TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 9

Unit HER FUG COSM SCI JUNCT PART MIS PEL Words from Mythology Quiz 9-1 Quiz 9-2 Quiz 9-3 Quiz 9-4 Quiz 9-5 Review Quizzes HER comes from the Latin verb haerere, meaning “to stick.” Another form of the verb produces the root hes-, seen in such words as adhesive, which means basically “sticky” or “sticking,” and hesitate, which means more or less “stuck in one place.” adherent (1) Someone who follows a leader, a party, or a profession (2) One who believes in a particular philosophy or religion • The general's adherents heavily outnumbered his opponents and managed to shout them down repeatedly Just as tape adheres to paper, a person may adhere to a cause, a faith, or a belief Thus, you may be an adherent of Hinduism, an adherent of environmentalism, or an adherent of the Republican Party A plan for cutting taxes always attracts adherents easily, regardless of what the cuts may result in cohere To hold together firmly as parts of the same mass • His novels never really cohere; the chapters always seem like separate short stories When you finish writing a paper, you may feel that it coheres well, since it's sharply focused and all the ideas seem to support each other When all the soldiers in an army platoon feel like buddies, the platoon has become a cohesive unit In science class you may learn the difference between cohesion (the tendency of a chemical's molecules to stick together) and adhesion (the tendency of the molecules of two different substances to stick together) Water molecules tend to cohere, so water falls from the sky in drops, not as separate molecules But water molecules also adhere to molecules of other substances, so raindrops will often cling to the underside of a clothesline for a while before gravity pulls them down incoherent (1) Unclear or difficult to understand (2) Loosely organized or inconsistent • The police had found him in an abandoned warehouse, and they reported that he was dirty, hungry, and incoherent Incoherent is the opposite of coherent, and both commonly refer to words and thoughts Just as coherent means well ordered and clear, incoherent means disordered and hard to follow Incoherence in speech may result from emotional stress, especially anxiety or anger Incoherence in writing may simply result from poor planning; a twelve-page term paper that isn't written until the night before it's due will generally suffer from incoherence inherent Part of something by nature or habit • A guiding belief behind our Constitution is that individuals have certain inherent rights that can't be taken away Inherent literally refers to something that is “stuck in” something else so firmly that they can't be separated A plan may have an inherent flaw that will cause it to fail; a person may have inherent virtues that everyone admires Since the flaw and the virtues can't be removed, the plan may simply have to be thrown out and the person will remain virtuous forever FUG comes from the Latin verb fugere, meaning “to flee or escape.” Thus, a refugee flees from some threat or danger, while a fugitive is usually fleeing from the law centrifugal focus Moving outward from a center or central • Their favorite carnival ride was the Round-up, in which centrifugal force flattened them against the outer wall of a rapidly spinning cage Centrifugal force is what keeps a string with a ball on the end taut when you whirl it around A centrifuge is a machine that uses centrifugal force At the end of a washing machine's cycle, it becomes a weak and simple centrifuge as it whirls the water out of your clothes Centrifuges hundreds of thousands of times as powerful are essential to nuclear technology and drug manufacturing Part of an astronaut's training occurs in a centrifuge that generates force equal to several times the force of gravity (about like a washing machine) to get them used to the forces they'll encounter in a real space mission refuge Shelter or protection from danger or distress, or a place that provides shelter or protection • Caught in a storm by surprise, they took refuge in an abandoned barn The re- in refuge means basically “back” or “backward” rather than “again” (see RE-); thus, a refugee is someone who is “fleeing backward.” Refuge tends to appear with certain other words: you generally “seek refuge,” “take refuge,” or “find refuge.” Religion may be a refuge from the woes of your life; a beautiful park may be a refuge from the noise of the city; and your bedroom may be a refuge from the madness of your family fugue A musical form in which a theme is echoed and imitated by voices or instruments that enter one after another and interweave as the piece proceeds • For his debut on the church's new organ, the organist chose a fugue by J S Bach Bach and Handel composed many fugues for harpsichord and organ in which the various parts (or voices) seem to flee from and chase each other in an intricate dance Each part, after it has stated the theme or melody, apparently flees from the next part, which takes up the same theme and sets off in pursuit Simple rounds such as “Three Blind Mice” or “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” could be called fugues for children, but a true fugue can be long and extremely complex subterfuge (1) A trick designed to help conceal, escape, or evade (2) A deceptive trick • The conservatives' subterfuge of funding a liberal third-party candidate in order to take votes away from the main liberal candidate almost worked that year With its “flee” root, the Latin verb subterfugere meant “to escape or avoid.” Thus, a subterfuge is a way of escaping blame, embarrassment, inconvenience—or even prison—by tricky means The life of spies consists of an endless series of subterfuges In the more everyday world, putting words like “heart-healthy” on junk-food packaging is a subterfuge to trick unwary shoppers And getting a friend to call about an “emergency” in order to get out of an evening engagement is about the oldest subterfuge in the book repel (1) To keep (something) out or away (2) To drive back • Her son, knowing how she was repelled by rats and snakes, had started keeping them in his bedroom Since re- can mean not just “again” but also “back” (see RE-), repel means “drive back.” Repel has two common adjective forms; thus, a repellent or repulsive odor may drive us into the other room Its main noun form is repulsion Magnets exhibit both attraction and repulsion, and the goal of an armed defense is the repulsion of an enemy; but we generally use repulsion to mean “strong dislike.” In recent years, repulse has been increasingly used as a synonym for repel (“That guy repulses me”) Quiz 9-4 A Fill in each blank with the correct letter: a mission b missionary c emissary d transmission e expel f impel g repel h compel They knew that hunger would eventually _ the grizzly to wake up An _ was sent to the Duke with a new offer Men like him normally _ her, so I'm surprised that she seems interested _ of the bacteria usually occurs through close personal contact Though the Senate can _ a member for certain crimes, it's almost never been done The only people in the village who could speak English were a Peace Corps volunteer and a _ at the little church Don't count on conscience to _ most people to make the right choice under such difficult circumstances Their _ on this occasion was to convince their elderly father to surrender his driver's license Answers B Match the definition on the left to the correct word on the right: force by moral pressure a transmission evangelist b compel drive irresistibly c repel disgust d mission agent e expel sending f missionary drive out g impel errand h emissary Answers Words from Mythology arachnid A member of the class Arachnida, which principally includes animals with four pairs of legs and no antennae, such as spiders, scorpions, mites, and ticks • His interest in arachnids began when, as a child, he would watch spiders build their gorgeous webs in the corners of the porch The Greek word for “spider” is arachne, and, according to Greek mythology, the original arachnid was a girl named Arachne A marvelous weaver, she made the mistake of claiming she was better at her craft than the goddess Athena In a contest between the two, she angered the goddess by weaving a remarkable tapestry showing the gods behaving badly As punishment, Athena changed Arachne into a spider, fated to spend her life weaving With their eight legs, arachnids are easily distinguished from the six-legged insects, on which they feed by injecting digesting juices and then sucking up the liquefied remains calliope A musical instrument similar to an organ in which whistles are sounded by steam or compressed air • The town's old calliope, with its unmistakable sound, summoned them to the fair every summer To the ancient Greeks, the Muses were nine goddesses, each of whom was the spirit of one or more of the arts and sciences Calliope was the Muse of heroic or epic poetry, who inspired poets to write such epics as the Iliad and the Odyssey Since the lengthy epics were generally sung from beginning to end, she was responsible for a great deal of musical reciting But she wouldn't necessarily have approved of having her name used for the hooting organlike instrument that was invented in America around 1855 Calliopes gave a festive air to the great showboats that floated up and down the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers giving theatrical performances; the loudest could supposedly be heard eight miles away, attracting customers from all around Today they are mostly heard on merry-go-rounds and at circuses dryad A wood nymph • The ancient Greeks' love of trees can be seen in their belief that every tree contained a dryad, which died when the tree was cut The term dryad comes from the Greek word for “oak tree.” As the Greeks saw it, every tree (not only oaks) had a spirit The best known of the dryads was Daphne The beautiful daughter of a river god, she was desired by the god Apollo; as he was about to capture her, she prayed to her father to save her, and he transformed her into a laurel tree In her honor, Apollo commanded that the poet who won the highest prize every year be crowned with a laurel wreath The Greeks' respect for trees unfortunately failed to keep Greece's forests from shrinking greatly over the centuries, and those that remain produce little wood of good quality fauna Animal life, especially the animals that live naturally in a given area or environment • The larger fauna of the county include coyotes, black bear, deer, moose, wild turkey, hawks, and vultures Faunus and Fauna were the Roman woodland god and goddess for whom animals were a particular concern Faunus was the Roman equivalent of the Greek god Pan, and like Pan, he had goats' legs Their goat-legged helpers, called fauns, were known for their love of pleasure and mischief The fauna of a continent are often very similar across a broad east-west band; from north to south, however, they may vary greatly flora Plant life, especially the flowering plants that live naturally in a specific area or environment • Scientists are busily identifying the flora of the Amazon rain forest before the rapid expansion of commercial interests consumes it Flora means “flower” in Latin, and Flora was the Roman goddess of spring and flowering plants, especially wildflowers and plants not raised for food She was shown as a beautiful young woman in a long, flowing dress with flowers in her hair, strewing flowers over the earth English preserves her name in such words as floral, floret, and flourish A region's flora may range from tiny violets to towering trees The common phrase “flora and fauna” covers just about every visible living thing herculean intense, or difficult (1) Extremely strong (2) Extremely extensive, • Accomplishing all the things he promised during the presidential campaign will be a herculean task The hero Hercules, son of the god Zeus by a human mother, was famous for his superhuman strength To pacify the wrath of the god Apollo, he was forced to perform twelve enormously difficult tasks, or “labors.” These ranged from descending into the underworld to bring back the terrifying dog that guarded its entrance to destroying the many-headed monster called the Hydra Any job or task that's extremely difficult or calls for enormous strength is therefore called herculean Pandora's box A source of many troubles • In a thundering speech, he predicted that, if the bill was passed, the new policy would open a Pandora's box of economic problems The god Prometheus stole fire from heaven to give to the human race, which originally consisted only of men To punish humanity, the other gods created the first woman, the beautiful Pandora As a gift, Zeus gave her a box, which she was told never to open However, as soon as he was out of sight she took off the lid, and out swarmed all the troubles of the world, never to be recaptured Only Hope was left in the box, stuck under the lid Anything that looks ordinary but may produce unpredictable harmful results can thus be called a Pandora's box Scylla and Charybdis alternatives Two equally dangerous • Doctors and patients who need to calculate the ideal dosage of the medication, knowing how it can trigger a different dangerous condition, often feel caught between Scylla and Charybdis The Strait of Messina is the narrow passage between the island of Sicily and the “toe” of Italy's “boot.” In Greek mythology, two monsters hovered on either side of the strait Scylla, a female monster with six snake-like heads, each with pointed teeth, barked like a dog from the rocks on the Italian side Charybdis, on the Sicilian side, caused a whirlpool by swallowing the waters of the sea three times a day When Odysseus attempted to sail between them, he encountered disaster on both sides Being caught between Scylla and Charybdis is a lot like being between a rock and a hard place Quiz 9-5 Complete the analogy: hobgoblin : imp :: dryad : _ a moth b oak tree c nymph d dragonfly difficult : simple :: herculean : _ a intense b easy c mammoth d strong wrath : anger :: Scylla and Charybdis : _ a rage b double peril c ferocity d whirlpools piano : nightclub :: calliope : _ a organ b circus c church d steam canine : dog :: flora : _ a oak trees b wood nymphs c plants d animals reptile : snake :: arachnid : _ a toad b salamander c bird d scorpion cabinet : china :: Pandora's box : _ a pleasures b troubles c taxes d music cattle : livestock :: fauna : _ a meadows b flowers c wildlife d trees Answers Review Quizzes A Choose the correct synonym: impartial a fair b biased c cautious d undecided cosmopolitan a bored b intelligent c inexperienced d well-traveled incoherent a clear b uncertain c confused d unknown mission a greeting b assignment c support d departure compel a drive b prevent c eject d compare inherent a local b inherited c acquired d built-in cosmos a chaos b order c universe d beauty impart a grant b stick c combine d withhold adjunct a addition b neighbor c connection d acquaintance 10 repel a attract b greet c offend d send Answers B Match the definition on the right to the correct word on the left: emissary a verb part conscientious b cause to act participle c equal perils impel d agent dryad e foresighted prescient f attachment Scylla and Charybdis g careful subterfuge h very difficult herculean i trick 10 adjunct j tree spirit Answers C Fill in each blank with the correct letter: a adherent b centrifugal c conscientious d arachnid e transmission f flora g expel h prescient i disjunction j subterfuge He's no longer really an _ of that economic philosophy The most successful stockbrokers have the reputation of being almost eerily _ Most philosophers see no _ between science and morality _ force keeps roller-coaster cars from crashing to the ground _ of electric power over long distances always involves considerable losses Unlike the spiders, the _ we call the daddy longlegs has no waist The archerfish can _ sudden jets of water at insects, knocking them into the lake or river She won praise for her _ handling of details He always used to be able to get hold of Grateful Dead tickets by some kind of _ 10 The _ of the West Creek Valley includes at least a dozen rare species Answers ... other When all the soldiers in an army platoon feel like buddies, the platoon has become a cohesive unit In science class you may learn the difference between cohesion (the tendency of a chemical's... “emergency” in order to get out of an evening engagement is about the oldest subterfuge in the book Quiz 9- 1 A Fill in each blank with the correct letter: a cohere b refuge c incoherent d fugue e centrifugal... upward b moving backward c moving downward d moving outward cohere a control b react c pause d unite subterfuge a overhead serve b underhanded plot c powerful force d secret supporter incoherent