstantial

ADJ. /无实体的，虚无的；脆弱的，不坚固的/lacking substance; insignificant; frail. His hopes for a career in acting proved insubstantial; no one would cast him, even in an insubstantial role.

innocuous

ADJ. /无害的，无辜的/harmless. An occasional glass of wine with dinner is relatively innocuous and should have no ill effect on you.

interminable

ADJ. /无尽的/endless. Although his speech lasted for only twenty minutes, it seemed interminable to his bored audience.

imperturbable

ADJ. /沉着冷静；平静/calm; placid; composed. In the midst of the battle, the Duke of Wellington remained imper¬turbable and in full command of the situation despite the hysteria and panic all around him. imperturbability, N.

ponderous

ADJ. /沉重的；笨重的；呆板的；冗长的/weighty; unwieldy. His humor lacked the light touch; his jokes were always ponderous.

raucous

ADJ. /沙哑的/harsh and shrill; disorderly and boisterous. The raucous crowd of New Year's Eve revelers got progres¬sively noisier as midnight drew near.

futile

ADJ. /没出息；无望，没效果的/useless; hopeless; ineffectual. It is futile for me to try to get any work done around here while the telephone is ringing every thirty seconds. futility, N.

indisputable

ADJ. /没有争论余地；非常清楚的/too certain to be disputed. In the face of these indisputable statements, I withdraw my complaint.

pedestrian

ADJ. /没有想象力的，普通的/ordinary; unimaginative. Unintentionally boring, he wrote page after page of pedestrian prose.

impeccable

ADJ. /没有缺点/faultless. The uncrowned queen of the fashion industry, Diana was acclaimed for her impeccable taste.

rancid

ADJ. /油脂一样腐臭的/having the odor of stale fat. A rancid odor filled the ship's galley and nauseated the crew.

remedial

ADJ. /治疗的，补救的/curative; corrective. Because he was a slow reader, he decided to take a course in remedial reading.

forensic

ADJ. /法院的；适于法庭的/suitable to debate or courts of law. In her best forensic manner, the lawyer addressed the jury. foren¬SiCS, N.

perspicacious

ADJ. /洞察一切的，渗透的；机敏的/having insight; penetrating; astute. The brilliant lawyer was known for his perspicacious deductions. perspicacity, N.

improvident

ADJ. /浪费的/thriftless. He was constantly being warned to mend his improvident ways and begin to "save for a rainy day." improvidence, N.

prodigal

ADJ. /浪费的/wasteful; reckless with money. Don't be so prodigal spending my money; when you've earned some money yourself, you can waste it as much as you want! also N.

lavish

ADJ. /浪费的，大方的/liberal; wasteful. The actor's lavish gifts pleased her. alsoV.

maritime

ADJ. /海事的，海运的，海上的/bordering on the sea; nautical. The Maritime Provinces depend on the sea for their wealth.

lewd

ADJ. /淫荡的，下流的，好色的；猥亵的/lustful. They found his lewd stories objectionable.

pervasive

ADJ. /深入人心的；普遍的/pervading; spread throughout every part. Despite airing them for several hours, Martha could not rid her clothes of the pervasive odor of mothballs that clung to them. pervade,V.

profound

ADJ. /深刻的/deep; not superficial; complete. Freud's remarkable insights into human behavior caused his fellow scientists to honor him as a profound thinker. profundity, N.

garbled

ADJ. /混淆/mixed up; jumbled; distorted. A favorite party game involves passing a whispered message from one per¬son to another until, by the time it reaches the last player, the message is totally garbled.

limpid

ADJ. /清澈/clear. A limpid stream ran through his property.

pretentious

ADJ. /自命不凡；华而不实；自大/ostentatious; pompous; making unjusti¬fied claims; overly ambitious. None of the other prize win¬ners are wearing their medals; isn't it a bit pretentious of you to wear yours?

grandiose

ADJ. /自命不凡；堂皇；夸张的/pretentious; high-flown; ridiculously exag¬gerated; impressive. The aged matinee idol still had grandiose notions of his supposed importance in the the¬atrical world.

promiscuous

ADJ. /随意混合的；打乱的；随便的/mixed indiscriminately; haphazard; irregular, particularly sexually. In the opera La Boheme, we get a picture of the promiscuous life led by the young artists of Paris.

indiscriminate

ADJ. /随意的；不分青红皂白的/choosing at random; confused. She disapproved of her son's indiscriminate television viewing and decided to restrict him to educational programs.

haphazard

ADJ. /随机的/random; by chance. His haphazard read¬ing left him unacquainted with the authors of the books.

random

ADJ. /随机的/without definite purpose, plan, or aim; hap¬hazard. Although the sponsor of the raffle claimed all win¬ners were chosen at random, people had their suspicions when the grand prize went to the sponsor's brother-in-law.

furtive

ADJ. /隐秘的；偷偷摸摸，鬼祟/stealthy; sneaky. Noticing the furtive glance the customer gave the diamond bracelet on the counter, the jeweler wondered whether he had a potential shoplifter on his hands.

intractable

ADJ. /难以处理的/unruly; stubborn; unyielding. Charlie Brown's friend Pigpen was intractable: he absolutely refused to take a bath.

informal

ADJ. /非正式的；不拘礼节的/absence of ceremony; casual. The English teacher preferred informal discussions to prepared lectures.

illicit

ADJ. /非法的/illegal. The defense attorney maintained that his client had never performed any illicit action.

presumptuous

ADJ. /自大；轻狂；专横/overconfident; impertinently bold; tak¬ing liberties. Matilda thought it was somewhat presumptu¬ous of the young man to have addressed her without first having been introduced. Perhaps manners were freer here in the New World.

incorporeal

ADJ. /非物质的，无形的；无实体的/lacking a material body; insubstantial. While Casper the friendly ghost is an incorporeal being, nevertheless he and his fellow ghosts make quite an impact on the physical world.

recumbent

ADJ. /靠着的；斜躺的；不动的；休息的/reclining; lying down completely or in part. The command "AT EASE" does not permit you to take a recumbent position.

pliant

ADJ. /顺从的/flexible; easily influenced. Pinocchio's disposi¬tion was pliant, he was like putty in his tempters' hands.

gingerly

ADV. /小心翼翼地/very carefully. To separate egg whites, first crack the egg gingerly.

malcontent

N. /不满的；不满现状的/person dissatisfied with existing state of affairs. One of the few malcontents in Congress, he con¬stantly voiced his objections to the presidential program. alsoADJ.

malaise

N. /不适，欠佳/uneasiness; vague feeling of ill health. Feeling slightly queasy before going onstage, Carol realized that this touch of malaise was merely stage fright.

insularity

N. /与外界隔绝；僵化；思想狭窄/narrow-mindedness; isolation. The insularity of the islanders manifested itself in their suspicion of anything foreign. insular,ADJ.

ignominy

N. /丢脸；抹黑；耻辱/deep disgrace; shame or dishonor. To lose the Ping-Pong match to a trained chimpanzee! How could Rollo stand the ignominy of his defeat? ignominious,ADJ.

quandary

N. /两难的困境/dilemma. When both Harvard and Stanford accepted Laura, she was in a quandary as to which school she should attend.

martinet

N. /严格纪律的人/strict disciplinarian. No talking at meals! No mingling with the servants! Miss Minchin was a martinet who insisted that the schoolgirls in her charge observe each regulation to the letter.

ordeal

N. /严酷的考验；折磨/severe trial or affliction. June was so painfully shy that it was an ordeal for her to speak up when the teacher called on her in class.

fecundity

N. /丰饶/fertility; fruitfulness. The fecundity of his mind is illustrated by the many vivid images in his poems.

interim

N. /临时的；间歇的/meantime. The company will not consider our proposal until next week; in the interim, let us proceed as we have in the past.

motif

N. /主旨，本意；动机/theme. This simple motif runs throughout the entire score.

indignation

N. /义愤；愤慨/anger at an injustice. He felt indignation at the ill-treatment of helpless animals.

infamous

ADJ. /臭名昭著的，恶名远扬的/notoriously bad. Charles Manson and Jef¬frey Dahmer are both infamous killers.

lethal

ADJ. /致命的/deadly. It is unwise to leave lethal weapons where children may find them.

nautical

ADJ. /航海的/pertaining to ships or navigation. The Mar¬itime Museum contains many models of clipper ships, log¬books, anchors and many other items of a nautical nature.

laborious

ADJ. /艰苦的，勤劳的/demanding much work or care; tedious. In putting together his dictionary of the English language, Doctor Johnson undertook a laborious task.

hardy

ADJ. /艰苦的；勇敢的/sturdy; robust; able to stand inclement weather. We asked the gardening expert to recommend particularly hardy plants that could withstand our harsh New England winters.

piebald

ADJ. /花斑的；斑驳的/mottled; spotted. You should be able to iden¬tify Polka Dot in this race; it is the only piebald horse run¬ning.

pallid

ADJ. /苍白的，惨淡的/pale; wan. Because his job required that he work at night and sleep during the day, he had an excep¬tionally pallid complexion.

onerous

ADJ. /范忠德/burdensome. He asked for an assistant because his work load was too onerous.

preposterous

ADJ. /荒唐的/absurd; ridiculous. When he tried to downplay his youthful experiments with marijuana by saying he hadn't inhaled, we all thought, "What a preposterous excuse!"

ironic

ADJ. /讽刺性的/resulting in an unexpected and contrary out¬come. It is ironic that his success came when he least wanted it.

jocose

ADJ. /诙谐的/given to joking. The salesman was so jocose that many of his customers suggested that he become a .,stand-up" comic.

jocular

ADJ. /诙谐的/said or done in jest. Although Bill knew the boss hated jokes, he couldn't resist making one jocular remark.

guileless

ADJ. /诚实的/without deceit. He is naive, simple, and guileless; he cannot be guilty of fraud.

grandiloquent

ADJ. /语言夸张的；词藻浮华的/pompous; bombastic; using high¬sounding language. The politician could never speak sim¬ply; she was always grandiloquent.

linguistic

ADJ. /语言的/pertaining to language. The modern tourist will encounter very little linguistic difficulty as English has become an almost universal language.

pertinent

ADJ. /说到点子上的；中肯的；有关的/To the point; relevant. Virginia Woolf's words on women's rights are as pertinent today as they were when she wrote them nearly a century ago.

obsequious

ADJ. /谄媚的；拍马屁的；奴性的/slavishly attentive; servile; sycophantic. Helen liked to be served by people who behaved as if they respected themselves; nothing irritated her more than an excessively obsequious waiter or a fawning salesclerk.

imprudent

ADJ. /轻率的，判断错误的/lacking caution; injudicious. It is imprudent to exercise vigorously and become overheated when you are unwell.

heedless

ADJ. /轻蔑的；不理睬的/not noticing; disregarding. He drove on, heedless of the danger warnings placed at the side of the road.

pejorative

ADJ. /轻蔑；蔑视的/negative in connotation; having a belittling effect. Instead of criticizing Clinton's policies, the Republi¬cans made pejorative remarks about his character.

painstaking

ADJ. /辛勤的/showing hard work; taking-Dreat care. The new high-frequency word list is the result of painstaking efforts on the part of our research staff.

polemical

ADJ. /辩论的，好辩的/aggressive in verbal attack; disputatious. Lexy was a master of polemical rhetoric; she should have worn a T-shirt with the slogan "Born to Debate."

migratory

ADJ. /迁徙的；流浪的/wandering. The return of the migratory birds to the northern sections of this country is a harbinger of spring. migrate,V.

mawkish

ADJ. /过分多愁善感；感情脆弱到令人作呕的/mushy and gushy; icky-sticky sentimental; maudlin. Whenever Gigi and her boyfriend would sigh and get all lovey-dovey, her little brother would shout, "Yuck!" protesting their mawkish behavior.

fulsome

ADJ. /过分的/disgustingly excessive. His fulsome praise of the dictator revolted his listeners.

finicky

ADJ. /过分讲究；鸡毛蒜皮/too particular; fussy. The little girl was finicky about her food, leaving over anything that wasn't to her taste.

intemperate

ADJ. /过度的；极端的；放纵的/immoderate; excessive; extreme. In a temper, Tony refused to tone down his intemperate remarks.

outmoded

ADJ. /过时的/longer stylish; old-fashioned. Uncon¬cerned about keeping in style, Lenore was perfectly happy to wear outmoded clothes as long as they were clean and unfrayed.

obsolete

ADJ. /过时的；无用的/no longer useful; outmoded; antiquated. The invention of the pocket calculator made the slide rule used by generations of engineers obsolete.

kinetic

ADJ. /运动的；运动学的/producing motion. Designers of the electric automobile find that their greatest obstacle lies in the devel¬opment of light and efficient storage batteries, the source of the kinetic energy needed to propel the vehicle.

insensible

ADJ. /迟钝的；硬心肠的/unconscious; unresponsive. Sherry and I are very different; at times when I would be covered with embarrassment, she seems insensible to shame.

rapt

ADJ. /迷住的；全神贯注的/absorbed; enchanted. Caught up in the wonder of the storyteller's tale, the rapt listeners sat motionless, hanging on his every word.

pellucid

ADJ. /透明；清澈；明白的/transparent; limpid; easy to understand. After reading these stodgy philosophers, I find Bertrand Russell's pellucid style very enjoyable.

insurgent

ADJ. /造反的，起义的/rebellious. Because the insurgent forces had occupied the capital and had gained control of the rail¬way lines, several of the war correspondents covering the uprising predicted a rebel victory.

oblivious

ADJ. /遗忘的；出神的/inattentive or unmindful; wholly absorbed. Deep in her book, Nancy was oblivious to the noisy squab¬bles of her brother and his friends.

iniquitous

ADJ. /邪恶的/wicked; immoral; unrighteous. Whether or not King Richard III was responsible for the murder of the two young princes in the Tower, it was an iniquitous deed. iniquity, N.

morose

ADJ. /郁闷的；乖僻的/ill-humored; sullen; melancholy. Forced to take early retirement, Bill acted morose for months; then, all of a sudden, he shook off his sullen mood and was his usual cheerful self.

inebriated

ADJ. /醉的/habitually intoxicated; drunk. Abe was ine¬briated more often than he was sober. Because of his ine¬briety, he was discharged from his job as a bus driver.

grueling

ADJ. /重罚；使其筋疲力尽/exhausting. The marathon is a grueling race.

feral

ADJ. /野生的，未驯服的/not domestic; wild. Abandoned by their owners, dogs may revert to their feral state, roaming the woods in packs.

monetary

ADJ. /金融的/pertaining to money. Jane held the family purse strings: she made all monetary decisions affecting the household.

obtuse

ADJ. /钝的，迟钝的；愚蠢的/blunt; stupid. What can you do with somebody who's so obtuse that he can't even tell that you're insulting him?

pecuniary

ADJ. /钱的，货币的/pertaining to money. Seldom earning enough to cover their expenses, folk dance teachers work because they love dancing, not because they expect any pecuniary reward.

livid

ADJ. /铅灰色的；青一块紫一块的；暴怒的/lead-colored; black and blue; enraged. His face was so livid with rage that we were afraid that he might have an attack of apoplexy.

lustrous

ADJ. /闪耀的/shining. Her large and lustrous eyes lent a touch of beauty to an otherwise plain face.

oblique

ADJ. /间接的；倾斜的；无诚意的/indirect; slanting (deviating from the perpen¬dicular or from a straight line). Casting a quick, oblique glance at the reviewing stand, the sergeant ordered the company to march "Oblique Right."

intermittent

ADJ. /间歇的；断断续续的/periodic; on and off. The outdoor wed¬ding reception had to be moved indoors to avoid the inter¬mittent showers that fell on and off all afternoon.

frolicsome

ADJ. /闹着玩的；嬉戏的/prankish; gay. The frolicsome puppy tried to lick the face of its master.

insidious

ADJ. /阴险的，奸诈的，狡猾的；鬼鬼祟祟的/treacherous; stealthy; sly. The fifth column is insidious because it works secretly within our territory for our defeat.

musty

ADJ. /陈腐的，变质的；时间长损失品质的/stale; spoiled by age. The attic was dark and musty.

precipitous

ADJ. /陡峭的；急躁的/steep; overhasty. This hill is difficult to climb because it is so precipitous; one slip, and our descent will be precipitous as well.

inclement

ADJ. /险恶的；严酷的/stormy; unkind. In inclement weather, I like to curl up on the sofa with a good book and listen to the storm blowing outside.

partiality

N. /倾向；偏见/inclination; bias. As a judge, not only must I be unbiased, but I must also avoid any evidence of partiality when I award the prize.

proclivity

N. /倾向；自然倾向/inclination; natural tendency. Watching the two-year-old voluntarily put away his toys, I was amazed by his proclivityfor neatness.

penchant

N. /倾向；趣味/strong inclination; liking. Dave has a penchant for taking risks: one semester he went steady with three girls, two of whom were stars on the school karate team.

incline

N. /倾斜，斜面/slope; slant. The architect recommended that the nursing home's ramp be rebuilt because its incline was too steep for wheelchairs.

pseudonym

N. /假名；笔名/pen name. Samuel Clemens' pseudonym was Mark Twain.

premise

N. /假定，假设；前提/assumption; postulate. Based on the premise that there's no fool like an old fool, P. T. Barnum hired a ninety-year-old clown for his circus.

predilection

N. /偏爱；偏好/partiality; preference. Although I have writ¬ten all sorts of poetry over the years, I have a definite predilection for occasional verse.

nepotism

N. /偏袒的人（亲戚）/favoritism (to a relative). John left his position with the company because he felt that advancement was based on nepotism rather than ability.

icon

N. /偶像，象征；图标/religious image; idol. The icons on the walls of the church were painted in the 13th century.

kleptomaniac

N. /偷窃狂；盗窃癖/person who has a compulsive desire to steal. They discovered that the wealthy customer was a klep¬tomaniac when they caught her stealing some cheap trinkets.

insolence

N. /傲慢/impudent disrespect; haughtiness. How dare you treat me so rudely! The manager will hear of your inso¬lence. insolent,ADJ.

haughtiness

N. /傲慢；不逊/pride; arrogance. When she realized that Darcy believed himself too good to dance with his inferiors, Elizabeth took great offense at his haughtiness.

pediatrician

N. /儿科专家/expert in children's diseases. The family doctor advised the parents to consult a pediatrician about their child's ailment.

plenitude

N. /充分，富足/abundance; completeness. Looking in the pantry, we admired the plenitude of fruits and pickles we had preserved during the summer.

precedent

N. /先例/something preceding in time that may be used as an authority or guide for future action. If I buy you a car for your sixteenth birthday, your brothers will want me to buy them cars when they turn sixteen, too; I can't afford to set such an expensive precedent. The law professor asked Jill to state which famous case served as a precedent for the court's decision in Brown ll.

harbinger

N. /先驱/forerunner. The crocus is an early harbinger of spring.

plagiarism

N. /剽窃/theft of another's ideas or writings passed off as original. The editor recognized the plagiarism and rebuked the culprit who had presented the manuscript as original.

gesticulation

N. /动作；手势/motion; gesture. Operatic performers are trained to make exaggerated gesticulations because of the large auditoriums in which they appear.

impetus

N. /动力；动机/incentive; stimulus; moving force. A new fed¬eral highway program would create jobs and give added impetus to our economic recovery.

menagerie

N. /动物园/collection of wild animals. Whenever the children run wild around the house, Mom shouts, "Calm down! I'm not running a menagerie!"

fauna

N. /动物志/animals of a period or region. The scientist could visualize the fauna of the period by examining the skeletal remains and the fossils.

momentum

N. /动量；动力/quantity of motion of a moving body; impetus. The car lost momentum as it tried to ascend the steep hill.

fortitude

N. /勇敢的/bravery; courage. He was awarded the medal for his fortitude in the battle.

mettle

N. /勇气；精神/courage; spirit. When challenged by the other horses in the race, the thoroughbred proved its mettle by its determination to hold the lead.

panacea

N. /包治百病的药，灵丹妙药/cure-all; remedy for all diseases. The rich youth cynically declared that the panacea for all speeding tickets was a big enough bribe.

incarnation

N. /化身；具人形/act of assuming a human body and human nature. The incarnation of Jesus Christ is a basic tenet of Christian theology.

monotony

N. /千篇一律的/sameness leading to boredom. What could be more deadly dull than the monotony of punching num¬bers into a computer hour after hour?

panache

N. /华丽/flair; flamboyance. Many performers imitate Noel Coward, but few have his panache and sense of style.

protocol

N. /协议/diplomatic etiquette. We must run this state dinner according to protocol if we are to avoid offending any of our guests.

pundit

N. /博学者；梵文学家/authority on a subject; learned person; expert. Some authors who write about SAT I as if they are pundits actually know very little about the test.

juncture

N. /危机，转折点；关键点/crisis; joining point. At this critical juncture, let us think carefully before determining the course we shall follow.

misanthrope

N. /厌恶人类的人；憎人者/one who hates mankind. In Gulliver's Travels, Swift portrays an image of humanity as vile, degraded beasts; for this reason, various critics consider him a misanthrope.

prototype

N. /原型/original work used as a model by others. The crude typewriter on display in this museum is the prototype of the elaborate machines in use today.

quirk

N. /反复无常；怪僻/startling twist; caprice. By a quirk of fate, he found himself working for the man whom he had discharged years before.

repercussion

N. /反弹；弹回/rebound; reverberation; reaction. I am afraid that this unfortunate incident will have serious reper¬cussions.

insubordination

N. /反抗，不屈/disobedience; rebelliousness. At the slightest hint of insubordination from the sailors of the Bounty, Captain Bligh had them flogged; finally, they mutinied.

merger

N. /合并；吞并/combination (of two business corporations). When the firm's president married the director of financial planning, the office joke was that it wasn't a marriage, it was a merger.

renown

N. /名望/fame. For many years an unheralded researcher, Barbara McClintock gained international renown when she won the Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. renowned,ADJ.

kudos

N. /名望，声誉/honor; glory; praise. The singer complacently received kudos from his entourage on his performance.

luminary

N. /名气，尊严/celebrity; dignitary. A leading light of the American stage, Ethel Barrymore was a theatrical luminary whose name lives on.

progeny

N. /后裔/children; offspring. He was proud of his prog¬eny in general, but regarded George as the most promising of all his children.

pomposity

N. /夸大，华丽；浮夸；自大/self-important behavior; acting like a stuffed shirt. Although the commencement speaker had some good things to say, we had to laugh at his pomposity and general air of parading his own dignity. POMPOUS,ADJ.

hyperbole

N. /夸张/exaggeration; overstatement. As far as I'm concerned, Apple's claims about the new computer are pure hyperbole: no machine is that good!

prodigy

N. /奇才；天才/marvel; highly gifted child. Menuhin was a prodigy, performing wonders on his violin when he was barely eight years old.

opulence

N. /奢华；巨富；富裕，富足/extreme wealth; luxuriousness; abundance. The glitter and opulence of the ballroom took Cinderella's breath away. opulent,ADJ.

matriarch

N. /女家长；掌管全家的老太婆/woman who rules a family or larger social group. The matriarch ruled her gypsy tribe with a firm hand.

guile

N. /奸诈狡猾；诡计/deceit; duplicity; wiliness; cunning. lago uses considerable guile to trick Othello into believing that Desde¬mona has been unfaithful.

pugnacity

N. /好斗的/combativeness; disposition to fight. "Put up your dukes!" he cried, making a fist to show his pugnacity. pugnacious,ADJ.

lechery

N. /好色；动机不纯/lustfulness; impurity in thought and deed. In his youth he led a life of lechery and debauchery; he did not mend his ways until middle age. lecherous,ADJ.

paranoia

N. /妄想狂；偏执狂/psychosis marked by delusions of grandeur or persecution. Suffering from paranoia, Don claimed every¬one was out to get him; ironically, his claim was accurate: even paranoids have enemies.

obstetrician

N. /妇产科医师/physician specializing in delivery of babies. In modern times, the delivery of children has passed from the midwife to the more scientifically trained obstetrician,

impediment

N. /妨碍；障碍物/hindrance; stumbling-block. She had a speech impediment that prevented her speaking clearly.

mandate

N. /委任；命令/order; charge. In his inaugural address, the president stated that he had a mandate from the people to seek an end to social evils such as poverty. alsoV.

grievance

N. /委屈；冤情；不平/cause of complaint. When her supervisor ignored her complaint, she took her grievance to the union.

posterity

N. /子孙；后裔/descendants; future generations. We hope to leave a better world to posterity.

lexicon

N. /字典/dictionary. I cannot find this word in any lexicon in the library.

lexicographer

N. /字典编纂者/compiler of a dictionary. The new dictio¬nary is the work of many lexicographers who spent years compiling and editing the work.

pedant

N. /学究式人物/scholar who overemphasizes book learning or technicalities. Her insistence that the book be memorized marked the teacher as a pedant rather than a scholar.

placebo

N. /安慰剂/harmless substance prescribed as a dummy pill. In a controlled experiment, fifty volunteers were given aspirin tablets; the control group received only placebos.

requiem

N. /安灵弥撒；安灵歌，挽歌/mass for the dead; dirge. They played Mozart's Requiem at the funeral.

monarchy

N. /君主制；君主整体/government under a single ruler. Though England today is a monarchy, there is some question whether it will be one in twenty years, given the present dis¬content at the prospect of Prince Charles as king.

implication

N. /含义；暗示/something hinted at or suggested. When Miss Watson said she hadn't seen her purse since the last time Jim was in the house, the implication was that she sus¬pected Jim had taken it. imply,V.

perimeter

N. /周长/outer boundary. To find the perimeter of any quadrilateral, we add the lengths of the four sides.

nomenclature

N. /命名法；术语学/terminology; system of names. Sharon found Latin word parts useful in translating medical nomen¬clature: when her son had to have a bilateral myringotomy, she figured out that he just needed a hole in each of his eardrums to end the earaches he had.

rave

N. /咆哮/overwhelmingly favorable review. Though critic John Simon seldom has a good word to say about most contemporary plays, his review of All in the Timing was a total rave.

pacifist

N. /和平主义者/one opposed to force; antimilitarist. Shooting his way through the jungle, Rambo was clearly not a pacifist.

pact

N. /和约；条约/agreement; treaty. Tweedledum and Tweedledee made a pact not to quarrel anymore.

incantation

N. /咒语/singing or chanting of magic spells; magical formula. Uttering incantations to make the brew more potent, the witch doctor stirred the liquid in the caldron.

gourmet

N. /品尝家；美食比赛的评委/connoisseur of food and drink. The gourmet stated that this was the best onion soup she had ever tasted.

mammal

N. /哺乳动物/a vertebrate animal whose female suckles its young. Many people regard the whale as a fish and do not realize that it is a mammal.

materialism

N. /唯物主义/preoccupation with physical comforts and things. By its nature, materialism is opposed to idealism, for where the materialist emphasizes the needs of the body, the idealist emphasizes the needs of the soul.

raconteur

N. /善谈的人；满肚子故事的人/storyteller. My father was a gifted raconteur with an unlimited supply of anecdotes.

plaudit

N. /喝彩/enthusiastically worded approval; round of applause. The theatrical company reprinted the plaudits of the critics in its advertisements. plauditory,ADJ.

pandemonium

N. /喧嚣；混乱/wild tumult. When the ships collided in the harbor, pandemonium broke out among the passengers.

quip

N. /嘲弄；讽刺/taunt. You are unpopular because you are too free with your quips and sarcastic comments. alsoV.

quadruped

N. /四足动物/four-footed animal. Most mammals are quadrupeds.

predicament

N. /困境；危险的境地；两难/tricky or dangerous situation; dilemma. Tied to the railroad tracks by the villain, Pauline strained against her bonds. How would she escape from this terrible predicament?

privation

N. /困难，困苦；短缺，缺少/hardship; want. In his youth, he knew hunger and privation.

legend

N. /图例/explanatory list of symbols on a map. The leg¬end at the bottom of the map made it clear which symbols stood for rest areas along the highway and which stood for public camp sites. (secondary meaning)

ordination

N. /圣职授任；委任/ceremony making someone a minister. At the young priest's ordination, the members of the congregation presented him with a set of vestments. ordain,V.

gnome

N. /地精；小矮人；土地公公/dwarf; underground spirit. In medieval mythol¬ogy, gnomes were the special guardians and inhabitants of subterranean mines.

rectitude

N. /垂直；正直；公正/uprightness; moral virtue; correctness of judg¬ment. The Eagle Scout was a model of rectitude.

interment

N. /埋葬/burial. Interment will take place in the church cemetery at 2 P.M. Wednesday.

rationale

N. /基础科学；基本原理/fundamental reason or justification; grounds for an action. Her need to have someplace to hang her ear¬ring collection was Dora's rationale for piercing fifteen holes in each ear.

plasticity

N. /塑性/ability to be molded. When clay dries out, it loses its plasticity and becomes less malleable.

increment

N. /增加/increase. The new contract calls for a 10 percent increment in salary for each employee for the next two years.

fresco

N. /壁画/painting on plaster (usually fresh). The cathedral is visited by many tourists who wish to admire the frescoes by Giotto.

mural

N. /壁画/wall painting. The walls of the Chicano Commu¬nity Center are covered with murals painted in the style of Diego Rivera, the great Mexican artist.

manifesto

N. /声明/declaration; statement of policy. The Com¬munist Manifesto by Marx and Engels proclaimed the prin¬ciples of modern communism.

prestige

N. /声望；威信/impression produced by achievements or repu¬tation. Many students want to go to Harvard College not for the education offered but for the prestige of Harvard's name.

nemesis

N. /复仇的人；寻衅者/someone seeking revenge. Abandoned at sea in a small boat, the vengeful Captain Bligh vowed to be the nemesis of Fletcher Christian and his fellow mutineers.

replica

N. /复制/copy. Are you going to hang this replica of the Declaration of Independence in the classroom or in the auditorium?

guise

N. /外观；装束/appearance; costume. In the guise of a plumber, the detective investigated the murder case.

multiplicity

N. /多样性/state of being numerous. He was appalled by the multiplicity of details he had to complete before set¬ting out on his mission.

polygamist

N. /多配偶/one who has more than one spouse at a time. He was arrested as a polygamist when his two wives filed complaints about him.

galleon

N. /大帆船/large sailing ship. The Spaniards pinned their hopes on the galleon, the large warship; the British, on the smaller and faster pinnace.

hodgepodge

N. /大杂烩/jumble; mixture of ill-suited elements. The reviewer roundly condemned the play as a hodgepodge of random and purposeless encounters carried out by a cast lacking any uniformity of accent or style.

précis

N. /大纲；摘要/concise summing up of main points. Before mak¬ing her presentation at the conference, Ellen wrote up a neat précis of the major elements she would cover.

lummox

N. /大而笨重的（通常指人）/big, clumsy, often stupid person. Because he was highly overweight and looked ungainly, John Candy often was cast as a slow-witted lummox.

metropolis

N. /大都会/large city. Every evening the terminal is filled with thousands of commuters going from this metropolis to their homes in the suburbs.

gale

N. /大风；一阵感情的爆发/windstorm; gust of wind; emotional outburst (laughter, tears). The Weather Channel warned viewers about a rising gale, with winds of up to sixty miles per hour.

ingenue

N. /天真无邪的少女；扮演天真无邪的少女的女演员/an artless girl; an actress who plays such parts. Although she was forty, she still insisted that she be cast as an ingenue and refused to play more mature roles.

naiveté

N. /天真烂漫的，简单的/quality of being unsophisticated; simplicity; art¬lessness; gullibility. Touched by the naivetd of sweet, con¬vent-trained Cosette, Marius pledges himself to protect her innocence. naive,ADJ.

gaffe

N. /失态；出丑/social blunder. According to Miss Manners, to call your husband by your lover's name is worse than a mere gaffe; it is a tactical mistake.

insomnia

N. /失眠/wakefulness; inability to sleep. He refused to join us in a midnight cup of coffee because he claimed it gave him insomnia.

harangue

N. /夸大的讲话/noisy speech. In her lengthy harangue, the principal berated the offenders. alsoV.

integrity

N. /完整性/uprightness; wholeness. Lincoln, whose per¬sonal integrity has inspired millions, fought a civil war to maintain the integrity of the Republic, that these United States might remain undivided for all time.

preamble

N. /导言；介绍词/introductory statement. In the Preamble to the Constitution, the purpose of the document is set forth.

quiver

N. /射箭的/case for arrows. Robin Hood reached back and plucked one last arrow from his quiver. (secondary meaning)

mite

N. /小东西；小硬币/very small object or creature; small coin. Gnats are annoying mites that sting.

mote

N. /小半点/small speck. The tiniest mote in the eye is very painful.

hovel

N. /小屋/shack; small, wretched house. He wondered how poor people could stand living in such a hovel.

knoll

N. /小山包/little round hill. Robert Louis Stevenson's grave is on a knoll in Samoa; to reach the grave site, you must climb uphill and walk a short distance along a marked path.

madrigal

N. /小曲；牧歌/pastoral song. His program of folk songs included several madrigals which he sang to the accompa¬niment of a lute.

grove

N. /小树林/group of trees (smaller than a forest); orchard. To the child, the small grove of oaks was as vast as Sherwood Forest, in which he played that legendary hero, Robin Hood.

junta

N. /小集团；政治团伙/group of men joined in political intrigue; cabal. As soon as he learned of its existence, the dictator ordered the execution of all of the members of the junta.

figurine

N. /小雕像/small ornamental statuette. In The Maltese Fal¬con, Sam Spade was hired to trace the missing figurine of a black bird.

hallucination

N. /幻觉，幻想/delusion. I think you were frightened by a hallucination you created in your own mind.

grandeur

N. /庄严，伟大，威严/impressiveness; stateliness; majesty. No mat¬ter how often he hiked through the mountains, David never failed to be struck by the grandeur of the Sierra Nevada range.

jubilation

N. /庆祝/rejoicing. There was great jubilation when the armistice was announced. jubilant,ADJ.

prologue

N. /序（诗歌，歌剧的）/introduction (to a poem or play). In the pro¬logue to Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare introduces the audience to the feud between the Montagues and the Capulets.

prelude

N. /序；先驱；先导/introduction; forerunner. I am afraid that this border raid is the prelude to more serious attacks.

moratorium

N. /延期偿还/legal delay of payment. If we declare a moratorium and delay collection of debts for six months, I am sure the farmers will be able to meet their bills.

marquee

N. /建筑物入口处的雨棚，遮蔽物/canopy above an entrance, under which one can take shelter; rooflike shelter above a theater entrance. On stormy days, the hotel doorman keeps dry by standing directly beneath the marquee. The title of Arthur Kopit's play Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Momma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feeling So Sad was too long to fit on the marquee.

onset

N. /开始，发作，肇端；攻击/beginning; attack. Caught unprepared by the sudden onset of the storm, we rushed around the house closing windows and bringing the garden furniture into shelter. Caught unprepared by the enemy onset, the troops scrambled to take shelter.

inception

N. /开始，开端/start; beginning. She was involved with the project from its inception.

infidel

N. /异教徒，异端；不信宗教的/unbeliever. The Saracens made war against the infidels.

requisite

N. /必须品；必要的/necessary requirement. Many colleges state that a student must offer three years of a language as a requisite for admission.

ingrate

N. /忘恩负义者；不领情的人/ungrateful person. That ingrate Bob sneered at the tie I gave him.

fidelity

N. /忠诚/loyalty. A dog's fidelity to its owner is one of the reasons why that animal is a favorite household pet.

reminiscence

N. /怀旧；回想/recollection. Her reminiscences of her experiences are so fascinating that she ought to write a book.

ire

N. /怒气/anger. The waiter tried unsuccessfully to placate the ire of the diner who had found a cockroach in her soup.

firebrand

N. /总惹麻烦的人，惹事生非者，捣乱人/hothead: troublemaker. The police tried to keep track of all the local firebrands when the President came to town.

phobia

N. /恐怖/morbid fear. Her fear of flying was more than mere nervousness; it was a real phobia.

hydrophobia

N. /恐水症；狂犬病/rabies; fear of water. A dog that bites a human being must be observed for symptoms of hydropho¬bia.

paradox

N. /悖论；佯谬/something apparently contradictory in nature; statement that looks false but is actually correct. Richard presents a bit of a paradox, for he is a card-carrying mem¬ber of both the National Rifle Association and the relatively pacifist American Civil Liberties Union.

precipice

N. /悬崖；危险的位置/cliff; dangerous position. Suddenly Indiana Jones found himself dangling from the edge of a precipice.

pessimism

N. /悲观主义者/belief that life is basically bad or evil; gloominess. Considering how well you have done in the course so far, you have no real reason for such pessimism about your final grade.

plight

N. /情况，状况；困境/condition, state (especially a bad state or condi¬tion); predicament. Many people feel that the federal gov¬ernment should do more to alleviate the plight of the homeless. Loggers, unmoved by the plight of the spotted owl, plan to continue logging whether or not they ruin the owl's habitat.

rapport

N. /情感的亲近；和谐/emotional closeness; harmony. In team teach¬ing, it is important that all teachers in the group have good rapport with one another.

nostalgia

N. /想家；乡愁/homesickness; longing for the past. My grandfather seldom spoke of life in the old country; he had little patience with nostalgia. nostalgic,ADJ.

mishap

N. /意外，灾难/accident. With a little care you could have avoided this mishap.

fluke

N. /意外；小概率事件/unlikely occurrence; stroke of fortune. When Dou- glas defeated Tyson for the heavyweight championship, some sportscasters dismissed his victory as a fluke.

ideology

N. /意识形态/system of ideas of a group. For people who had grown up believing in the communist ideology, it was hard to adjust to capitalism.

oaf

N. /愚蠢的人/stupid, awkward person. "Watch what you're doing, you clumsy oaf!" Bill shouted at the waiter who had drenched him with iced coffee.

pique

N. /愤怒；不满/irritation; resentment. She showed her pique at her loss by refusing to appear with the other contestants at the end of the competition. alsoV.

philanthropist

N. /慈善家/lover of mankind; doer of good. In his role as philanthropist and public benefactor, John D. Rocke¬feller, Sr., donated millions to charity; as an individual, how¬ever, he was a tight-fisted old man.

remorse

N. /懊悔，自责/guilt; self-reproach. The murderer felt no remorse for his crime.

legerdemain

N. /戏法；花招/sleight of hand. The magician demon¬strated his renowned legerdemain.

holster

N. /手枪套/pistol case. Even when he was not in uniform, he carried a holster and pistol under his arm.

flair

N. /才能/talent. She has an uncanny flair for discovering new artists before the public has become aware of their existence.

infraction

N. /打破（常规）/violation (of a rule or regulation); breach. When Dennis Rodman butted heads with that referee, he committed a clear infraction of NBA rules.

parity

N. /相等；势均力敌；奇偶/equality in status or amount; close resemblance. Unfortunately, some doubt exists whether women's salaries will ever achieve paritywith men's.

killjoy

N. /扫兴的人；煞风景/grouch; spoilsport. At breakfast we had all been enjoying our bacon and eggs until that killjoy John started talking about how bad animal fats were for our health.

grimace

N. /扭曲的脸；做鬼脸/a facial distortion to show feeling such as pain, disgust, etc. Even though he remained silent, his grimace indicated his displeasure. alsoV.

purveyor

N. /承办商/furnisher of foodstuffs; caterer. As purveyor of rare wines and viands, he traveled through France and Italy every year in search of new products to sell.

missile

N. /投掷物/object to be thrown or projected. After carefully folding his book report into a paper airplane, Beavis threw the missile across the classroom at Butthead. Rocket scien-tists are building guided missiles; Beavis and Butthead can barely make unguided ones.

remonstrance

N. /抗议/protest; objection. The authorities were deaf to the pastor's remonstrances about the lack of police protection in the area. remonstrate,V.

ratiocination

N. /推理；推论/reasoning; act of drawing conclusions from premises. While Watson was a man of average intelli¬gence, Holmes was a genius, whose gift for ratiocination made him a superb detective.

propellants

N. /推进剂/substances that propel or drive forward. The development of our missile program has forced our sci¬entists to seek more powerful propellants.

regimen

N. /摄生法/prescribed diet and habits. I doubt whether the results warrant our living under such a strict regimen.

friction

N. /摩擦/clash in opinion; rubbing against. At this time when harmony is essential, we cannot afford to have any friction in our group.

pastiche

N. /摹写；模仿/imitation of another's style in musical composi¬tion or in writing. We cannot even say that her music is a: pastiche of this composer or that; it is, rather, reminiscent of many musicians.

rent

N. /撕；裂口/rip; split. Kit did an excellent job of mending the rent in the lining of her coat.

recession

N. /撤退/withdrawal; retreat; time of low economic activity. The slow recession of the flood waters created problems for the crews working to restore power to the area. recede,V.

proponent

N. /支持者；建议者/supporter; backer; opposite of opponent. In the Senate, proponents of the universal health care mea¬sure lobbied to gain additional support for the controversial legislation.

reaper

N. /收割者；收割机/one who harvests grain. Death, the Grim Reaper, cuts down mortal men and women, just as a farmer cuts down the ripened grain. reap,V.

neologism

N. /新生词/new or newly coined word or phrase. As we invent new techniques and professions, we must also Invent neologisms such as "microcomputer" and "astronaut" to describe them.

girth

N. /方圆；周围环境/distance around something; circumference. It took an extra-large cummerbund to fit around Andrew Carnegie's considerable girth.

justification

N. /有理，正当；辩护；释罪/good or just reason; defense; excuse. The jury found him guilty of the more serious charge because they could see no possible justification for his actions,

marsupial

N. /有袋哺乳动物（袋鼠、袋熊、袋狼）/one of a family of mammals that nurse their offspring in a pouch. The most common marsupial in North America is the opossum.

memento

N. /有象征意义的物品；纪念品/token; reminder. Take this book as a memento of your visit.

reprobate

N. /有重罪的人；道德败坏的人，无耻的人/person hardened in sin, devoid of a sense of decency. I cannot understand why he has so many admir¬ers if he is the reprobate you say he is.

opportunist

N. /机会主义者/individual who sacrifices principles for expediency by taking advantage of circumstances. Joe is such an opportunist that he tripled the price of bottled water at his store as soon as the earthquake struck. Because it can break water pipes, an earthquake is, to most people, a disaster; to Joe, it was an opportunity.

miscellany

N. /杂记/mixture of writings on various subjects. This is an interesting miscellany of nineteenth-century prose and poetry.

iota

N. /极少量的/very small quantity. She hadn't an iota of common sense.

kernel

N. /核心的/central or vital part; whole seed (as of corn). "Watson, buried within this tissue of lies there is a kernel of truth; when I find it, the mystery will be solved."

gavel

N. /棒槌/hammerlike tool; mallet. "Sold!" cried the auction¬eer, banging her gavel on the table to indicate she'd accepted the final bid.

frond

N. /棕榈叶；蕨叶/fern leaf; palm or banana leaf. After the storm the beach was littered with the fronds of palm trees.

flora

N. /植物志/plants of a region or era. Because she was a botanist, she spent most of her time studying the flora of the desert.

indentation

N. /槽；小开口/notch; deep recess. You can tell one tree from another by examining their leaves and noting the dif¬ferences in the indentations along the edges of the leaves. indent,V.

mimicry

N. /模仿/imitation. Her gift for mimicry was so great that her friends said that she should be in the theater.

paragon

N. /模范/model of perfection. Her fellow students dis¬liked Lavinia because Miss Minchin always pointed her out as a paragon of virtue.

paean

N. /欢乐歌；赞美歌/song of praise or joy. Paeans celebrating the victory filled the air.

mirth

N. /欢笑/merriment; laughter. Sober Malvolio found Sir Toby's mirth improper.

libretto

N. /歌词，剧本（舞剧，歌剧的）/text of an opera. The composer of an opera's music is remembered more frequently than the author of its libretto.

foresight

N. /洞察力/ability to foresee future happenings; pru¬dence. A wise investor, she had the foresight to buy land just before the current real estate boom.

perquisite

N. /津贴，补贴；奖金/any gain above stipulated salary. The perquisites attached to this job make it even more attractive than the salary indicates.

knave

N. /流氓；无赖；恶棍/untrustworthy person; rogue; scoundrel. Any politician nicknamed Tricky Dick clearly has the reputation of a knave. knavery, N.

filament

N. /灯丝；精细的织物或线/fine thread or fiber; threadlike structure within a light bulb. A ray of sunlight illuminated the filaments of the spider web, turning the web into a net of gold.

psyche

N. /灵魂/soul; mind. It is difficult to delve into the psyche of a human being.

foil

N. /烘托；衬托/contrast. In Star Wars, dark, evil Darth Vader is a perfect foil for fair-haired, naive Luke Skywalker.

ovation

N. /热情洋溢的喝彩/enthusiastic applause. When the popular tenor Placido Domingo came on stage in the first act of La Boheme, he was greeted by a tremendous ovation.

fervor

N. /热情；激情/glowing ardor; intensity of feeling. At the protest rally, the students cheered the strikers and booed the dean with equal fervor.

fusion

N. /熔合；熔接/union; coalition. The opponents of the political party in power organized a fusion of disgruntled groups and became an important element in the election.

gusto

N. /爱好，嗜好；喜欢/enjoyment; enthusiasm. He accepted the assign¬ment with such gusto that I feel he would have been satis¬fied with a smaller salary.

pragmatist

N. /爱管闲事的人；实用主义者/practical person. No pragmatist enjoys becoming involved in a game he can never win.

heresy

N. /少数意见，异端/opinion contrary to popular belief; opinion con¬trary to accepted religion. Galileo's assertion that the earth moved around the sun directly contradicted the religious teachings of his day; as a result, he was tried for heresy. heretic, N.

modicum

N. /少量/limited quantity. Although his story is based on a modicum of truth, most of the events he describes are fictitious.

paucity

N. /少量；缺乏/scarcity. They closed the restaurant because the paucity of customers made it uneconomical to operate.

gadfly

N. /牛蝇；招人烦的人/animal-biting fly; an irritating person. Like a gad¬fly, he irritated all the guests at the hotel; within forty-eight hours, everyone regarded him as an annoying busybody.

pachyderm

N. /皮厚的动物（如大象）/thick-skinned animal. The elephant is prob¬ably the best-known pachyderm.

larceny

N. /盗窃/theft. Because of the prisoner's record, the dis¬trict attorney refused to reduce the charge from grand lar¬ceny to petty larceny.

objective

N. /目标/goal; aim. A degree in medicine was her ulti¬mate objective.

intuition

N. /直觉/immediate insight; power of knowing without reasoning. Even though Tony denied that anything was wrong, Tina trusted her intuition that something was bother¬ing him. intuitive,ADJ.

relic

N. /纪念物；废墟，遗留/surviving remnant; memento. Egypt's Department of Antiquities prohibits tourists from taking mummies and other ancient relics out of the country. Mike keeps his photos of his trip to Egypt in a box with other relics of his travels.

pyromaniac

N. /纵火狂/person with an insane desire to set things on fire. The detectives searched the area for the pyroma¬niac who had set these costly fires.

incendiary

N. /纵火者/arsonist. The fire spread in such an unusual manner that the fire department chiefs were certain that it had been set by an incendiary. alsoADJ.

papyrus

N. /纸草；草纸（古代的）/ancient paper made from stem of papyrus plant. The ancient Egyptians were among the first to write on papyrus.

nuance

N. /细微差别/shade of difference in meaning or color; subtle distinction. Jody gazed at the Monet landscape for an hour, appreciating every subtle nuance of color in the painting.

minutiae

N. /细节；细微之处/petty details. She would have liked to ignore the minutiae of daily living.

perennial

N. /终年的；永久的/something that is continuing or recurrent. These plants are hardy perennials and will bloom for many years. alsoADJ.

hiatus

N. /缝隙；短暂的空白/gap; interruption in duration or continuity; pause. During the summer hiatus, many students try to earn enough money to pay their tuition for the next school year.

pitfall

N. /缺陷/hidden danger; concealed trap. Her parents warned young Sophie against the many pitfalls that lay in wait for her in the dangerous big city.

pulchritude

N. /美丽；标致/beauty; comeliness. I do not envy the judges who have to select this year's Miss America from this collection of female pulchritude.

pterodactyl

N. /翼龙/extinct flying reptile. The remains of ptero¬dactyls indicate that these flying reptiles had a wingspan of as much as twenty feet.

gourmand

N. /老饕/epicure; person who takes excessive plea¬sure in food and drink. Gourmands lack self-restraint; if they enjoy a particular cuisine, they eat far too much of it.

forbearance

N. /耐心/patience. We must use forbearance in dealing with him because he is still weak from his illness.

graft

N. /移植；移植物；嫁接/piece of transplanted tissue; portion of plant inserted in another plant. After the fire, Greg required skin grafts to replace the badly damaged areas on his forearms. alsoV.

paroxysm

N. /突然一阵的，突发的（痛苦，笑，愤怒）/fit or attack of pain, laughter, rage. When he heard of his son's misdeeds, he was seized by a paroxysm of rage.

lout

N. /笨人，呆子/clumsy person. That awkward lout dropped my priceless vase!

fodder

N. /粗饲料；饲养/coarse food for cattle, horses, etc. One of Nancy's chores at the ranch was to put fresh supplies of fodder in the horses' stalls.

gist

N. /精华/essence. She was asked to give the gist of the essay in two sentences.

finesse

N. /精密的技巧/delicate skill. The finesse and adroitness with which the surgeon wielded her scalpel impressed all the observers in the operating room.

quintessence

N. /精粹；精华/purest and highest embodiment. Noel Coward displayed the quintessence of wit.

recidivism

N. /累犯；惯犯/habitual return to crime. Prison reformers in the United States are disturbed by the high rate of recidivism; the number of men serving second and third terms in prison indicates the failure of prisons to rehabilitate the inmates.

prosperity

N. /繁荣；好运/good fortune; financial success; physical well-being. Promising to stay together "for richer, for poorer," the newlyweds vowed to be true to one another in prosperity and hardship alike.

palliate

V. /减轻/lessen the violence of (a disease); alleviate; moderate intensity; gloss over with excuses. Not content merely to palliate the patient's sores and cankers, the researcher sought a means of wiping out the disease. pal¬liative,ADJ.

purge

V. /净化；清除；拉肚子/remove or get rid of something unwanted; free from blame or guilt; cleanse or purify. When the Communist government purged the party to get rid of members sus¬pected of capitalist sympathies, they sent the disloyal mem¬bers to labor camps in Siberia.

levity

N. /轻佻，轻浮/lack of seriousness; lightness. Stop giggling and wriggling around in the pew: such levity is improper in church.

indiscretion

N. /轻率；莽撞/lack of tactfulness or sound judgment. Ter¬rified that the least indiscretion could jeopardize his political career, the novice politician never uttered an unguarded word. indiscreet,ADJ.

misdemeanor

N. /轻罪/minor crime. The culprit pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor rather than face trial for a felony.

peccadillo

N. /轻罪，轻微冒犯/slight offense. When Peter Piper picked a peck of Polly Potter's pickles, did Pete commit a major crime or just a peccadillo?

outskirts

N. /边界；郊区；外围/fringes; outer borders. We lived, not in central London, but in one of those peripheral suburbs that spring up on the outskirts of a great city.

proliferation

N. /迅速增长，倍增；扩散/rapid growth; spread; multiplication. Times of economic hardship inevitably encourage the proliferation of countless get-rich-quick schemes. proliferate,V.

plethora

N. /过剩；过多/excess; overabundance. She offered a plethora of excuses for her shortcomings.

parsimony

N. /过度俭省；吝啬/stinginess; excessive frugality. Furious because her father wouldn't let her buy out the clothing store, Annie accused him of parsimony.

idolatry

N. /过度崇拜/worship of idols; excessive admiration. Such idolatry of singers of country music is typical of the exces¬sive enthusiasm of youth.

profusion

N. /过量；过剩/overabundance; lavish expenditure; excess. Freddy was so overwhelmed by the profusion of choices on the menu that he knocked over his wine glass and soaked his host. He made profuse apologies to his host, the waiter, the bus boy, the people at the next table, and the attendant handing out paper towels.

litany

N. /连续虔诚的祈祷/supplicatory prayer. On this solemn day, the con¬gregation responded to the prayers of the priest during the litany with fervor and intensity.

labyrinth

N. /迷宫/maze. Hiding from Indian Joe, Tom and Becky soon lost themselves in the labyrinth of secret underground caves. labyrinthine,ADJ.

propriety

N. /适当/fitness; correct conduct. Miss Manners coun¬sels her readers so that they may behave with due propriety in any social situation and not embarrass themselves.

quibble

N. /遁词；狡辩；支吾；吹毛求疵/minor objection or complaint. Aside from a few hundred teensy-weensy quibbles about the set, the script, the actors, the director, the costumes, the lighting, and the props, the hypercritical critic loved the play. alsoV.

oblivion

N. /遗忘；赦免/obscurity; forgetfulness. After a decade of pop¬ularity, Hurston's works had fallen into oblivion; no one bothered to read them any more.

legacy

N. /遗赠/a gift made by a will. Part of my legacy from my parents is an album of family photographs.

gravity

N. /重力；严重，庄严，严肃/seriousness. We could tell we were in serious trouble from the gravity of the principal's expression. (sec¬ondary meaning) grave,ADJ.

patina

N. /铜绿；光泽；古色/green crust on old bronze works; tone slowly taken by varnished painting. Judging by the patina on this bronze statue, we can conclude that this is the work of a medieval artist.

misnomer

N. /错误的名字；写错名字；用词不当/wrong name; incorrect designation. His tyrannical conduct proved to all that his nickname, King Eric the Just, was a misnomer.

misapprehension

N. /错误；误解/error; misunderstanding. To avoid misapprehension, I am going to ask all of you to repeat the instructions I have given.

longevity

N. /长命不老/long life. When he reached ninety, the old man was proud of his longevity.

odyssey

N. /长期的冒险旅行/long, eventful journey. The refugee's journey from Cambodia was a terrifying odyssey.

patriarch

N. /长者，家长；酋长，族长/father and ruler of a family or tribe. In many primitive tribes, the leader and lawmaker was the patriarch.

mentor

N. /门特；顾问；导师/teacher. During this very trying period, she could not have had a better mentor, for the teacher was sympathetic and understanding.

phylum

N. /门；语群/major class of plants; primary branch of animal kingdom; division. In sorting out her hundreds of packets of seeds, Katya decided to file them by phylum.

query

N. /问询；质问/inquiry; question. In her column "Ask Beth," the columnist invites young readers to send her their queries about life and love.

interloper

N. /闯入者；干涉者/intruder; unwanted meddler. The merchant thought of his competitors as interlopers who were stealing away his trade.

moodiness

N. /闷闷不乐/fits of depression or gloom. Her recurrent moodiness left her feeling as if she had fallen into a black hole.

farce

N. /闹剧；嘲笑/broad comedy; mockery. Nothing went right; the entire interview degenerated into a farce. farcical,ADJ.

machinations

N. /阴谋，诡计/evil schemes or plots. Fortunately, Bat¬man saw through the wily machinations of the Riddler and saved Gotham City from destruction by the forces of evil.

platitude

N. /陈词滥调/trite remark; commonplace statement. In giving advice to his son, old Polonius expressed himself only in platitudes; every word out of his mouth was a commonplace.

protuberance

N. /隆起；突出；瘤/protrusion; bulge. A ganglionic cyst is a fluid-filled tumor that develops near a joint membrane or tendon sheath, and that bulges beneath the skin, forming a protuberance.

metaphor

N. /隐喻/implied comparison. "He soared like an eagle" is an example of a simile; "He is an eagle in flight," a metaphor.

hermitage

N. /隐居的居所/home of a hermit. Even in his remote her¬mitage he could not escape completely from the world.

recluse

N. /隐遁者；寂寞者/hermit; loner. Disappointed in love, Miss Emily became a recluse; she shut herself away in her empty man¬sion and refused to see another living soul. reclusive,ADJ.

quarantine

N. /隔离/isolation of person or ship to prevent spread of infection. We will have to place this house under quaran¬tine until we determine the exact nature of the disease. alsoV.

hindrance

N. /障碍物/block; obstacle. Stalled cars along the high¬way are a hindrance to traffic that tow trucks should remove without delay. hinder,V.

mischance

N. /霉运；不幸/ill luck. By mischance, he lost his week's salary.

prowess

N. /非常勇猛/extraordinary ability; military bravery. Perform¬ing triple axels and double lutzes at the age of six, the young figure skater was world famous for her prowess on the ice.

furor

N. /非常激动/frenzy; great excitement. The story of her embez¬zlement of the funds created a furor on the Stock Exchange.

pinnacle

N. /顶尖；顶点/peak. We could see the morning sunlight illu¬minate the pinnacle while the rest of the mountain lay in shadow.

presentiment

N. /预感/feeling something will happen; anticipa¬tory fear; premonition. Saying goodbye at the airport, Jack had a sudden presentiment that this was the last time he would see Jill.

prescience

N. /预示能力/ability to foretell the future. Given the current wave of Japan-bashing, it does not take prescience for me to foresee problems in our future trade relations with Japan.

prognosis

N. /预言；疾病警告/forecasted course of a disease; prediction. If the doctor's prognosis is correct, the patient will be in a coma for at least twenty-four hours.

realm

N. /领域/kingdom; field or sphere. In the animal realm, the lion is the king of beasts.

precursor

N. /领跑者，先驱/forerunner. Though Gray and Burns share many traits with the Romantic poets who followed them, most critics consider them precursors of the Romantic Movement, not true Romantics.

mores

N. /风俗习惯/conventions; moral standards; customs. In America, Benazir Bhutto dressed as Western women did; in Pakistan, however, she followed the mores of her people, dressing in traditional veil and robes.

genre

N. /风格（文学、艺术）/particular variety of art or literature. Both a short story writer and a poet, Langston Hughes proved himself equally skilled in either genre.

larder

N. /食品室；储藏室/pantry; place where food is kept. The first thing Bill did on returning home from school was to check what snacks his mother had in the larder.

repast

N. /餐；宴会/meal; feast; banquet. The caterers prepared a delicious repast for Fred and Judy's wedding day.

mosaic

N. /马赛克/picture made of colorful small inlaid tiles. The mayor compared the city to a beautiful mosaic made up of people of every race and religion on earth.

rebuttal

N. /驳斥；举反证/refutation; response with contrary evidence. The defense lawyer confidently listened to the prosecutor sum up his case, sure that she could answer his arguments in her rebuttal.

incrustation

N. /驻扎/hard coating or crust. In dry dock, we scraped off the incrustation of dirt and barnacles that cov¬ered the hull of the ship.

quack

N. /骗子；吹嘘的人/charlatan; impostor. Do not be misled by the exorbitant claims of this quack; he cannot cure you.

jollity

N. /高兴的；欢乐的/gaiety; cheerfulness. The festive Christmas dinner was a merry one, and old and young alike joined in the gen¬eral jollity.

prelate

N. /高级教士/church dignitary. The archbishop of Moscow and other high-ranking prelates visited the Russian Ortho¬dox seminary.

ichthyology

N. /鱼类学/study of fish. Jacques Cousteau's pro¬grams about sea life have advanced the cause of ichthyol¬ogy

pander

V. /低级趣味的；拉皮条/cater to the low desires of others. The reviewer accused the makers of Lethal Weapon of pandering to the masses' taste for violence.

incapacitate

V. /使其无能力/disable. During the winter, many people were incapacitated by respiratory ailments.

intimidate

V. /使害怕/frighten. I'll learn karate and then those big bullies won't be able to intimidate me any more.

nullify

V. /使无效/to make invalid. Once the contract was nullified, it no longer had any legal force.

obscure

V. /使模糊；使暗淡/darken; make unclear. At times he seemed purposely to obscure his meaning, preferring mystery to clarity.

fluster

V. /使混乱，使迷惑/confuse. The teacher's sudden question flus¬tered him and he stammered his reply.

ravel

V. /使混乱；解开混乱，解决混乱/fall apart into tangles; unravel or untwist; entangle. A single thread pulled loose, and the entire scarf started to ravel.

fester

V. /使溃烂，化脓/rankle; produce irritation or resentment. Joe's insult festered in Anne's mind for days, and made her too angry to speak to him.

fleck

V. /使起斑点/spot. Her cheeks, flecked with tears, were testi¬mony to the hours of weeping.

nonplus

V. /使迷惑；使为难；混淆/bring to halt by confusion; perplex. Jack's uncharacteristic rudeness nonplussed Jill, leaving her uncertain how to react.

mortify

V. /侮辱；体罚/humiliate; punish the flesh. She was so mortified by her blunder that she ran to her room in tears.

perpetuate

V. /保护免于灭绝/make something last; preserve from extinc¬tion. Some critics attack The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn because they believe Twain's book perpetuates a false image of Blacks in this country.

invert

V. /倒转，翻转/turn upside down or inside out. When he inverted his body in a handstand, he felt the blood rush to his head. inveterate ADJ. deep-rooted; habitual. An inveterate smoker, Bob cannot seem to break the habit, no matter how hard he tries.

list

V. /倾斜/tilt; lean over. That flagpole should be absolutely vertical; instead, it lists to one side. (secondary meaning)

feign

V. /假装；捏造/pretend. Lady Macbeth feigned illness although she was actually healthy.

filch

V. /偷/steal. The boys filched apples from the fruit stand.

reimburse

V. /偿还/repay. Let me know what you have spent and I will reimburse you.

hoard

V. /储藏/stockpile; accumulate for future use. Whenever there are rumors of a food shortage, many people are tempted to hoard food. also N.

glut

V. /充斥；过量/overstock; fill to excess. The many manufacturers glutted the market and could not find purchasers for the excess articles they had produced. also N.

matriculate

V. /入学/enroll (in college or graduate school). Incoming students formally matriculate at our college in a special ceremony during which they sign the official regis¬ter of students.

foster

V. /养育，培养；鼓励/rear; encourage. According to the legend, Romu¬lus and Remus were fostered by a she-wolf who raised the abandoned infants with her own cubs. alsoADJ.

nurture

V. /养育；教育/nourish; educate; foster. The Head Start pro¬gram attempts to nurture pre-kindergarten children so that they will do well when they enter public school. also N.

hibernate

V. /冬眠/sleep throughout the winter. Bears are one of the many species of animals that hibernate. hibernation, N.

hurtle

V. /冲击；碰撞；急冲/crash; rush. The runaway train hurtled toward dis¬aster.

gape

V. /张着嘴呆看；裂缝/open widely; stare open-mouthed. The huge pit gaped before him; if he stumbled, he would fall in. Slack¬jawed in wonder, Huck gaped at the huge stalactites hang-ing down from the ceiling of the limestone cavern.

meander

V. /弯曲；蜿蜒/wind or turn in its course. Needing to stay close to a source of water, he followed every twist and turn of the stream as it meandered through the countryside.

intrude

V. /强挤入，侵入；强加于人/trespass; enter as an uninvited person. She hes¬itated to intrude on their conversation.

importune

V. /强求；不停的求/beg persistently. Democratic and Republi¬can phone solicitors importuned her for contributions so fre¬quently that she decided to give nothing to either party.

raze

V. /彻底摧毁/destroy completely. Spelling is important: to raise a building is to put it up; to raze a building is to tear it down.

obliterate

V. /彻底摧毁/destroy completely. The tidal wave obliterated several island villages,

levy

V. /征收/impose (a fine); collect (a payment). Crying "No taxation without representation," the colonists demonstrated against England's power to levy taxes.

jabber

V. /快速的说，含混不清的说/chatter rapidly or unintelligibly. Why does the fel¬low insist on jabbering away in French when I can't under¬stand a word he says?

recuperate

V. /恢复/recover. The doctors were worried because the patient did not recuperate as rapidly as they had expected.

rehabilitate

V. /恢复；复原/restore to proper condition. We must reha¬bilitate those whom we send to prison.

implore

V. /恳求/beg. He implored her to give him a second chance.

invoke

V. /恳请，借助于，找来，调用/call upon; ask for. She invoked her advisor's aid in filling out her financial aid forms.

lament

V. /悲伤，恸哭/grieve; express sorrow. Even advocates of the war lamented the loss of so many lives in combat. lamenta¬tion, N.

gall

V. /惹恼；侮辱/annoy; chafe. Their taunts galled him.

perturb

V. /感到不安/disturb greatly. The thought that electricity might be leaking out of the empty light bulb sockets perturbed my aunt so much that at night she crept about the house screw¬ing fresh bulbs in the vacant spots. perturbation, N.

lope

V. /慢跑/gallop slowly. As the horses loped along, we had an opportunity to admire the ever-changing scenery. loquacious ADJ. talkative. Though our daughter barely says a word to us these days, put a phone in her hand and see how loquacious she can be: our phone bills are out of sight! loquacity, N.

loll

V. /懒洋洋的坐或靠/lounge about. They lolled around in their chairs watching television.

quail

V. /懦弱；胆怯/cower; lose heart. The Cowardly Lion was afraid that he would quail in the face of danger.

quell

V. /扑灭；镇压；平息/extinguish; put down; quiet. Miss Minchin's demeanor was so stern and forbidding that she could quell any unrest among her students with one intimidating glance.

impugn

V. /打击；挑战/dispute or contradict (often in an insulting way); challenge; gainsay. Our treasurer was furious when the finance committee's report impugned the accuracy of his financial records and recommended that he should take bonehead math.

perforate

V. /打孔/pierce; put a hole through. Before you can open the aspirin bottle, you must first perforate the plastic safety seal that covers the cap.

primp

V. /打扮/groom oneself with care; adorn oneself. The groom stood by idly while his nervous bride-to-be primped one last time before the mirror.

ratify

V. /批准，认可/approve formally; confirm; verify. Party leaders doubted that they had enough votes in both houses of Con¬gress to ratify the constitutional amendment.

repudiate

V. /批判/disown; disavow. On separating from Tony, Tina announced that she would repudiate all debts incurred by her soon-to-be ex-husband.

preen

V. /把自己打扮漂亮；自我满足；鸟类用嘴梳理羽毛/make oneself tidy in appearance; feel self-satis-faction. As Kitty preened before the mirror, carefully smoothing her shining hair, she couldn't help preening over how pretty she looked.

jettison

V. /投弃货物/throw overboard. In order to enable the ship to ride safely through the storm, the captain had to jettison much of his cargo.

purse

V. /折叠；褶皱；钱包；手提包（女式）/pucker; contract into wrinkles. Miss Watson pursed her lips to show her disapproval of Huck's bedrag¬gled appearance.

faze

V. /折磨，打击/disconcert; dismay. No crisis could faze the resourceful hotel manager.

ogle

V. /抛媚眼；送秋波/look at amorously; make eyes at. At the coffee house, Walter was too shy to ogle the pretty girls openly; instead, he peeked out at them from behind a rubber plant.

quiver

V. /振动的；颤抖的；敏捷的/tremble; shake. The bird dog's nose twitched and his whiskers quivered as he strained eagerly against the leash. also N.

oscillate

V. /振荡/vibrate pendulumlike; waver. It is interesting to note how public opinion oscillates between the extremes of optimism and pessimism.

molt

V. /换毛；褪毛/shed or cast off hair or feathers. When Molly's canary molted, he shed feathers all over the house.

marshal

V. /排序；整理/put in order. At a debate tournament, extempo¬raneous speakers have only a minute or two to marshal their thoughts before they address their audience.

gloss over

V. /掩盖/explain away. No matter how hard he tried to talk around the issue, President Bush could not gloss over the fact that he had raised taxes after all.

mitigate

V. /减轻；减缓；中和/appease; moderate. Nothing Jason did could mitigate Medea's anger; she refused to forgive him for betraying her.

rend

V. /分开；撕开/split; tear apart. In his grief, he tried to rend his garments. rent, N.

ramify

V. /分支；分开/divide into branches or subdivisions. When the plant begins to ramify, it is advisable to nip off most of the new branches.

partition

V. /分裂开来/divide into parts. Before their second daughter was born, Jason and Lizzie decided each child needed a room of her own, and so they partitioned a large bedroom into two small but separate rooms. also N.

prune

V. /切掉；修剪/cut away; trim. With the help of her editor, she was able to prune her overlong manuscript into publishable form.

fraternize

V. /友善/associate in a friendly way. After the game, the members of the two teams fraternized as cheerfully as if they had never been rivals.

refute

V. /反驳/disprove. The defense called several respectable witnesses who were able to refute the false testimony of the prosecution's sole witness. refutation, N.

promulgate

V. /发布；公布/proclaim a doctrine or law; make known by official publication. When Moses came down from the mountain top all set to promulgate God's commandments, he freaked out on discovering his followers worshipping a golden calf.

grouse

V. /发牢骚/complain; fuss. Students traditionally grouse about the abysmal quality of "mystery meat" and similar dormitory food.

germinate

V. /发芽/cause to sprout; sprout. After the seeds ger¬minate and develop their permanent leaves, the plants may be removed from the cold frames and transplanted to the garden.

leaven

V. /发酵/cause to rise or grow lighter; enliven. As bread dough is leavened, it puffs up, expanding in volume.

gratify

V. /取悦/please. Lori's parents were gratified by her suc¬cessful performance on the SAT.

regale

V. /取悦，娱乐，享受/entertain. John regaled us with tales of his adventures in Africa.

rescind

V. /取消/cancel. Because of the public outcry against the new taxes, the senator proposed a bill to rescind the unpopular financial measure.

relent

V. /变宽厚；变温和/give in. When her stern father would not relent and allow her to marry Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett eloped with her suitor. relentless,ADJ.

incorporate

V. /合并，联合/introduce something into a larger whole; combine; unite. Breaking with precedent, President Truman ordered the military to incorporate blacks into every branch of the armed services. alsoADJ.

mock

V. /嘲弄，嘲笑/ridicule; imitate, often in derision. It is unkind to mock anyone; it is stupid to mock anyone significantly big¬ger than you. mockery, N.

gibe

V. /嘲笑/mock. As you gibe at their superstitious beliefs, do you realize that you, too, are guilty of similarly foolish thoughts?

incarcerate

V. /囚禁/imprison. The civil rights workers were will¬ing to be arrested and even incarcerated if by their impris¬onment they could serve the cause.

rebuff

V. /回绝/snub; beat back. She rebuffed his invitation so smoothly that he did not realize he had been snubbed. also N.

placate

V. /安抚/pacify; conciliate. The store manager tried to placate the angry customer, offering to replace the dam¬aged merchandise or to give back her money right away.

inaugurate

V. /开始；开幕；开幕式/start; initiate; install in office. The airline decided to inaugurate its new route to the Far East with a special reduced fare offer. inaugural,ADJ.

prostrate

V. /弄倒；降伏/stretch out full on ground. He prostrated him¬self before the idol. alsoADJ.

quench

V. /弄湿；扑灭；熄灭；淬火/douse or extinguish; assuage or satisfy. No matter how much water the hiker drank, she could not quench her thirst.

gawk

V. /张着嘴呆看/stare foolishly; look in open-mouthed awe. The country boy gawked at the skyscrapers and neon lights of the big city.

propound

V. /提出/put forth for analysis. In your discussion, you have propounded several questions; let us consider each one separately.

promote

V. /提升；促进/help to flourish; advance in rank; publicize. Founder of the Children's Defense Fund, Marian Wright Edelman ceaselessly promotes the welfare of young people everywhere. 0

prompt

V. /提示；鼓动；迅速及时的/cause; provoke; provide a cue for an actor. Whatever prompted you to ask for such a big piece of cake when you're on a diet?

invalidate

V. /摧毁；使无效；弱化/weaken; destroy. The relatives who received little or nothing sought to invalidate the will by claiming that the deceased had not been in his right mind when he had signed the document.

prevaricate

V. /撒谎；支吾，搪塞；糊弄/lie. Some people believe that to prevaricate in a good cause is justifiable and regard such a statement as a "white lie."

impinge

V. /撞击；碰撞/infringe; touch;. collide with. How could they be married without impinging on one another's freedom?

repel

V. /撤退；退却/drive away; disgust. At first, the Beast's ferocious appearance repelled Beauty, but she came to love the ten¬der heart hidden behind that beastly exterior.

garner

V. /收集，储存/gather; store up. She hoped to garner the world's literature in one library.

muster

V. /收集；集合/gather; assemble. Washington mustered his forces at Trenton. also N.

forswear

V. /放弃/renounce; abandon. The captured knight could escape death only if he agreed to forswear Christian¬ity and embrace Islam as the one true faith.

recant

V. /放弃；宣布放弃/disclaim or disavow; retract a previous statement; openly confess error. Those who can, keep true to their faith; those who can't, recant. Hoping to make Joan of Arc recant her sworn testimony, her English captors tried to convince her that her visions had been sent to her by the Devil.

renounce

V. /放弃；断绝关系/abandon; disown; repudiate. Even though she knew she would be burned at the stake as a witch, Joan of Arc refused to renounce her belief that her voices came from God. renunciation, N.

ostracize

V. /放逐/exclude from public favor; ban. As soon as the newspapers carried the story of his connection with the criminals, his friends began to ostracize him. ostracism, N.

indoctrinate

V. /教导；灌输/instruct in a doctrine or ideology. Cuban¬Americans resisted sending Elian Gonzalez back to Cuba because he would be indoctrinated there with Communist principles.

reek

V. /散发（气味）/emit (odor). The room reeked with stale tobacco smoke. also N.

integrate

V. /整合，合并/make whole; combine; make into one unit. She tried to integrate all their activities into one program.

mesmerize

V. /施催眠术/hypnotize. The incessant drone seemed to mesmerize him and place him in a trance.

languish

V. /无力的，憔悴的/lose animation; lose strength. Left at Miss Minchin's school for girls while her father went off to war, Sarah Crewe refused to languish; instead, she hid her grief and actively befriended her less fortunate classmates.

fluctuate

V. /波动的；起伏的，摇摆不定的/waver; shift. The water pressure in our shower fluctuates wildly; you start rinsing yourself off with a trickle, and, two minutes later, a blast of water nearly knocks you down.

heed

V. /注意，关注，留意/pay attention to; consider. We hope you heed our advice and get a good night's sleep before the test. also N.

preclude

V. /消灭；杜绝/make impossible; eliminate. The fact that the band was already booked to play in Hollywood on New Year's Eve precluded their accepting the New Year's Eve gig in London they were offered.

pine

V. /消瘦，憔悴；渴望；松树/languish, decline; long for, yearn. Though she tried to be happy living with Clara in the city, Heidi pined for the mountains and for her gruff but loving grandfather.

obviate

V. /消除；排除；避免/make unnecessary; get rid of. I hope this contri¬bution will obviate any need for further collections of funds.

obtrude

V. /插手，强入，冲出/push (oneself or one's ideas) forward or intrude; butt in; stick out or extrude. Because Fanny was reluctant to obtrude her opinions about child-raising upon her daughter-in-law, she kept a close watch on her tongue. obtrusive,ADJ.

inundate

V. /淹没；吞并/overwhelm; flood; submerge. This semester I am inundated with work: You should see the piles of paper¬work flooding my desk. Until the great dam was built, the waters of the Nile used to inundate the river valley like clockwork every year.

liquidate

V. /清算/settle accounts; clearup. He was able to liqui¬date all his debts in a short period of time.

infiltrate

V. /渗透/pass into or through; penetrate (an organiza¬tion) sneakily. In order to be able to infiltrate enemy lines at night without being seen, the scouts darkened their faces and wore black coveralls. infiltrator, N.

ramble

V. /游荡；漫无目的游荡/wander aimlessly (physically or mentally). Lis¬tening to the teacher ramble, Judy wondered whether he'd ever get to his point.

invigorate

V. /激发；鼓舞/energize; stimulate. A quick dip in the pool invigorated Meg, and with renewed energy she got back to work.

incense

V. /激怒/enrage; infuriate. Cruelty to defenseless ani¬mals incensed Kit: the very idea brought tears of anger to her eyes.

infuriate

V. /激怒，热火/enrage; anger. Her big brother's teasing always infuriated Margaret; no matter how hard she tried to keep her temper, he always got her goat.

provoke

V. /激怒；惹；煽动；挑起/stir to anger; cause retaliation. In order to pre¬vent a sudden outbreak of hostilities, we must not provoke our foe. provocation, N; provocative,ADJ.

rankle

V. /激怒；溃烂；化脓/irritate; fester. The memory of having been jilted rankled him for years.

pique

V. /激起，煽动；激怒/provoke or arouse; annoy. "I know something you don't know," said Lucy, trying to pique Ethel's interest.

ignite

V. /点燃/kindle; light. When Desi crooned, "Baby, light my fire," literal-minded Lucy looked around for some paper to ignite.

kindle

V. /点燃，照亮，激起/start a fire; inspire. One of the first things Ben learned in the Boy Scouts was how to kindle a fire by rub¬bing two dry sticks together. Her teacher's praise for her poetry kindled a spark of hope inside Maya.

harass

V. /烦恼/to annoy by repeated attacks. When he could not pay his bills as quickly as he had promised, he was harassed by his creditors.

nettle

V. /烦恼；激怒；荨麻/annoy; vex. Do not let him nettle you with his sar¬castic remarks.

illuminate

V. /照亮；明朗；澄清/brighten; clear up or make understandable; enlighten. Just as a lamp can illuminate a dark room, a per¬ceptive comment can illuminate a knotty problem.

incite

V. /煽动，刺激，驱使/arouse to action; goad; motivate; induce to exist. In a fiery speech, Mario incited his fellow students to go out on strike to protest the university's anti-affirmative action stand.

low

V. /牛叫，哞/moo. From the hilltop, they could see the herd like ants in the distance; they could barely hear the cattle low.

implicate

V. /牵连，牵扯（犯罪）；暗示/incriminate; show to be involved. Here's the deal: if you agree to take the witness stand and implicate your partners in crime, the prosecution will recommend that the judge go easy in sentencing you.

perpetrate

V. /犯/commit an offense. Only an insane person could perpetrate such a horrible crime.

gorge

V. /狼吞虎咽/stuff oneself. The gluttonous guest gorged him¬self with food as though he had not eaten for days.

pummel

V. /用拳头打/beat or pound with fists. Swinging wildly, Pam pummeled her brother around the head and shoulders.

galvanize

V. /电镀；刺激，激励/stimulate by shock; stir up; revitalize. News that the prince was almost at their door galvanized the ugly stepsisters into a frenzy of combing and primping.

grill

V. /盘问/question severely. In violation of the Miranda law, the police grilled the suspect for several hours before read¬ing him his rights. (secondary meaning)

glower

V. /瞪着，愤怒的看着/scowl. The angry boy glowered at his father.

petrify

V. /石化/turn to stone. His sudden and unexpected appearance seemed to petrify her.

ossify

V. /硬化；骨化；化石化/change or harden into bone. When he called his opponent a "bonehead," he implied that his adversary's brain had ossified to the point that he was incapable of clear thinking.

orient

V. /确定方向；校准/get one's bearings; adjust. Philip spent his first day in Denver orienting himself to the city.

hone

V. /磨尖/sharpen. To make shaving easier, he honed his razor with great care.

grate

V. /磨碎；惹恼；因摩擦发出的刺耳声音/make a harsh noise; have an unpleasant effect; shred. The screams of the quarreling children grated on her nerves.

pulverize

V. /磨碎；粉碎/crush or grind into dust. Before sprinkling the dried herbs into the stew, Michael first pulverized them into a fine powder.

proscribe

V. /禁止/ostracize; banish; outlaw. Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus proscribed all those who had conspired against Julius Caesar.

intimate

V. /私下的，秘密的，亲密的；宣告/hint; suggest. Was Dick intimating that Jane had bad breath when he asked if she'd like a breath mint?

gruel

V. /稀粥；极度紧张/liquid food made by boiling oatmeal, etc., in milk or water. Our daily allotment of gruel made the meal not only monotonous but also unpalatable.

prate

V. /空谈/speak foolishly; boast idly. Let us not prate about our good qualities; rather, let our virtues speak for them¬selves.

protrude

V. /突出/stick out. His fingers protruded from the holes in his gloves. protrusion, N.

lunge

V. /突进，刺，冲/quick forward dive or reach; thrust. The wide receiver lunged forward to grab the football. With his sword, Dartagnan lunged at his adversary.

lumber

V. /笨重的往前走/move heavily or clumsily. Still somewhat torpid after its long hibernation, the bear lumbered through the woods.

granulate

V. /粒化/form into grains. Sugar that has been granu¬lated dissolves more readily than lump sugar. granule, N.

maul

V. /粗手粗脚的处理/handle roughly. The rock star was mauled by his over-excited fans.

rectify

V. /纠正/set right; correct. You had better send a check to rectify your account before American Express cancels your credit card.

peruse

V. /细读/read with care. After the conflagration that burned down her house, Joan closely perused her home insurance policy to discover exactly what benefits her cov¬erage provided her. perusal, N.

loom

V. /织布机/appear or take shape (usually in an enlarged or distorted form). The shadow of the gallows loomed threat¬eningly above the small boy.

knit

V. /编织；结合/contract into wrinkles; grow together. Whenever David worries, his brow knits in a frown. When he broke his leg, he sat around the house all day waiting for the bones to knit.

jeopardize

V. /置于危险之中/endanger; imperil; put at risk. You can't give me a D in chemistry: you'll jeopardize my chances of get¬ting into M.I.T. jeopardy, N.

fetter

V. /羁绊/shackle. The prisoner was fettered to the wall.

mushroom

V. /膨胀，迅速生长/expand or grow rapidly. Between 1990 and 1999, the population of Silicon Valley mushroomed; with the rapidly increasing demand for housing, home prices sky-rocketed as well.

lap

V. /舔食，泼溅/take in food or drink with one's tongue; splash gen¬tly. The kitten neatly lapped up her milk. The waves softly lapped against the pier.

husband

V. /节约/use sparingly; conserve; save. Marathon run¬ners must husband their energy so that they can keep going for the entire distance.

flag

V. /萎缩；衰退/droop; grow feeble. When the opposing hockey team scored its third goal only minutes into the first quarter, the home team's spirits flagged. flagging,ADJ.

replenish

V. /补充/fill up again. Before she could take another backpacking trip, Carla had to replenish her stock of freeze-dried foods.

reproach

V. /表示失望；责备/express disapproval or disappointment. He never could do anything wrong without imagining how the look on his mother's face would reproach him afterwards. reproachful,ADJ.

fret

V. /被激怒/to be annoyed or vexed. To fret over your poor grades is foolish; instead, decide to work harder in the future.

garnish

V. /装饰/decorate. Parsley was used to garnish the boiled potato. also N.

recount

V. /解说，告诉；重新数/narrate or tell; count over again. A born story¬teller, my father loved to recount anecdotes about his early years in New York.

paraphrase

V. /解释；批注；注释/restate a passage in one's own words while retaining thought of author. In 250 wordsaor less, para¬phrase this article. also N.

haggle

V. /讨价还价/argue about prices. I prefer to shop in a store that has a one-price policy because, whenever I haggle with a shopkeeper, I am never certain that I paid a fair price for the articles I purchased.

lampoon

V. /讽刺的/ridicule. This article lampoons the pretensions of some movie moguls. also N.

outstrip

V. /超过/surpass; outdo. Jesse Owens easily out¬stripped his white competitors to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games.

grovel

V. /趴，匍匐/crawl or creep on ground; remain prostrate. Even though we have been defeated, we do not have to grovel before our conquerors.

hover

V. /逗留；盘旋；等待/hang about; wait nearby. The police helicopter hovered above the accident.

linger

V. /逗留；闲逛；流连/loiter or dawdle; continue or persist. Hoping to see Juliet pass by, Romeo lingered outside the Capulet house for hours. Though Mother made stuffed cabbage on Monday, the smell lingered around the house for days.

recast

V. /重建/reconstruct (a sentence, story, etc.); fashion again. Let me recast this sentence in terms your feeble brain can grasp: in words of one syllable, you are a fool.

reiterate

V. /重申；重复/repeat. He reiterated the warning to make sure everyone understood it.

premeditate

V. /预谋，预先考虑/plan in advance. She had premeditated the murder for months, reading about common poisons and buying weed killer that contained arsenic.

forestall

V. /预防/prevent by taking action in advance. By setting up a prenuptial agreement, the prospective bride and groom hoped to forestall any potential arguments about money in the event of a divorce.

fathom

V. /领会；调查，测量/comprehend; investigate. I find his motives impossible to fathom; in fact, I'm totally clueless about what goes on in his mind.

renege

V. /食言；反悔；否认；翻供/deny; go back on. He reneged on paying off his debt.

impel

V. /驱使/drive or force onward. A strong feeling of urgency impelled her; if she failed to finish the project right then, she knew that she would never get it done.

instigate

V. /驱使；激励，鼓动/urge; start; provoke. Rumors of police corrup¬tion led the mayor to instigate an investigation into the department's activities.

filibuster

V. /（发表长篇演讲来）阻挠法案通过/to block legislation by making long speeches. Even though we disapproved of Senator Foghorn's political goals, we were impressed by his ability to filibuster end¬lessly to keep an issue from coming to a vote.

inanimate

ADJ. /了无生气的，死气沉沉的/lifeless. She was asked to identify the still and inanimate body.

mutinous

ADJ. /反抗的；暴动的/unruly; rebellious. The captain had to use force to quiet his mutinous crew. mutiny, N.

luminous

ADJ. /发光的，闪耀的/shining; issuing light. The sun is a luminous body.

ineffable

ADJ. /不可言喻的，无法用语言表达的；不能说的，避讳的/unutterable; cannot be expressed in speech. Such ineffable joy must be experienced; it cannot be described.

pall

V. /厌烦，腻味/grow tiresome. The study of word lists can eventu¬ally pall and put one to sleep.

inevitable

ADJ. /不可避免地/unavoidable. Though death and taxes are both supposedly inevitable, some people avoid paying taxes for years.

recalcitrant

ADJ. /反抗的；顽抗的/obstinately stubborn; determined to resist authority; unruly. Which animal do you think is more recalci¬trant, a pig or a mule?

inopportune

ADJ. /不合时宜的/untimely; poorly chosen. A rock concert is an inopportune setting for a quiet conversation.

inscrutable

ADJ. /不可渗透的；不可理解的，谜/impenetrable; not readily understood; mysterious. Experienced poker players try to keep their expressions inscrutable, hiding their reactions to the cards behind a so-called "poker face."

integral

ADJ. /一体的，完整的/complete; necessary for completeness. Phys¬ical education is an integral part of our curriculum; a sound mind and a sound body are complementary.

impromptu

ADJ. /一时冲动的；即兴的/without previous preparation; off the cuff; on the spur of the moment. The judges were amazed that she could make such a thorough, well-supported presenta¬tion in an impromptu speech.

infallible

ADJ. /一贯正确的/unerring. We must remember that none of us is infallible; we all make mistakes.

partisan

ADJ. /一边倒的/one-sided; prejudiced; committed to a party. On certain issues of principle, she refused to take a partisan stand, but let her conscience be her guide. Rather than join-ing forces to solve our nation's problems, the Democrats and Republicans spend their time on partisan struggles. also N.

recurrent

ADJ. /一遍又一遍发生的；循环发生的/occurring again and again. Richard's recurrent asthma attacks disturbed us and we consulted a physician.

genteel

ADJ. /上流的/well-bred; elegant. We are looking for a man with a genteel appearance who can inspire confidence by his cultivated manner.

repugnant

ADJ. /不一致的；令人讨厌的/loathsome; hateful. She found the snake repugnant and looked on it with loathing and fear.

objective

ADJ. /不为情所动的；公平的/not influenced by emotions; fair. Even though he was her son, she tried to be objective about his behavior.

Impervious

ADJ. /不会被损的；不能渗透的/impenetrable; incapable of being dam¬aged or distressed. The carpet salesman told Simone that his most expensive brand of floor covering was warranted to be impervious to ordinary wear and tear. Having read so many negative reviews of his acting, the movie star had learned to ignore them, and was now impervious to criticism.

incessant

ADJ. /不停的/uninterrupted; unceasing. In a famous TV commercial, the frogs' incessant croaking goes on and on until eventually it turns into a single word: "Bud-weis-er."

inimical

ADJ. /不友好的；敌意的；有害的/unfriendly; hostile; harmful; detrimental. I've always been friendly to Martha. Why is she so inimical to me?

impregnable

ADJ. /不受影响的；无敌的/invulnerable. Until the development of the airplane as a military weapon, the fort was considered impregnable.

immutable

ADJ. /不可动摇的，不能改变的/unchangeable. All things change over time; nothing is immutable.

irrefutable

ADJ. /不可否认的；不能驳倒的/indisputable; incontrovertible; undeniable. No matter how hard I tried to find a good comeback for her argument, I couldn't think of one: her logic was irrefutable.

insuperable

ADJ. /不可战胜的，不能克服的/insurmountable; unbeatable. Though the odds against their survival seemed insuperable, the Apollo 13 astronauts reached earth safely.

incorrigible

ADJ. /不可救药/not correctable. Though Widow Douglass hoped to reform Huck, Miss Watson called him incorrigible and said he would come to no good end.

peerless

ADJ. /不可比较的，不相衡的，无可匹敌的/having no equal; incomparable. The reign¬ing operatic tenor of his generation, to his admirers Luciano Pavarotti was peerless: no one could compare with him.

imperious

ADJ. /专横的/domineering; haughty. Jane rather liked a man to be masterful, but Mr. Rochester seemed so bent on getting his own way that he was actually imperious!

mundane

ADJ. /世俗的；日常的/worldly as opposed to spiritual; everyday. Uninterested in philosophical or spiritual discussions, Tom talked only of mundane matters such as the daily weather forecast or the latest basketball results.

opportune

ADJ. /世纪恰巧的；刚好的/timely; well-chosen. Sally. looked at her father struggling to balance his checkbook; clearly this would not be an opportune moment to ask him for a raise in her allowance.

neutral

ADJ. /中型的；自然的；中庸的，公允的/impartial; not supporting one side over another. Reluctant to get mixed up in someone else's quar¬rel, Bobby tried to remain neutral, but eventually he had to take sides.

luxuriant

ADJ. /丰富的，富足的；丰富多彩；肥沃的/abundant; rich and splendid; fertile. Lady Godiva was completely covered by her luxuriant hair.

provisional

ADJ. /临时的/tentative. Kim's acceptance as an Ameri¬can Express card holder was provisional: before issuing her a card, American Express wanted to check her employment record and credit history.

incumbent

ADJ. /义不容辞的，职责在身的/obligatory; currently holding an office. It is incumbent upon all incumbent elected officials to keep accurate records of expenses incurred in office. also N.

inured

ADJ. /习惯了的，适应了的/accustomed; hardened. She became inured to the Alaskan cold.

pedantic

ADJ. /书生气的/showing off learning; bookish. Leavening his decisions with humorous, down-to-earth anecdotes, Judge Walker was not at all the pedantic legal scholar. pedant, pedantry, N.

opalescent

ADJ. /乳白的/iridescent; lustrous. The oil slick on the water had an opalescent, rainbow-like sheen.

ostentatious

ADJ. /卖弄的；企图惹人注意的；哗众取宠的/showy; pretentious; trying to attract attention. Donald Trump's latest casino in Atlantic City is the most ostentatious gambling palace in the East: it easily out¬glitters its competitors. ostentation, N.

imminent

ADJ. /即将到来，逼近的/near at hand; impending. Rosa was such a last-minute worker that she could never start writing a paper till the deadline was imminent.

offhand

ADJ. /即时的；随意的/casual; done without prior thought. Expecting to be treated with due propriety by her hosts, Great-Aunt Maud was offended by their offhand manner.

irrepressible

ADJ. /压不住的，抑制不住的/unable to be restrained or held back. My friend Kitty's curiosity was irrepressible: she poked her nose into everybody's business and just laughed when I warned her that curiosity killed the cat.

primordial

ADJ. /原始的；与时间同在的/existing at the beginning (of time); rudi¬mentary. The Neanderthal Man is one of our primordial ancestors.

indelible

ADJ. /去不掉的；不可磨灭的/not able to be erased. The indelible ink left a permanent mark on my shirt. Young Bill Clinton's meeting with President Kennedy made an indelible impression on the youth.

muggy

ADJ. /又热又潮的（天气）/warm and damp. August in New York City is often muggy.

hypercritical

ADJ. /及其夸张/excessively exacting. You are hypercriti¬cal in your demands for perfection; we all make mistakes.

imperative

ADJ. /及其重要，及其关键/absolutely necessary; critically important. It is imperative that you be extremely agreeable to Great¬Aunt Maud when she comes to tea: otherwise she might not leave you that million dollars in her will. also N.

pernicious

ADJ. /及具毁灭性的/very destructive. Crack cocaine has had a pernicious effect on urban society: it has destroyed fami¬lies, turned children into drug dealers, and increased the spread of violent crimes.

reactionary

ADJ. /反作用的/recoiling from progress; politically ultra¬conservative. Opposing the use of English in worship ser¬vices, reactionary forces in the church fought to reinstate the mass in Latin.

gustatory

ADJ. /味觉的/affecting the sense of taste. The Thai restaurant offered an unusual gustatory experience for those used to a bland cuisine.

plaintive

ADJ. /哀伤的/mournful. The dove has a plaintive and melancholy call.

mercenary

ADJ. /唯利是图/interested in money or gain. Andy's every act was prompted by mercenary motives: his first question was always "What's in it for me?"

receptive

ADJ. /善于接受的/quick or willing to receive ideas, sugges¬tions, etc. Adventure-loving Huck Finn proved a receptive audience for Tom's tales of buried treasure and piracy.

mercurial

ADJ. /善变的；无常的/capricious; changing; fickle. Quick as quicksilver to change, he was mercurial in nature and there¬fore unreliable.

obstreperous

ADJ. /喧闹的，喧嚣的；任性的/boisterous; noisy. What do you do when an obstreperous horde of drunken policemen goes carous¬ing through your hotel, crashing into potted plants and singing vulgar songs?

olfactory

ADJ. /嗅觉的/concerning the sense of smell. A wine taster must have a discriminating palate and a keen olfactory sense, for a good wine appeals both to the taste buds and to the nose.

horticultural

ADJ. /园艺的/pertaining to cultivation of gardens. When he bought his house, he began to look for flowers and decorative shrubs, and began to read books dealing with horticultural matters.

inherent

ADJ. /固有的，内在的；与生俱来的/firmly established by nature or habit. Katya's inherent love of justice caused her to champion anyone she considered treated unfairly by society.

obstinate

ADJ. /坚定的，倔强的/stubborn; hard to control or treat. We tried to persuade him to give up smoking, but he was obstinate and refused to change. Blackberry stickers are the most obstinate weeds I know: once established in a yard, they're extremely hard to root out. obstinacy, N.

forthright

ADJ. /坦率的；豪爽的/outspoken; straightforward; frank. Never afraid to call a spade a spade, she was perhaps too forth¬rightto be a successful party politician.

outspoken

ADJ. /坦率直言的/candid; blunt. The candidate was too out¬spoken to be a successful politician; he had not yet learned to weigh his words carefully.

moribund

ADJ. /垂死的/dying. Hearst took a moribund, failing weekly newspaper and transformed it into one of the liveli¬est, most profitable daily papers around.

plumb

ADJ. /垂直；铅锤；用铅锤量/checking perpendicularity; vertical. Before hanging wallpaper it is advisable to drop a plumb line from the ceiling as a guide. also N. andV.

hypothetical

ADJ. /基于假设的，设想的，假想的/based on assumptions or hypotheses; supposed. Suppose you are accepted by Harvard, Stan¬ford, and Brown. Which one would you choose to attend? Remember, this is only a hypothetical situation. hypothe¬SiS, N.

knotty

ADJ. /复杂的，错综的；精细的/intricate; difficult; tangled. What to Watson had been a knotty problem, to Sherlock Holmes was simplicity itself.

intricate

ADJ. /复杂的；错综的/complex; knotty; tangled. Philip spent many hours designing mazes so intricate that none of his class¬mates could solve them. intricacy, N.

peripheral

ADJ. /外围的/marginal; outer. We lived, not in central London, but in one of those peripheral suburbs that spring up on the outskirts of a great city.

prolific

ADJ. /多产的；丰富的/abundantly fruitful. My editors must assume I'm a prolific writer: they expect me to revise six books this year!

motley

ADJ. /多彩的，杂色的；混合的/multi-colored; mixed. The jester wore a motley tunic, red and green and blue and gold all patched together haphazardly. Captain Ahab had gathered a motley crew to sail the vessel: old sea dogs and runaway boys, pil¬lars of the church and drunkards, even a tattooed islander who terrified the rest of the crew.

multiform

ADJ. /多态的/having many forms. Snowflakes are multi¬form but always hexagonal.

heterogeneous

ADJ. /异类，异种；不纯/dissimilar; mixed. This year's entering class is a remarkably heterogeneous body: it includes stu¬dents from forty different states and twenty-six foreign countries, some the children of billionaires, others the off¬spring of welfare families. heterogenity, N.

frail

ADJ. /弱的/weak. The delicate child seemed too frail to lift the heavy carton. frailty, N.

mandatory

ADJ. /强制的，命令的；义不容辞的/obligatory. These instructions are manda¬tory, any violation will be severely punished.

obsessive

ADJ. /强迫性的，入迷的；出神的/related to thinking about something con¬stantly; preoccupying. Ballet, which had been a hobby, began to dominate his life: his love of dancing became obsessive. obsession, N.

metaphysical

ADJ. /形而上学的/pertaining to speculative philosophy. The modern poets have gone back to the fanciful poems of the metaphysical poets of the seventeenth century for many of their images. metaphysics, N.

infinitesimal

ADJ. /微小的/very small. In the twentieth century, physi¬cists have made their greatest discoveries about the charac¬teristics of infinitesimal objects like the atom and its parts.

petty

ADJ. /微小的，不重要的/trivial; unimportant; very small. She had no major complaints to make about his work, only a few petty quibbles that were almost too minor to state.

ingenuous

ADJ. /心无城府的；天真的；幼稚的；可信的/naive and trusting; young; unsophisti¬cated. The woodsman had not realized how ingenuous Lit¬tle Red Riding Hood was until he heard that she had gone off for a walk in the woods with the Big Bad Wolf.

obligatory

ADJ. /必须的/binding; required. It is obligatory that books borrowed from the library be returned within two weeks.

melancholy

ADJ. /忧郁/gloomy; morose; blue. To Eugene, stuck in his small town, a train whistle was a melancholy sound, for it made him think of all the places he would never get to see.

problematic

ADJ. /忧郁的；忧心忡忡的；心存疑虑的；有疑问的/doubtful; unsettled; questionable; per¬plexing. Given the way building costs have exceeded esti¬mates for the job, whether the arena will ever be completed is problematic.

jaundiced

ADJ. /患黄疸病的；有偏见的/prejudiced (envious, hostile or resentful); yellowed. Because Sue disliked Carolyn, she looked at Car¬olyn's paintings with a jaundiced eye, calling them formless smears. Newborn infants afflicted with jaundice look slightly yellow: they have jaundiced skin.

lugubrious

ADJ. /悲哀的/mournful. The lugubrious howling of the dogs added to our sadness.

punitive

ADJ. /惩罚的/punishing. He asked for punitive measures against the offender.

inert

ADJ. /惰性的，不活跃的/inactive; lacking power to move. "Get up, you lazybones," she cried to her husband, who lay in bed inert. inertia, N.

irate

ADJ. /愤怒的；生气的/angry. When John's mother found out he had overdrawn his checking account for the third month in a row, she was so irate she could scarcely speak to him.

indolent

ADJ. /懒惰/lazy. Couch potatoes lead an indolent life lying back on their Lazyboy recliners watching Tv. indo¬lence, N.

lackadaisical

ADJ. /懒洋洋的，没上进心的/lacking purpose or zest; halfhearted; languid. Because Gatsby had his mind more on his love life than on his finances, he did a very lackadaisical job of man¬aging his money.

pusillanimous

ADJ. /懦弱的；优柔寡断的/cowardly; fainthearted. You should be ashamed of your pusillanimous conduct during this dispute.

indifferent

ADJ. /普通的，无关紧要的/unmoved or unconcerned by; mediocre. Because Ann felt no desire to marry, she was indifferent to Carl's constant proposals. Not only was she indifferent to him personally, but she felt that, given his general silliness, he would make an indifferent husband.

prevalent

ADJ. /普遍的；流行的/widespread; generally accepted. A radical committed to social change, Reed had no patience with the conservative views prevalent in the America of his day.

lackluster

ADJ. /暗淡的，无光的；单调的/dull. We were disappointed by the lacklus¬ter performance.

murky

ADJ. /暗的，模糊的，暧昧的/dark and gloomy; thick with fog; vague. The murky depths of the swamp were so dark that one couldn't tell the vines and branches from the snakes.

opaque

ADJ. /暗的；不透明的/dark; not transparent. The opaque window shade kept the sunlight out of the room. opacity, N.

nebulous

ADJ. /暧昧的，混浊不清的/vague; hazy; cloudy. After twenty years, she had only a nebulous memory of her grandmother's face.

optimum

ADJ. /最优的/most favorable. If you wait for the optimum moment to act, you may never begin your project. also N.

lunar

ADJ. /月亮的/pertaining to the moon. Lunar craters can plainly seen with the aid of a small telescope.

relevant

ADJ. /有关的；相对的/pertinent; referring to the case in hand. How relevant Virginia Woolf's essays are to women writers today! It's as if Woolf in the 1930s foresaw our current literary struggles. relevancy, N.

lucrative

ADJ. /有利润的/profitable. He turned his hobby into a lucra¬tive profession.

remunerative

ADJ. /有利益的；有报酬的/compensating; rewarding. I find my new work so remunerative that I may not return to my previ¬ous employment. remuneration, N.

personable

ADJ. /有吸引力的/attractive. The man I am seeking to fill this position must be personable since he will be representing us before the public.

redolent

ADJ. /有味道的；有香味儿的/fragrant; odorous; suggestive of an odor. Even though it is February, the air is redolent of spring.

ominous

ADJ. /有威胁的；恶兆的/threatening. Those clouds are ominous; they suggest a severe storm is on the way.

noxious

ADJ. /有害的/harmful. We must trace the source of these noxious gases before they asphyxiate us.

obscure

ADJ. /模糊的，不明了的，暗淡的/dark; vague; unclear. Even after I read the poem a fourth time, its meaning was still obscure. obscu¬rity, N.

fraudulent

ADJ. /欺骗的/cheating; deceitful. The government seeks to prevent fraudulent and misleading advertising.

overwrought

ADJ. /歇斯底里的/extremely agitated; hysterical. When Kate heard the news of the sudden tragedy, she became too overwrought to work and had to leave the office early.

maternal

ADJ. /母性的/motherly. Many animals display maternal instincts only while their offspring are young and helpless.

grisly

ADJ. /毛骨悚然的；恐怖的，可怕的/ghastly. She shuddered at the grisly sight.

perpetual

ADJ. /永久的/everlasting. Ponce de Leon hoped to find the legendary fountain of perpetual youth.

nomadic

ADJ. /游牧的/wandering. Several nomadic tribes of Indi¬ans would hunt in this area each year.

fraught

ADJ. /满的/filled. Since this enterprise is fraught with danger, I will ask for volunteers who are willing to assume the risks.

potential

ADJ. /潜在的/expressing possibility; latent. This juvenile delinquent is a potential murderer. also N.

latent

ADJ. /潜在的/potential but undeveloped; dormant; hidden. Polaroid pictures are popular at parties, because you can see the latent photographic image gradually appear before your eyes.

humid

ADJ. /潮湿的/damp. She could not stand the humid climate and moved to a drier area.

hoary

ADJ. /灰白的/white with age. The man was hoary and wrin¬kled when he was 70.

provocative

ADJ. /煽动的；刺激的；激怒的/arousing anger or interest; annoying. In a typically provocative act, the bully kicked sand into the weaker man's face.

lachrymose

ADJ. /爱哭的/producing tears. His voice has a lachry¬mose quality more appropriate to a funeral than a class reunion.

pert

ADJ. /爱管闲事的，无理的/impertinent; forward. I think your pert and impu¬dent remarks call for an apology.

meddlesome

ADJ. /爱管闲事的；好事的；好插手的/interfering. He felt his marriage was suf¬fering because of his meddlesome mother-in-law.

ingrained

ADJ. /牢固的；深深扎根的；深入人心的/deeply established; firmly rooted. Try as they would, the missionaries were unable to uproot the ingrained superstitions of the natives.

material

ADJ. /物质的；重要的/made of physical matter; unspiritual; impor¬tant. Probing the mysteries of this material world has always fascinated physicist George Whitesides. Reporters nick-named Madonna the Material Girl because, despite her name, she seemed wholly uninterested in spiritual values. Lexy's active participation made a material difference to the success of the fund-raiser.

irresolute

ADJ. /犹豫不决的/uncertain how to act; weak. Once you have made your decision, don't waver; a leader should never appear irresolute.

halting

ADJ. /犹豫的/hesitant; faltering. Novice extemporaneous speakers often talk in a halting fashion as they grope for the right words.

frantic

ADJ. /狂乱/wild. At the time of the collision, many people became frantic with fear.

frenzied

ADJ. /狂乱的/madly excited. As soon as they smelled smoke, the frenzied animals milled about in their cages.

rabid

ADJ. /狂暴的；激烈的/like a fanatic; furious. He was a rabid follower of the Dodgers and watched them play whenever he could go to the ball park.

inimitable

ADJ. /独一无二的，独特的；防伪的，难以模仿的/matchless; not able to be imitated. We admire Auden for his inimitable use of language; he is one of a kind.

parochial

ADJ. /狭小的，地方的/narrow in outlook; provincial; related to parishes. Although Jane Austen sets her novels in small rural communities, her concerns are universal, not parochial,

rampant

ADJ. /猖獗的；滋生的；猛烈的/growing in profusion; unrestrained. The ram¬pant weeds in the garden choked the flowers until they died.

remiss

ADJ. /玩忽职守的，粗心大意的/negligent. The guard was accused of being remiss in his duty when the prisoner escaped.

physiological

ADJ. /生理学的/pertaining to the science of the function of living organisms. To understand this disease fully, we must examine not only its physiological aspects but also its psychological elements.

pastoral

ADJ. /田园的；乡下的/rural. In these stories of pastoral life, we find an understanding of the daily tasks of country folk.

maniacal

ADJ. /疯狂的；无理智的/raging mad; insane. Though Mr. Rochester had locked his mad wife in the attic, he could still hear her maniacal laughter echoing throughout the house.

indefatigable

ADJ. /疲倦/tireless. Although the effort of taking out the garbage tired Wayne out for the entire morning, when it came to partying, he was indefatigable.

jaded

ADJ. /疲倦的/fatigued; surfeited. He looked for exotic foods to stimulate his jaded appetite.

languid

ADJ. /疲倦的，无精打采的/weary; sluggish; listless. Her siege of illness left her languid and pallid.

morbid

ADJ. /病态的，恐怖的；喜怒无常的；不成熟的/given to unwholesome thought; moody; char¬acteristic of disease. People who come to disaster sites just to peer at the grisly wreckage are indulging their morbid curiosity.

pathological

ADJ. /病理学/related to the study of disease; diseased or markedly abnormal. Jerome's pathological fear of germs led him to wash his hands a hundred times a day. pathol¬ogy, N.

harrowing

ADJ. /痛苦；悲怆/agonizing; distressing; traumatic. At first the former prisoner did not wish to discuss his harrowing months of captivity as a political hostage.

meager

ADJ. /瘦的；贫乏的，不足的/scanty; inadequate. Still hungry after his meager serving of porridge, Oliver Twist asked for a sec¬ond helping.

gaunt

ADJ. /瘦骨嶙峋，憔悴；荒芜/lean and angular; barren. His once round face looked surprisingly gaunt after he had lost weight.

incandescent

ADJ. /白炽的/strikingly bright; shining with intense heat. If you leave on an incandescent light bulb, it quickly grows too hot to touch.

regal

ADJ. /皇家的/royal. Prince Albert had a regal manner.

provincial

ADJ. /省级的；视野不宽的；简单的/pertaining to a province; limited in outlook; unsophisticated. As provincial governor, Sir Henry adminis¬tered the Queen's law in his remote corner of Canada. Caught up in local problems, out of touch with London news, he became sadly provincial.

giddy

ADJ. /眼花缭乱/light-hearted; dizzy. He felt his giddy youth was past.

quiescent

ADJ. /睡眠的；休息的；暂停活动的/at rest; dormant; temporarily inactive. After the great eruption, fear of Mount Etna was great; people did not return to cultivate its rich hillside lands until the volcano had been quiescent for a full two years. quiescence, N.

fugitive

ADJ. /短暂的，易变的；流动的/fleeting or transitory; roving. The film brought a few fugitive images to her mind, but on the whole it made no lasting impression upon her.

insolvent

ADJ. /破产/bankrupt; unable to repay one's debts. Although young Lord Widgeon was insolvent, he had no fear of being thrown into debtors' prison, for he was sure that if his creditors pressed him for payment his wealthy parents would repay what he owed. insolvency, N.

headstrong

ADJ. /硬脖子；任性；不屈/stubborn; willful; unyielding. Because she refused to marry the man her parents had chosen for her, everyone scolded Minna and called her a foolish head-strong girl.

gregarious

ADJ. /社交的；群居/sociable. Typically, partygoers are gregar¬ious; hermits are not.

oracular

ADJ. /神一样的；谜一样的；超自然的，无法理解的/prophetic; uttered as if with divine authority; mysterious or ambiguous. Like many others who sought divine guidance from the oracle at Delphi, Oedipus could not understand the enigmatic oracularwarning he received.

hallowed

ADJ. /神圣化的/blessed; consecrated. Although the dead girl's parents had never been active churchgoers, they insisted that their daughter be buried in hallowed ground.

queasy

ADJ. /神经质的，洁癖的；易呕吐的/easily nauseated; squeamish. Remember that great chase movie, the one with the carsick passenger? That's right: Queasy Rider!

quaint

ADJ. /离奇古怪的；做的精巧的；过时的/odd; old-fashioned; picturesque. Her quaint clothes and old-fashioned language marked her as an eccentric.

mobile

ADJ. /移动的/movable; not fixed. The mobile blood bank operated by the Red Cross visited our neighborhood today. mobility, N.

migrant

ADJ. /移居的；候鸟的/changing its habitat; wandering. These migrant birds return every spring. also N.

grotesque

ADJ. /稀奇古怪的；怪异/fantastic; comically hideous. On Halloween people enjoy wearing grotesque costumes.

rarefied

ADJ. /稀释（气体）/made less dense (of a gas]. The mountain climbers had difficulty breathing in the rarefied atmosphere. rarefy,V.

impoverished

ADJ. /穷/poor. The loss of their farm left the fam¬ily impoverished and without hope.

indigent

ADJ. /穷困的/poor; destitute. Someone who is truly indi¬gent can't even afford to buy a pack of cigarettes. [Don't mix up indigent and indigenous. See previous sentence.]

quixotic

ADJ. /空想的；狂想的/idealistic but impractical. Constantly coming up with quixotic, unworkable schemes to save the world, Simon has his heart in the right place, but his head some¬where in the clouds.

natty

ADJ. /穿着整齐干净的/neatly or smartly dressed. Priding himself on being a natty dresser, the gangster Bugsy Siegel collected a wardrobe of imported suits and ties.

porous

ADJ. /筛子似的/full of pores; like a sieve. Dancers like to wear porous clothing because it allows the ready passage of water and air.

laconic

ADJ. /简洁的/brief and to the point. Many of the characters portrayed by Clint Eastwood are laconic types: strong men of few words.

Iax

ADJ. /粗心/careless. We dislike restaurants where the service is lax and inattentive.

gauche

ADJ. /粗笨的，粗糙的/clumsy; coarse and uncouth. Compared to the sophisticated young ladies in their elegant gowns, tomboyish Jo felt gauche and out of place.

gruff

ADJ. /粗糙的；粗暴的/rough-mannered. Although he was blunt and gruff with most people, he was always gentle with children.

politic

ADJ. /精明的；明智的；诡计多端的；谨慎的/expedient; prudent; well advised. Even though he was disappointed by the size of the bonus he was offered, he did not think it politic to refuse it.

pithy

ADJ. /精炼的；抓住灵魂的/concise; meaningful; substantial; meaty. While other girls might have gone on and on about how uncool Elton was, Liz summed it up in one pithy remark: "He's bogus!"

precise

ADJ. /精确的/exact. If you don't give me precise directions and a map, I'll never find your place.

inordinate

ADJ. /紊乱的；不受限制的/unrestrained; excessive. She had an inor¬dinate fondness for candy, eating two or three boxes in a single day.

insipid

ADJ. /索然无味的；单调的/lacking in flavor; dull. Flat prose and flat gin¬ger ale are equally insipid: both lack sparkle.

laggard

ADJ. /缓慢的，迟缓的/slow; sluggish. The sailor had been taught not to be laggard in carrying out orders. lag, N.,V.

incontinent

ADJ. /缺乏自制力，放肆/lacking self-restraint; licentious. His incon¬tinent behavior off stage so shocked many people that they refused to attend the plays and movies in which he appeared.

incoherent

ADJ. /缺乏逻辑的，不聪明的；陈腐的/unintelligible; muddled; illogical. The excited fan blushed and stammered, her words becoming almost incoherent in the thrill of meeting her favorite rock star face to face. incoherence, N.

luscious

ADJ. /美味的，甜美的/pleasing to taste or smell. The ripe peach was luscious.

glaring

ADJ. /耀眼的/highly conspicuous; harshly bright. Glaring spelling or grammatical errors in your resume will unfavor¬ably impress potential employers.

lurid

ADJ. /耸人听闻的；可怕的；惨白的；血红的/wild; sensational; graphic; gruesome. Do the lurid cover stories in the Enquirer actually attract people to buy that trashy tabloid?

ingenious

ADJ. /聪明的/clever; resourceful. Kit admired the inge¬nious way that her computer keyboard opened up to reveal the built-in CD-ROM below. ingenuity, N.

perfunctory

ADJ. /肤浅的，不投入的；漠不关心的/superficial; not thorough; lacking interest, care, or enthusiasm. The auditor's perfunctory inspection of the books overlooked many errors. Giving the tabletop only a perfunctory swipe with her dust cloth, Betty promised her¬self she'd clean it more thoroughly tomorrow.

obese

ADJ. /肥胖的/fat. It is advisable that obese people try to lose weight.

perfidious

ADJ. /背信弃义的；不忠的/treacherous; disloyal. When Caesar real¬ized that Brutus had betrayed him, he reproached his per¬fidious friend. perfidy, N.

importunate

ADJ. /胡搅蛮缠的；苛刻的/urging; demanding. He tried to hide from his importunate creditors until his allowance arrived.

petulant

ADJ. /脾气坏的/touchy; peevish. If you'd had hardly any sleep for three nights and people kept phoning and waking you up, you'd sound pretty petulant, too.

reputable

ADJ. /著名的；令人尊敬的/respectable. If you want to buy antiques, look for a reputable dealer; far too many dealers today pass off fakes as genuine antiques.

illusory

ADJ. /虚幻的，不真实的/deceptive; not real. Unfortunately, the costs of running the lemonade stand were so high that Tom's profits proved illusory.

iridescent

ADJ. /虹彩的/exhibiting rainbowlike colors. She admired the iridescent hues of the oil that floated on the surface of the water.

fractious

ADJ. /蛮横倔强的/unruly; disobedient; irritable. Bucking and kicking, the fractious horse unseated its rider.

molten

ADJ. /融化了的/melted. The city of Pompeii was destroyed by volcanic ash rather than by molten lava flowing from Mount Vesuvius.

gory

ADJ. /血腥的/bloody. The audience shuddered as they lis¬tened to the details of the gory massacre.

passive

ADJ. /被动的/not active; acted upon. Mahatma Gandhi urged his followers to pursue a program of passive resis¬tance as he felt that it was more effective than violence and acts of terrorism.

mincing

ADJ. /装腔作势的/affectedly dainty. Yum-Yum walked across the stage with mincing steps.

narrative

ADJ. /解说的/related to telling a story. A born teller of tales, Tillie Olsen used her impressive narrative skills to advantage in her story "I Stand Here Ironing." narrate,V.

obituary

ADJ. /讣告/death notice. I first learned of her death when I read the obituary column in the newspaper. also N.

obnoxious

ADJ. /讨厌的；冒犯的/offensive. I find your behavior obnoxious; please mend your ways.

mnemonic

ADJ. /记忆的/pertaining to memory. He used mnemonic tricks to master new words.

meek

ADJ. /谦卑的，驯服的；温和的；顺从的/quiet and obedient; spiritless. Can Lois Lane see through Superman's disguise and spot the superhero hiding behind the guise of meek, timorous Clark Kent? Mr. Barrett never expected his meek daughter would dare to defy him by eloping with her suitor.

punctilious

ADJ. /谨小慎微的；一丝不苟的/laying stress on niceties of conduct or form; minutely attentive to fine points (perhaps too much so). Percy is punctilious about observing the rules of eti-quette whenever Miss Manners invites him to stay. punctil¬iousness.N.

prudent

ADJ. /谨慎的/cautious; careful. A miser hoards money not because he is prudent but because he is greedy. prudence, N.

garrulous

ADJ. /贫嘴/loquacious; wordy; talkative. My Uncle Henry can out-talk any three people I know. He is the most garrulous person in Cayuga County. garrulity, N.

patrician

ADJ. /贵族的/noble; aristocratic. We greatly admired her well-bred, patrician elegance. also N.

preternatural

ADJ. /超自然的/beyond what is normal in nature. Mal¬colm's mother's total ability to tell when he was lying struck him as almost preternatural.

posthumous

ADJ. /身后的；遗腹的（书出版于作者死后，孩子生于父亲死后）/after death (as of child born after father's death or book published after author's death). The critics ignored his works during his lifetime; it was only after the posthumous publication of his last novel that they recog-nized his great talent.

impecunious

ADJ. /身无分文的/without money. Though Scrooge claimed he was too impecunious to give alms, he easily could have afforded to be charitable.

flaccid

ADJ. /软弱的；无活力的/flabby. His sedentary life had left him with flac¬cid muscles.

frivolous

ADJ. /轻佻的；嬉皮笑脸的/lacking in seriousness; self-indulgently care¬free; relatively unimportant. Though Nancy enjoyed Bill's frivolous, lighthearted companionship, she sometimes won¬dered whether he could ever be serious. frivolity, N.

headlong

ADJ. /轻率的/hasty; rash. The slave seized the unex¬pected chance to make a headlong dash across the border to freedom.

intangible

ADJ. /难以明了的，无形的；暧昧的，模糊的/not able to be perceived by touch; vague. Though the financial benefits of his Oxford post were mea¬ger, Lewis was drawn to it by its intangible rewards: pres¬tige, intellectual freedom, the fellowship of his peers.

impalpable

ADJ. /难以明了，难以觉察的/imperceptible; intangible. The ash is so fine that it is impalpable to the touch but it can be seen as a fine layer covering the window ledge.

implausible

ADJ. /难以置信的；不像是真的/unlikely; unbelievable. Though her alibi seemed implausible, it in fact turned out to be true.

impenetrable

ADJ. /难以进入的；难以渗透的；不可理解的/not able to be pierced or entered; beyond understanding. How could the murderer have got¬ten into the locked room? To Watson, the mystery, like the room, was impenetrable.

monumental

ADJ. /雄伟的；厚重的；结实的；纪念的/massive. Writing a dictionary is a monu¬mental task.

muted

ADJ. /静默的；静音的/silent; muffled; toned down. Thanks to the thick, sound-absorbing walls of the cathedral, only muted traffic noise reached the worshippers within.

heterodox

ADJ. /非主流；异端/unorthodox; unconventional. To those who upheld the belief that the earth did not move, Galileo's the¬ory that the earth circled the sun was disturbingly heterodox.

momentous

ADJ. /非常重要的/very important. When Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium, they had no idea of the momen¬tous impact their discovery would have upon society.

indicative

ADJ. /预示的/suggestive; implying. A lack of appetite may be indicative of a major mental or physical disorder.

prophetic

ADJ. /预言的/foretelling the future. I have no magical prophetic powers; when I predict what will happen, I base my predictions on common sense. prophesy,V.

ravenous

ADJ. /饥饿的/extremely hungry. The ravenous dog upset several garbage pails in its search for food.

lofty

ADJ. /高高在上的/very high. Though Barbara Jordan's fellow stu¬dents used to tease her about her lofty ambitions, she rose to hold one of the highest positions in the land.

infernal

ADJ. /魔鬼的，地狱的/pertaining to hell; devilish. Batman was baf¬fled: he could think of no way to hinder the Joker's infernal scheme to destroy the city.

querulous

ADJ. /鸣不平的；易发牢骚的/fretful; whining. Even the most agreeable toddlers can begin to act querulous if they miss their nap.

musky

ADJ. /麝香味儿的/having the odor of musk. She left a trace of musky perfume behind her.

myopic

ADJ. /鼠目寸光；缺乏远见/nearsighted; lacking foresight. Stumbling into doors despite the coke bottle lenses on his glasses, the nearsighted Mr. Magoo is markedly myopic. In playing all summer long and ignoring to store up food for winter, the grasshopper in Aesop's fable was myopic as well.

hazardous

ADJ. d/危险/angerous. Your occupation is too haz¬ardous for insurance companies to consider your application.

indigenous

ADJ. native. Cigarettes are made of tobacco, a plant indigenous to the New World.

injurious

ADJ./有害的/ harmful. Smoking cigarettes can be injurious to your health.

piecemeal

ADV. /一次一个的，逐个的；渐渐的；碎的/one piece at a time; gradually. Tolstoy's War and Peace is too huge to finish in one sitting; I'll have to read it piecemeal.

inadvertently

ADV. /不经意的/unintentionally; by oversight; care¬lessly. Judy's great fear was that she might inadvertently omit a question on the exam and mismark her whole answer sheet.

imbalance

N. /不平衡，不成比例/lack of balance or symmetry; disproportion. To correct racial imbalance in the schools, school boards have bussed black children into white neighborhoods and white children into black ones.

inconsistency

N. /不一致的，自相矛盾的/state of being self-contradictory; lack of uniformity or steadiness. How are lawyers different from agricultural inspectors? While lawyers check inconsisten¬cies in witnesses' statements, agricultural inspectors check inconsistencies in Grade A eggs. inconsistent,ADJ.

impiety

N. /不敬（对神）；不虔诚/irreverence; lack of respect for God. When members of the youth group draped the church in toilet paper one Halloween, the minister reprimanded them for their impiety.

repository

N. /仓库；知识库；智囊团/storehouse. Libraries are repositories of the world's best thoughts.

inequity

N. /不公平/unfairness. In demanding equal pay for equal work, women protest the basic inequity of a system that gives greater financial rewards to men.

proxy

N. /代理/authorized agent. Please act as my proxy and vote for this slate of candidates in my absence.

hostility

N. /不友好，敌意/unfriendliness; hatred. A child who has been the sole object of his parents' affection often feels hostility toward a new baby in the family, resenting the newcomer who has taken his place.

pretext

N. /借口；托辞/excuse. He looked for a good pretext to get out of paying a visit to his aunt.

impropriety

N. /不合适，不恰当/improperness; unsuitableness. Because of the impropriety of the punk rocker's slashed T-shirt and jeans, the management refused to admit him to the hotel's very formal dining room.

intransigence

N. /不妥协；不让步/refusal of any compromise; stubborn¬ness. The negotiating team had not expected such intransi¬gence from the striking workers, who rejected any hint of a compromise. intransigent,ADJ.

fanfare

N. /号角声/call by bugles or trumpets. The exposition was opened with a fanfare of trumpets and the firing of cannon.

nonentity

N. /不存在/person of no importance; nonexistence. Because the two older princes dismissed their youngest brother as a nonentity, they did not realize that he was qui¬etly plotting to seize the throne.

penury

N. /一贫如洗；穷困潦倒/severe poverty; stinginess. When his pension fund failed, George feared he would end his days in penury. He became such a penny pincher that he turned into a closefisted, penurious miser.

irreverence

N. /不尊敬的/lack of proper respect. Some audience members were amused by the irreverence of the come¬dian's jokes about the Pope; others felt offended by his lack of respect for their faith. irreverent,ADJ.

kaleidoscope

N. /万花筒/tube in which patterns made by the reflection in mirrors of colored pieces of glass, etc., pro¬duce interesting symmetrical effects. People found a new source of entertainment while peering through the kaleido¬scope; they found the ever-changing patterns fascinating.

generality

N. /一般性/vague statement. This report is filled with generalities; be more specific in your statements.

illusion

N. /幻觉/misleading vision. It is easy to create an optical illusion in which lines of equal length appear different.

optimist

N. /乐观者/person who looks on the good side. The pes¬simist says the glass is half-empty; the optimist says it is half-full.

mendicant

N. /乞丐/beggar. "O noble sir, give alms to the poor," cried Aladdin, playing the mendicant.

idiom

N. /习语；成语/expression whose meaning as a whole differs from the meanings of its individual words; distinctive style. The phrase "to lose one's marbles" is an idiom: if I say that Joe's lost his marbles, I'm not asking you to find some for him. I'm telling you idiomatically that he's crazy.

fray

N. /争吵/brawl. The three musketeers were in the thick of the fray.

fracas

N. /争吵；混战/brawl, melee. The military police stopped the fra¬cas in the bar and arrested the belligerents.

limerick

N. /五行打油诗/humorous short verse. The limerick form is the best; its meter is pure anapest. A limerick's fun for most everyone, and the word may occur on your test.

hedonist

N. /享乐主义者/one who believes that pleasure is the sole aim in life. A thoroughgoing hedonist, he considered only his own pleasure and ignored any claims others had on his money or time.

fruition

N. /享用；成就；实现/bearing of fruit; fulfillment; realization. This building marks the fruition of all our aspirations and years of hard work.

geniality

N. /亲切；同情/cheerfulness; kindliness; sympathy. This restaurant is famous and popular because of the geniality of the proprietor who tries to make everyone happy.

intimacy

N. /亲密；隐私/closeness, often affectionate; privacy; familiar¬ity. In a moment of rare intimacy, the mayor allowed the reporters a glimpse of his personal feelings about his fam¬ily. intimate,ADJ.

propinquity

N. /亲近；血缘/nearness; kinship. Their relationship could not be explained as being based on mere propinquity; they were more than relatives, they were true friends.

practitioner

N. /从业者/someone engaged in a profession (law, medicine). In need of a hip replacement, Carl sought a practitioner with considerable experience performing this particular surgery.

hoax

N. /伎俩；小聪明/trick; practical joke. Embarrassed by the hoax, he reddened and left the room. alsoV.

furlough

N. /休假/leave of absence; vacation granted a soldier or civil servant. Dreaming of her loved ones back in the States, the young soldier could hardly wait for her upcom¬ing furlough.

perjury

N. /伪誓；伪证/false testimony while under oath. Rather than lie under oath and perhaps be indicted for perjury, the witness chose to take the Fifth Amendment, refusing to answer any questions on the grounds that he might incriminate himself.

opus

N. /作品/work. Although many critics hailed his Fifth Sym¬phony as his major work, he did not regard it as his major opus.

reconnaissance

N. /侦查/survey of enemy by soldiers; reconnoi¬tering. If you encounter any enemy soldiers during your reconnaissance, capture them for questioning.

indignity

N. /侮辱/offensive or insulting treatment. Although he seemed to accept cheerfully the indignities heaped upon him, he was inwardly very angry.

philistine

N. /俗气的人，无教养的人；心胸狭窄的人/narrow-minded person, uncultured and exclu¬sively interested in material gain. We need more men of cul¬ture and enlightenment; we have too many philistines among us.

missive

N. /信件/letter. The ambassador received a missive from the secretary of state.

frugality

N. /俭省节约/thrift; economy. In economically hard times, anyone who doesn't learn to practice frugality risks bank¬ruptcy. frugal,ADJ.

reparation

N. /修订；弥补；补偿/amends; compensation. At the peace con¬ference, the defeated country promised to pay reparations to the victors.

luster

N. /光泽；光彩/shine; gloss. The soft luster of the silk in the dim light was pleasing.

impunity

N. /免受惩罚/freedom from punishment or harm. A 98¬pound weakling can't attack a beachfront bully with impunity. the poor, puny guy is sure to get mashed.

franchise

N. /公民权；营业执照/right granted by authority; right to vote; busi¬ness licensed to sell a product in a particular territory. The city issued a franchise to the company to operate surface transit lines on the streets for ninety-nine years. For most of American history women lacked the right to vote: not until the early twentieth century was the franchise granted to women. Stan owns a Carvel's ice cream franchise in Chinatown.

linchpin

N. /关键/something that holds or links various parts together. The linchpin in the district attorney's case was a photograph showing the defendant shaking hands with the hired killer.

paradigm

N. /典范；模式/model; example; pattern. Pavlov's experiment in which he trains a dog to salivate on hearing a bell is a paradigm of the conditioned-response experiment in behavioral psychology. Barron's How to Prepare for College Entrance Examinations was a paradigm for all the SAT-prep books that followed.

impostor

N. /冒充者；冒名顶替的人/someone who assumes a false identity. Holmes exposed the doctor as an impostor.

prolixity

N. /冗长的；啰嗦的/tedious wordiness; verbosity. A writer who suf¬fers from prolixity tells his readers everything they never wanted to know about his subject (or were too bored to ask). prolix,ADJ.

nonchalance

N. /冷淡/indifference; lack of concern; composure. Cool, calm, and collected under fire, James Bond shows remarkable nonchalance in the face of danger.

nicety

N. /准确，精密/precision; minute distinction. I cannot distinguish between such niceties of reasoning.

remission

N. /减轻，缓解；宽恕/temporary moderation of disease symptoms; cancellation of a debt; forgiveness or pardon. Though the senator had been treated for cancer, his symptoms were in remission, and he was considered fit enough to handle the strains of a presidential race.

phoenix

N. /凤凰（象征不死和重生、涅磐）/symbol of immortality or rebirth. Like the leg¬endary phoenix rising from its ashes, the city of San Fran¬cisco rose again after its destruction during the 1906 earth¬quake.

molecule

N. /分子/the smallest particle (one or more atoms) of a substance, having all the properties of that substance. In chemistry, we study how atoms and molecules react to form new substances.

ramification

N. /分支；分叉/branching out; subdivision. We must exam¬ine all the ramifications of this problem.

hierarchy

N. /分级，排序了的/arrangement by rank or standing; authoritar¬ian body divided into ranks. To be low man on the totem pole is to have an inferior place in the hierarchy.

founder

N. /创办人/person who establishes (an organization, busi¬ness). Among those drowned when the Titanic sank was the founder of the Abraham & Straus department store.

incentive

N. /刺激，驱动/spur; motive. Mike's strong desire to outshine his big sister was all the incentive he needed to do well in school.

potion

N. /剂量/dose (of liquid). Tristan and Isolde drink a love potion in the first act of the opera.

predecessor

N. /前任；前辈/former occupant of a post. I hope I can live up to the fine example set by my late predecessor in this office.

premonition

N. /前兆/forewarning. We ignored these premoni¬tions of disaster because they appeared to be based on childish fears.

postulate

N. /前提；基于的假定/essential premise; underlying assumption. The basic postulate of democracy, set forth in the Declara¬tion of Independence, is that all men are created equal.

irony

N. /反话；讽刺/hidden sarcasm or satire; use of words that seem to mean the opposite of what they actually mean. Gradually his listeners began to realize that the excessive praise he was lavishing on his opponent was actually irony, he was in fact ridiculing the poor fool.

recrimination

N. /反责；反击/countercharges. Loud and angry recrimi¬nations were her answer to his accusations.

rejoinder

N. /反驳；回应/retort; comeback; reply. When someone has been rude to me, I find it particularly satisfying to come up with a quick rejoinder.

projectile

N. /发射；导弹/missile. Man has always hurled projectiles at his enemy whether in the form of stones or of highly explo¬sive shells.

innovation

N. /发明；变革/change; introduction of something new. Although Richard liked to keep up with all the latest techno¬logical innovations, he didn't always abandon tried and true techniques in favor of something new. innovate,V.

genesis

N. /发源，源头/beginning; origin. Tracing the genesis of a fam¬ily is the theme of Roots.

incidence

N. /发生；发生率；影响的范围、频度；入射角；关联，相结合，对接/rate of occurrence; particular occurrence. Health professionals expressed great concern over the high incidence of infant mortality in major urban areas.

masochist

N. /受虐狂/person who enjoys his own pain. The masochist begs, "Hit me." The sadist smiles and says, "I won't."

mutability

N. /变化能力/ability to change in form; fickleness. Going from rags to riches, and then back to rags again, the bank¬rupt financier was a victim of the mutability of fortune.

metamorphosis

N. /变形/change of form; major transformation. The metamorphosis of caterpillar to butterfly is typical of many such changes in animal life. metamorphose,V.

renegade

N. /变节者/deserter; traitor. Because he had abandoned his post and joined forces with the Indians, his fellow offi¬cers considered the hero of Dances with Wolves a rene¬gade. alsoADJ.

paleontology

N. /古生物学/study of prehistoric life. The paleontology instructor had a superb collection of fossils.

pauper

N. /叫花子；非常可怜的人/very poor person. Though Widow Brown was living on a reduced income, she was by no means a pauper.

malapropism

N. /可笑的用词错误/comic misuse of a word. When Mrs. Mala¬prop accuses Lydia of being "as headstrong as an allegory on the banks of the Nile," she confuses "allegory" and "alli-gator" in a typical malapropism.

orientation

N. /定位（在社会上）/act of finding oneself in society. Freshman ori¬entation provides the incoming students with an opportunity to learn about their new environment and their place in it.

genealogy

N. /家谱/record of descent; lineage. He was proud of his genealogy and constantly referred to the achievements of his ancestors.

parasite

N. /寄生；寄生体/animal or plant living on another; toady; syco¬phant. The tapeworm is an example of the kind of parasite that may infest the human body.

plutocracy

N. /富豪统治/society ruled by the wealthy. From the way the government caters to the rich, you might think our soci¬ety is a plutocracy rather than a democracy.

magnate

N. /富豪，要人；突出的人物，XX大王/person of prominence or influence. Growing up in Pittsburgh, Annie Dillard was surrounded by the man¬sions of the great steel and coal magnates who set their mark on that city.

parable

N. /寓言/short, simple story teaching a moral. Let us apply to our own conduct the lesson that this parable teaches.

oligarchy

N. /寡头政治/government by a privileged few. One small clique ran the student council: what had been intended as a democratic governing body had turned into an oligarchy.

promontory

N. /岬；海角/headland. They erected a lighthouse on the promontory to warn approaching ships of their nearness to the shore.

gorge

N. /峡谷/small, steep-walled canyon. The white-water raft¬ing guide warned us about the rapids farther downstream, where the river cut through a narrow gorge.

magnitude

N. /巨大的，大数量级的/ greatness; extent. It is difficult to compre¬hend the magnitude of his crime.

necromancy

N. /巫术，妖术，招魂术/black magic; dealings with the dead. The evil sorceror performed feats of necromancy, calling on the spirits of the dead to tell the future.

parallelism

N. /平行状态；相似的/state of being parallel; similarity. Although the twins were separated at birth and grew up in different adop¬tive families, a striking parallelism exists between their lives.

lull

N. /平静，安静，暂停，短暂的平息/moment of calm. Not wanting to get wet, they waited under the awning for a lull in the rain.

quietude

N. /平静；宁静/tranquility. He was impressed by the air of qui¬etude and peace that pervaded the valley.

reprise

N. /年金；重奏；重复的行动/musical repetition; repeat performance; recur¬rent action. We enjoyed the soprano's solo in Act I so much that we were delighted by its reprise in the finale.

gambit

N. /弃子抢先/opening in chess in which a piece is sacrificed. The player was afraid to accept his opponent's gambit because he feared a trap which as yet he could not see. gambol V. skip; leap playfully. Watching children gambol-ing in the park is a pleasant experience. also N.

infirmity

N. /弱点/weakness. Her greatest infirmity was lack of willpower.

poignancy

N. /强烈的；感人的；尖锐的/quality of being deeply moving; keenness of emotion. Watching the tearful reunion of the long-separated mother and child, the social worker was touched by the poignancy of the scene. poignant,ADJ.

forte

N. /强项，特殊才能/strong point or special talent. I am not eager to play this rather serious role, for my forte is comedy.

potentate

N. /当权者/monarch; sovereign. The potentate spent more time at Monte Carlo than he did at home on his throne.

fiasco

N. /彻底失败/total failure. Our ambitious venture ended in a fiasco and we were forced to flee.

portent

N. /征兆/sign; omen; forewarning. He regarded the black cloud as a portent of evil.

host

N. /很多；主人；宿主/great number; person entertaining guests; animal or plant from which a parasite gets its nourishment. You must attend to a host of details if you wish to succeed as host of a formal dinner party. Leeches are parasites that cling to their hosts and drink their hosts' blood.

pittance

N. /微薄的薪水/a small allowance or wage. He could not live on the pittance he received as a pension and had to look for an additional source of revenue.

microcosm

N. /微观世界/small world; the world in miniature. The small village community that Jane Austen depicts serves as a microcosm of English society in her time, for in this small world we see all the social classes meeting and mingling.

passport

N. /护照/legal document identifying the bearer as a citi¬zen of a country and allowing him or her to travel abroad. In arranging your first trip abroad, be sure to allow yourself enough time to apply for and receive your passport you won't be allowed to travel without one.

reprisal

N. /报复/retaliation. I am confident that we are ready for any reprisals the enemy may undertake.

qualms

N. /担心，害怕；担惊受怕；愧对良心/misgivings; uneasy fears, especially about mat¬ters of conscience. I have no qualms about giving this assignment to Helen; I know she will handle it admirably.

misgivings

N. /担忧，疑虑/doubts. Hamlet described his misgivings to Horatio but decided to fence with Laertes despite his fore¬boding of evil.

parody

N. /拙劣的模仿/humorous imitation; spoof; takeoff; travesty. The show Forbidden Broadway presents parodies spoofing the year's new productions playing on Broadway.

horde

N. /拥挤/crowd. Just before Christmas the stores are filled with hordes of shoppers.

pugilist

N. /拳击家/boxer. The famous pugilist Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali.

podium

N. /指挥台；检阅台/pedestal; raised platform. The audience applauded as the conductor made his way to the podium.

predator

N. /捕食者/creature that seizes and devours another ani¬mal; person who robs or exploits others. Not just cats, but a wide variety of predators-owls, hawks, weasels, foxes¬catch mice for dinner. A carnivore is by definition predatory, for he preys on weaker creatures.

repulsion

N. /排斥；反驳/distaste; act of driving back. Hating blood¬shed, she viewed war with repulsion. Even defensive bat¬tles distressed her, for the repulsion of enemy forces is never accomplished bloodlessly.

recipient

N. /接受的东西；容器/receiver. Although he had been the recipient of many favors, he was not grateful to his benefactor.

proximity

N. /接近；亲近/nearness. Blind people sometimes develop a compensatory ability to sense the proximity of objects around them.

panegyric

N. /推崇之至/formal praise. Blushing at all the praise heaped upon him by the speakers, the modest hero said, °I don't deserve such panegyrics."

orgy

N. /放荡，旷野；纵酒狂欢/wild, drunken revelry; unrestrained indulgence in a tendency. The Roman emperor's orgies were far wilder than the toga party in the movie Animal House. When her income tax refund check finally arrived, Sally indulged in an orgy of shopping.

regime

N. /政体/method or system of government. When the French mention the Old Regime, they refer to the govern¬ment existing before the revolution.

pedagogy

N. /教育学/teaching; art of education. Though Maria Montessori gained fame for her innovations in pedagogy, it took years before her teaching techniques were common practice in American schools.

homage

N. /敬意/honor; tribute. In her speech she tried to pay homage to a great man.

gamut

N. /整个领域/entire range. In this performance, the leading lady was able to demonstrate the complete gamut of her acting ability.

ramp

N. /斜面；斜坡/slope; inclined plane. The house was built with ramps instead of stairs in order to enable the man in the wheelchair to move easily from room to room and floor to floor.

neophyte

N. /新入教者；新信徒/recent convert; beginner. This mountain slope contains slides that will challenge experts as well as neophytes.

novelty

N. /新奇/something new; newness. The computer is no longer a novelty at work; every desk in our office has one. novel,ADJ.

novice

N. /新手/beginner. Even a novice at working with comput¬ers can install Barron's Computer Study Program for the SAT by following the easy steps outlined in the user's manual.

peregrination

N. /旅程；旅行/journey. Auntie Mame was a world traveler whose peregrinations took her from Tiajuana to Timbuctoo.

itinerary

N. /旅行计划；路线/plan of a trip. Disliking sudden changes in plans when she traveled abroad, Ethel refused to make any alterations in her itinerary.

proletarian

N. /无产阶级的；蓝领的/member of the working class; blue collar person. "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains" is addressed to proletarians, not preppies. So is Blue Collar Holler. proletariat, N.

myriad

N. /无数，非常多/very large number. Myriads of mosquitoes from the swamps invaded our village every twilight. alsoADJ.

immobility

N. /无法移动，不可移动的/state of being immovable. Modern armies cannot afford the luxury of immobility, as they are vulnera¬ble to attack while standing still.

hypochondriac

N. /无病呻吟；忧郁症/person unduly worried about his health; worrier without cause about illness. The doctor prescribed chocolate pills for his patient who was a hypochondriac.

impudence

N. /无礼；厚颜无耻/impertinence; insolence. Kissed on the cheek by a perfect stranger, Lady Catherine exclaimed, "Of all the nerve! Young man, I should have you horse-whipped for your impudence."

log

N. /日志；圆木/record of a voyage or flight; record of day to day activities. "Flogged two seamen today for insubordination" wrote Captain Bligh in the Bounty's log. To see how much work I've accomplished recently, just take a look at the number of new files listed on my computer log.

mode

N. /时尚；方式；模式/prevailing style; manner; way of doing some¬thing. The rock star had to have her hair done in the latest mode: frizzed, with occasional moussed spikes for variety. Henry plans to adopt a simpler mode of life: he is going to become a mushroom hunter and live off the land.

galaxy

N. /星系；一群显赫的人；一系列重要的人或物/large, isolated system of stars, such as the Milky Way; any collection of brilliant personalities. Science fiction stories speculate about the possible existence of life in other galaxies. The deaths of such famous actors as John Candy and George Burns tells us that the galaxy of Holly¬wood superstars is rapidly disappearing.

intellect

N. /智力/higher mental powers. He thought college would develop his intellect.

reprieve

N. /暂缓；缓刑/temporary stay. During the twenty-four-hour reprieve, the lawyers sought to make the stay of execution permanent. alsoV.

inkling

N. /暗示，提示/hint. This came as a complete surprise to me as I did not have the slightest inkling of your plans.

innuendo

N. /暗示，旁侧敲击；暗讽；讽刺，冷嘲热讽/hint; insinuation. I can defend myself against direct accusations; innuendos and oblique attacks on my character are what trouble me.

glutton

N. /暴饮暴食者，饭桶/someone who eats too much. When Mother saw that Bobby had eaten all the cookies, she called him a little glutton. gluttonous,ADJ.

mirage

N. /曲解；海市蜃楼；虚影 /unreal reflection; optical illusion. The lost prospector was fooled by a mirage in the desert.

gentility

N. /有教养，文雅/those of gentle birth; refinement. Her family was proud of its gentility and elegance.

gait

N. /步态，步法；速度/manner of walking or running; speed. The lame man walked with an uneven gait.

remnant

N. /残留物/remainder. I suggest that you wait until the store places the remnants of these goods on sale.

mortician

N. /殡仪业者/undertaker. The mortician prepared the corpse for burial.

perdition

N. /毁灭/damnation; complete ruin. Praying for salva¬tion, young Steven Daedalus feared he was damned to eternal perdition.

recourse

N. /求助；求援/resorting to help when in trouble. The boy's only recourse was to appeal to his father for aid.

meditation

N. /沉思冥想/reflection; thought. She reached her deci¬sion only after much meditation.

maverick

N. /没打烙印的动物；闹独立的人；非国教徒；造反者/rebel; nonconformist. To the masculine literary establishment, George Sand with her insistence on wearing trousers and smoking cigars was clearly a maverick who fought her proper womanly role.

miasma

N. /沼气；瘴气，毒气；天然气/swamp gas; heavy, vaporous atmosphere, often emanating from decaying matter; pervasive corrupting influence. The smog hung over Victorian London like a dark cloud; noisome, reeking of decay, it was a visible miasma.

quagmire

N. /沼泽；湿地/soft wet boggy land; complex or dangerous situation from which it is difficult to free oneself. Up to her knees in mud, Myra wondered how on earth she was going to extricate herself from this quagmire.

ordinance

N. /法令；政令/decree. Passing a red light is a violation of a city ordinance.

jurisprudence

N. /法学/science of law. He was more a student of jurisprudence than a practitioner of the law.

quorum

N. /法定人数/number of members necessary to conduct a meeting. The senator asked for a roll call to determine whether a quorum was present.

influx

N. /注入，流入/flowing into. The influx of refugees into the coun¬try has taxed the relief agencies severely.

nirvana

N. /涅磐/in Buddhist teachings, the ideal state in which the individual loses himself in the attainment of an imper¬sonal beatitude. Despite his desire to achieve nirvana, the young Buddhist found that even the buzzing of a fly could distract him from his meditation.

medley

N. /混合/mixture. To avoid boring dancers by playing any one tune for too long, bands may combine three or four tunes into a medley.

hybrid

N. /混合的，混血的/mongrel; mixed breed. Mendel's formula explains the appearance of hybrids and pure species in breeding. alsoADJ.

malfeasance

N. /渎职；不法行为/wrongdoing. The authorities did not dis¬cover the campaign manager's malfeasance until after he had spent most of the money he had embezzled.

leniency

N. /温和；宽大，仁慈/mildness; permissiveness. Considering the gravity of the offense, we were surprised by the leniency of the sentence.

pantomime

N. /演哑剧/acting without dialogue. Because he worked in pantomime, the clown could be understood wherever he appeared. alsoV.

orator

N. /演讲者/public speaker. The abolitionist Frederick Dou¬glass was a brilliant orator whose speeches brought home to his audience the evils of slavery.

maelstrom

N. /漩涡/whirlpool. The canoe was tossed about in the maelstrom.

infusion

N. /灌输；浸泡；注入/act of introducing or instilling a quality; liquid solution. The rookie quarterback brought an infusion of new life and vigor to the tired team. infuse,V.

gall

N. /痛苦；烦恼；恼怒/bitterness; nerve. The knowledge of his failure filled him with gall.

idiosyncrasy

N. /特性，特质；古怪的，离心的/individual trait, usually odd in nature; eccentricity. One of Richard Nixon's little idiosyncrasies was his liking for ketchup on cottage cheese. One of Hannibal Lecter's little idiosyncrasies was his liking for human flesh. idiosyncratic,ADJ.

prerogative

N. /特权/privilege; unquestionable right. The presi¬dent cannot levy taxes; that is the prerogative of the legisla¬tive branch of government.

malefactor

N. /犯罪分子/evildoer; criminal. Mighty Mouse will save the day, hunting down malefactors and rescuing innocent mice from peril.

hilarity

N. /狂欢，欢闹/boisterous mirth. This hilarity is improper on this solemn day of mourning.

jingoist

N. /狂热好战分子；侵略主义者/extremely aggressive and militant patriot; warlike chauvinist. Always bellowing "America first!," the congressman was such a jingoist you could almost hear the sabers rattling as he marched down the halls. jingoism, N.

guffaw

N. /狂笑，哄笑/boisterous laughter. The loud guffaws that came from the closed room indicated that the members of the committee had not yet settled down to serious business. alsoV.

prey

N. /猎物；受害人，牺牲品/target of a hunt; victim. In Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Euell Gibbons has as his prey not wild beasts but wild plants. alsoV.

quarry

N. /猎物；受害者/Victim; object of a hunt. The police closed in on their quarry.

milieu

N. /环境；（社会）背景/environment; means of expression. Surrounded by smooth preppies and arty bohemians, the country boy from Smalltown, USA, felt out of his milieu. Although he has produced excellent oil paintings and lithographs, his proper milieu is watercolor.

phenomena

N. /现象/observable facts; subjects of scientific investigation. We kept careful records of the phenomena we noted in the course of these experiments.

paraphernalia

N. /琐碎的东西；零碎的随身物品/equipment; odds and ends. His desk was cluttered with paper, pen, ink, dictionary and other paraphernalia of the writing craft.

negligence

N. /疏忽，没能尽力的/neglect; failure to take reasonable care. Tommy failed to put back the cover on the well after he fetched his pail of water; because of his negligence, Kitty fell in.

lassitude

N. /疲乏/languor; weariness. After a massage and a long soak in the hot tub, I gave in to my growing lassitude and lay down for a nap.

malady

N. /疾病/illness. A mysterious malady swept the coun¬try, filling doctors' offices with feverish, purple-spotted patients.

pathos

N. /痛苦，悲怆，哀婉/tender sorrow; pity; quality in art or literature that produces these feelings. The quiet tone of pathos that ran through the novel never degenerated into the maudlin or the overly sentimental.

optician

N. /眼镜商/maker and seller of eyeglasses. The patient took the prescription given him by his oculist} o the optician.

intelligentsia

N. /知识分子；知识界/the intelligent and educated classes [often used derogatorily]. She preferred discussions about sports and politics to the literary conversations of the intelligentsia.

jaunt

N. /短途旅行/trip; short journey. He took a quick jaunt to Atlantic City.

quay

N. /码头/dock; landing place. Because of the captain's carelessness, the ship crashed into the quay.

laceration

N. /破口/torn, ragged wound. The stock car driver needed stitches to close up the lacerations he received in the car crash.

numismatist

N. /硬币收藏家/person who collects coins. The numisma¬tist had a splendid collection of antique coins.

invocation

N. /祈祷/prayer for help; calling upon as a reference or support. The service of Morning Prayer opens with an invocation during which we ask God to hear our prayers.

progenitor

N. /祖先/ancestor. The Roth family, whose progeni¬tors emigrated from Germany early in the nineteenth cen¬tury, settled in Peru, Illinois.

liaison

N. /联络；连音/contact keeping parts of an organization in com¬munication; go-between; secret love affair. As the liaison between the American and British forces during World War II, the colonel had to ease tensions between the leaders of the two armies. Romeo's romantic liaison with Juliet ended in tragedy.

gibberish

N. /胡话；嘟囔/nonsense; babbling. Did you hear that fool boy spouting gibberish about monsters from outer space? gibber,V.

prank

N. /胡闹；打扮/mischievous trick. Is tipping over garbage cans on Halloween merely a childish prank, or is it vandalism?

narcissist

N. /自我陶醉的人；逞能的人/conceited person; someone in love with his own image. A narcissist is her own best friend.

propensity

N. /自然倾向/natural inclination. Convinced of his own tal¬ent, Sol has an unfortunate propensity to belittle the talents of others.

notoriety

N. /臭名昭著的/disrepute; ill fame. To the starlet, any publicity was good publicity: if she couldn't have a good reputation, she'd settle for notoriety. notorious,ADJ.

maxim

N. /至理名言；格言/proverb; a truth pithily stated. Aesop's fables illustrate moral maxims.

pigment

N. /色素/coloring matter. Van Gogh mixed various pig¬ments with linseed oil to create his paints.

hue

N. /色调/color; aspect. The aviary contained birds of every possible hue.

repertoire

N. /节目表；保留节目/list of works of music, drama, etc., a per¬former is prepared to present. The opera company decided to include Madame Butterfly in its repertoire for the follow¬ing season.

fop

N. /花花公子；过分注意衣着的男人/dandy; man excessively concerned with his clothes. People who dismissed young Mizrahi as a fop felt chagrined when he turned into one of the top fashion designers of his day. foppish,ADJ.

rancor

N. /苦难/bitterness; hatred. Thirty years after the war, she could not let go of the past but was still consumed with ran¬cor against the foe.

latitude

N. /范围/freedom from narrow limitations. I think you have permitted your son too much latitude in this matter.

liniment

N. /药膏；擦油/ointment; lotion; salve. The trainer carefully applied the liniment to the quarterback's bruise, gently rub¬bing it into the skin.

nutrient

N. /营养品/nourishing substance. As a budding nutrition¬ist, Kim has learned to design diets that contain foods rich in important basic nutrients.

montage

N. /蒙太奇/photographic composition combining ele¬ments from different sources. In one early montage, Beauchamp brought together pictures of broken man¬nequins and newspaper clippings about the Vietnam War.

piety

N. /虔诚；孝行/religious devotion; godliness. The nuns in the con¬vent were noted for their piety; they spent their days in wor¬ship and prayer. Pious,ADJ.

odium

N. /讨厌；憎恶/detestation; hatefulness; disrepute. Prince Charming could not express the odium he felt toward Cin¬derella's stepsisters because of their mistreatment of poor Cinderella.

nihilist

N. /虚无主义者/one who believes traditional beliefs to be groundless and existence meaningless; absolute skeptic; revolutionary terrorist. In his final days, Hitler revealed him-self a power-mad nihilist, ready to annihilate all of Western Europe, even to destroy Germany itself, in order that his will might prevail. The root of the word nihilist is nihil, Latin for nothing. nihilism, N.

lineage

N. /血统/descent; ancestry. He traced his lineage back to Mayflower days.

precinct

N. /行政区/district or division of a city. Ed McBain's detec¬tive novels set in the 87th precinct provide an exciting picture of police work.

raiment

N. /衣服/clothing. "How can I go to the ball?" asked Cin¬derella. "I have no raiment fit to wear."

redress

N. /补偿；赔偿/remedy; compensation. Do you mean to tell me that I can get no redress for my injuries? also v.

rendition

N. /表演，诠释；翻译/translation; artistic interpretation of a song, etc. The audience cheered enthusiastically as she com¬pleted her rendition of the aria.

languor

N. /衰弱，萧条/lassitude; depression. His friends tried to over¬come the languor into which he had fallen by taking him to parties and to the theater.

protégé

N. /被保护人/person receiving protection and support from a patron. Born with an independent spirit, Cyrano de Berg¬erac refused to be a protégé of Cardinal Richelieu.

incursion

N. /袭击/temporary invasion. The nightly incursions and hit-and-run raids of our neighbors across the border tried the patience of the country to the point where we decided to retaliate in force.

poseur

N. /装模作样的人；邯郸学步/person who pretends to be sophisticated, ele¬gant, etc., to impress others. Some thought Salvador Dali was a brilliant painter; others dismissed him as a poseur.

malingerer

N. /装病的人；假病号/one who feigns illness to escape duty. The captain ordered the sergeant to punish all malingerers and force them to work. malinger,V.

pendant

N. /装饰品；首饰/ornament (hanging from a necklace, etc.) The¬grateful team presented the coach with a silver chain and pendant engraved with the school's motto.

precept

N. /规则/practical rule guiding conduct. "Love thy neigh¬bor as thyself" is a worthwhile precept.

prude

N. /规矩的人；正经人；故作正经的人/excessively modest person. The X-rated film was definitely not for prudes, prudish,ADJ.

persona

N. /角色/public personality or facade. Offstage the comedian was a sullen, irritable grumbler, a far cry from his ever-cheerful adopted stage persona.

liberator

N. /解放者/one who sets free. Simon Bolivar, who led the South American colonies in their rebellion against Spanish rule, is known as the great liberator. liberate,V.

forum

N. /论坛/place of assembly to discuss public concerns; meeting for discussion. The film opens with a shot of the ancient Forum in Rome, where several senators are dis¬cussing the strange new sect known as Christians. At the end of the movie, its director presided over a forum examin¬ing new fashions in filmmaking.

malediction

N. /诅咒/curse. When the magic mirror revealed that Snow White was still alive, the wicked queen cried out in rage and uttered dreadful maledictions.

litigation

N. /诉讼/lawsuit. Try to settle this amicably; I do not want to become involved in litigation. litigant, N.

glossary

N. /词汇表/brief explanation of words used in the text. I have found the glossary in this book very useful; it has elim¬inated many trips to the dictionary.

philology

N. /语言学/study of language. The professor of philology advocated the use of Esperanto as an international lan¬guage.

misconception

N. /误解/mistaken idea. "Sir, you are suffering from a misconception. I do not wish to marry you in the least!"

libel

N. /诽谤；中伤/defamatory statement; act of writing something that smears a person's character. If Batman wrote that the Joker was a dirty, 'rotten, mass-murdering criminal, could the Joker sue Batman for libel?

philanderer

N. /调情；轻佻的人/faithless lover; flirt. Swearing he had never so much as looked at another woman, Ralph assured Alice he was no philanderer.

inquisitor

N. /调查者；盘问者/questioner (especially harsh); investigator. Fearing being grilled ruthlessly by the secret police, Masha faced her inquisitors with trepidation.

palette

N. /调色板/board on which painter mixes pigments. At the present time, art supply stores are selling a paper palette that may be discarded after use.

insurrection

N. /谋反的，造反的/rebellion; uprising. In retrospect, given how badly the British treated the American colonists, the even¬tual insurrection seems inevitable.

humility

N. /谦逊/humbleness of spirit. He spoke with a humility and lack of pride that impressed his listeners.

invective

N. /谩骂；非难；恶言相加/abuse. He had expected criticism but not the invective that greeted his proposal. inveigh,V.

nadir

N. /谷底，最低点；天底/lowest point. Although few people realized it, the Dow-Jones averages had reached their nadir and would soon begin an upward surge.

onus

N. /负担；责任/burden; responsibility. The emperor was spared the onus of signing the surrender papers; instead, he rele¬gated the assignment to his generals.

liability

N. /责任；缺点；债/drawback; debts. Her lack of an extensive vocab¬ulary was a liability that she was eventually able to overcome.

heckler

N. /质问者/person who harasses others. The heckler kept interrupting the speaker with rude remarks. heckle,V.

pariah

N. /贱民；被社会遗弃的人/social outcast. If everyone ostracized singer Mariah Carey, would she then be Mariah the pariah?

gentry

N. /贵族/people of standing; class of people just below nobility. The local gentry did not welcome the visits of the summer tourists and tried to ignore their presence in the community.

largess

N. /赠送；赠礼/generous gift. Lady Bountiful distributed largess to the poor.

purchase

N. /赢得；换得；努力争取得；购买/firm grasp or footing. The mountaineer strug¬gled to get a proper purchase on the slippery rock. (sec¬ondary meaning)

impasse

N. /走投无路；僵局/predicament from which there is no escape; deadlock. In this impasse, all turned to prayer as their last hope.

podiatrist

N. /足病医生/doctor who treats ailments of the feet. He consulted a podiatrist about his fallen arches.

ornithology

N. /鸟类学/study of birds. Audubon's studies of Ameri¬can birds greatly influenced the course of ornithology.

ornithologist

N. /鸟类学家/scientific student of birds. Audubon's drawings of American bird life have been of interest not only to the ornithologists but also to the general public.

plumage

N. /鸟类的羽毛/feathers of a bird. Bird watchers identify differ¬ent species of bird by their characteristic songs and dis¬tinctive plumage.

opiate

N. /鸦片剂；安眠的，止痛的/medicine to induce sleep or deaden pain; some¬thing that relieves emotions or causes inaction. To say that religion is the opiate of the people is to condemn religion as a drug that keeps the people quiet and submissive to those in power.

jargon

N. /黑话，行话，胡话/language used by a special group; technical ter¬minology; gibberish. The computer salesmen at the store used a jargon of their own that we simply couldn't follow; we had no idea what they were jabbering about.

heyday

N. /鼎盛时期/time of greatest success; prime. In their hey¬day, the San Francisco Forty-Niners won the Super Bowl two years running.

refraction

N. /（光线的）折射，弯曲/bending of a ray of light. When you look at a stick inserted in water, it looks bent because of the refrac¬tion of the light by the water.

membrane

N. /（动植物的）膜，薄膜/thin soft sheet of animal or vegetable tissue. Each individual section of an orange is covered with a thin, transparent membrane. membranous,ADJ.

periphery

N. /（圆形的）边缘/edge, especially of a round surface. He sensed that there was something just beyond the periphery of his vision.

fulcrum

N. /（杠杆的）支点/support on which a lever rests. If we use this stone as a fulcrum and the crowbar as a lever, we may be able to move this boulder.

fluency

N. /（语言）流利/smoothness of speech. He spoke French with fluency and ease.

martyr

N./殉道者；殉教者；烈士/ one who voluntarily suffers death for his or her religion or cause; great sufferer. By burning her at the stake, the English made Joan of Arc a martyr for her faith. Mother played the martyr by staying home cleaning the house while the rest of the family went off to the beach.

profane

V. /亵渎/violate; desecrate; treat unworthily. The mem¬bers of the mysterious Far Eastern cult sought to kill the British explorer because he had profaned the sanctity of their holy goblet by using it as an ashtray. alsoADJ.

nauseate

V. /令人作呕的/cause to become sick; fill with disgust. The foul smells began to nauseate him.

permeate

V. /传播；流传/pass through; spread. The odor of frying onions permeated the air.

laud

V. /赞美/praise. The NFL lauded Boomer Esiason's efforts to raise money to combat cystic fibrosis. laudable, lauda¬tory,ADJ.

repress

V. /压迫；压制；压/restrain; crush; oppress. Anne's parents tried to curb her impetuosity without repressing her boundless high spirits.

loathe

V. /厌恶；增武/detest. Booing and hissing, the audience showed how much they loathed the wicked villain.

impair

V. /伤害/injure; hurt. Drinking alcohol can impair your abil¬ity to drive safely; if you're going to drink, don't drive.

maim

V. /伤害/mutilate; injure. The hospital could not take care of all who had been wounded or maimed in the railroad accident.

reciprocate

V. /互给；呼唤；酬答/repay in kind. If they attack us, we shall be compelled to reciprocate and bomb their territory. reci¬procity, N.

generate

V. /产生；创造/cause; produce; create. In his first days in office, President Clinton managed to generate a new mood of optimism; we just hoped he could generate some new jobs.

quaff

V. /一饮而尽/drink with relish. As we quaffed our ale, we lis¬tened to the lively songs of the students in the tavern.

glaze

V. /上釉/cover with a thin and shiny surface. The freezing rain glazed the streets and made driving hazardous. also N.

precipitate

V. /下降；下坠/throw headlong; hasten. The removal of American political support appears to have precipitated the downfall of the Marcos regime.

relinquish

V. /不情愿的屈服，放弃（某物）/give up something with reluctance; yield. Denise never realized how hard it would be for her to relinquish her newborn son to the care of his adoptive par-ents. Once you get used to fringe benefits like expense account meals and a company car, it's very hard to relin¬quish them.

rebuke

V. /严厉批评；猛烈的训斥/scold harshly; criticize severely. No matter how sharply Miss Watson rebuked Huck for his misconduct, he never talked back but just stood there like a stump. also N.

improvise

V. /临时准备；即席创作，现编/compose on the spur of the moment. She would sit at the piano and improvise for hours on themes from Bach and Handel.

refurbish

V. /刷新；修复；擦亮/renovate; make bright by polishing. The flood left a deposit of mud on everything; we had to refurbish our belongings.

goad

V. /刺激；激励；驱策/urge on. He was goaded by his friends until he yielded to their wishes. also N.

impale

V. /刺穿/Pierce. He was impaled by the spear hurled by his adversary.

prod

V. /刺；刺激；激励/poke; stir up; urge. If you prod him hard enough, he'll eventually clean his room.

oust

V. /剥夺；驱逐/expel; drive out. The world wondered if Aquino would be able to oust Marcos from office. ouster, N.

pan

V. /剧烈批评；猛烈抨击/criticize harshly. Hoping for a rave review of his new show, the playwright was miserable when the critics panned it unanimously.

plagiarize

V. /剽窃/steal another's ideas and pass them off as one's own. The teacher could tell that the student had pla¬giarized parts of his essay; she could recognize whole paragraphs straight from Barron's Book Notes.

proselytize

V. /劝其改宗；改宗/convert to a religion or belief. In these inter¬faith meetings, there must be no attempt to proselytize; we must respect all points of view.

propitiate

V. /劝解；平静；安抚/appease. The natives offered sacrifices to propitiate the gods.

induce

V. /劝诱；导致，引起/persuade; bring about. After the quarrel, Tina said nothing could induce her to talk to Tony again. induce¬ment, N.

levitate

V. /升空漂浮（魔法）/float in the air (especially by magical means). As the magician passed his hands over the recumbent body of his assistant, she appeared to rise and levitate about three feet above the table.

rationalize

V. /合理化/give a plausible reason for an action in place of a true, less admirable one; offer an excuse. When David told gabby Gabrielle he couldn't give her a ride to the dance because he had no room in the car, he was rational¬izing; actually, he couldn't stand being cooped up in a car with anyone who talked as much as she did.

gainsay

V. /否认，拒绝/deny. She was too honest to gainsay the truth of the report.

imbibe

V. /吸收/drink in. The dry soil imbibed the rain quickly.

render

V. /呈递；开账单；给予；还以，报以；放弃，投降投降或交出；放弃；描写以文字形式表现，描绘；以图像或绘画表现；演奏，诠释；翻译；正式宣布；裁决；使成为；熔解，精炼；打底/deliver; provide; represent. He rendered aid to the needy and indigent.

rant

V. /咆哮；激昂的演说；斥责/rave; talk excitedly; scold; make a grandiloquent speech. When he heard that I'd totaled the family car, Dad began to rant at me like a complete madman.

relish

V. /品味；享受/savor; enjoy. Watching Peter enthusiastically chow down, I thought, "Now there's a man who relishes a good dinner!" also N.

gloat

V. /垂涎；幸灾乐祸，洋洋得意/express evil satisfaction; view malevolently. As you gloat over your ill-gotten wealth, do you think of the many victims you have defrauded?

plummet

V. /垂直落下/fall sharply. Stock prices plummeted as Wall Street reacted to the crisis in the economy.

inter

V. /埋/bury. They are going to inter the body tomorrow at Broadlawn Cemetery.

lurk

V. /埋伏/stealthily lie in waiting; slink; exist unperceived. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

fundamental

V. /基本的，基础的/basic; primary; essential. The committee discussed all sorts of side issues without ever getting down to addressing the fundamental problem.

replicate

V. /复制/reproduce; duplicate. Because he had always wanted a palace, Donald decided to replicate the Tai Mahal in miniature on his estate.

rally

V. /复原，恢复；召集，集合/call up or summon (forces, vital powers, etc.); revive or recuperate. Washington quickly rallied his troops to fight off the British attack. The patient had been sinking throughout the night, but at dawn she rallied and made a complete recovery.

nip

V. /夹，捏；剪断；阻止/stop something's growth or development; snip off; bite; make numb with cold. The twins were plotting mis¬chief, but Mother intervened and nipped that plan in the bud. The gardener nipped off a lovely rose and gave it to me. Last week a guard dog nipped the postman in the leg; this week the extreme chill nipped his fingers till he could barely hold the mail.

lionize

V. /奉为名人；游览名胜/treat as a celebrity. She enjoyed being lionized and adored by the public.

indenture

V. /契约/bind as servant or apprentice to master. Many immigrants could come to America only after they had indentured themselves for several years. also N.

incubate

V. /孵卵/hatch; scheme. Inasmuch as our supply of electricity is cut off, we shall have to rely on the hens to incubate these eggs.

lull

V. /安抚，平静；换取信任，使其失去警惕/soothe; cause one to relax one's guard; subside. The mother's gentle song lulled the child to sleep. Malcolm tried to come up with a plausible story to lull his mother's suspicions, but she didn't believe a word he said.

pacify

V. /安抚；平静/soothe; make calm or quiet; subdue. Dentists criticize the practice of giving fussy children sweets to pacify them.

founder

V. /完全失败；沉默/fail completely; sink. After hitting the sub¬merged iceberg, the Titanic started taking in water rapidly and soon foundered.

interrogate

V. /审问；讯问/question closely; cross-examine. Knowing that the Nazis would interrogate him about his background, the secret agent invented a cover story that would help him meet their questions.

prevail

V. /导致，促使；击败；盛行/induce; triumph over. He tried to prevail on her to type his essay for him.

intervene

V. /干预；干涉/come between. When two close friends get into a fight, be careful if you try to intervene; they may join forces to gang up on you.

mollify

V. /平息；安抚/soothe. The airline customer service representa¬tive tried to mollify the angry passenger by offering her a seat in first class.

harbor

V. /庇护；隐藏/provide a refuge for; hide. The church harbored illegal aliens who were political refugees.

repeal

V. /废除；撤除/revoke; annul. What would the effect on our soci¬ety be if we decriminalized drug use by repealing the laws against the possession and sale of narcotics?

protract

V. /延长/prolong. Seeking to delay the union members' vote, the management team tried to protract the negotia¬tions endlessly.

initiate

V. /开始，发源/begin; originate; receive into a group. The col¬lege is about to initiate a program in reducing math anxiety among students.

reconcile

V. /抛弃前嫌；不打不相识；结为好友；化解冲突/correct inconsistencies; become friendly after a quarrel. Each month when we try to reconcile our checkbook with the bank statement, we quarrel. However, despite these monthly lovers' quarrels, we always manage to reconcile.

fleece

V. /抢劫；诈骗/rob; plunder. The tricksters fleeced him of his inheritance.

requite

V. /报答；酬谢/repay; revenge. The wretch requited his bene¬factors by betraying them.

refrain

V. /抵制；抵抗；远离，节制/abstain from; resist. Whenever he heard a song with a lively chorus, Sol could never refrain from joining in on the refrain.

palpitate

V. /拍动；跳动；搏动/throb; flutter. As he became excited, his heart began to palpitate more and more erratically.

negate

V. /拒绝，否定，取消/cancel out; nullify; deny. A sudden surge of adrenalin can negate the effects of fatigue: there's nothing like a good shock to wake you up.

prolong

V. /拖延/make longer; draw out; lengthen. Have you ever noticed that Prince Charles's prominent ears make him look like the big-eared character in Mad comics?

prolong

V. /拖延/make longer; draw out; lengthen. In their deter¬mination to discover ways to prolong human life, doctors fail to take into account that longer lives are not always happier ones.

flaunt

V. /招摇；炫耀/display ostentatiously. Mae West saw nothing wrong with showing off her considerable physical charms, saying, "Honey, if you've got it, flaunt it!"

incur

V. /招致/bring upon oneself. His parents refused to pay any future debts he might incur.

ordain

V. /指定；规定；任命；命令/decree or command; grant holy orders; predes¬tine. The king ordained that no foreigner should be allowed to enter the city. The Bishop of Michigan ordained David a deacon in the Episcopal Church. The young lovers felt that fate had ordained their meeting.

relegate

V. /指派；下放；贬/banish to an inferior position; delegate; assign. After Ralph dropped his second tray of drinks that week, the manager swiftly relegated him to a minor post cleaning up behind the bar.

gouge

V. /挖出；撕下/tear out. In that fight, all the rules were forgotten; the adversaries bit, kicked, and tried to gouge each other's eyes out.

quarry

V. /挖掘出，寻找出/dig into. They quarried blocks of marble out of the hillside. also N.

preempt

V. /排挤，代替；阻止；抢占；先发制人/head off; forestall by acting first; appropriate for oneself; supplant. Hoping to preempt any attempts by the opposition to make educational reform a hot political issue, the candidate set out her own plan to revitalize the public schools. preemptive,ADJ.

pillage

V. /掠夺/plunder. The enemy pillaged the quiet village and left it in ruins.

flit

V. /掠过/fly; dart lightly; pass swiftly by. Like a bee flitting from flower to flower, Rose flitted from one boyfriend to the next.

probe

V. /探测/explore with tools. The surgeon probed the wound for foreign matter before suturing it. also N.

modulate

V. /控制；调制到标准；调制（信号）/tone down in intensity; regulate; change from one key to another. Always singing at the top of her lungs, the budding Brunhilde never learned to modulate her voice.

incriminate

V. /控告/accuse. The evidence gathered against the racketeers incriminates some high public officials as well.

impeach

V. /控告，检举；弹劾/charge with crime in office; indict. The angry congressman wanted to impeach the president for his mis¬deeds.

indict

V. /控告；起诉/charge. The district attorney didn't want to indict the suspect until she was sure she had a strong enough case to convince a jury. indictment, N.

infer

V. /推导，总结/deduce; conclude. From the students' glazed looks, it was easy for me to infer that they were bored out of their minds. inference, N.

procrastinate

V. /推迟；延期/postpone; delay or put off. Looking at four years of receipts and checks he still had to sort through, Bob was truly sorry he had procrastinated for so long and not finished filing his taxes long ago.

jostle

V. /推，挤；撞/shove; bump. In the subway he was jostled by the crowds.

insinuate

V. /暗示，含沙射影；慢慢的夺取，巧妙的迂回（进入）/hint; imply; creep in. When you said I looked robust, did you mean to insinuate that I'm getting fat?

imply

V. /暗示；表示/suggest a meaning not expressed; signify. When Aunt Millie said, "My! That's a big piece of pie, young man!" was she implying that Bobby was being a glutton in helping himself to such a huge piece?

misconstrue

V. /曲解/interpret incorrectly; misjudge. She took the passage seriously rather than humorously because she misconstrued the author's ironic tone.

polarize

V. /极化；分化；两极分化/split into opposite extremes or camps. The abortion issue has polarized the country into pro-choice and anti-abortion camps. polarization, N.

grapple

V. /格斗，摔跤/wrestle; come to grips with. He grappled with the burglar and overpowered him.

recapitulate

V. /概括；总结/summarize. Let us recapitulate what has been said thus far before going ahead.

hoodwink

V. /欺骗，迷惑，蛊惑/deceive; delude. Having been hoodwinked once by the fast-talking salesman, he was extremely cau¬tious when he went to purchase a used car.

outwit

V. /欺骗；瞒骗/outsmart; trick. By disguising himself as an old woman, Holmes was able to outwit his pursuers and escape capture.

malign

V. /毒辣的言语；诽谤/speak evil of; bad-mouth; defame. Putting her hands over her ears, Rose refused to listen to Betty malign her friend Susan.

muse

V. /沉思/ponder. For a moment he mused about the beauty of the scene, but his thoughts soon changed as he recalled his own personal problems. also N.

pore

V. /沉思；考察；深思熟虑；小孔，细口/study industriously; ponder; scrutinize. Deter¬mined to become a physician, Beth spent hours poring over her anatomy text.

misrepresent

V. /误传；有意制造误解/give a false or incorrect impression, often deliberately; serve unsatisfactorily as a representative. In his job application, Milton misrepresented his academic background; he was fired when his employers discovered the truth. The reformers accused Senator Gunbucks of mis¬representing his constituents and claimed he took bribes from the NRA.

mediate

V. /调解；仲裁/settle a dispute through the services of an out¬sider. King Solomon was asked to mediate a dispute between two women, each of whom claimed to be the mother of the same child.

inculcate

V. /谆谆教导/teach; instill. In an effort to inculcate religious devotion, the officials ordered that the school day begin with the singing of a hymn.

reprimand

V. /谴责/reprove severely; rebuke. Every time Ermen¬garde made a mistake in class, she was afraid that Miss Minchin would reprimand her and tell her father how badly she was doing in school. also N.

reprove

V. /责备/censure; rebuke. The principal severely reproved the students whenever they talked in the halls.

rail

V. /责骂；斥责；咆哮/scold; rant. You may rail at him all you want; you will never change him.

implement

V. /贯彻，实现；用工具实现/put into effect; supply with tools. The mayor was unwilling to implement the plan until she was sure it had the governor's backing. also N.

patronize

V. /资助；支持/support; act superior toward; be a customer of. Penniless artists hope to find some wealthy art-lover who will patronize them. If some condescending wine steward patronized me because he saw I knew nothing about fine wine, I'd refuse to patronize his restaurant.

impart

V. /赋予；告诉/reveal or tell; grant. Polly begged Grandma to impart her recipe for rugeleh, but her grandmother wouldn't say a word.

parry

V. /躲避/ward off a blow; deflect. Unwilling to injure his opponent in such a pointless clash, Dartagnan simply tried to parry his rival's thrusts. What fun it was to watch Kather¬ine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy parry each other's verbal thrusts in their classic screwball comedies!

flout

V. /轻视；嘲笑；愚弄/reject; mock. The headstrong youth flouted all authority; he refused to be curbed.

propagate

V. /迅速增长，传播，扩散/multiply; spread. Since bacteria propagate more quickly in unsanitary environments, it is important to keep hospital rooms clean.

ingratiate

V. /迎合，讨好；流行开来/become popular with. He tried to ingratiate himself into her parents' good graces.

rejuvenate

V. /返老还童；青春重回/make young again. The charlatan claimed that his elixir would rejuvenate the aged and weary.

muddle

V. /迷惑的；搞乱了的，混淆了的/confuse; mix up. His thoughts were muddled and chaotic. also N.

obfuscate

V. /迷惑，困惑；增加不必要的复杂性/confuse; muddle; cause confusion; make needlessly complex. Was the president's spokesman trying to clarify the Whitewater mystery, or was he trying to obfus¬cate the issue so the voters would never figure out what went on?

mystify

V. /迷惑，蛊惑/bewilder purposely. When doctors speak in medical jargon, they often mystify their patients, who have little knowledge of medical terminology.

glimmer

V. /闪烁/shine erratically; twinkle. In the darkness of the cavern, the glowworms hanging from the cavern roof glim¬mered like distant stars,

prattle

V. /闲聊；胡说；废话；唠叨/babble. Baby John prattled on and on about the cats and his ball and the Cookie Monster.

loiter

V. /闲逛；徘徊/hang around; linger. The policeman told him not to loiter in the alley.

hamper

V. /阻挡，牵制，妨碍/obstruct. The new mother didn't realize how much the effort of caring for an infant would hamper her ability to keep an immaculate house.

impede

V. /阻止；拖延/hinder; block; delay. A series of accidents impeded the launching of the space shuttle.

frustrate

V. /阻碍；挫败/thwart; defeat. We must frustrate this dictator's plan to seize control of the government.

inhibit

V. /限制，防止；阻碍/restrain; retard or prevent. Only two things inhib¬ited him from taking a punch at Mike Tyson: Tyson's left hook, and Tyson's right jab. The protective undercoating on my car inhibits the formation of rust.

mire

V. /陷入（泥塘）；麻烦缠身/entangle; stick in swampy ground. Their rear wheels became mired in mud. also N.

renovate

V. /革新；刷新；修复/restore to good condition; renew. They claim that they can renovate worn shoes so that they look like new ones.

predispose

V. /预先安排，使其偏向于/give an inclination toward; make suscepti¬ble to. Oleg's love of dressing up his big sister's Barbie doll may have predisposed him to become a fashion designer. Genetic influences apparently predispose people to certain forms of cancer.

predetermine

V. /预定；预先确定/predestine; settle or decide beforehand; influence markedly. Romeo and Juliet believed that Fate had predetermined their meeting. Bea gathered estimates from caterers, florists, and stationers so that she could pre¬determine the costs of holding a catered buffet. Philip's love of athletics predetermined his choice of a career in sports marketing.

presage

V. /预示/foretell. The vultures flying overhead presaged the discovery of the corpse in the desert.

portend

V. /预示/foretell; presage. The king did not know what these omens might portend and asked his soothsayers to interpret them.

Word List 27

invincible-laggard'

Word List 21

gainsay-gory

Word List 22

gouge-hiatus

Word List 23

hibernal-imbibe

Word List 24

immaculate-incessant

Word List 25

inchoate-ingenious

Word List 26

ingenue-invigorate

Word List 28

lament-low

Word List 29

lucid-maul

Word List 30

maverick-misrepresent

Word List 31

missile-natty

indices

n. PL. /符号；暗示/signs; indications. Many college admissions officers believe that SAT scores and high school grades are the best indices of a student's potential to succeed in col¬lege. N. SG. index.

Word List 32

nauseate-obsessive

Word List 33

obsolete-pacifist

Word List 34

pacify-peccadillo

Word List 35

pecuniary-philanderer

Word List 36

philanthropist-precedent

Word List 37

precept-propitiate

Word List 38

propitious-quarry

Word List 39

quay-recurrent

Word List 40

redolent-rescind

fervent

ADJ. /炙热的/ardent; hot. She felt that the fervent praise was excessive and somewhat undeserved.

fervid

ADJ. /炙热的/ardent. Her fervid enthusiasm inspired all of us to undertake the dangerous mission.

fallacious

ADJ. /假的；误导的/false; misleading. Paradoxically, fallacious reasoning does not always yield erroneous results: even though your logic may be faulty, the answer you get may nevertheless be correct. fallacy, N.

fell

ADJ. /凶猛的，致命的/cruel; deadly. The newspapers told of the tragic spread of the fell disease.

flabbergasted

ADJ. /大吃一惊；目瞪口呆/astounded; astonished; overcome with surprise. In the film Flubber, the hero invents a remarkable substance whose amazing properties leave his coworkers flabbergasted. flabbergast,V.

fawning

ADJ. /奉承/courting favor by cringing and flattering. She was constantly surrounded by a group of fawning admirers who hoped to win some favor. fawn,V.

fictitious

ADJ. /想象的/imaginary. Although this book purports to be a biography of George Washington, many of the incidents are fictitious.

foolhardy

ADJ. /愚勇的；傻大胆儿/rash. Don't be foolhardy. Get the advice of experienced people before undertaking this venture.

fatuous

ADJ. /愚蠢的；不可理喻的；不理智的/foolish; inane. He is far too intelligent to utter such fatuous remarks.

felicitous

ADJ. /措辞巧妙的；精巧的/apt; suitably expressed; well chosen. He was famous for his felicitous remarks and was called upon to serve as master-of-ceremonies at many a banquet. felicity, N.

festive

ADJ. /欢乐；庆祝/joyous; celebratory. Their wedding in the park was a festive occasion.

figurative

ADJ. /比喻/not literal, but metaphorical; using a figure of speech. "To lose one's marbles" is a figurative expres¬sion; if you're told that Jack has lost his marbles, no one expects you to rush out to buy him a replacement set.

flippant

ADJ. /轻率的，没礼貌的，嬉皮笑脸的/lacking proper seriousness. When Mark told Mona he loved her, she dismissed his earnest declaration with a flippant "Oh, you say that to all the girls!" flippancy, N.

flagrant

ADJ. /非常坏的；残忍的；恶名昭著的/conspicuously wicked; blatant; outrageous. The governor's appointment of his brother-in-law to the State Supreme Court was a flagrant violation of the state laws against nepotism (favoritism based on kinship).

foreboding

N. /不详的预感/premonition of evil. Suspecting no conspira¬cies against him, Caesar gently ridiculed his wife's forebod¬ings about the Ides of March.

formality

N. /仪式；礼节/ceremonious quality; something done just for form's sake. The president received the visiting heads of state with due formality: flags waving, honor guards stand¬ing at attention, anthems sounding at full blast. Signing this petition is a mere formality; it does not obligate you in any way.

feint

N. /假的，淡的，不鲜明的；佯攻/trick; shift; sham blow. The boxer was fooled by his opponent's feint and dropped his guard. alsoV.

forebears

N. /前人；祖先/ancestors. Reverence for one's forebears (sometimes referred to as ancestor worship) plays an important part in many Oriental cultures.

figment

N. /发明；臆造的事务/invention; imaginary thing. That incident never took place; it is a figment of your imagination.

flux

N. /变迁；流动/flowing; series of changes. While conditions are in such a state of flux, I do not wish to commit myself too deeply in this affair.

fatalism

N. /宿命论/belief that events are determined by forces beyond one's control. With fatalism, he accepted the hard¬ships that beset him. fatalistic,ADJ.

foliage

N. /树叶/masses of leaves. Every autumn before the leaves fell he promised himself he would drive through New England to admire the colorful fall foliage.

felicity

N. /欢乐；适当/happiness; appropriateness (of a remark, choice, etc.). She wrote a note to the newlyweds wishing them great felicity in their wedded life.

ford

N. /津；浅滩/place where a river can be crossed on foot. Rather than risk using the shaky rope bridge, David walked a half¬mile downstream until he came to the nearest ford. alsoV.

floe

N. /浮殡冰块；大浮冰/mass of floating ice. The ship made slow progress as it battered its way through the ice floes.

ferment

N. /激怒；挑起骚动、暴乱/agitation; commotion. With the breakup of the Soviet Union, much of Eastern Europe was in a state of fer¬ment.

fancy

N. /爱好；奇特；想象/notion; whim; inclination. Martin took a fancy to paint his toenails purple. Assuming he would outgrow such fanciful behavior, his parents ignored his fancy feet. alsoADJ.

fanaticism

N. /狂热的，盲目的/excessive zeal; extreme devotion to a belief or cause. When Islamic fundamentalists demanded the death of Salman Rushdie because his novel questioned their faith, world opinion condemned them for their fanati¬cism.

finale

N. /结论，结尾，结局/conclusion. It is not until we reach the finale of this play that we can understand the author's message.

foible

N. /缺点；弱点/weakness; slight fault. We can overlook the foibles of our friends; no one is perfect.

fleece

N. /羊毛外套/wool coat of a sheep. They shear sheep of their fleece, which they then comb into separate strands of wool.

fissure

N. /裂缝；分歧/crevice. The mountain climbers secured footholds in tiny fissures in the rock.

flick

N. /轻弹；轻打/light stroke as with a whip. The horse needed no encouragement; one flick of the whip was all the jockey had to apply to get the animal to run at top speed.

felon

N. /重罪犯/person convicted of a grave crime. A convicted felon loses the right to vote.

foment

V. /鼓动，煽动/stir up; instigate. Cheryl's archenemy Heather spread some nasty rumors that fomented trouble in the club. Do you think Cheryl's foe meant to foment such discord?

ferret

V. /侦查；搜出；赶出/drive or hunt out of hiding. She ferreted out their secret.

foil

V. /打击；打败，挫败/defeat; frustrate. In the end, Skywalker is able to foil Vader's diabolical schemes.

flounder

V. /挣扎，辗转；困难地奋斗/struggle and thrash about; proceed clumsily or falter. Up to his knees in the bog, Floyd floundered about, trying to regain his footing. Bewildered by the new software, Flo floundered until Jan showed her how to get started.

fell

V. /放倒，打倒/cut or knock down; bring down (with a missile). Cry¬ing "Timber!" Paul Bunyan felled the mighty redwood tree. Robin Hood loosed his arrow and felled the king's deer.

forsake

V. /放弃/desert; abandon; renounce. No one expected Foster to forsake his wife and children and run off with another woman.

forgo

V. /放弃/give up; do without. Determined to lose weight for the summer, Ida decided to forgo dessert until she could fit into a size eight again.

falter

V. /犹豫；踌躇/hesitate. When told to dive off the high board, she did not falter, but proceeded at once.

flourish

V. /生长；繁荣；装饰/grow well; prosper; decorate with ornaments. The orange trees flourished in the sun.

flinch

V. /畏首畏尾，退缩；犹豫/hesitate, shrink. He did not flinch in the face of danger but fought back bravely.

foreshadow

V. /预言；预测/give an indication beforehand; portend; pre¬figure. In retrospect, political analysts realized that Yeltsin's defiance of the attempted coup foreshadowed his emer-gence as the dominant figure of the new Russian republic.

Word List 20

flippant-gaffe