TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 16

Unit 16 TOP CENTR/CENTER DOM OMNI HOL/HOLO RETRO TEMPOR CHRON TRI Number Words Quiz 16-1 Quiz 16-2 Quiz 16-3 Quiz 16-4 Quiz 16-5 Review Quizzes 16 TOP comes from topos, the Greek word for “place.” A topic is a subject rather than a place; to the Greeks, the original word meant more or less “about one place or subject (rather than another)”—which just goes to show that it's not always easy to trace a word's meaning from its roots topical (1) Designed for local application to or treatment of a bodily part (2) Referring to the topics of the day • If the topical ointment doesn't work on the rash, the doctor will prescribe an antibiotic pill Like a topical medicine, a topical reference or story applies to something specific, focusing on a topic that's currently in the news TV comedians often use topical humor, making jokes about a currently popular movie or the latest political scandal—if possible, one that just broke that same day Topical humor has a short lifespan, though, because the news keeps changing and the new hot topics just keep coming The medical meaning of topical stays closer to the meaning of the root, since it describes something that's put right on the place that seems to need it ectopic Occurring or originating in an abnormal place • A pacemaker was installed to correct her ectopic heartbeat Ectopic is a medical word that means basically “out of place.” An ectopic kidney is located in an abnormal position In patients with an ectopic heartbeat, the electrical signals that trigger the heart muscles originate in an abnormal area of the heart But ectopic most commonly describes a pregnancy in which the fertilized egg begins to develop in an area outside the uterus, such as in a fallopian tube; such pregnancies may lead to serious problems if not treated utopian Relating to an imaginary place in which the government, laws, and social conditions are perfect • Some of the new mayor's supporters had gotten increasingly unrealistic, and seemed to expect that she could turn the city into a utopian community In 1516 Thomas More published Utopia, a description of a fictional island in the Atlantic with an ideal society, in order to draw a sharp contrast with the disorderly political situation of his own time He created the name from topos (“place”) and ou, Greek for “no,” since he was well aware that nowhere so perfect was likely to exist on earth People have long dreamed of creating utopian communities; some of them have joined communes, societies where other idealists like themselves have chosen to live in a cooperative way according to certain principles Not just communes but plans of all kinds have been labeled utopian by critics But we can dream, can't we? topography (1) The art of showing the natural and manmade features of a region on a map or chart (2) The features of a surface, including both natural and man-made features • Planning the expedition involved careful study of the region's topography Topography combines top- with graph-, a root meaning “write” or “describe.” The topography of the Sahara Desert features shifting sand dunes and dry, rocky mountains A topographic (or topo) map not only shows the surface features of a region but also indicates the contours and approximate altitude of every location, by means of numerous curving lines, each indicating a single elevation In other words, it shows a “three-dimensional” picture on a two-dimensional surface Topo maps are commonly used by hikers, surveyors, government workers, and engineers, among other people CENTR/CENTER comes from the Greek kentron and the Latin centrum, meaning “sharp point” or “center point of a circle.” A centrifuge is a spinning machine that throws things outward from the center; the apparent force that pushes them outward is called centrifugal force eccentric (1) Not following an established or usual style or conduct (2) Straying from a circular path; off-center • She keeps a dozen stray cats in her house and is rather eccentric, but her neighbors say she's very pleasant and completely harmless An eccentric wheel spins unevenly, and an eccentric person is similarly a little off-center Most eccentricities are inoffensive to others, and some may even some good For instance, riding a bicycle to work might be considered eccentric by some people, but it's good exercise and it cuts down on pollution Some eccentrics are just ahead of their time epicenter (1) The location on the earth's surface directly above the focus of an earthquake (2) The center or focus of activity • The destruction caused by Mexico City's earthquake was extensive because the city was at the quake's epicenter The meaning of epi- in epicenter is “over,” so the epicenter of an earthquake lies over the center or “focus” of the quake Epicenter can also refer to the centers of things that may seem in their own way as powerful—though not as destructive—as earthquakes Wall Street, for example, might be said to lie at the epicenter of the financial world egocentric Overly concerned with oneself; self-centered • He's brilliant but completely egocentric, and the only things he'll talk about are his own life and work Ego means “I” in Latin To an egocentric person, I is the most important word in the language Great artists and writers are often egocentrics; such people can be hard to live with, though their egocentricity, an unfortunate side effect of their talent, is often forgiven But ordinary egocentricity, which shows up as selfishness, lack of sympathy, and lack of interest in other people, usually has little to with any personal talent or success ethnocentric Marked by or based on the attitude that one's own group is superior to others • Some reviewers criticized the ethnocentric bias that came through in the way the film portrayed immigrants The Greek word ethnos means “nation” or “people.” So ethnocentricity shows itself in a lack of respect for other ways of life, and an ethnocentric person feels that his or her own nation or group is the cultural center of the world Ethnocentric describes the kind of person who behaves badly when traveling in foreign countries, often called an “Ugly American” (from a book and movie of the same name) Whenever you hear someone making fun of the way a foreigner speaks English, just remember that it's the foreigner, not the person laughing at him, who actually can speak a foreign language B Match the word on the left to the correct definition on the right: chronic a current temporal b order of events anachronism c ongoing extemporaneous d happening at the same time synchronous e talk to fill time temporize f improvised chronology g measurable by time contemporary h misplacement in time Answers Number Words TRI means “three,” whether derived from Greek or Latin A tricycle has three wheels A triangle has three sides and three angles And a triumvirate is a board or government of three people triad (1) A group of three usually related people or things (2) A secret Chinese criminal organization • The kids in the garage band next door seemed to know six or seven triads and a couple of seventh chords The best-known type of triad is a type of musical chord consisting of three notes A D-major triad is made up of the notes D, F-sharp, and A; an F-minor triad is made up of F, A-flat, and C; and so on Major and minor triads form the basis of tonal music, and songs and other pieces usually end with a triadic harmony In medicine, a triad is a set of three symptoms that go together The Chinese criminal organizations called triads got their name from the triangular symbol that they used back when they began, centuries ago, as patriotic organizations Today, with over 100,000 members, the triads operate in the U.S., Canada, and many other countries trilogy A series of three creative works that are closely related and develop a single theme • William Faulkner's famous “Snopes trilogy” consists of the novels The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion Dozens of tragic trilogies were written for the Greek stage, though only one, Aeschylus's great Oresteia (consisting of Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides), has survived complete Authors in later years have occasionally chosen to create trilogies to allow themselves to develop a highly complex story or cover a long span of time Tolkien's Lord of the Rings wasn't actually intended as a trilogy, but since it was published in three volumes it's usually called one George Lucas's three original Star Wars movies are an example of a film trilogy (which he followed many years later by another) triceratops One of a group of large dinosaurs that lived during the Cretaceous period and had three horns, a bony crest or hood, and hoofed toes • The triceratops probably used its three horns for defense against the attacks of meat-eating dinosaurs The name triceratops, meaning literally “three-horned face,” refers to the two horns above its eyes and the smaller third horn on its snout Just as striking was the frilled hood or ruff that rose behind its head, though no one is quite sure what it was for The triceratops was one of the last dinosaurs to evolve and also one of the last to become extinct It could reach lengths of 30 feet and could stand nearly eight feet high Despite its ferocious looks and threefoot-long horns, the triceratops was actually a vegetarian trident A three-pronged spear, especially one carried by various sea gods in classical mythology • The bronze statue at the middle of the great fountain depicted a sea god emerging from the water, wreathed in seaweed and carrying a large trident A trident has three prongs or teeth, as the root dent, “tooth,” tells us The trident has long been used to spear fish in different parts of the world, so there's no mystery about why the Greek sea god Poseidon and his Roman counterpart Neptune both carry a trident as their symbol In some gladiator exhibitions in ancient Rome, one gladiator, called a retiarius (“net man”), would be equipped as though he were a fisherman, with a weighted net and a trident; with his net he would snare his sword-wielding opponent, and with his trident he would spear his helpless foe trimester (1) A period of about three months, especially one of three such periods in a human pregnancy (2) One of three terms into which an academic year is sometimes divided • Most women experience morning sickness in the first trimester of pregnancy Semester, which comes from the Latin words for “six” and “month,” has come to mean half an academic year when the year is divided into two segments When an academic year is divided into three segments, each is called a trimester (which is usually a bit more accurate, since each segment often is close to three months in length) Some colleges operate on the “quarter” system, with the summer being the fourth quarter, but this just means that each quarter is basically a trimester In a human pregnancy, a trimester is three months long, representing one-third of the nine months that a typical pregnancy lasts trinity (1) (capitalized) The unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as three persons in one God in Christian belief (2) A group of three people • In Christian art depicting the Trinity, the Holy Spirit is almost always shown as a radiant dove The nature of the Trinity (or Holy Trinity) has caused centuries of argument and division within the Christian faith The word doesn't actually appear in the Bible itself, but the New Testament does speak of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit together; the Father is understood as the protector of the Jews, the Son as the savior of mankind, and the Holy Spirit as the preserver of the church Almost all the major Christian sects may be called trinitarian The island of Trinidad is one of many places named with the Spanish translation of Trinity triptych (1) A picture or carving made in the form of three panels side by side (2) Something composed or presented in three sections • The Renaissance produced many beautiful triptychs portraying religious scenes that are still used as altarpieces Triptych contains the root -ptyche, the Greek word for “fold.” So a traditional painted or carved triptych has three hinged panels, and the two outer panels fold in toward the central one Most triptychs were intended to be mounted over a church altar Many great triptychs were produced in the Renaissance, perhaps the most famous being Hieronymus Bosch's Garden of Earthly Delights But major triptychs continued to be produced throughout the 20th century by such painters as Francis Bacon trivial Of little value or importance • She was so caught up in the trivial details of the trip that she hardly noticed the beautiful scenery Trivial comes from a Latin word meaning “crossroads”—that is, where three roads come together Since a crossroads is a very public place where all kinds of people might show up, trivialis came to mean “commonplace” or “vulgar.” Today the English word has changed slightly in meaning and instead usually describes something barely worth mentioning Mathematicians use the word to refer to some part of a proof or definition that's extremely simple and needn't be explained, but the rest of us tend to use it just to mean “unimportant.” “Small talk” at a party, for example, is usually trivial conversation, though a trivial excuse for not going on a date (“I have to wash my hair”) might hide an emotion that isn't so trivial (“I can't stand the sight of you”) To trivialize something is to treat it as if it didn't matter, as if it were just another triviality Quiz 16-5 Choose the closest definition: trimester a a three-masted sailing ship b a period of about three months c a three-cornered hat d a three-minute egg trivial a crossed b indented c unimportant d found triad a three-striped flag b three-headed monster c three-note chord d three-month delay trinity a romantic triangle b three-part recipe c group of three d triplets trident a three-toothed hag b three-pronged spear c triple portion d threesome trilogy a three-person conversation b three-hour nap c three-volume story d three-ton truck triceratops a three-foot alligator b three-set tennis match c three-topped tree d three-horned dinosaur triptych a three-week travel voucher b three-part painting c three-phase rocket d three-handed clock Answers Review Quizzes 16 A Fill in each blank with the correct letter: a topical i retrofit b contemporary j trivial c temporize k eccentric d synchronous l retroactive e topiary m extemporaneous f epicenter n predominant g dominion o trilogy h chronic She constantly assured her employees that their opinions were never _ or unimportant England, though a small nation, once had _ over a great empire It cost millions to _ each fighter jet with new navigational instruments For high-school dancers, their movements were remarkably _ When the last volume of her _ was published, her fans snapped it up eagerly Before beginning to drill, the dentist applies a _ anesthetic The doctor told him his condition was _ and untreatable but not lifethreatening Having left his notes at home, he had to give an entirely _ lecture The book was criticized for having too many subjects and no _ theme 10 The city maintains a small _ garden full of trees and bushes in all sorts of shapes 11 No matter how long you _ and stall for time, the problem won't go away 12 Since his salary review was delayed by a few weeks, his boss made the raise _ to the beginning of the month 13 His habit of wearing purple socks and white sneakers to the office was considered harmlessly _ 14 Several other great Dutch artists were _ with Rembrandt 15 She works hard at being outrageous, and it's not the first time she's been at the _ of a controversy Answers B Choose the closest definition: egocentric a group-centered b centered on the mind c self-centered d mentally ill retrofit a insert b dress up c update d move back retrospective a backward glance b exhibit of an artist's work c illusion of depth d difference of opinion anachronism a electronic clock b literary theory c misplacement in time d current topic triceratops a winged dragon b dinosaur c three-part work d climbing gear triad a triplet b chord c third rail d three-pointed star temporal a religious b ideal c time-related d durable holistic a wholesome b herbal c complete d whole-oriented ectopic a amazing b current c reserved d out of place 10 triptych a three-part painting b triple window c computer switch d multivolume work Answers C Match each word on the left to the correct definition on the right: Holocene a land's features predominant b group-centered retrogress c three-pronged spear domination d principal chronology e group of three ethnocentric f go backward trimester g order of events topography h school-year term trinity i recent era 10 trident j control Answers ... increasingly unrealistic, and seemed to expect that she could turn the city into a utopian community In 1 516 Thomas More published Utopia, a description of a fictional island in the Atlantic with... nowhere so perfect was likely to exist on earth People have long dreamed of creating utopian communities; some of them have joined communes, societies where other idealists like themselves have... the foreigner, not the person laughing at him, who actually can speak a foreign language Quiz 16- 1 A Fill in each blank with the correct letter: a epicenter b ectopic c ethnocentric d utopian