2016年4月3日 星期日

Vocabulary Set 2

A list of words clipped from recent readings - HBR, Advanced, Fictions, and technology reports.

  1. dawdle (vi)
    • to waste time
    • Everyone dawdles from time to time
  2. procrastinate (vi)
    • to keep delaying something that must be done
  3. pursue /pərˈsu/ (vt)
    • follow something in order to catch or attack them
  4. exert /ɪɡˈzərt/ (vt)
    • to use something such as authority, power, influence, etc. in ​order to make something happen
  5. genetics
  6. dopamine
  7. gratify
    • to give someone pleasure or satisfaction
    • His praise will gratify all who worked so hard to earn it.
  8. fleeting
    • quick
  9. nuisance
  10. loom (v)
    • to appear as a large, often frightening or unclear shape or object
  11. sheer (adj)
    • nothing other than
    • The suggestion is sheer nonsense.
  12. gloomy (adj)
    • dark
  13. tenure (n)
    • being the ​legal owner of ​land, a ​job, or an ​official ​public ​position, or the ​period of ​time during which you own it
  14. zoology (n)
  15. sloth /slɔθ/ (n)
    • 樹懶
  16. cosmogony /koz-mog-uh-nee/ (n)
    • 天體演化學
  17. thyroid /ˈθrɔɪd/ (n) i.e. thyroid gland
    • 甲狀腺
  18. gland /ɡlænd/ (n)
    • 線體
    • an organ in the human or animal body that secretes particular chemical substances for use in the body or for discharge into the surroundings.
  19. demeanour = demeanor
    • behavior; facial appearance; a way of looking and behaving
  20. introspective (a)
    • The act or process of looking into oneself.
    • 反省的
  21. soothe /suð/ (vt)
    • to make someone feel calm or less worried
    •  A shot of brandy may soothe his nerves.
    •  To soothe a crying baby.
  22. shatter /ˋʃætɚ/ (v)
    • to (cause something to) break suddenly into very small pieces
    • break or cause to break suddenly and violently into pieces.
    • The window was shattered by a stone.
    • The glass shattered into a thousand tiny pieces.
  23. blotch /blɑtʃ/ (n)
    • an irregular patch or unsightly mark on a surface, typically the skin; 紅斑
    • The overlapping windows create blotches, whenever you forget to refresh the windows in the proper order.
  24. despair /dɪˋspɛr/ (n)
    • the complete loss or absence of hope; 絕望
    • She was in despair.
  25. obviate /ˋɑbvɪ͵et/ (vt).
    • remove (a need or difficulty);
  26. obscure /əbˋskjʊr/ (adj)
    • not clear or plain; ambiguous; vague; or uncertain

    My zoology thesis was a functional analysis of the thyroid gland of the three-toed sloth. I chose the sloth because its demeanour - calm, quite and introspective - did something to soothe my shattered self.

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