P1
1. equator: an imaginary line of latitude drawn around the world halfway between the most northern and southern poles
2. straggle: spread, scatter, dot; lie here and there
3. ragged: uneven, shapeless, irregular (line)
4. straggles in a ragged line: spreads in an irregular line
5. grandiose (often derogatory): pretend to have the effect of being important, splendid, theatrical, pretentious, pompous, affected
6. disturbing: worrying, unsetting, troubling, distressing; bothering, annoying
7. crest: top, summit, pinnacle, peak, tip, apex
8. break out: to open or unfold (something)
9. theatricality: the dramatic effect of a theatre stage
10. a perfect cone: After eruption, the crater or the mouth of a volcano is often left in the shape or a cone.
11. Their tops neatly cut off by a bank of heavy cloud: A mass of heavy cloud blocked the entire view of the tops from a distance.
12. bank: a mass of (snow, clown, mud); a heap of
13. forbidding: unapproachable; dangerous-looking, sinister, ominous, grim, threatening, prohibitive/ attractive, inviting, alluring
14. tremor: shake, tremble, quiver, shiver, quaver
P2
1. soporific: heavy, sluggish, sleep-inducing, sleepy, drowsy, lazy/ lively, animated, stimulant
2. temperate: free from very high and very low temperatures, moderate, reasonable, rational, even, levelheaded
3. sub-alpine: mountains of 4000-5000 feet latitude; of the Alpines
P3
1. paradox: statement or idea or fact that is opposite to what generally believed to be true; statement which seems foolish or impossible, but which has some truth in it; self-contradictory statement; seeming absurdity/ maxim, aphorism, truism
2. The gorilla is something of a paradox: To some extent, the gorilla is a paradox, something that displays contradictory qualities. Here what is paradoxical about the gorilla is that we think we know him very well, but in fact we know very little about him.
3. exert: exercise, employ, use, utilize, make use of, put in action
4. stereotyped: typed, categorized, fixed, established
5. ancestral: belonging to or coming from one’s ancestors
6. an obvious link with our ancestral past: The obvious link refers to resemblance between the gorilla and the primitive man in small skull, capacity and facial profile.