Book 6
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Unit 1 Two words to Avoid, Two to Remember
1.
insight
: the capacity to gain an accurate and deep instinctive understanding of a situation
2.
checkered
tablecloth
:
table
cloth
that
has
a
pattern
consisting
of
alternating
squares
of
different colors
3.
chew the cud
: think reflectively
4.
gnome
: (in legends) a little old man who lives underground and guards the earth
鈥?/p>
s treasures; a
small ugly person
5.
melancholy
: sad; gloomy; depressed
6.
berate
: scold or criticize angrily
7.
a perverse streak
: an obstinate quality
8.
ruefully
: regretfully
9.
drag:
a boring thing; nuisance
10.
immortality
: never-ending life or endless fame
Unit 2
The Fine Art of Putting Things Off
1.
cool one
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s heels
: be forced to wait; be kept waiting
2.
attest to:
testify to; serve as an evidence to affirm/to be proof of
3.
apocalyptic
: foreboding imminent disaster or final doom
4.
proconsul
: an administrator in a colony usually with wide powers
5.
ruminate
: go over in the mind repeatedly and often slowly
6.
nattering
: chattering; hence, noisy
7.
echelon
: rank, level
8.
fortify
: encourage; support
9.
reappraisal
: re-evaluation
10.
academe
: the academic community; academics
11.
shrink
psychoanalyst or psychiatrist
12.
subliminal
: subconscious; existing or functioning outside the area of conscious awareness
13.
truism
: an undoubted or self-evident truth
14.
mellow and marinate
: to mellow is to become ripe or fully developed, and to marinate is to
steep(meat, fish) in a savory sauce to enrich its flavor; here, ripen and mature
Unit 4 A Red Light for Scofflaws
1.
take liberties with
: misinterpret; distort; violate
2.
blithely
: heedlessly; without thought or regard
3.
dereliction
: deliberate neglect; negligence
4.
exempt from
: free from; not subject to an obligation
5.
flurry
: profusion; abundance; great quantity
6.
ordinance
: authoritative law; command
7.
flagrant
: shameless; notorious
8.
festering scandal
: tormenting disgrace
9.
statutes
: laws
10.
public nuisance
: something offensive or annoying to the community, especially in violation of
others鈥?nbsp;legal rights