SAT

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.

accrue

V. /附带的/come about by addition. You must pay the inter¬est that has accrued on your debt as well as the principal sum. accrual, N.

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.

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.

espionage

N. /间谍行为/Spying. In order to maintain its power, the government developed a system of espionage that pene¬trated every household.

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.

temerity

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

Word List 13 deciduous-dermatologist

...

deranged

ADJ. /不理智/insane. He had to be institutionalized because he was mentally deranged.

impoverished

ADJ. /穷/poor. The loss of their farm left the fam¬ily impoverished and without hope.

archaic

ADJ. /过时的/antiquated. "Methinks," "thee," and "thou" are archaic words that are no longer part of our normal vocabulary.

trenchant

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

sinister

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

bestial

ADJ. /残忍的/beastlike; brutal. According to legend, the werewolf was able to abandon its human shape and take on a bestial form.

corpulent

ADJ. /肥胖/very fat. The corpulent man resolved to reduce. corpulence, N.

obese

ADJ. /肥胖的/fat. It is advisable that obese people try to lose weight.

sordid

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

minutiae

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

rectitude

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

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.

Word List 42

sadistic-sentinel

delineate

V. /描绘；描述/portray; depict; sketch. Using only a few descriptive phrases, Austen delineates the character of Mr. Collins so well that we can predict his every move. delin¬eation, N.

mesmerize

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

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.

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.

Word List 23

hibernal-imbibe

warble

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

surfeit

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

intimidate

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

disgruntle

V. /使郁闷/make discontented. The passengers were disgruntled by the numerous delays.

abate

V. /减弱，减少/subside; decrease, lessen. Rather than leaving immediately, they waited for the storm to abate. abate¬ment, N.

exhort

V. /劝诫，忠告/urge. The evangelist exhorted all the sinners in his audience to reform. exhortation, N.

collaborate

V. /协作，合作/work together. Two writers collaborated in preparing this book.

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.

conventional

ADJ. /典型的；普通的/ordinary; typical. His conventional upbringing left him wholly unprepared for his wife's eccen¬tric family.

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.

centigrade

ADJ. /华氏/measure of temperature used widely in Europe. On the centigrade thermometer, the freezing point of water is zero degrees.

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.

transcendent

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

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.

eccentric

ADJ. /古怪的，奇怪的/irregular; odd; whimsical; bizarre. The comet veered dangerously close to the earth in its eccentric orbit. People came up with some eccentric ideas for deal¬ing with the emergency: someone even suggested tieing a knot in the comet's tail!

odious

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

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).

unrequited

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

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.

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.

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.

impermeable

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

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.

delectable

ADJ. /使人愉快的/delightful; delicious. We thanked our host for a most delectable meal.

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.

biased

ADJ. /偏见的，偏差/slanted; prejudiced. Because the judge played golf regularly with the district attorney's father, we feared he might be biased in the prosecution's favor. bias, N.

tendentious

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

robust

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

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?

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.

cherubic

ADJ. /天真无邪/angelic; innocent-looking. With her cheerful smile and rosy cheeks, she was a particularly cherubic child.

defeatist

ADJ. /失败主义者/attitude of one who is ready to accept defeat as a natural outcome. If you maintain your defeatist attitude, you will never succeed. also N.

stilted

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

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.

formidable

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

sportive

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

filial

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

definitive

ADJ. /完全的；最终的/final; complete. Carl Sandburg's Abraham Lincoln may be regarded as the definitive work on the life of the Great Emancipator.

commodious

ADJ. /宽敞，舒适/spacious and comfortable. After sleep¬ing in small roadside cabins, they found their hotel suite commodious.

scrupulous

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

incisive

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

practicable

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

seismic

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

omniscient

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

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.

categorical

ADJ. /无条件；直截了当/without exceptions; unqualified; absolute. Though the captain claimed he was never, never sick at sea, he finally had to qualify his categorical denial: he was "hardly ever" sick at sea.

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.

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.

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.

tempestuous

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

enigmatic

ADJ. /朦胧的；谜一样的/obscure; puzzling. Many have sought to fathom the enigmatic smile of the Mona Lisa.

celibate

ADJ. /未婚的，独身的/unmarried; abstaining from sexual inter¬course. The perennial bachelor vowed to remain celibate. celibacy, N.

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.

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.

variegated

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

draconian

ADJ. /极其严重/extremely severe. When the principal can¬celed the senior prom because some seniors had been late to school that week, we thought the draconian punish¬ment was far too harsh for such a minor violation of the rules.

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.

egotistical

ADJ. /极度自我中心；自以为是，逞能/excessively self-centered; self-important; conceited. Typical egotistical remark: "But enough of this chit-chat about you and your little problems. Let's talk about what's really important: Me!"

balmy

ADJ. /柔和的；芳香的/mild; fragrant. A balmy breeze refreshed us after the sultry blast.

lithe

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

banal

ADJ. /平凡，陈腐，老生常谈/hackneyed; commonplace; trite; lacking origi¬nality. The hack writer's worn-out clich6s made his comic sketch seem banal. He even resorted to the banality of hav¬ing someone slip on a banana peel!

baleful

ADJ. /恶意的，有害的/deadly; having a malign influence; ominous. The fortune teller made baleful predictions of terrible things to come.

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.

vindictive

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

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.

volatile

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

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.

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.

doctrinaire

ADJ. /教条的；顽固的/unable to compromise about points of doctrine; dogmatic; unyielding. Weng had hoped that the student-led democracy movement might bring about change in China, but the repressive response of the doctri¬naire hard-liners crushed his dreams of democracy.

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.

interminable

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

amorphous

ADJ. /无形的，不成形的/formless; lacking shape or definition. As soon as we have decided on our itinerary, we shall send you a copy; right now, our plans are still amorphous.

dispirited

ADJ. /没情绪的，沮丧的/lacking in spirit. The coach used all the tricks at his command to buoy up the enthusiasm of his team, which had become dispirited at the loss of the star player.

deadpan

ADJ. /没有表情的；呆板的/wooden; impersonal. We wanted to see how long he could maintain his deadpan expression.

downcast

ADJ. /沮丧/disheartened; sad. Cheerful and optimistic by nature, Beth was never downcast despite the difficulties she faced.

Unctuous

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

Chaotic

ADJ. /混乱/in utter disorder. He tried to bring order into the chaotic state of affairs. chaos, N.

explicit

ADJ. /清晰的；坦率的/totally clear; definite; outspoken. Don't just hint around that you're dissatisfied: be explicit about what's bugging you.

taut

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

ruddy

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

tenuous

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

illicit

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

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.

solemnity

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

wanton

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

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.

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.

fulsome

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!"

spatula

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

compunction

N. /后悔/remorse. The judge was especially severe in his sentencing because he felt that the criminal had shown no compunction for his heinous crime.

aftermath

N. /后果，结果/consequences; outcome; upshot. People around the world wondered what the aftermath of China's violent suppression of the student protests would be.

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.

coercion

N. /威逼，强迫/use of force to get someone to obey. The inquisitors used both physical and psychological coercion to force Joan of Arc to deny that her visions were sent by God. coerce,V.

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.

catcall

N. /嘘声/shout of disapproval; boo. Every major league pitcher has off days during which he must learn to ignore the catcalls and angry hisses from the crowd.

apparatus

N. /器械，设备/equipment. Firefighters use specialized apparatus to fight fires.

quadruped

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

bigotry

N. /固执/stubborn intolerance. Brought up in a democra¬tic atmosphere, the student was shocked by the bigotry and narrowness expressed by several of his classmates.

plasticity

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

epitaph

N. /墓志铭，挽联/inscription in memory of a dead person. In his will, he dictated the epitaph he wanted placed on his tomb¬stone.

facsimile

N. /复制品/COPY. Many museums sell facsimiles of the works of art on display.

quiver

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

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.

bungalow

N. /小平房/small cottage. Every summer we rent a bun¬galow on Cape Cod for our vacation home. The rent is high, the roof is low-it's a basic bungalow.

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.

rivulet

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

chassis

N. /底盘/framework and working parts of an automobile. Examining the car after the accident, the owner discovered that the body had been ruined but that the chassis was unharmed.

chaff

N. /废物；糠；假货；开玩笑；打趣/worthless products of an endeavor. When you separate the wheat from the chaff, be sure you throw out the chaff.

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.

enmity

N. /憎恨；仇恨/ill will; hatred. At Camp David, President Carter labored to bring an end to the enmity that prevented the peaceful coexistence of Egypt and Israel.

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.

flair

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

embargo

N. /禁运/ban on commerce or other activity. As a result of the embargo, trade with the colonies was at a standstill.

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.

extrapolation

N. /推测，推断/projection; conjecture. Based on their extrapolation from the results of the primaries on Super Tuesday, the networks predicted that Bob Dole would be the Republican candidate for the presidency. extrapolate,V.

strut

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

convert

N. /改变；转换；皈依/one who has adopted a different religion or opinion. On his trip to Japan, though the President spoke at length about the virtues of American automobiles, he made few converts to his beliefs. alsoV.

buccaneer

N. /海盗/pirate. At Disneyland the Pirates of the Caribbean sing a song about their lives as bloody bucca¬neers.

snicker

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

farce

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

realm

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

repast

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

dissimulate

V. /伪装，做作，掩饰/pretend; conceal by feigning. She tried to dissimulate her grief by her exuberant attitude.

appraise

V. /估价/estimate value of. It is difficult to appraise the value of old paintings; it is easier to call them priceless. appraisal, N.

exemplify

V. /作为典型；具体化/serve as an example of; embody. For a gen¬eration of balletgoers, Rudolf Nureyev exemplified the ideal of masculine grace.

disquiet

V. /使焦虑，使难受/make uneasy or anxious. Holmes's absence for a day, slightly disquieted Watson; after a week with no word, however, Watson's uneasiness about his missing friend had grown into a deep fear for his safety. disquietude, N.

stifle

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

abash

V. /使难堪/embarrass. He was not at all abashed by her open admiration.

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.

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.

underscore

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

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.

burgeon

V. /发芽，成长/grow forth; send out buds. In the spring, the plants that burgeon are a promise of the beauty that is to come.

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.

unpalatable

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

rudimentary

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

egregious

ADJ. /及其令人痛恨的，声名狼藉；令人吃惊的/notorious; conspicuously bad or shocking. She was an egregious liar; we all knew better than to believe a word she said. Ed's housekeeping was egregious: he let his dirty dishes pile up so long that they were stuck together with last week's food.

hypercritical

ADJ. /及其夸张/excessively exacting. You are hypercriti¬cal in your demands for perfection; we all make mistakes.

vociferous

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

retrospective

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

adamant

ADJ. /坚硬，不动摇/hard; inflexible. Bronson played the part of a revenge-driven man, adamant in his determination to pun¬ish the criminals who destroyed his family. adamancy, 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.

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.

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.

traumatic

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

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.

checkered

ADJ. /多变的；像国际象棋棋盘一样的方格/marked by changes in fortune. During his checkered career he had lived in palatial mansions and in dreary boardinghouses.

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.

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.

succulent

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

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.

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.

singular

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

salacious

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

disputatious

ADJ. /好辩的/argumentative; fond of arguing. Con¬vinced he knew more than his lawyers, Alan was a disputa¬tious client, ready to argue about the best way to conduct the case. disputant, N.

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.

academic

ADJ. /学术的/related to a school; not practical or directly useful. The dean's talk about reforming the college admis¬sions system was only an academic discussion: we knew little, if anything, would change.

Cosmic

ADJ. /宇宙的；巨大的/pertaining to the universe; vast. Cosmic rays derive their name from the fact that they bombard the earth's atmosphere from outer space. COSMOS, N.

sedate

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

absolute

ADJ. /完全的，肯定的/complete; totally unlimited; certain. Although the King of Siam was an absolute monarch, he did not want to behead his unfaithful wife without absolute evidence of her infidelity.

aesthetic

ADJ. /审美的/artistic; dealing with or capable of apprecia¬tion of the beautiful. The beauty of Tiffany's stained glass appealed to Esther's aesthetic sense. aesthete, N.

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.

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.

reverent

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

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.

acrid

ADJ. /尖锐；尖酸/sharp; bitterly pungent. The acrid odor of burnt gunpowder filled the room after the pistol had been fired.

cadaverous

ADJ. /尸体似的，苍白的/like a corpse; pale. By his cadaverous appearance, we could see how the disease had ravaged him.

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.

subdued

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

submissive

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

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.

valid

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

unerringly

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

askew

ADJ. /歪斜/crookedly; slanted; at an angle. When he placed his hat askew upon his head, his observers laughed.

wry

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

defunct

ADJ. /死的；不存在的，报废的/dead; no longer in use or existence. The lawyers sought to examine the books of the defunct corpo¬ration.

maternal

ADJ. /母性的/motherly. Many animals display maternal instincts only while their offspring are young and helpless.

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.

grisly

ADJ. /毛骨悚然的；恐怖的，可怕的/ghastly. She shuddered at the grisly sight.

Civil

ADJ. /民事的；国民的/having to do with citizens or the state; courteous and polite. Although Internal Revenue Service agents are civil servants, they are not always civil to suspected tax cheats.

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.

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.

taciturn

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

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.

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.

therapeutic

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

animated

ADJ. /活跃的，有生气的/lively; spirited. Jim Carrey's facial expres¬sions are highly animated: when he played Ace Ventura, he looked practically rubber-faced.

rousing

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

bilious

ADJ. /消化不良，易怒/suffering from indigestion; irritable. His bilious temperament was apparent to all who heard him rant about his difficulties.

lewd

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

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.

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.

bluff

ADJ. /直率的/rough but good-natured. Jack had a bluff and¬hearty manner that belied his actual sensitivity; he never let people know how thin-skinned he really was.

commensurate

ADJ. /相当的，相称的/equal in extent. Your reward will be commensurate with your effort.

substantive

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

corporeal

ADJ. /肉体的，物质的/bodily; material. The doctor had no patience with spiritual matters: his job was to attend to his patients' corporeal problems, not to minister to their souls.

docile

ADJ. /驯服的，听话的；善良的/obedient; easily managed. As docile as he seems today, that old lion was once a ferocious, snarling beast. docility, N.

sanguine

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

tacit

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

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.

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.

table

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

impinge

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

revoke

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

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.

decapitate

V. /斩首，杀头/behead. They did not hang Lady Jane Grey; they decapitated her. "Off with her head!" cried the Duchess, eager to decapitate poor Alice.

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.

skimp

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

entail

V. /要求，需要；牵涉到/require; necessitate; involve. Building a college¬level vocabulary will entail some work on your part.

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.

explicate

V. /解释，澄清/explain; interpret; clarify. Harry Levin expli¬cated James Joyce's often bewildering novels with such clarity that even Finnegan's Wake seemed comprehensible to his students.

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.

eclipse

V. /超越；衰落；失色/darken; extinguish; surpass. The new stock market high eclipsed the previous record set in 1995.

outstrip

V. /超过/surpass; outdo. Jesse Owens easily out¬stripped his white competitors to win the gold medal at the Olympic Games.

tantalize

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

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.

*bequeath

V. /遗赠，（代代）相传/leave to someone by a will; hand down. Though Maud had intended to bequeath the family home to her nephew, she died before changing her will. bequest, N.

beseech

V. /乞求，恳求/beg; plead with. The workaholic executive's wife beseeched him to spend more time with their son.

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.

bask

V. /享受（温暖）；愉快，舒适/luxuriate; take pleasure in warmth. Basking on the beach, she relaxed so completely that she fell asleep.

repress

V. /压迫；压制；压/restrain; crush; oppress. Anne's parents tried to curb her impetuosity without repressing her boundless high spirits.

balk

V. /反对；阻止/foil or thwart; stop short; refuse to go on. When the warden learned that several inmates were planning to escape, he took steps to balk their attempt. However, he balked at punishing them by shackling them to the walls of their cells.

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.

supersede

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

gratify

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

expunge

V. /取消，去除，排除/cancel; remove. If you behave, I will expunge this notation from your record.

countermand

V. /取消；废除/cancel; revoke. The general counter¬manded the orders issued in his absence.

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.

convoke

V. /召集/call together. Congress was convoked at the outbreak of the emergency. convocation, N.

entice

V. /吸引；引诱/lure; attract; tempt. She always tried to entice her baby brother into mischief.

engage

V. /吸引；雇佣；答应；结合；订婚/attract; hire; pledge oneself; confront. "Your case has engaged my interest, my lord," said Holmes. "You may engage my services."

imbibe

V. /吸收/drink in. The dry soil imbibed the rain quickly.

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.

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.

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!"

embrace

V. /拥抱；接受，包含/hug; adopt or espouse; accept readily; encir¬cle; include. Clasping Maid Marian in his arms, Robin Hood embraced her lovingly. In joining the outlaws in Sherwood Forest, she had openly embraced their cause.

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.

cavil

V. /挑剔/make frivolous objections. It's fine when you make sensible criticisms, but it really bugs me when you cavil about unimportant details. also N.

disinter

V. /挖出，出土/dig up; unearth. They disinterred the body and held an autopsy.

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.

delve

V. /挖掘；调查/dig; investigate. Delving into old books and man¬uscripts is part of a researcher's job.

subpoena

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

chagrin

N. /伤自尊；委屈/vexation (caused by humiliation or injured pride); disappointment. Embarrassed by his parents' shabby, working-class appearance, Doug felt their visit to his school would bring him nothing but chagrin. Someone filled with chagrin doesn't grin: he's too mortified.

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.

aversion

N. /厌恶，抵制/firm dislike. Bert had an aversion to yuppies; Alex had an aversion to punks. Their mutual aversion was so great that they refused to speak to one another.

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.

archetype

N. /原形/prototype; primitive pattern. The Brooklyn Bridge was the archetype of the many spans that now con¬nect Manhattan with Long Island and New Jersey.

amity

N. /友谊/friendship. Student exchange programs such as the Experiment in International Living were established to promote international amity.

caprice

N. /反复无常；一时幻想；奇怪的想法/sudden, unexpected fancy; whim. On a caprice, Jack tried drag-racing, but paid the price-his father took his Chevy Caprice away from him.

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.

antipathy

N. /反对，厌恶/aversion; dislike. Tom's extreme antipathy for disputes keeps him from getting into arguments with his temperamental wife. Noise in any form is antipathetic to him. Among his other antipathies are honking cars, boom boxes, and heavy metal rock.

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.

antagonism

N. /反抗，敌对/hostility; active resistance. Barry showed his antagonism toward his new stepmother by ignoring her whenever she tried talking to him. antagonistic,ADJ.

atavism

N. /反祖；隔代遗传/resemblance to remote ancestors rather than to parents; deformity returning after passage of two or more generations. The doctors ascribed the child's deformity to an atavism.

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.

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.

retort

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

anticlimax

N. /反高潮，突降/letdown in thought or emotion. After the fine performance in the first act, the rest of the play was an anti¬climax. anticlimactic,ADJ.

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.

tantrum

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

chameleon

N. /变色龙/lizard that changes color in different situa¬tions. Like the chameleon, he assumed the political thinking of every group he met.

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.

bastion

N. /堡垒；工事/fortress; defense. The villagers fortified the town hall, hoping this improvised bastion could protect them from the guerillas' raids. .

increment

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

accretion

N. /增长/growth; increase. The accretion of wealth marked the family's rise in power.

bulwark

N. /壁垒/earthwork or other strong defense; person who defends. The navy is our principal bulwark against invasion.

exploit

N. /壮举/deed or action, particularly a brave deed. Raoul Wallenberg was noted for his exploits in rescuing Jews from Hitler's forces.

acoustics

N. /声学的/science of sound; quality that makes a room easy or hard to hear in. Carnegie Hall is liked by music lovers because of its fine acoustics.

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.

retribution

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

cantata

N. /大合唱；康塔塔/story set to music, to be sung by a chorus. The choral society sang the new cantata composed by its leader.

altercation

N. /大声争吵，激烈争论/noisy quarrel; heated dispute. In that hot¬tempered household, no meal ever came to a peaceful con¬clusion; the inevitable altercation might even end in blows.

blare

N. /大声喊叫，令人眩晕的强光/loud, harsh roar or screech; dazzling blaze of light. I don't know which is worse: the steady blare of a boom box deafening your ears or a sudden blare of flash¬bulbs dazzling your eyes.

clangor

N. /大声喧哗；持续的铿锵声/loud, resounding noise. The blacksmith was accustomed to the clangor of hammers on steel.

bludgeon

N. /大头狼牙棒/club; heavy-headed weapon. Attacked by Dr. Moriarty, Holmes used his walking stick as a bludgeon to defend himself. "Watson," he said, "I fear I may have blud¬geoned Moriarty to death."

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.

cataract

N. /大瀑布；白内障/great waterfall; eye abnormality. She gazed with awe at the mighty cataract known as Niagara Falls.

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.

caldron

N. /大锅/large kettle. "Why, Mr. Crusoe," said the sav¬age heating the giant caldron, "we'd love to have you for dinner!"

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.

dormer

N. /天窗/window projecting from roof. In remodeling the attic into a bedroom, we decided that we needed to put in dormers to provide sufficient ventilation for the new room.

aphasia

N. /失声/loss of speech due to injury or illness. After the automobile accident, the victim had periods of aphasia when he could not speak at all or could only mumble inco¬herently.

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.

alliteration

N. /头韵/repetition of beginning sound in poetry. "The furrow followed free" is an example of alliteration.

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.

anecdote

N. /奇闻轶事/short account of an amusing or interesting event. Rather than make concrete proposals for welfare reform, President Reagan told anecdotes about poor people who became wealthy despite their impoverished back¬grounds.

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.

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.

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.

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.

apprenticeship

N. /学徒身份/time spent as a novice learning a trade from a skilled worker. As a child, Pip had thought it would be wonderful to work as Joe's apprentice; now he hated his apprenticeship and scorned the blacksmith's trade.

skinflint

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

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.

bureaucracy

N. /官僚机构/over-regulated administrative system marked by red tape. The Internal Revenue Service is the ultimate bureaucracy. taxpayers wasted so much paper fill¬ing out IRS forms that the IRS bureaucrats printed up a new set of rules requiring taxpayers to comply with the Paper¬work Reduction Act.

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.

censor

N. /审查/overseer of morals; person who reads to elimi¬nate inappropriate remarks. Soldiers dislike having their mail read by a censor but understand the need for this pre¬caution. alsoV.

affidavit

N. /宣誓书/written statement made under oath. The court refused to accept his statement unless he presented it in the form of an affidavit.

apprehension

N. /害怕/fear. His nervous glances at the passersby on the deserted street revealed his apprehension.

genealogy

N. /家谱/record of descent; lineage. He was proud of his genealogy and constantly referred to the achievements of his ancestors.

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.

affluence

N. /富足，财富/abundance; wealth. Foreigners are amazed by the affluence and luxury of the American way of life.

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.

antithesis

N. /对立面/contrast; direct opposite of or to. This tyranny was the antithesis of all that he had hoped for, and he fought it with all his strength.

asteroid

N. /小行星/small planet. Asteroids have become common¬place to the readers of interstellar travel stories in science fiction magazines.

skirmish

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

alcove

N. /小隔间，壁橱/nook; small, recessed section of a room. Though their apartment lacked a full-scale dining room, an alcove adjacent to the living room made an adequate breakfast nook for the young couple.

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.

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.

epilogue

N. /尾声；收场白/short speech at conclusion of dramatic work. The audience was so disappointed in the play that many did not remain to hear the epilogue.

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.

garnish

V. /装饰/decorate. Parsley was used to garnish the boiled potato. also N.

stipulate

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

extricate

V. /解脱，放出，释放/free; disentangle. Icebreakers were needed to extricate the trapped whales from the icy floes that closed them in.

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.

cardiologist

N. /心脏病专家/doctor specializing in the heart. When the pediatrician noticed Philip had a slight heart murmur, she referred him to a cardiologist for further tests.

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.

skeptic

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

resentment

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

thwart

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

frustrate

V. /阻碍；挫败/thwart; defeat. We must frustrate this dictator's plan to seize control of the government.

abase

V. /降低，羞辱/lower; humiliate. Defeated, Queen Zenobia was forced to abase herself before the conquering Romans, who made her march in chains before the emperor in the procession celebrating his triumph. abasement, N.

eccentricity

N. /怪僻，古怪；特性/oddity; idiosyncrasy. Some of his friends tried to account for his rudeness to strangers as the eccen¬tricity of genius.

wrath

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

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.

scenario

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

xenophobia

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

component

N. /成分/element; ingredient. I wish all the compo¬nents of my stereo system were working at the same time.

faculty

N. /才能，教职员工/mental or bodily powers; teaching staff. As he grew old, Professor Twiggly feared he might lose his facul¬ties and become unfit to teach. However, he had tenure: whether or not he was in full possession of his faculties, the school couldn't kick him off the faculty.

saga

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

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.

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.

agent

N. /方法，工具；代表/means or instrument; personal representative; per¬son acting in an official capacity. °I will be the agent of America's destruction," proclaimed the beady-eyed villain, whose agent had gotten him the role. With his face, he could never have played the part of the hero, a heroic F.B.I. agent.

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.

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.

correlation

N. /相互的关系/mutual relationship. He sought to determine the correlation that existed between ability in algebra and ability to interpret reading exercises. correlate, V., N.

discrepancy

N. /相差；缺乏一致/lack of consistency; difference. The police noticed some discrepancies in his description of the crime and did not believe him.

ellipsis

N. /省略/omission of words from a text. Sometimes an ellipsis can lead to a dangling modifier, as in the sentence "Once dressed, you should refrigerate the potato salad."

labyrinth

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

ejaculation

N. /迸出；惊叹/exclamation. He could not repress an ejacu¬lation of surprise when he heard the news.

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.

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.

sustenance

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

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.

equestrian

N. /骑师/rider on horseback. These paths in the park are reserved for equestrians and their steeds. alsoADJ.

turmoil

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

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.

alimony

N. /（离婚后的）生活费，抚养费/payment by a husband to his divorced wife (or vice versa). Mrs. Jones was awarded $200 monthly alimony by the court when she was divorced from her husband.

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.

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.

concerted

ADJ. /协调的/mutually agreed on; done together. All the Girl Scouts made a concerted effort to raise funds for their annual outing. When the movie star appeared, his fans let out a concerted sigh.

equivocal

ADJ. /蓄意误导；含混，模棱两可/ambiguous; intentionally misleading. Rejecting the candidate's equivocal comments on tax reform, the reporters pressed him to state clearly where he stood on the issue. equivocate,V.

fractious

ADJ. /蛮横倔强的/unruly; disobedient; irritable. Bucking and kicking, the fractious horse unseated its rider.

avid

ADJ. /贪婪/greedy; eager for. He was avid for learning and read everything he could get. avidity, N.

missive

N. /信件/letter. The ambassador received a missive from the secretary of state.

smirk

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

itinerant

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

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.

malodorous

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

detraction

N. /诽谤/slandering; aspersion. He is offended by your frequent detractions of his ability as a leader.

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.

revelry

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

deliberate

V. /深思熟虑的；商讨/consider; ponder. Offered the new job, she asked for time to deliberate before she told them her decision,

falter

V. /犹豫；踌躇/hesitate. When told to dive off the high board, she did not falter, but proceeded at once.

document

V. /书面证明/provide written evidence. She kept all the receipts from her business trip in order to document her expenses for the firm. also N.

bicker

V. /争吵/quarrel. The children bickered morning, noon, and night, exasperating their parents.

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.

attest

V. /证明/testify, bear witness. Having served as a member of the Grand Jury, I can attest that our system of indicting individuals is in need of improvement.

grudging

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

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.

hibernal

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

heinous

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

cognate

ADJ. /同源的/related linguistically: allied by blood: similar or akin in nature. The English word "mother" is cognate to the Latin word "mater," whose influence is visible in the words "maternal" and "maternity." also N.

tantamount

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

substantial

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

multilingual

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

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.

transient

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

tortuous

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

beneficial

ADJ. /有用的/helpful; useful. Tiny Tim's cheerful good nature had a beneficial influence on Scrooge's once¬uncharitable disposition.

ephemeral

ADJ. /朝生暮死，短暂，短命/short-lived; fleeting. The mayfly is an ephemeral creature: its adult life lasts little more than a day.

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.

debonair

ADJ. /温文尔雅；友好；殷勤/friendly; aiming to please. The debonair youth was liked by all who met him, because of his cheerful and obliging manner.

fraught

ADJ. /满的/filled. Since this enterprise is fraught with danger, I will ask for volunteers who are willing to assume the risks.

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.

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.

ecclesiastic

ADJ. /神职的/pertaining to the church. The minister donned his ecclesiastic garb and walked to the pulpit. also N.

rarefied

ADJ. /稀释（气体）/made less dense (of a gas]. The mountain climbers had difficulty breathing in the rarefied atmosphere. rarefy,V.

concave

ADJ. /空的/hollow. The back-packers found partial shel¬ter from the storm by huddling against the concave wall of the cliff.

infamous

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

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.

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.

sphinx-like

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

ceremonious

ADJ. /隆重的/marked by formality. Ordinary dress would be inappropriate at so ceremonious an affair.

haphazard

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

Word List 34

pacify-peccadillo

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.

anthem

N. /圣歌，赞美诗/song of praise or patriotism. Let us now all join in singing the national anthem.

fresco

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

lexicon

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

subsistence

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

promontory

N. /岬；海角/headland. They erected a lighthouse on the promontory to warn approaching ships of their nearness to the shore.

windfall

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

antecede

V. /先于/precede. The invention of the radiotelegraph anteceded the development of television by a quarter of a century.

accede

V. /同意/agree. If I accede to this demand for blackmail, I am afraid that I will be the victim of future demands.

wax

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

divulge

V. /揭开，暴露/reveal. No lover of gossip, Charlotte would never divulge anything that a friend told her in confidence.

abut

V. /毗邻/border upon; adjoin. Where our estates abut, we must build a fence.

Word List 3

amenities-apostate

gusty

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

censorious

ADJ. /批判的/critical. Censorious people delight in cast¬ing blame.

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.

ruthless

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

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.

scanty

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

acidulous

ADJ. /酸的；尖锐，刻薄/slightly sour; sharp, caustic. James was unpopular because of his sarcastic and acidulous remarks.

intractable

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

accord

N. /一致/agreement. She was in complete accord with the verdict.

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.

sluggard

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

gentility

N. /有教养，文雅/those of gentle birth; refinement. Her family was proud of its gentility and elegance.

dermatologist

N. /皮肤病专家/one who studies the skin and its diseases. I advise you to consult a dermatologist about your acne.

maxim

N. /至理名言；格言/proverb; a truth pithily stated. Aesop's fables illustrate moral maxims.

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.

champion

V. /拥护/support militantly. Martin Luther King, Jr., won the Nobel Peace Prize because he championed the oppressed in their struggle for equality.

chide

V. /斥责/scold. Grandma began to chide Steven for his lying.

discount

V. /漠视；解散/disregard; dismiss. Be prepared to discount what he has to say about his ex-wife.

Word List 6

bard-bluff

Word List 5

astral-barb

Word List 25

inchoate-ingenious

Word List 24

immaculate-incessant

discordant

ADJ. /不和谐的；冲突的/not harmonious; conflicting. Nothing is quite so discordant as the sound of a junior high school orchestra tuning up.

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.

stringent

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

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.

spasmodic

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

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.

invulnerable

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

rife

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

concise

ADJ. /简练/brief and compact. When you define a new word, be concise: the shorter the definition, the easier it is to remember.

anthropoid

ADJ. /类人的/manlike. The gorilla is the strongest of the anthropoid animals. also N.

analogous

ADJ. /类似的/comparable. She called our attention to the things that had been done in an analogous situation and recommended that we do the same.

Iax

ADJ. /粗心/careless. We dislike restaurants where the service is lax and inattentive.

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.

churlish

ADJ. /粗鲁的/boorish; rude. Dismayed by his churlish map¬ners at the party, the girls vowed never to invite him again.

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.

luscious

ADJ. /美味的，甜美的/pleasing to taste or smell. The ripe peach was luscious.

verdant

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

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.

astute

ADJ. /聪明；敏锐/wise; shrewd; keen. The painter was an astute observer, noticing every tiny detail of her model's appear¬ance and knowing exactly how important each one was.

dauntless

ADJ. /胆大的/bold. Despite the dangerous nature of the undertaking, the dauntless soldier volunteered for the assignment.

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.

caustic

ADJ. /腐蚀；挖苦/burning; sarcastically biting. The critic's caus¬tic remarks angered the hapless actors who were the sub¬jects of his sarcasm.

Clip

N. /剪辑/section of filmed material. Phil's job at Fox Sports involved selecting clips of the day's sporting highlights for later broadcast. alsoV.

avocation

N. /副业，业余爱好/secondary or minor occupation. His hobby proved to be so fascinating and profitable that gradually he abandoned his regular occupation and concentrated on his avocation.

clime

N. /地域；气候/region; climate. His doctor advised him to move to a milder clime.

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.

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.

dossier

N. /档案，资料/file of documents on a subject. Ordered by J. Edgar Hoover to investigate the senator, the FBI compiled a complete dossieron him.

vagabond

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

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.

aria

N. /清唱剧/operatic solo. At her Metropolitan Opera audition, Marian Anderson sang an aria from Norma.

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.

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.

veracity

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

analogy

N. /类比，相似/similarity; parallelism. A well-known analogy compares the body's immune system with an army whose defending troops are the lymphocytes or white blood cells.

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.

cession

N. /给与；割让/yielding to another; ceding. The cession of Alaska to the United States is discussed in this chapter.

ascendancy

N. /统治，控制/controlling influence; domination. Leaders of religious cults maintain ascendancy over their followers by methods that can verge on brainwashing.

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.

blunder

N. /错误/error. The criminal's fatal blunder led to his capture. alsoV.

tirade

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

addle

V. /使变疯，腐坏/muddle; drive crazy; become rotten. This idiotic plan is confusing enough to addle anyone. addled,ADJ.

stultify

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

sate

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

sully

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

colossal

ADJ. /巨大/huge. Radio City Music Hall has a colossal stage.

eon

N. /时代/long period of time; an age. It has taken eons for our civilization to develop.

Word List 4

apotheosis-astigmatism

Word List 8

canto-chameleon

Word List 9

champion-colander

Word List 10

collaborate-congenital

Word List 31

missile-natty

Word List 26

ingenue-invigorate

Word List 29

lucid-maul

Word List 37

precept-propitiate

Word List 38

propitious-quarry

Word List 39

quay-recurrent

Word List 44

somber-sublime

Word List 50

volatile-zephyr

sophomoric

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

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.

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.

*aviary

N. /鸟舍/enclosure for birds. The aviary at the zoo held nearly 300 birds.

buxom

ADJ. /丰满；充满活力；欢快/plump; vigorous; jolly. The soldiers remembered the buxom nurse who had always been so pleasant to them.

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.

unassailable

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

dissolute

ADJ. /放纵，挥霍/loose in morals. The dissolute life led by the ancient Romans is indeed shocking.

unbridled

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

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.

elliptical

ADJ. /椭圆的；有意模棱两可的/oval; ambiguous, either purposely or because key words have been left out. An elliptical billiard ball wobbles because it is not perfectly round; an elliptical remark baffles because it is not perfectly clear.

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.

comparable

ADJ. /相似的/similar. People whose jobs are compara¬ble in difficulty should receive comparable pay.

exempt

ADJ. /被免除的/not subject to a duty, obligation. Because of his flat feet, Foster was exempt from serving in the armed forces. alsoV.

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.

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.

abundant

ADJ. /丰富，富足/plentiful; possessing riches or resources. At his immigration interview, Ivan listed his abundant rea¬sons for coming to America: the hope of religious freedom, the prospect of employment, the promise of a more abun¬dant life.

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.

aberrant

N. /不正常的/abnormal or deviant. Given the aberrant nature of the data, we doubted the validity of the entire experiment. also N.

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.

witticism

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

arrogance

N. /傲慢，骄傲/pride; haughtiness. Convinced that Emma thought she was better than anyone else in the class, Ed rebuked her for her arrogance.

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.

stalemate

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

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.

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.

stupor

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

egress

N. /出口/exit. Barnum's sign "To the Egress" fooled many people who thought they were going to see an animal and instead found themselves in the street.

augury

N. /占卜；预言/omen; prophecy. He interpreted the departure of the birds as an augury of evil. augur,V.

genesis

N. /发源，源头/beginning; origin. Tracing the genesis of a fam¬ily is the theme of Roots.

tenacity

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

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.

depravity

N. /堕落，腐坏/extreme corruption; wickedness. The deprav¬ity of Caligula's behavior came to sicken even those who had willingly participated in his earlier, comparatively inno¬cent orgies.

replica

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

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.

*circumlocution

N. /婉转曲折的表达/indirect or roundabout expression. He was afraid to call a spade a spade and resorted to circum¬locutions to avoid direct reference to his subject.

cadaver

N. /尸体/corpse. In some states, it is illegal to dissect cadavers.

candor

N. /开诚布公；坦率/frankness; open honesty. Jack can carry can¬dor too far: when he told Jill his honest opinion of her, she nearly slapped his face. candid,ADJ.

infidel

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

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.

woe

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

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.

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.

aggressor

N. /攻击者/attacker. Before you punish both boys for fighting, see whether you can determine which one was the aggressor.

affirmation

N. /正面肯定，确认/positive assertion; confirmation; solemn pledge by one who refuses to take an oath. Despite Tom's affirmations of innocence, Aunt Polly still suspected he had eaten the pie.

gait

N. /步态，步法；速度/manner of walking or running; speed. The lame man walked with an uneven gait.

demise

N. /死/death. Upon the demise of the dictator, a bitter dispute about succession to power developed.

scamp

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

ruffian

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

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.

yen

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

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.

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.

chauvinist

N. /盲目爱国主义/blindly devoted patriot. A chauvinist cannot recognize any faults in his country, no matter how flagrant they may be. Likewise, a male chauvinist cannot recognize his bias in favor of his own sex, no matter how flagrant that may be. chauvinistic,ADJ.

beeline

N. /直线/direct, quick route. As soon as the movie was over, Jim made a beeline for the exit.

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.

jaunt

N. /短途旅行/trip; short journey. He took a quick jaunt to Atlantic City.

exodus

N. /离开，启程/departure. The exodus from the hot and stuffy city was particularly noticeable on Friday evenings.

dearth

N. /稀缺；缺乏/scarcity. The dearth of skilled labor compelled the employers to open trade schools.

epicure

N. /老饕；享乐主义者/connoisseur of food and drink. Epicures fre¬quent this restaurant because it features exotic wines and dishes. epicurean,ADJ.

buffet

N. /自助餐/table with food set out for people to serve them¬selves; meal at which people help themselves to food that's been set out. Please convey the soufflé on the tray to the buffet. (Buffet rhymes with tray.)

braggart

N. /自夸，吹嘘/boaster. Modest by nature, she was no brag¬gart, preferring to let her accomplishments speak for them¬selves.

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.

epigram

N. /警句；讽刺民谣/witty thought or saying, usually short. Poor Richard's epigrams made Benjamin Franklin famous.

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.

ballast

N. /配重；沙袋/heavy substance used to add stability or weight. The ship was listing badly to one side; it was necessary to shift the ballast in the hold to get her back on an even keel. alsoV.

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.

canto

N. /（长诗的）分篇/division of a long poem. Dante's poetic master¬piece The Divine Comedy is divided into cantos.

duress

N. /（非法的）限制，关押/forcible restraint, especially unlawfully. The hostages were held under duress until the prisoners' demands were met.

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.

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.

subside

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

deface

V. /丑化/mar; disfigure. If you deface a library book, you will have to pay a hefty fine.

engender

V. /产生，导致/cause; produce. To receive praise for real accomplishments engenders self-confidence in a child.

amputate

V. /截肢，切除/cut off part of body; prune. When the doctors had to amputate the young man's leg to prevent the spread of cancer, he did not let the loss of a limb keep him from participating in sports.

tender

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

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?

scuttle

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

saturate

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

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.

trespass

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

shun

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

whet

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

suppress

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

manifesto

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

prelude

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

barrage

N. /弹幕，火力网/barrier laid down by artillery fire. The company was forced to retreat through the barrage of heavy cannons.

denotation

N. /指示；根据名字区别/meaning; distinguishing by name. A dictio¬nary will always give us the denotation of a word; fre¬quently, it will also give us the connotations. denote,V.

versatile

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

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.

aquatic

ADJ. /与水有关系的/pertaining to water. Paul enjoyed aquatic sports such as scuba diving and snorkeling.

bicameral

ADJ. /两院制的（参，众）/two-chambered, as a legislative body. The United States Congress is a bicameral body.

affected

ADJ. /假的，做作的/artificial; pretended; assumed in order to impress. His affected mannerisms-his "Harvard" accent, his air of boredom, his use of obscure foreign words¬bugged us: he acted as if he thought he was too good for his old high school friends. affectation, N.

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.

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.

convex

ADJ. /凸的/curving outward. He polished the convex lens of his telescope.

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.

giddy

ADJ. /眼花缭乱/light-hearted; dizzy. He felt his giddy youth was past.

indicative

ADJ. /预示的/suggestive; implying. A lack of appetite may be indicative of a major mental or physical disorder.

indigenous

ADJ. native. Cigarettes are made of tobacco, a plant indigenous to the New World.

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.

aureole

N. /日冕/sun's corona; halo. Many medieval paintings depict saintly characters with aureoles around their heads.

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.

entitlement

N. /权利/right to claim something; right to benefits. While Bill was entitled to use a company car while he worked for the firm, the company's lawyers questioned his entitlement to the vehicle once he'd quit his job.

laceration

N. /破口/torn, ragged wound. The stock car driver needed stitches to close up the lacerations he received in the car crash.

stanza

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

autopsy

N. /验尸/examination of a dead body; post-mortem. The medical examiner ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death. alsoV.

Word List 14 derogatory-disgruntle

...

Word List 17 encumber-etymology

...

defer

/缓招/making plans until they hear from their draft boards. During the Vietnam War, many young men, hoping to be deferred, requested student deferments.

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.

destitute

ADJ. /一贫如洗/extremely poor. Because they had no health insurance, the father's costly illness left the family destitute.

impious

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

opalescent

ADJ. /乳白的/iridescent; lustrous. The oil slick on the water had an opalescent, rainbow-like sheen.

equine

ADJ. /似马的/resembling a horse. His long, bony face had an equine look to it.

fell

ADJ. /凶猛的，致命的/cruel; deadly. The newspapers told of the tragic spread of the fell disease.

erudite

ADJ. /博学的/learned; scholarly. Though his fellow students thought him erudite, Paul knew he would have to spend many years in serious study before he could consider him¬self a scholar.

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.

brazen

ADJ. /厚颜无耻；傲慢/insolent. Her brazen contempt for authority angered the officials.

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.

ambidextrous

ADJ. /双手都灵巧/capable of using either hand with equal ease. A switch-hitter in baseball should be naturally ambidextrous.

soluble

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

plaintive

ADJ. /哀伤的/mournful. The dove has a plaintive and melancholy call.

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.

titanic

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

puerile

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

resilient

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

doleful

ADJ. /悲伤/sorrowful. He found the doleful lamentations of the bereaved family emotionally disturbing and he left as quickly as he could.

indolent

ADJ. /懒惰/lazy. Couch potatoes lead an indolent life lying back on their Lazyboy recliners watching Tv. indo¬lence, N.

adept

ADJ. /擅长于/expert at. She was adept at the fine art of irritat¬ing people. also N.

methodical

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

intrepid

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

stellar

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

articulate

ADJ. /有效的；独特的/effective; distinct. Her articulate presentation of the advertising campaign impressed her employers. alsoV.

bloated

ADJ. /浮肿/swollen or puffed as with water or air. Her bloated stomach came from drinking so much water.

effusive

ADJ. /激情澎湃的/pouring forth; gushing. Her effusive manner of greeting her friends finally began to irritate them. effu¬sion, N.

wily

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

ungainly

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

unwieldy

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

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.

cumulative

ADJ. /累积/growing by addition. Vocabulary building is a cumulative process: as you go through your flash cards, you will add new words to your vocabulary, one by one.

sinewy

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

aromatic

ADJ. /芬芳的/fragrant. Medieval sailing vessels brought aromatic herbs from China to Europe.

unassuming

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

derogatory

ADJ. /贬低的，贬损的/expressing a low opinion. I resent your derogatory remarks.

patrician

ADJ. /贵族的/noble; aristocratic. We greatly admired her well-bred, patrician elegance. also N.

bogus

ADJ. /赝品/counterfeit; not authentic. The police quickly found the distributors of the bogus twenty-dollar bills.

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.

frolicsome

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

untenable

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

somber

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

trite

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

exotic

ADJ. /陌生的，外来的，奇异的，异国情调/not native; strange. Because of his exotic headdress, he was followed in the streets by small children who laughed at his strange appearance.

cavalier

ADJ. /随便；傲慢/offhand or casual; haughty. The disguised prince resented the cavalier way in which the palace guards treated him. How dared they handle a member of the royal family so unceremoniously!

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.

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.

turncoat

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

amnesia

N. /失忆，健忘/loss of memory. Because she was suffering from amnesia, the police could not get the young girl to identify herself.

solace

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

jubilation

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

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.

catapult

N. /弹弓；弹射器/slingshot; a hurling machine. Airplanes are sometimes launched from battleships by catapults. alsoV.

chicanery

N. /强辩，狡辩；欺骗/trickery; deception. Those sneaky lawyers misrepresented what occurred, made up all sorts of implau¬sible alternative scenarios to confuse the jurors, and in gen¬eral depended on chicanery to win the case.

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.

restitution

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

behemoth

N. /怪物；怪兽/huge creature; monstrous animal. Sports¬casters nicknamed the linebacker "The Behemoth."

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.

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.

acrophobia

N. /恐高症/fear of heights. A born salesman, he could convince someone with a bad case of acrophobia to sign up for a life membership in a sky-diving club.

benefactor

N. /恩人，赞助人/gift giver; patron. Scrooge later became Tiny Tim's benefactor and gave him gifts.

trepidation

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

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.

dolt

N. /愚蠢的人，蠢货/stupid person. I thought I was talking to a mature audience; instead, I find myself addressing a pack of dolts and idiots.

expletive

N. /感叹词；咒骂/interjection; profane oath. The sergeant's remarks were filled with expletives that offended the new recruits.

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.

canter

N. /慢跑/slow gallop. Because the racehorse had outdis¬tanced its competition so easily, the reporter wrote that the race was won in a canter. alsoV.

doggerel

N. /打油诗/poor verse. Although we find occasional snatches of genuine poetry in her work, most of her writing is mere doggerel.

ruse

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

demolition

N. /拆除/destruction. One of the major aims of the air force was the complete demolition of all means of trans¬portation by bombing of rail lines and terminals. demolish,V.

topography

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

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.

spendthrift

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

deterrent

N. /挫败；使气馁/something that discourages; hindrance. Does the threat of capital punishment serve as a deterrent to potential killers? deter,V.

tremor

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

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.

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.

emendation

N. /改进；修订/correction of errors; improvement. Please initial all the emendations you have made in this contract.

peregrination

N. /旅程；旅行/journey. Auntie Mame was a world traveler whose peregrinations took her from Tiajuana to Timbuctoo.

anguish

N. /极度痛苦/acute pain; extreme suffering. Visiting the site of the explosion, the governor wept to see the anguish of the victims and their families.

suavity

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

remnant

N. /残留物/remainder. I suggest that you wait until the store places the remnants of these goods on sale.

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.

faction

N. /派别；内讧；纠纷/party; clique; dissension. The quarrels and bick¬ering of the two small factions within the club disturbed the majority of the members.

vendetta

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

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.

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.

buffoonery

N. /滑稽的/clowning. In the Ace Ventura movies, Jim Carrey's buffoonery was hilarious: like Bozo the Clown, he's a natural buffoon.

vex

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

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.

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.

endearment

N. /爱慕；爱的表示/fond statement. Your gifts and endear¬ments cannot make me forget your earlier insolence.

tanner

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

tutelage

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

surveillance

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

objective

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

optician

N. /眼镜商/maker and seller of eyeglasses. The patient took the prescription given him by his oculist} o the optician.

rubble

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

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.

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.

epithet

N. /绰号/word or phrase characteristically used to describe a person or thing. So many kings of France were named Charles that you could tell them apart only by their epithets: Charles the Wise was someone far different from Charles the Fat.

emollient

N. /缓和，安抚/soothing or softening remedy. The nurse applied an emollientto the inflamed area. alsoADJ.

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.

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.

fissure

N. /裂缝；分歧/crevice. The mountain climbers secured footholds in tiny fissures in the rock.

annals

N. /记录，历史/records; history. In the annals of this period, we find no mention of democratic movements.

dais

N. /讲台/raised platform for guests of honor. When he approached the dais, he was greeted by cheers from the people who had come to honor him.

rhetoric

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

slur

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

conundrum

N. /谜语/riddle. During the long car ride, she invented conundrums to entertain the children.

cupidity

N. /贪婪/greed. The defeated people could not satisfy the cupidity of the conquerors, who demanded excessive tribute.

*avarice

N. /贪婪，贪财/greediness for wealth. King Midas is a perfect example of avarice, for he was so greedy that he wished everything he touched would turn to gold.

mischance

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

balm

N. /（止痛的）安慰物/something that relieves pain. Friendship is the finest balm for the pangs of disappointed love.

obscure

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

wither

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

fabricate

V. /制造；编造（谎言）/build; lie. If we fabricate the buildings in this project out of standardized sections, we can reduce construction costs considerably. Because of Jack's tendency to fabricate, Jill had trouble believing a word he said.

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.

riddle

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

goad

V. /刺激；激励；驱策/urge on. He was goaded by his friends until he yielded to their wishes. also N.

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.

dissuade

V. /劝阻；使灰心/persuade not to do; discourage. Since Tom could not dissuade Huck from running away from home, he decided to run away with him. dissuasion, N.

accelerate

V. /加速/move faster. In our science class, we learn how falling bodies accelerate.

concede

V. /勉强，让步，屈从/admit; yield. Despite all the evidence Monica had assembled, Mark refused to concede that she was right.

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.

ruminate

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

dissent

V. /反对/disagree. In the recent Supreme Court decision, Justice O'Connor dissented from the majority opinion. also 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.

address

V. /发表（演讲），处理，讨论/direct a speech to; deal with or discuss. Due to address the convention in July, Brown planned to address the issue of low-income housing in his speech.

abjure

V. /发誓放弃/renounce upon oath. He abjured his allegiance to the king. abjuration, N.

browse

V. /吃草；浏览/graze; skim or glance at casually. "How now, brown cow, browsing in the green, green grass." I remem¬ber lines of verse that I came across while browsing through the poetry section of the local bookstore.

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.

assent

V. /同意；接受/agree; accept. It gives me great pleasure to assentto your request.

rebuff

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

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.

diverge

V. /多样的；各异的/vary; go in different directions from the same point. The spokes of the wheel diverge from the hub.

cite

V. /引用；掌握/quote; command. She could cite passages in the Bible from memory. citation, N.

commiserate

V. /怜悯，同情/feel or express pity or sympathy for. Her friends commiserated with the widow.

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.

scrutinize

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

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.

saunter

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

demystify

V. /澄清；揭秘/clarify; free from mystery or obscurity. Help¬ful doctors demystify medical procedures by describing them in everyday language, explaining that a myringotomy, for example, is an operation involving making a small hole in one's eardrum.

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.

exasperate

V. /激怒/vex. Johnny often exasperates his mother with his pranks.

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.

undermine

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

decipher

V. /破译，解密/interpret secret code. Lacking his code book, the spy was unable to decipher the scrambled message sent to him from the KGB.

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.

ascertain

V. /确认，确证/find out for certain. Please ascertain her pre¬sent address.

hone

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

abrade

V. /磨损，侵蚀/wear away by friction; scrape; erode. The sharp rocks abraded the skin on her legs, so she put iodine on her abrasions.

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.

anoint

V. /神圣化/consecrate. The prophet Samuel anointed David with oil, crowning him king of Israel.

protrude

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

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.

stint

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

thrive

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

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.

codify

V. /编纂/arrange (laws, rules) as a code; classify. We need to take the varying rules and regulations of the different health agencies and codify them into a national health code.

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.

writhe

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

cogitate

V. /考虑/think over. Cogitate on this problem; the solu¬tion will come.

blurt

V. /脱口而出/utter impulsively. Before she could stop him, he blurted out the news.

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.

acquire

V. /获取/obtain; get. Frederick Douglass was deter¬mined to acquire an education despite his master's efforts to prevent his doing so.

attain

V. /获得；完成/achieve or accomplish; gain. The scarecrow sought to attain one goal: he wished to obtain a brain.

appropriate

V. /获得；挪用，据为己有/acquire; take possession of for one's own use. The ranch owners appropriated the lands that had originally been set aside for the Indians' use.

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.

array

V. /衣服；穿着，装饰/clothe; adorn. She liked to watch her mother array herself in her finest clothes before going out for the evening. also N.

annotate

V. /评论，注释/comment; make explanatory notes. In the appendix to the novel, the editor sought to annotate many of the author's more esoteric references.

absolve

V. /谅解/pardon (an offense). The father confessor absolved him of his sins. absolution, N.

wince

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

hover

V. /逗留；盘旋；等待/hang about; wait nearby. The police helicopter hovered above the accident.

Word List 7

blunder-canter

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

scurvy

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

unseemly

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

unconscionable

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

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.

asunder ADV. /分裂，分开/into parts; apart. A fierce quarrel split the partnership asunder: the two partners finally sundered their connections because their points of view were poles asunder.

...

waggish

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

hoary

ADJ. /灰白的/white with age. The man was hoary and wrin¬kled when he was 70.

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.

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.]

unprecedented

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

earthy

ADJ. /粗糙的；未加工的/unrefined; coarse. His earthy remarks often embarrassed the women in his audience.

viscid

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

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.

hazardous

ADJ. d/危险/angerous. Your occupation is too haz¬ardous for insurance companies to consider your application.

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.

worldly

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

deadlock

N. /僵局/standstill; stalemate. Because negotiations had reached a deadlock, some of the delegates had begun to mutter about breaking off the talks. alsoV.

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.

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.

spat

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

yield

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

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.

affinity

N. /亲缘关系/kinship. She felt an affinity with all who suffered; their pains were her pains.

blasphemy

N. /亵渎/irreverence; sacrilege; cursing. In my father's house, the Dodgers were the holiest of holies; to cheer for another team was to utter words of blasphemy. blasphemous,ADJ.

animosity

N. /仇恨/active enmity. He incurred the animosity of the ruling class because he advocated limitations of their power.

repository

N. /仓库；知识库；智囊团/storehouse. Libraries are repositories of the world's best thoughts.

emissary

N. /代理；信使，使者/agent; messenger. The secretary of state was sent as the president's special emissary to the conference on disarmament.

watershed

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

schism

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

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.

severity

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

embody

V. /具体化；包含，收录/personify; make concrete; incorporate. Cheer¬ing on his rival Mark McGwire's efforts to break Roger Maris's home run record, Sammy Sosa embodied the spirit of true sportsmanship.

authenticate

V. /鉴别/prove genuine. An expert was needed to authenticate the original Van Gogh painting, distinguishing it from its imitation.

Word List 20

flippant-gaffe

Word List 48

ulterior-vehement

spry

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

glossy

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

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.

gratis

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

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.

equitable

ADJ. /公平的，公允的/fair; impartial. I am seeking an equitable solution to this dispute, one that will be fair and acceptable to both sides.

withdrawn

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

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.

ludicrous

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

artless

ADJ. /坦诚；直率/without guile; open and honest. Sophisticated and cynical, Jack could not believe Jill was as artless and naive as she appeared to be.

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!

saturnine

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

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.

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.

climactic

ADJ. /顶点的，高潮的/relating to the highest point. When he reached the climactic portions of the book, he could not stop reading. climax, N.

diurnal

ADJ. /日常的/daily. A farmer cannot neglect his diurnal tasks at any time; cows, for example, must be milked regularly.

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.

anachronistic

ADJ. /时代错误/having an error involving time in a story. The reference to clocks in Julius Caesar is anachronistic: clocks did not exist in Caesar's time. anachronism, N.

unequivocal

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

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.

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.

angular

ADJ. /有尖角的，瘦骨嶙峋的/sharp-cornered; stiff in manner. Mr. Spock's features, though angular, were curiously attractive, in a Vul¬can way.

brindled

ADJ. /有条纹或斑点的/tawny or grayish with streaks or spots. He was disappointed in the litter because the puppies were brindled, he had hoped for animals of a uniform color.

uniformity

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

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.

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.

disinclination

N. /不情愿，厌恶/unwillingness. Some mornings I feel a great disinclination to get out of bed

bereavement

N. /丧亲/state of being deprived of something valuable or beloved. His friends gathered to console him upon his sudden bereavement.

motif

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

discord

N. /冲突的；不和谐的/conflict; lack of harmony. Watching Tweedle¬dum battle Tweedledee, Alice wondered what had caused this pointless discord.

debris

N. /碎片；残骸/rubble. A full year after the earthquake in Mexico City, they were still carting away the debris.

holster

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

epoch

N. /时代/period of time. The glacial epoch lasted for thou¬sands of years.

theocracy

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

virtue

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

legacy

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

equanimity

N. /镇定/calmness of temperament; composure. Even the inevitable strains of caring for an ailing mother did not disturb Bea's equanimity.

composure

N. /镇定，沉着/mental calmness. Even the latest work crisis failed to shake her composure.

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.

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.

smelt

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

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.

plummet

V. /垂直落下/fall sharply. Stock prices plummeted as Wall Street reacted to the crisis in the economy.

lurk

V. /埋伏/stealthily lie in waiting; slink; exist unperceived. "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows."

appease

V. /平静，安抚/pacify or soothe; relieve. Tom and Jody tried to appease the crying baby by offering him one toy after another, but he would not calm down until they appeased his hunger by giving him a bottle.

exploit

V. /开发，开拓/make use of, sometimes unjustly. Cesar Chavez fought attempts to exploit migrant farmworkers in California. exploitation, N. exploitative,ADJ.

espouse

V. /接受，支持/adopt; support. She was always ready to espouse a worthy cause.

incriminate

V. /控告/accuse. The evidence gathered against the racketeers incriminates some high public officials as well.

chafe

V. /摩擦；擦热/warm by rubbing; make sore (by rubbing). Chilled, he chafed his hands before the fire. The collar of his school uniform chafed Tom's neck, but not as much the school's strict rules chafed his spirit. also N.

amass

V. /收集/collect. The miser's aim is to amass and hoard as much gold as possible.

wean

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

doodle

V. /涂鸦；浪费时间/scribble or draw aimlessly; waste time. Art's teachers scolded him when he doodled all over the margins of his papers.

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.

liquidate

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

aspire

V. /热望；热心于/seek to attain; long for. Because he aspired to a career in professional sports, Philip enrolled in a graduate program in sports management. aspiration, N.

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.

flourish

V. /生长；繁荣；装饰/grow well; prosper; decorate with ornaments. The orange trees flourished in the sun.

pummel

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

tether

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

delude

V. /盅惑/deceive. His mistress may have deluded herself into believing that he would leave his wife and marry her.

dwindle

V. /缩水；减少/shrink; reduce. The food in the life boat gradu¬ally dwindled away to nothing; in the end, they ate the ship's cook.

complement

V. /补足；完善/complete; consummate; make perfect. The waiter recommended a glass of port to complement the cheese. also N.

adorn

V. /装饰/decorate. Wall paintings and carved statues adorned the temple. adornment, N.

disfigure

V. /诬陷，抹黑，诽谤/mar in beauty; spoil. An ugly frown disfigured his normally pleasant face.

avert

V. /转移；防止/prevent; turn away. She averted her eyes from the dead cat on the highway.

monumental

ADJ. /雄伟的；厚重的；结实的；纪念的/massive. Writing a dictionary is a monu¬mental task.

volition

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

titter

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

Copious

ADJ. /丰富的，大量的/plentiful. She had copious reasons for reject¬ing the proposal.

rotundity

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

avuncular

ADJ. /像伯父（叔叔）一样的/like an uncle. Avuncular pride did not pre¬vent him from noticing his nephew's shortcomings.

simian

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

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.

diva

N. /著名女歌唱家，天后；歌剧女主角/operatic singer; prima donna. Although world famous as a diva, she did not indulge in fits of tempera¬ment. ..

raiment

N. /衣服/clothing. "How can I go to the ball?" asked Cin¬derella. "I have no raiment fit to wear."

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.

concentric

ADJ. /同心/having a common center. The target was made of concentric circles.

illimitable

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

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."

comely

ADJ. /清秀，美丽，漂亮；有吸引力的/attractive; agreeable. I would rather have a poor and comely wife than a rich and homely one.

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.

dulcet

ADJ. /甜美的（声音）/sweet sounding. The dulcet sounds of the birds at dawn were soon drowned out by the roar of traffic passing our motel.

mobile

ADJ. /移动的/movable; not fixed. The mobile blood bank operated by the Red Cross visited our neighborhood today. mobility, N.

chaste

ADJ. /纯的/pure. Her chaste and decorous garb was appropriately selected for the solemnity of the occasion. chastity, N.

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.

voluble

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

venial

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

accessible

ADJ. /可得到的/easy to approach; obtainable. We asked our guide whether the ruins were accessible on foot.

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.

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.

deducible

ADJ. /可推导的，可推论的/derived by reasoning. If we accept your premise, your conclusions are easily deducible.

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.

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.

chaffing

ADJ. /开玩笑/bantering; joking. Sometimes Chad's flip¬pant, chaffing remarks annoy us. Still, Chad's chaffing keeps us laughing. also N.

aquiline

ADJ. /弯曲的，钩状的/curved, hooked. He can be recognized by his aquiline nose, curved like the beak of the eagle.

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.

despondent

ADJ. /忧郁的；沮丧的/depressed; gloomy. To the dismay of his parents, William became seriously despondent after he broke up with Jan; they despaired of finding a cure for his gloom. despondency, N.

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.

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.

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.

euphonious

ADJ. /悦耳的/pleasing in sound. Euphonious even when spoken, the Italian language is particularly pleasing to the ear when sung. euphony. N.

disconsolate

ADJ. /悲伤；沮丧/sad. The death of his wife left him dis¬consolate.

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.

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.

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.

testy

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

striated

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

studied

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

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.

staid

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

vehement

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

deft

ADJ. /灵巧的，敏锐地/neat; skillful. The deft waiter uncorked the cham¬pagne without spilling a drop.

fervent

ADJ. /炙热的/ardent; hot. She felt that the fervent praise was excessive and somewhat undeserved.

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.

exhilarating

ADJ. /爽快的，使人愉快的/invigorating and refreshing; cheering. Though some of the hikers found tramping through the snow tiring, Jeffrey found the walk on the cold, crisp day exhilarating.

bovine

ADJ. /牛的；迟钝的；耐心的/cowlike; placid and dull. Nothing excites Esther; even when she won the state lottery, she still pre¬served her air of bovine calm.

vivacious

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

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.

bucolic

ADJ. /田园的/rustic; pastoral. Filled with browsing cows and bleating sheep, the meadow was a charmingly bucolic sight.

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.

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.

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.

emaciated

ADJ. /瘦弱的，脆弱的/thin and wasted. His long period of starva¬tion had left him emaciated.

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.

corrugated

ADJ. /皱的/wrinkled; ridged. She wished she could smooth away the wrinkles from his corrugated brow.

bumptious

ADJ. /盲目自大/self-assertive. His classmates called him a show-off because of his bumptious airs.

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.

squat

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

callous

ADJ. /硬心肠的，无情的/hardened; unfeeling. He had worked in the hospital for so many years that he was callous to the suffer¬ing in the wards. callus, N.

viscous

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

ultimate

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

empirical

ADJ. /经验主义/based on experience. He distrusted hunches and intuitive flashes; he placed his reliance entirely on empirical data.

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.

vitriolic

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

portend

V. /预示/foretell; presage. The king did not know what these omens might portend and asked his soothsayers to interpret them.

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.

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.

sultry

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

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.

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.

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.

pliant

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

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.

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.

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.

attrition

N. /裁员；磨损/gradual decrease in numbers; reduction in the work force without firing employees; wearing away of opposition by means of harassment. In the 1960s urban churches suffered from attrition as members moved from the cities to the suburbs. Rather than fire staff members, church leaders followed a policy of attrition, allowing elderly workers to retire without replacing them.

Cleft

N. /裂缝；开裂/split. Trying for a fresh handhold, the mountain¬climber grasped the edge of a cleft in the sheer rockface. alsoADJ.

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!"

slander

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

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?

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.

tribute

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

cacophonous

ADJ. /不和谐/discordant; inharmonious. Do the stu¬dents in the orchestra enjoy the cacophonous sounds they make when they're tuning up? I don't know how they can stand the racket. cacophony, N.

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.

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!

asymmetric

ADJ. /不对称/not identical on both sides of a dividing central line. Because one eyebrow was set markedly higher than the other, William's face had a particularly asymmetric appearance.

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.

unobtrusive

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

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.

unruly

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

anomalous

ADJ. /不正常的，变态的/abnormal; irregular. He was placed in the anomalous position of seeming to approve procedures which he despised.

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.

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.

encompass

V. /包围/surround. Although we were encompassed by enemy forces, we were cheerful for we were well stocked and could withstand a siege until our allies joined us.

comprise

V. /包括/include; consist of. If the District of Columbia were to be granted statehood, the United States of America would comprise fifty-one states, not just fifty.

swathe

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

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.

compromise

V. /危害；妥协/adjust or settle by making mutual conces¬sions; endanger the interests or reputation of. Sometimes the presence of a neutral third party can help adversaries compromise their differences. Unfortunately, you're not neu¬tral; therefore, your presence here compromises our chances of reaching an agreement. also N.

loathe

V. /厌恶；增武/detest. Booing and hissing, the audience showed how much they loathed the wicked villain.

apprise

V. /告诉/inform. When he was apprised of the danger¬ous weather conditions, he decided to postpone his trip.

exclaim

V. /呼喊，大叫/cry out suddenly. "Watson! Behind you!" Holmes exclaimed, seeing the assassin hurl himself on his friend.

amoral

ADJ. /不道德的/nonmoral. The amoral individual lacks a code of ethics; he cannot tell right from wrong. The immoral per¬son can tell right from wrong; he chooses to do something he knows is wrong.

trifling

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

trivial

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

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.

abolish

V. /废除/cancel; put an end to. The president of the col¬lege refused to abolish the physical education requirement. abolition, N.

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?

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.

obliterate

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

shimmer

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

countenance

V. /忍受；接受/approve; tolerate. He refused to counte¬nance such rude behavior on their part.

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?

entreat

V. /恳求/plead; ask earnestly. She entreated her father to let her stay out till midnight.

deplore

V. /悔恨/regret; disapprove of. Although I deplore the vulgarity of your language, I defend your right to express yourself freely.

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.

appreciate

V. /感激；增值；赏识/be thankful for; increase in worth; be thor¬oughly conscious of. Little Orphan Annie truly appreciated the stocks Daddy Warbucks gave her, which appreciated in value considerably over the years.

foil

V. /打击；打败，挫败/defeat; frustrate. In the end, Skywalker is able to foil Vader's diabolical schemes.

efface

V. /抹掉/rub out. The coin had been handled so many times that its date had been effaced.

unravel

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

actuate

V. /推动，促使/motivate. I fail to understand what actuated you to reply to this letter so nastily.

transmute

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

biennial

ADJ. /两年一度/every two years. Seeing no need to meet more frequently, the group held biennial meetings instead of annual ones. Plants that bear flowers biennially are known as biennials.

amphibian

ADJ. /两栖的/able to live both on land and in water. Frogs are classified as amphibian. also N.

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.

diverse

ADJ. /丰富多样的/differing in some characteristics; various. The professor suggested diverse ways of approaching the assignment and recommended that we choose one of them. diversity, N.

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.

sedentary

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

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.

stodgy

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

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.

sacrilegious

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

anthropomorphic

ADJ. /人形的/having human form or characteris¬tics. Primitive religions often have deities with anthropomor¬phic characteristics. anthropomorphism, N.

anthropocentric

ADJ. /人类中心说/regarding human beings as the cen¬ter of the universe. Without considering any evidence that might challenge his anthropocentric viewpoint, Hector cate¬gorically maintained that dolphins could not be as intelligent as men. anthropocentrism, N.

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.

vicarious

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

shoddy

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

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.

specious

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

subliminal

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

subordinate

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

snivel

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

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.

seep

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

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.

dawdle

V. /游手好闲；混日子/loiter; waste time. We have to meet a deadline so don't dawdle; just get down to work.

slither

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

blanch

V. /漂白/bleach; whiten. Although age had blanched his hair, he was still vigorous and energetic.

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.

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?

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.

vie

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

tarry

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

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.

soporific

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

somnolent

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

commemorate

V. /纪念/honor the memory of. The statue of the Minute Man commemorates the valiant soldiers who fought in the Revolutionary War.

dynamic

ADJ. /充满活力的/energetic; vigorously active. The dynamic aerobics instructor kept her students on the run; she was a little dynamo.

dehydrate

V. /脱水/remove water from; dry out. Running under a hot sun quickly dehydrates the body; joggers soon learn to carry water bottles and to drink from them frequently.

disengage

V. /脱离；分离/uncouple; separate; disconnect. A standard movie routine involves the hero's desperate attempt to dis¬engage a railroad car from a moving train.

glacial

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

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.

frigid

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

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.

retroactive

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

endemic

ADJ. /地方的；小范围内流行/prevailing among a specific group of people or in a specific area or country. This disease is endemic in this part of the world; more than 80 percent of the popula¬tion are at one time or another affected by it.

*blighted

ADJ. /完蛋了的；生病了的/suffering from a disease; destroyed. The extent of the blighted areas could be seen only when viewed from the air.

sectarian

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

vapid

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

visionary

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

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.

venerable

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

sublime

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

histrionic

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

ubiquitous

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

omnipresent

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

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.

optimum

ADJ. /最优的/most favorable. If you wait for the optimum moment to act, you may never begin your project. also N.

effectual

ADJ. /有效的/able to produce a desired effect; valid. Medical researchers are concerned because of the devel¬opment of drug-resistant strains of bacteria; many once useful antibiotics are no longer effectual in curing bacterial infections.

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.

virtual

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

pied

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

authoritative

ADJ. /权威；独裁/having the weight of authority; peremp¬tory and dictatorial. Impressed by the young researcher's well-documented presentation, we accepted her analysis of the experiment as authoritative.

haggard

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

limber

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

supple

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

festive

ADJ. /欢乐；庆祝/joyous; celebratory. Their wedding in the park was a festive occasion.

convivial

ADJ. /欢乐；高兴/festive; gay; characterized by joviality. The convivial celebrators of the victory sang their college songs.

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.

unscathed

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

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.

billowing

ADJ. /波涛翻滚/swelling out in waves; surging. Standing over the air vent, Marilyn Monroe tried vainly to control her billowing skirts.

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.

dank

ADJ. /湿的；湿透的/damp. The walls of the dungeon were dank and slimy.

bristling

ADJ. /竖立的/rising like bristles; showing irritation. The dog stood there, bristling with anger.

demure

ADJ. /端庄的；认真的；腼腆的/grave; serious; coy. She was demure and reserved, a nice modest girl whom any young man would be proud to take home to his mother.

devout

ADJ. /虔诚的；诚恳的/pious. The devout man prayed daily.

compensatory

ADJ. /补偿/making up for; repaying. Can a com¬pensatory education program make up for the inadequate schooling he received in earlier years?

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.

tractable

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

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.

burly

ADJ. /魁伟，结实/husky; muscular. The burly mover lifted the packing crate with ease.

harbinger

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

vanguard

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

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.

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.

debutante

N. /初次参加社交活动的女孩/young woman making formal entrance into society. As a debutante, she was often mentioned in the society columns of the newspapers.

discretion

N. /判断力；审慎的/prudence; ability to adjust actions to circum¬stances. Use your discretion in this matter and do not dis¬cuss it with anyone. discreet,ADJ.

alias

N. /别名/an assumed name. John Smith's alias was Bob Jones. also ADV.

ennui

N. /厌倦/boredom. The monotonous routine of hospital life induced a feeling of ennui that made him moody and irritable.

tenet

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

recrimination

N. /反责；反击/countercharges. Loud and angry recrimi¬nations were her answer to his accusations.

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.

typhoon

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

synthesis

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

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.

responsiveness

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

sentinel

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

harangue

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

vignette

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

paucity

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

detonation

N. /引爆，爆炸/explosion. The detonation of the bomb could be heard miles away.

reprisal

N. /报复/retaliation. I am confident that we are ready for any reprisals the enemy may undertake.

comeuppance

N. /报应/rebuke; deserts. After his earlier rude¬ness, we were delighted to see him get his comeuppance.

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.

psyche

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

catastrophe

N. /灾难/calamity; disaster. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake was a catastrophe that destroyed most of the city. A similar earthquake striking today could have even more catastrophic results.

exigency

N. /紧急情况/urgent situation. In this exigency, we must look for aid from our allies.

satire

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

assessment

N. /评价，评估；判断/evaluation; judgment. Your SAT I score plays a part in the admission committee's assessment of you as an applicant.

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.

toady

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

retinue

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

eulogy

N. /颂词；赞美词/expression of praise, often on the occasion of someone's death. Instead of delivering a spoken eulogy at Genny's memorial service, Jeff sang a song he had written in her honor.

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.

disgorge

V. /吐出，涌出，呕吐/surrender something; eject; vomit. Unwilling to disgorge the cash he had stolen from the pension fund, the embezzler tried to run away.

browbeat

V. /吓唬/bully; intimidate. Billy resisted Ted's attempts browbeat him into handing over his lunch money.

rout

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

gainsay

V. /否认，拒绝/deny. She was too honest to gainsay the truth of the report.

succumb

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

yield

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

venerate

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

supplicate

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

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.

wrench

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

discomfit

V. /扰乱/put to rout; defeat; disconcert. This ruse will discomfitthe enemy. discomfiture, N. discomfited,ADJ.

seethe

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

sanction

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

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.

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.

fleece

V. /抢劫；诈骗/rob; plunder. The tricksters fleeced him of his inheritance.

withstand

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

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.

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.

belie

V. /掩饰，造成假象；矛盾/contradict; give a false impression. His coarse, hard-bitten exterior belied his inner sensitivity.

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.

forsake

V. /放弃/desert; abandon; renounce. No one expected Foster to forsake his wife and children and run off with another woman.

enumerate

V. /枚举/list; mention one by one. Huck hung his head in shame as Miss Watson enumerated his many flaws.

collate

V. /校对，整理/examine in order to verify authenticity; arrange in order. They collated the newly found manuscripts to deter¬mine their age.

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.

ape

V. /模仿/imitate or mimic. He was suspended for a week because he had aped the principal in front of the whole school.

simulate

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

agitate

V. /激怒，打扰/stir up; disturb. Her fiery remarks agitated the already angry mob.

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.

perpetrate

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

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.

don

V. /穿上/put on. When Clark Kent has to don his Superman outfit, he changes clothes in a convenient phone booth.

traverse

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

supplant

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

usurp

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

splice

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

amalgamate

V. /结合，整合/combine; unite in one body. The unions will attempt to amalgamate their groups into one national body.

yoke

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

slake

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

unfetter

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

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.

devise

V. /设计；发明/think up; invent; plan. How clever he must be to have devised such a devious plan! What ingenious inven¬tions might he have devised if he had turned his mind to science and not to crime.

substantiate

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

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?

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?

droll

ADJ. /滑稽可笑；离奇古怪，怪里怪气/queer and amusing. He was a popular guest because his droll anecdotes were always entertaining.

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.

placid

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

titular

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

pacifist

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

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.

lustrous

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

arbiter

N. /仲裁者/a person with power to decide a dispute; judge. As an arbiter in labor disputes, she has won the confidence of the workers and the employers.

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.

cloister

N. /修道院/monastery or convent. The nuns lived a secluded life in the cloister.

pretext

N. /借口；托辞/excuse. He looked for a good pretext to get out of paying a visit to his aunt.

subterfuge

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

scabbard

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

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.

anonymity

N. /匿名/state of being nameless; anonymousness. The donor of the gift asked the college not to mention him by name; the dean readily agreed to respect his anonymity.

camaraderie

N. /友情/good-fellowship. What he loved best about his job was the sense of camaraderie he and his co¬workers shared.

masochist

N. /受虐狂/person who enjoys his own pain. The masochist begs, "Hit me." The sadist smiles and says, "I won't."

doldrums

N. /忧郁，悲伤/blues; listlessness; slack period. Once the excitement of meeting her deadline was over, she found herself in the doldrums.

approbation

N. /同意，批准/approval. She looked for some sign of approbation from her parents, hoping her good grades would please them.

expatriate

N. /放逐；被放逐者/exile; someone who has withdrawn from his native land. Henry James was an American expatriate who settled in England.

subsidy

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

animus

N. /敌意/hostile feeling or intent. The animus of the speaker became obvious to all when he began to indulge in sarcastic and insulting remarks.

vagrant

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

anarchy

N. /无政府主义/absence of governing body; state of disorder. The assassination of the leaders led to a period of anarchy.

anarchist

N. /无政府主义者/person who seeks to overturn the established government; advocate of abolishing authority. Denying she was an anarchist, Katya maintained she wished only to make changes in our government, not to destroy it entirely. anarchy, N.

perimeter

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

entrepreneur

N. /商人，企业家，承包人/businessman; contractor. Opponents of our present tax program argue that it discourages entrepre¬neurs from trying new fields of business activity.

quip

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

guise

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

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.

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.

adjunct

N. /无用的附加物/something added on or attached (generally nonessential or inferior). Although I don't absolutely need a second computer, I plan to buy a laptop to serve as an adjunct to my desktop model.

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.

turpitude

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

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.

domicile

N. /家/home. Although his legal domicile was in New York City, his work kept him away from his residence for many years. alsoV.

catharsis

N. /导泻，通便；疏泄/purging or cleansing of any passage of the body. Aristotle maintained that tragedy created a catharsis by purging the soul of base concepts.

preamble

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

mite

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

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.

sleight

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

certitude

N. /确实/certainty. Though there was no certitude of his getting the job, Lou thought he had a good chance of doing so.

decorum

N. /礼貌；温文尔雅/propriety; orderliness and good taste in man¬ners. Even the best-mannered students have trouble behav¬ing with decorum on the last day of school. decorous,ADJ.

ethos

N. /社会精神特质，思潮，风气；气质/underlying character of a culture, group, etc. Seeing how tenderly ordinary Spaniards treated her small daughter made author Barbara Kingsolver aware of how greatly children were valued in the Spanish ethos.

progenitor

N. /祖先/ancestor. The Roth family, whose progeni¬tors emigrated from Germany early in the nineteenth cen¬tury, settled in Peru, Illinois.

ancestry

N. /祖先/family descent. David can trace his ancestry as far back as the seventeenth century, when one of his ancestors was a court trumpeter somewhere in Germany. ancestral,ADJ.

benediction

N. /祝福/blessing. The appearance of the sun after the many rainy days was like a benediction.

acerbity

N. /尖酸的（语气，脾气）/bitterness of speech and temper. The meeting of the United Nations General Assembly was marked with such acerbity that informed sources held out little hope of reaching any useful settlement of the problem. acerbic,ADJ.

acuity

N. /尖锐/sharpness. In time his youthful acuity of vision failed him, and he needed glasses.

attribute

N. /属性/essential quality. His outstanding attribute was his kindness.

magnitude

N. /巨大的，大数量级的/ greatness; extent. It is difficult to compre¬hend the magnitude of his crime.

claustrophobia

N. /幽闭恐怖症/fear of being locked in. His fellow class¬mates laughed at his claustrophobia and often threatened to lock him in his room.

cynosure

N. /广受注意的目标/the object of general attention. As soon as the movie star entered the room, she became the cynosure of all eyes.

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.

wastrel

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

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.

brawn

N. /强壮的肌肉/muscular strength; sturdiness. It takes brawn to become a champion weightlifter. brawny,ADJ.

potentate

N. /当权者/monarch; sovereign. The potentate spent more time at Monte Carlo than he did at home on his throne.

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.

torrent

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

extrovert

N. /性格外向的人/person interested mostly in external objects and actions. A good salesman is usually an extrovert, who likes to mingle with people.

resumption

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

boon

N. /恩惠，福利/blessing; benefit. The recent rains that filled our empty reservoirs were a boon to the whole community.

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.

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.

suffragist

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

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.

defiance

N. /抵抗；不屈服/refusal to yield; resistance. When John reached the "terrible two's," he responded to every parental request with howls of defiance. defy,V.

collateral

N. /抵押品/security given for loan. The sum you wish to borrow is so large that it must be secured by collateral.

assurance

N. /担保，保证；确定；自信/promise or pledge; certainty; self-confi¬dence. When Guthrie gave Guinness his assurance that rehearsals were going well, he spoke with such assurance that Guinness felt relieved. assure,V.

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.

excerpt

N. /摘抄，摘录/selected passage (written or musical). The cin¬ematic equivalent of an excerpt from a novel is a clip from a film. alsoV.

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.

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.

catechism

N. /教义问答手册；FAQ,Q&A/book for religious instruction; instruction by question and answer. He taught by engaging his pupils in a catechism until they gave him the correct answer.

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.

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."

agnostic

N. /无神论者/one who is skeptical of the existence or knowability of a god or any ultimate reality. Agnostics say we can neither prove nor disprove the existence of god; we simply just can't know. alsoADJ.

acquittal

N. /无罪开释/deliverance from a charge. His acquittal by the jury surprised those who had thought him guilty. acquit,V.

vogue

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

entomology

N. /昆虫学/study of insects. Kent found entomology the most annoying part of his biology course; studying insects bugged him.

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.

aspirant

N. /有志者；有抱负的人/seeker after position or status. Although I am an aspirant for public office, I am not willing to accept the dictates of the party bosses. alsoADJ.

iota

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

caption

N. /标题/title; chapter heading; text under illustration. The captions that accompany The Far Side cartoons are almost as funny as the pictures. alsoV.

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.

caucus

N. /核心小组会议（秘密）/private meeting of members of a party to select officers or determine policy. At the opening of Congress, the members of the Democratic Party held a caucus to elect the Majority Leader of the House and the Party Whip.

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.

sycophant

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

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.

swindler

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

apex

N. /高点，顶点，高潮/tip; summit; climax. He was at the apex of his career: he had climbed to the top of the heap.

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.

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.

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.

facet

N. /（宝石的）琢面；方面/small plane surface (of a gem); a side. The stone¬cutter decided to improve the rough diamond by providing it with several facets.

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.

residue

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

mortician

N. /殡仪业者/undertaker. The mortician prepared the corpse for burial.

stamina

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

temperament

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

edict

N. /法令，号令；布告/decree (especially issued by a sovereign); official command. The emperor issued an edict decreeing that everyone should come see him model his magnificent new clothes.

ordinance

N. /法令；政令/decree. Passing a red light is a violation of a city ordinance.

vigor

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

chasm

N. /深渊/abyss. They could not see the bottom of the chasm.

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.

vortex

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

hilarity

N. /狂欢，欢闹/boisterous mirth. This hilarity is improper on this solemn day of mourning.

zealot

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

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.

ecologist

N. /生态学家/a person concerned with the interrelationship between living organisms and their environment. The ecolo¬gist was concerned that the new dam would upset the nat¬ural balance of the creatures living in Glen Canyon.

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.

truism

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

shard

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

beatitude

N. /祝福/blessedness; state of bliss. Growing closer to God each day, the mystic achieved a state of indescribable beatitude.

revert

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

beset

V. /困扰/harass or trouble; hem in. Many vexing problems beset the American public school system. Sleeping Beauty's castle was beset on all sides by dense thickets that hid it from view.

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?

waylay

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

verve

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

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.

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.

dishearten

V. /挫败/discourage; cause to lose courage or hope. His failure to pass the bar exam disheartened him.

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.

upshot

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

archaeology

N. /考古学/study of artifacts and relics of early mankind. The professor of archaeology headed an expedi¬tion to the Gobi Desert in search of ancient ruins.

forbearance

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

expropriate

V. /没收，剥夺，征用/take possession of. He questioned the gov¬ernment's right to expropriate his land to create a wildlife preserve.

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.

dabble

V. /涉猎，尝试；溅/work at in a non-serious fashion; splash around. The amateur painter dabbled at art, but seldom produced a finished piece. The children dabbled their hands in the bird bath, splashing one another gleefully.

alloy

V. /混合，中和/mix; make less pure; lessen or moderate. Our delight at the Yankees' victory was alloyed by our concern for Dwight Gooden, who injured his pitching arm in the game.

nettle

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

timidity

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

deify

V. /神化/ turn into a god; idolize. Admire Elvis Presley all you want; just don't deify him.

proscribe

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

Capacity

N. /能力；角色/mental or physical ability; role; ability to accommodate. Mike had the capacity to handle several jobs at once. In his capacity as president of SelecTronics he marketed an electronic dictionary with a capacity of 200,000 words.

curmudgeon

N. /脾气坏；吝啬/churlish, miserly individual. Although he was regarded by many as a curmudgeon, a few of us were aware of the many kindnesses and acts of charity that he secretly performed.

spontaneity

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

egoism

N. /自我中心，利己主义/excessive interest in one's self; belief that one should be interested in one's self rather than in others. His egoism prevented him from seeing the needs of his col¬leagues.

complacency

N. /自满；装模作样/self-satisfaction; smugness. Full of com¬placency about his latest victories, he looked smugly at the row of trophies on his mantelpiece. complacent,ADJ.

apiary

N. /蜂房/a place where bees are kept. Although he spent many hours daily in the apiary, he was very seldom stung by a bee.

lineage

N. /血统/descent; ancestry. He traced his lineage back to Mayflower days.

rift

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

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.

treatise

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

enigma

N. /谜/puzzle; mystery. "What do women want?" asked Dr. Sigmund Freud. Their behavior was an enigma to him.

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.

encomium

N. /赞美之词/high praise; eulogy. Uneasy with the encomiums expressed by his supporters, Tolkien felt unworthy of such high praise.

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.

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.

transition

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

colander

N. /过滤器/utensil with perforated bottom used for strain¬ing. Before serving the spaghetti, place it in a colander to drain it.

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.

talon

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

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.

anesthetic

N. /麻醉药/substance that removes sensation with or with¬out loss of consciousness. His monotonous voice acted like an anesthetic; his audience was soon asleep. anesthesia, N.

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.

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.

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.

plaudit

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

privation

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

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.

reticence

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

*anomaly

N. /不正常/irregularity. A bird that cannot fly is an anomaly.

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.

surrogate

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

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.

insolence

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

throes

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

efficacy

N. /功效/power to produce desired effect. The efficacy of this drug depends on the regularity of the dosage. effica¬cious,ADJ.

exertion

N. /努力，尽力/effort; expenditure of much physical work. The exertion spent in unscrewing the rusty bolt left her exhausted.

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.

coiffure

N. /发型/hairstyle. You can make a statement with your choice of coiffure: in the sixties many African-Americans affirmed their racial heritage by wearing their hair in Afros.

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.

figment

N. /发明；臆造的事务/invention; imaginary thing. That incident never took place; it is a figment of your imagination.

servitude

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

euphemism

N. /委婉的表达/mild expression in place of an unpleasant one. The expression "he passed away" is a euphemism for "he died."

conviction

N. /定罪；深信/judgment that someone is guilty of a crime; strongly held belief. Even her conviction for murder did not shake Peter's conviction that Harriet was innocent of the crime.

entity

N. /实体/real being. As soon as the Charter was adopted, the United Nations became an entity and had to be consid¬ered as a factor in world diplomacy.

subjective

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

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.

wane

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

dismember

V. /分解，肢解/cut into small parts. When the Austrian Empire was dismembered, several new countries were established.

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.

tout

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

babble

V. /嘟囔/chatter idly. The little girl babbled about her doll. also N.

inter

V. /埋/bury. They are going to inter the body tomorrow at Broadlawn Cemetery.

aggrandize

V. /增加，加强/increase or intensify. The history of the past quarter century illustrates how a President may aggrandize his power to act aggressively in international affairs without considering the wishes of Congress.

transcribe

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

coddle

V. /娇养，溺爱/to treat gently. Don't coddle the children so much; they need a taste of discipline.

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.

protract

V. /延长/prolong. Seeking to delay the union members' vote, the management team tried to protract the negotia¬tions endlessly.

trigger

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

disparage

V. /忽略，轻视/belittle. A doting mother, Emma was more likely to praise her son's crude attempts at art than to dis¬parage them.

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.

solicit

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

degenerate

V. /恶化/become worse; deteriorate. As the fight dragged on, the champion's style degenerated until he could barely keep on his feet.

abhor

V. /憎恨/detest; hate. She abhorred all forms of bigotry. abhorrence, N.

loll

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

shackle

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

requite

V. /报答；酬谢/repay; revenge. The wretch requited his bene¬factors by betraying them.

dismantle

V. /拆除/take apart. When the show closed, they dis¬mantled the scenery before storing it.

encumber

V. /拖累，负担/burden. Some people encumber themselves with too much luggage when they take short trips.

accommodate

V. /招待，食宿，适应/oblige or help someone; adjust or bring into harmony; adapt. Mitch always did everything possible to accommodate his elderly relatives, from driving them to medical appointments to helping them with paperwork. (secondary meaning)

debunk

V. /揭穿；奚落/expose as false, exaggerated, worthless, etc; ridicule. Pointing out that he consistently had voted against strengthening anti-pollution legislation, reporters debunked the candidate's claim that he was a fervent environmentalist.

accost

V. /搭讪，邂逅/approach and speak first to a person. When the two young men accosted me, I was frightened because I thought they were going to attack me.

totter

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

garner

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

aggregate

V. /收集，聚集/gather; accumulate. Before the Wall Street scandals, dealers in so-called junk bonds managed to aggregate great wealth in short periods of time. aggrega¬tion, N.

muster

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

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.

cede

V. /放弃；屈服于；投降/yield (title, territory) to; surrender formally. Eventu¬ally the descendants of England's Henry II were forced to cede their French territories to the King of France.

spurn

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

emanate

V. /散发，发出/issue forth. A strong odor of sulphur emanated from the spring.

disperse

V. /散开/scatter. The police fired tear gas into the crowd to disperse the protesters. dispersion, N.

dispel

V. /散开；分裂；消失/scatter; drive away; cause to vanish. The bright sunlight eventually dispelled the morning mist.

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.

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.

badger

V. /激怒，纠缠/pester; annoy. She was forced to change her telephone number because she was badgered by obscene phone calls.

scale

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

slough

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

salvage

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

evince

V. /表示/show clearly. When he tried to answer the ques¬tions, he evinced his ignorance of the subject matter.

vent

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

ebb

V. /衰退/recede; lessen. Sitting on the beach, Mrs. Dalloway watched the tide ebb: the waters receded, drawing away from her as she sat there all alone. also N.

retrench

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

betroth

V. /订婚/become engaged to marry. The announcement that they had become betrothed surprised their friends who had not suspected any romance. betrothal, N.

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.

amiable

ADJ. /可爱的，友好的，惬意的/agreeable; lovable; warmly friendly. In Little Women, Beth is the amiable daughter whose loving disposi¬tion endears her to all who know her.

dubious

ADJ. /可疑的/questionable; filled with doubt. Many critics of SAT I contend the test is of dubious worth. Jay claimed he could get a perfect 1600 on SAT I, but Ellen was dubi¬ous: she knew he hadn't cracked a book in three years.

arable

ADJ. /可耕种的/fit for growing crops. The first settlers wrote home glowing reports of the New World, praising its vast acres of arable land ready for the plow.

apposite

ADJ. /合适的/appropriate; fitting. He was always able to find the apposite phrase, the correct expression for every occasion.

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.

celebrated

ADJ. /名人/famous; well-known. Thanks to their race to break Roger Maris's home-run record, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are two of America's most celebrated base¬ball players. celebrity, N.

aghast

ADJ. /吓坏了的/horrified. He was aghast at the nerve of the speaker who had insulted his host.

sovereign

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

enfranchise

V. /赋予公民权（投票权）/to admit to the rights of citizenship (espe¬cially the right to vote). Although Blacks were enfranchised shortly after the Civil War, women did not receive the right to vote until 1920.

expiate

V. /赎罪/make amends for (a sin). He tried to expiate his crimes by a full confession to the authorities.

acclaim

V. /赞扬，表扬/applaud; announce with great approval. The NBC sportscasters acclaimed every American victory in the Olympics and decried every American defeat. also N.

laud

V. /赞美/praise. The NFL lauded Boomer Esiason's efforts to raise money to combat cystic fibrosis. laudable, lauda¬tory,ADJ.

extol

V. /赞美/praise; glorify. The president extolled the astro¬nauts, calling them the pioneers of the Space Age.

stem from

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

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?

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.

scruple

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

blatant

ADJ. /喧闹；俗丽/flagrant; conspicuously obvious; loudly offen¬sive. To the unemployed youth from Dublin, the "No Irish Need Apply" placard in the shop window was a blatant mark of prejudice.

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.

satirical

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

causal

ADJ. /因果关系的/implying a cause-and-effect relationship. The psychologist maintained there was a causal relationship between the nature of one's early childhood experiences and one's adult personality. causality, N.

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.

bemused

ADJ. /困惑的，发呆的/confused; lost in thought; preoccupied. Jill studied the garbled instructions with a bemused look on her face.

convoluted

ADJ. /围绕，卷绕；费解/coiled around; involved; intricate. His argument was so convoluted that few of us could follow it intelligently.

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.

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.

terrestrial

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

malevolent

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

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.

steadfast

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

stalwart

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

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.

nocturnal

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

disparate

ADJ. /大相径庭的；没关系的/basically different; unrelated. Unfortunately, Tony and Tina have disparate notions of marriage: Tony sees it as a carefree extended love affair, while Tina sees it as a solemn commitment to build a family and a home.

audacious

ADJ. /大胆的；鲁莽的/daring; bold. Audiences cheered as Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia made their audacious, death¬defying leap to freedom, escaping Darth Vader's troops. audacity, N.

celestial

ADJ. /天体的/heavenly. She spoke of the celestial joys that awaited virtuous souls in the hereafter.

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.

azure

ADJ. /天蓝/sky blue. Azure skies are indicative of good weather.

bombastic

ADJ. /夸张的/pompous; using inflated language. Puffed up with conceit, the orator spoke in such a bombastic man¬ner that we longed to deflate him. bombast, N.

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.

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.

veer

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

vindicate

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

fetid

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

demean

V. /降级；贬低/degrade; humiliate. Standing on his dignity, he refused to demean himself by replying to the offensive letter. If you truly believed in the dignity of labor, you would not think it would demean you to work as a janitor.

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.

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.

whinny

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

bilk

V. /骗/swindle; cheat. The con man specialized in bilking insurance companies.

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.

discriminating

ADJ. /有识别能力的；有偏见的/able to see differences; prejudiced. A superb interpreter of Picasso, she was sufficiently discrimi¬nating to judge the most complex works of modern art. (secondary meaning) discrimination, N.

cogent

ADJ. /有说服力的/convincing. It was inevitable that David chose to go to Harvard: he had several cogent reasons for doing so, including a full-tuition scholarship. Katya argued her case with such cogency that the jury had to decide in favor of her client.

engaging

ADJ. /有魅力的，有吸引力的/charming; attractive. Everyone liked Nancy's pleasant manners and engaging personality.

hazy

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

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.

unmitigated

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

wary

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

perpetual

ADJ. /永久的/everlasting. Ponce de Leon hoped to find the legendary fountain of perpetual youth.

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.

undulating

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

turbid

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

limpid

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

ashen

ADJ. /灰色/ash-colored. Her face was ashen with fear.

dexterous

ADJ. /灵巧的；右撇子/skillful. The magician was so dexterous that we could not follow him as he performed his tricks.

fervid

ADJ. /炙热的/ardent. Her fervid enthusiasm inspired all of us to undertake the dangerous mission.

pert

ADJ. /爱管闲事的，无理的/impertinent; forward. I think your pert and impu¬dent remarks call for an apology.

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.

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!

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.

antiquated

ADJ. /过时的，陈旧的/old-fashioned; obsolete. Philip had grown so accustomed to editing his papers on word processors that he thought typewriters were too antiquated for him to use.

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.

riveting

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

seemly

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

evasive

ADJ. /逃避的/not frank; eluding. Your evasive answers con¬vinced the judge that you were withholding important evi¬dence. evade,V.

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.

artifact

N. /人造物品/object made by human beings, either hand¬made or mass-produced. Archaeologists debated the sig¬nificance of the artifacts discovered in the ruins of Asia Minor but came to no conclusion about the culture they rep¬resented.

tenure

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

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.

brunt

N. /冲击/main impact or shock. Tom Sawyer claimed credit for painting the fence, but the brunt of the work fell on oth¬ers. However, he bore the brunt of Aunt Polly's complaints when the paint began to peel.

vendor

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

amnesty

N. /原谅/pardon. When his first child was born, the king granted amnesty to all in prison.

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.

compact

N. /合约，合同/agreement; contract. The signers of the Mayflower Compact were establishing a form of government.

scad

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

strut

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

dispatch

N. /急速；急件/speediness; prompt execution; message sent with all due speed. Young Napoleon defeated the enemy with all possible dispatch; he then sent a dispatch to head¬quarters informing his commander of the great victory. alsoV.

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.

talisman

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

retaliation

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

horde

N. /拥挤/crowd. Just before Christmas the stores are filled with hordes of shoppers.

arcade

N. /拱廊/a covered passageway, usually lined with shops. The arcade was popular with shoppers because it gave them protection from the summer sun and the winter rain.

pugilist

N. /拳击家/boxer. The famous pugilist Cassius Clay changed his name to Muhammed Ali.

collage

N. /拼贴画/work of art put together from fragments. Scraps of cloth, paper doilies, and old photographs all went into her collage.

reserve

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

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.

soliloquy

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

conceit

N. /自负，自大；离奇古怪的想法/vanity or self-love; whimsical idea; extravagant metaphor. Although Jack was smug and puffed up with conceit, he was an entertaining companion, always expressing himself in amusing conceits and witty turns of phrase.

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.

tiller

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

hue

N. /色调/color; aspect. The aviary contained birds of every possible hue.

virtuoso

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

tundra

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

drudgery

N. /苦差事，苦工/menial work. Cinderella's fairy godmother res¬cued her from a life of drudgery.

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.

valor

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

latitude

N. /范围/freedom from narrow limitations. I think you have permitted your son too much latitude in this matter.

extent

N. /范围；程度/degree; magnitude; scope. What is the extentof the patient's injuries? If they are not too extensive, we can treat him on an outpatient basis.

*atrophy

N. /萎缩，变得没用/wasting away. Polio victims need physiother¬apy to prevent the atrophy of affected limbs. alsoV.

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.

dissolution

N. /解散；终止；解体/breaking of a union; decay; termination. Which caused King Lear more suffering: the dissolution of his kingdom into warring factions, or the dissolution of his aged, failing body?

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?

apologist

N. /辩护者/one who writes in defense of a cause or insti¬tution. Rather than act as an apologist for the current regime in Beijing and defend its brutal actions, the young diplomat decided to defect to the West.

verge

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

plethora

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

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.

apogee

N. /顶点/highest point. When the moon in its orbit is far¬thest away from the earth, it is at its apogee.

zenith

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

expenditure

N. /支出，花费/payment or expense; output. When you are operating on an expense account, you must keep receipts for all your expenditures. If you don't save your receipts, you won't get repaid without the expenditure of a lot of energy arguing with the firm's accountants.

dregs

N. /沉淀物；残渣/sediment; worthless residue. David poured the wine carefully to avoid stirring up the dregs.

aplomb

N. /沉着，垂直/poise; assurance. Gwen's aplomb in handling potentially embarrassing moments was legendary around the office; when one of her clients broke a piece of her best crystal, she coolly picked up her own goblet and hurled it into the fireplace.

dross

N. /渣滓，废物/waste matter; worthless impurities. Many meth¬ods have been devised to separate the valuable metal from the dross.

clemency

N. /温和；仁慈/disposition to be lenient; mildness, as of the weather. The lawyer was pleased when the case was sent to Judge Smith's chambers because Smith was noted for her clemency toward first offenders.

alchemy

N. /炼金术士/medieval chemistry. The changing of baser metals into gold was the goal of the students of alchemy. alchemist, N.

foil

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

devotee

N. /热心的追随者/enthusiastic follower. A devotee of the opera, he bought season tickets every year.

zeal

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

spate

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

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.

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.

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.

rote

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

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.

virus

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

affliction

N. /痛苦/state of distress; cause of suffering. Even in the midst of her affliction, Elizabeth tried to keep up the spirits of those around her.

addiction

N. /瘾，依赖/compulsive, habitual need. His addiction to drugs caused his friends much grief.

verbiage

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

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!

brevity

N. /简短，短暂/conciseness. Brevity is essential when you send a telegram or cablegram; you are charged for every word.

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.

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.

elaboration

N. /细节；复杂/addition of details; intricacy. Tell what hap¬pened simply, without any elaboration. elaborate,V.

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.

abduction

N. /绑架/kidnapping. The movie Ransom describes the attempts to rescue a multimillionaire's son after the child's abduction by kidnappers. abduct,V.

termination

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

sham

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

entrance

V. /使其着迷；使其神志恍惚/put under a spell; carry away with emotion. Shafts of sunlight on a wall could entrance her and leave her spellbound.

enervate

V. /使变弱/weaken. She was slow to recover from her ill¬ness; even a short walk to the window would enervate her.

desiccate

V. /弄干/dry up. A tour of this smokehouse will give you an idea of how the pioneers used to desiccate food in order to preserve it.

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.

ascribe

V. /归因于；指派/refer; attribute; assign. I can ascribe no motive for her acts.

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.

subjugate

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

elicit

V. /得出/draw out by discussion. The detectives tried to elicit where he had hidden his loot.

beget

V. /得子；产生/father; produce; give rise to. One good turn may deserve another; it does not necessarily beget another.

dismiss

V. /拒绝；排除/put away from consideration; reject. Believing in John's love for her, she dismissed the notion that he might be unfaithful. (secondary meaning)

temporize

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

extrude

V. /挤压，逼/force or push out. Much pressure is required to extrude these plastics.

verbalize

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

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?

ameliorate

V. /提高/improve. Many social workers have attempted to ameliorate the conditions of people living in the slums.

sheathe

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

retract

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

burnish

V. /擦拭/make shiny by rubbing; polish. The maid bur¬nished the brass fixtures until they reflected the lamplight.

buttress

V. /支持/support; prop up. The attorney came up with several far-fetched arguments in a vain attempt to buttress his weak case. also N.

bolster

V. /支持，增援/support; reinforce. The debaters amassed file boxes full of evidence to bolstertheir arguments.

sustain

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

adapt

V. /改变/alter; modify. Some species of animals have become extinct because they could not adapt to a chang¬ing environment.

beleaguer

V. /攻击；使烦恼/besiege or attack; harassed. The babysitter was surrounded by a crowd of unmanageable brats who relentlessly beleaguered her.

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.

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.

clamber

V. /爬/climb by crawling. She clambered over the wall.

admonish

V. /警告，训斥/warn; reprove. He admonished his listeners to change their wicked ways. admonition, N.

eschew

V. /避免/avoid. Hoping to present himself to his girlfriend as a totally reformed character, he tried to eschew all the vices, especially chewing tobacco and drinking bathtub gin.

manipulate v, /操作/operate with one's hands; control or play upon (people, forces, etc.) artfully. Jim Henson understood how to manipulate the Muppets. Madonna understands how to manipulate men (and publicity).

...

breadth

N. /宽度/width; extent. We were impressed by the breadth of her knowledge.

stem

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

lionize

V. /奉为名人；游览名胜/treat as a celebrity. She enjoyed being lionized and adored by the public.

surmise

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

presage

V. /预示/foretell. The vultures flying overhead presaged the discovery of the corpse in the desert.

maelstrom

N. /漩涡/whirlpool. The canoe was tossed about in the maelstrom.

diabolical

ADJ. /恶魔的/devilish. "What a fiend I am, to devise such a diabolical scheme to destroy Gotham City," chortled the Joker gleefully.

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.

collusion

N. /勾结/Conspiring in a fraudulent scheme. The swindlers were found guilty of collusion.

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.

pall

V. /厌烦，腻味/grow tiresome. The study of word lists can eventu¬ally pall and put one to sleep.

dwarf

V. /使看上去矮小/cause to seem small. The giant redwoods and high cliffs dwarfed the elegant Ahwahnee Hotel, making it appear a modest lodge rather than an imposing hostelry.

debilitate

V. /使虚弱，衰弱/weaken; enfeeble. Michael's severe bout of the flu debilitated him so much that he was too tired to go to work for a week.

fleck

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

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.

careen

V. /倾斜/lurch; sway from side to side. The taxicab careened wildly as it rounded the corner.

reimburse

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

circumscribe

V. /限制/limit; confine. Although I do not wish to cir¬cumscribe your activities, I must insist that you complete this assignment before you start anything else.

excise

V. /去除/cut away; cut out. When you excise the dead and dying limbs of a tree, you not only improve its appear¬ance but also enhance its chances of bearing fruit. exci¬sion. N.

quail

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

truncate

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

gall

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

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.

bate

V. /限制；抑制/let down; restrain. Until it was time to open the pre¬sents, the children had to bate their curiosity. bated,ADJ.

mire

V. /陷入（泥塘）；麻烦缠身/entangle; stick in swampy ground. Their rear wheels became mired in mud. also N.

abscond

V. /隐匿，逃避，躲债/depart secretly and hide. The teller who absconded with the bonds went uncaptured until someone recognized him from his photograph on "America's Most Wanted."

sequester

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

Word List 46

tantrum-tonic

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.

effigy

N. /假人（被人憎恨的，如秦桧）/dummy. The mob showed its irritation by hanging the judge in effigy.

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.

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.

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.

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.

sap

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

Word List 30

maverick-misrepresent

Word List 40

redolent-rescind

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.

clamor

N. /吵闹声；噪音/noise. The clamor of the children at play outside made it impossible for her to take a nap. alsoV.

diversity

N. /多样性/variety; dissimilitude. The diversity of colleges in this country indicates that many levels of ability are being cared for.

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!

adulation

N. /奉承，恭维/flattery; admiration. The rock star thrived on the adulation of his groupies and yes men. adulate,V.

duplicity

N. /奸诈，狡猾；伪善；两面三刀，两面派/double-dealing; hypocrisy. When Tanya learned that Mark had been two-timing her, she was furious at his duplicity.

pugnacity

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

cipher

N. /密码/secret code. Lacking his code book, the spy was unable to decode the message sent to him in cipher.

symmetry

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

allegiance

N. /忠诚/loyalty. Not even a term in prison could shake Lech Walesa's allegiance to Solidarity, the Polish trade union he had helped to found.

acumen

N. /思想敏锐/mental keenness. His business acumen helped him to succeed where others had failed.

cerebration

N. /思考/thought. Mathematics problems sometimes require much cerebration.

slight

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

homage

N. /敬意/honor; tribute. In her speech she tried to pay homage to a great man.

ambivalence

N. /矛盾的观点或情绪/the state of having contradictory or con¬flicting emotional attitudes. Torn between loving her parents one minute and hating them the next, she was confused by the ambivalence of her feelings. ambivalent,ADJ.

quay

N. /码头/dock; landing place. Because of the captain's carelessness, the ship crashed into the quay.

defection

N. /缺点；逃跑，叛逃/desertion. The children, who had made him an idol, were hurt most by his defection from our cause.

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.

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.

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.

gibberish

N. /胡话；嘟囔/nonsense; babbling. Did you hear that fool boy spouting gibberish about monsters from outer space? gibber,V.

countenance

N. /脸/face. When Jose saw his newborn daugh¬ter, a proud smile spread across his countenance.

abstinence

N. /节制（饮食）/restraint from eating or drinking. The doctor recommended total abstinence from salted foods. abstain,V.

admonition

N. /警告/warning. After the student protesters repeatedly rejected Chairman Deng's admonitions, the gov¬ernment issued an ultimatum: either the students would end the demonstration at once or the soldiers would fire on the crowd.

shyster

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

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.

anathema

N. /诅咒/solemn curse; someone or something regarded as a curse. The Ayatolla Khomeini heaped anath¬ema upon "the Great Satan," that is, the United States. To the Ayatolla, America and the West were anathema; he loathed the democratic nations, cursing them in his dying words. anathematize,V.

heckler

N. /质问者/person who harasses others. The heckler kept interrupting the speaker with rude remarks. heckle,V.

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.

affix

V. /增加，附于/fasten; attach; add on. First the registrar had to affix her signature to the license; then she had to affix her official seal.

enhance

V. /增加；改进/increase; improve. You can enhance your chances of being admitted to the college of your choice by learning to write well; an excellent essay can enhance any application.

augment

V. /增长/increase; add to. Armies augment their forces by calling up reinforcements; teachers augment their salaries by taking odd jobs.

avenge

V. /复仇/take vengeance for something (or on behalf of someone). Hamlet vowed he would avenge his father's mur¬der and punish Claudius for his horrible crime.

exculpate

V. /开脱，洗脱/clear from blame. He was exculpated of the crime when the real criminal confessed.

prostrate

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

chastise

V. /惩罚/punish. I must chastise you for this offense.

assail

V. /攻击/assault. He was assailed with questions after his lecture.

reek

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

exalt

V. /晋升；赞扬/raise in rank or dignity; praise. The actor Alec Guinness was exalted to the rank of knighthood by the queen.

bait

V. /欺负，玩弄，折磨/harass; tease. The school bully baited the smaller children, terrorizing them.

buffet

V. /殴打，斗殴/slap; batter; knock about. To buffet something is to rough it up. (Buffet rhymes with Muffett.) Was Miss Muf¬fett buffeted by the crowd on the way to the buffet tray?

annihilate

V. /毁灭，破坏/destroy. The enemy in its revenge tried to annihilate the entire population.

swill

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

simper

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

disembark

V. /登陆；靠岸/go ashore; unload cargo from a ship. Before the passengers could disembark, they had to pick up their passports from the ship's purser.

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)

descry

V. /看到/catch sight of. In the distance, we could barely descry the enemy vessels.

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.

converge

V. /聚合；接近/approach; tend to meet; come together. African-American men from all over the United States con¬verged on Washington to take part in the historic Million Men march.

doff

V. /脱/take off. A gentleman used to doff his hat to a lady.

alleviate

V. /解脱，释放，释然/relieve. This should alleviate the pain; if it does not, we shall have to use stronger drugs.

advocate

V. /辩护/urge; plead for. The abolitionists advocated freedom for the slaves. also N.

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.

indissoluble

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

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.

calorific

ADJ. /产热的/heat-producing. Coal is much more calorific than green wood.

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.

contrived

ADJ. /做作的；牵强的/forced; artificial; not spontaneous. Feeling ill at ease with his new in-laws, James made a few contrived attempts at conversation and then retreated into silence.

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.

erratic

ADJ. /奇怪的；不可预测的/odd; unpredictable. Investors become anxious when the stock market appears erratic.

subservient

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

servile

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

infantile

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

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.

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.

bountiful

ADJ. /富足的；慷慨的/abundant; graciously generous. Thanks to the good harvest, we had a bountiful supply of food and we could be as bountiful as we liked in distributing food to the needy.

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.

salubrious

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

ulterior

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

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.

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.

eerie

ADJ. /怪异的/weird. In that eerie setting, it was easy to believe in ghosts and other supernatural beings.

dutiful

ADJ. /恭敬的；尊重的/respectful; obedient. When Mother told Billy to kiss Great-Aunt Hattie, the boy obediently gave the old woman a dutiful peck on her cheek.

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.

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.

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.

unaccountable

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

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.

boundless

ADJ. /无限的/unlimited; vast. Mike's energy was bound¬less: the greater the challenge, the more vigorously he tack¬led the job.

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.

touchy

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

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)

fraudulent

ADJ. /欺骗的/cheating; deceitful. The government seeks to prevent fraudulent and misleading advertising.

analgesic

ADJ. /止痛的/causing insensitivity to pain. The analgesic qualities of this lotion will provide temporary relief.

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.

halting

ADJ. /犹豫的/hesitant; faltering. Novice extemporaneous speakers often talk in a halting fashion as they grope for the right words.

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.

uncouth

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

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.

succinct

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

sententious

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

terse

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

abusive

ADJ. /粗俗的侮辱，对身体有害的/coarsely insulting; physically harmful. An abusive parent damages a child both mentally and physi¬cally.

surly

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

precise

ADJ. /精确的/exact. If you don't give me precise directions and a map, I'll never find your place.

thrifty

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

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.

ascetic

ADJ. /苦行；禁欲/practicing self-denial; austere. The wealthy, self-indulgent young man felt oddly drawn to the strict, ascetic life led by members of some monastic orders. also N.

cursory

ADJ. /草率；匆忙/casual; hastily done. Because a cursory examination of the ruins indicates the possibility of arson, we believe the insurance agency should undertake a more extensive investigation of the fire's cause.

mnemonic

ADJ. /记忆的/pertaining to memory. He used mnemonic tricks to master new words.

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.

sardonic

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

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.

canny

ADJ. /谨慎的；节约的/shrewd; thrifty. The canny Scotsman was more than a match for the swindlers.

chary

ADJ. /谨慎；吝啬/cautious; sparing or restrained about giving. A prudent, thrifty, New Englander, DeWitt was as chary of investing money in junk bonds as he was chary of paying people unnecessary compliments.

transparent

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

grueling

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

esoteric

ADJ. /难以理解的，深奥的/hard to understand; known only to the cho¬sen few. The New Yorker short stories often include esoteric allusions to obscure people and events: the implication is, if you are in the in-crowd, you'll get the reference; if you come from Cleveland, you won't.

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.

tenacious

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

eminent

ADJ. /高的/high; lofty. After his appointment to this emi¬nent position, he seldom had time for his former friends.

demoniac

ADJ. /魔鬼的/fiendish. The Spanish Inquisition devised many demoniac means of torture. demon, N.

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.

aboriginal

ADJ., N. /原来的，土著的/being the first of its kind in a region; primitive; native. Her studies of the primitive art forms of the aboriginal Indians were widely reported in the scientific journals. aborigines, N.

injurious

ADJ./有害的/ harmful. Smoking cigarettes can be injurious to your health.

bent

ADJ; N. /先天的/determined; natural talent or inclination. Bent on advancing in the business world, the secretary-heroine of Working Girl has a true bent for high finance.

arsenal

N. /军火库/storage place for military equipment. People are forbidden to smoke in the arsenal for fear that a stray spark might setoff the munitions stored there.

reverie

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

premonition

N. /前兆/forewarning. We ignored these premoni¬tions of disaster because they appeared to be based on childish fears.

coquette

N. /卖弄风情的女子；蜂鸟/flirt. Because she refused to give him an answer to his proposal of marriage, he called her a coquette. alsoV.

Word List 2

adulation-amend

cordial

ADJ. /亲切；衷心/gracious; heartfelt. Our hosts greeted us at the airport with a cordial welcome and a hearty hug.

distant

ADJ. /冷漠的；远离的/reserved or aloof; cold in manner. His distant greeting made me feel unwelcome from the start. (sec¬ondary meaning)

timorous

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

abstract

ADJ. /抽象的/theoretical; not concrete; nonrepresenta¬tional. To him, hunger was an abstract concept; he had never missed a meal.

ebullient

ADJ. /热情的，激动的/showing excitement; overflowing with enthu¬siasm. Amy's ebullient nature could not be repressed; she' was always bubbling over with excitement. ebullience, N.

thermal

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

restive

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

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.

conversant

ADJ. /熟悉/familiar with. The lawyer is conversant with all the evidence.

adroit

ADJ. /熟练，有技巧/skillful. His adroit handling of the delicate situa¬tion pleased his employers.

lachrymose

ADJ. /爱哭的/producing tears. His voice has a lachry¬mose quality more appropriate to a funeral than a class reunion.

amorous

ADJ. /爱情的/moved by sexual love; loving. "Love them and leave them" was the motto of the amorous Don Juan.

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.

regal

ADJ. /皇家的/royal. Prince Albert had a regal manner.

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.

yore

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

tactile

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

obituary

ADJ. /讣告/death notice. I first learned of her death when I read the obituary column in the newspaper. also N.

resigned

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

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.

erroneous

ADJ. /错误/mistaken; wrong. I thought my answer was correct, but it was erroneous.

amiss

ADJ. /错误/wrong; faulty. Seeing her frown, he wondered if anything were amiss. also ADV.

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.

alacrity

N. /欢快的情绪/cheerful promptness. Phil and Dave were raring to get off to the mountains; they packed up their ski gear and climbed into the van with alacrity.

tyro

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

ribald

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

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.

chimerical

ADJ. /不现实，空想/fantastically improbable; highly unrealistic; imaginative. As everyone expected, Ted's chimerical scheme to make a fortune by raising ermines in his back yard proved a dismal failure.

sanctimonious

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

apocryphal

ADJ. /假的，捏造的/untrue; made up. To impress his friends, Tom invented apocryphal tales of his adventures in the big city.

strident

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

averse

ADJ. /反对的/reluctant; disinclined. The reporter was averse to revealing the sources of his information.

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?

luminous

ADJ. /发光的，闪耀的/shining; issuing light. The sun is a luminous body.

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?

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.

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.

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?"

lugubrious

ADJ. /悲哀的/mournful. The lugubrious howling of the dogs added to our sadness.

witless

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

extraneous

ADJ. /肤浅的，不重要的/not essential; superfluous. No wonder Ted can't think straight! His mind is so cluttered up with extraneous trivia, he can't concentrate on the essentials.

superficial

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

turgid

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

embryonic

ADJ. /胚胎的；未开发的，原始的/undeveloped; rudimentary. The evil of class and race hatred must be eliminated while it is still in an embry¬onic state; otherwise, it may grow to dangerous proportions. emend V. correct; correct by a critic. The critic emended the book by selecting the passages which he thought most appropriate to the text.

viable

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

cerebral

ADJ. /脑的；智力的/pertaining to the brain or intellect. The con¬tent of philosophical works is cerebral in nature and requires much thought.

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.

cantankerous

ADJ. /脾气坏；易发怒/ill humored; irritable. Constantly com¬plaining about his treatment and refusing to cooperate with the hospital staff, he was a cantankerous patient.

corrosive

ADJ. /腐蚀性的/eating away by chemicals or disease. Stain¬less steel is able to withstand the effects of corrosive chem¬icals. corrode,V.

supercilious

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

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.

abstemious

ADJ. /节制（饮食），调节/sparing in eating and drinking; temper¬ate. Concerned whether her vegetarian son's abstemious diet provided him with sufficient protein, the worried mother pressed food on him.

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!"

desolate

ADJ. /荒无人烟的/unpopulated. After six months in the crowded, bustling metropolis, David was so sick of people that he was ready to head for the most desolate patch of wilderness he could find.

*complementary

ADJ. /补足的，完善的/serving to complete something. John and Lisa's skills are complementary. he's good at following a daily routine, while she's great at improvising and han¬dling emergencies. Together they make a great team.

sartorial

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

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.

atypical

ADJ. /非正常的，不正常/not normal. The child psychiatrist reassured Mrs. Keaton that playing doctor was not atypical behavior for a child of young Alex's age. "Yes," she replied, "but not charging for house calls!"

whiff

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

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.

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.

cipher

N. /不重要的人或物/nonentity; worthless person or thing. She claimed her ex-husband was a total cipher and wondered why she had ever married him.

indignation

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

mendicant

N. /乞丐/beggar. "O noble sir, give alms to the poor," cried Aladdin, playing the mendicant.

convention

N. /习俗，惯例/social or moral custom; established prac¬tice. Flying in the face of convention, George Sand shocked society by taking lovers and wearing men's clothes.

squabble

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

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.

cessation

N. /停止/stoppage. The airline's employees threat¬ened a cessation of all work if management failed to meet their demands. cease,V.

voyeur

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

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.

determination

N. /决定；测量，计算；解决/resolve; measurement or calculation; decision. Nothing could shake his determination that his children would get the best education that money could buy. Thanks to my pocket calculator, my determination of the answer to the problem took only seconds of my time.

resolve

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

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.

vent

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

accolade

N. /出名的大奖/award of merit. In Hollywood, an "Oscar" is the highest accolade.

distinction

N. /出名；出格/honor; contrast; discrimination. A holder of the Medal of Honor, George served with great distinction in World War II. He made a distinction, however, between World War II and Vietnam, which he considered an immoral conflict.

deposition

N. /宣言，誓言/testimony under oath. He made his deposi¬tion in the judge's chamber.

phobia

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

abeyance

N. /悬而未决/suspended action. The deal was held in abeyance until her arrival.

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.

rent

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

eddy

N. /漩涡/swirling current of water, air, etc. The water in the tide pool was still, except for an occasional eddy.

transgression

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

converse

N. /相反的/opposite. The inevitable converse of peace is not war but annihilation.

stereotype

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

vise

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

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.

stipend