词汇学习

●Word Study

Word list:

Guarantee / outlet / refresh / revitalize / scale / skim / advocate / antique / compress / condense / defer / deposit

1. advocate

v. to publicly support an idea or a plan

n. someone who strongly and publicly supports someone or something

Examples:

●He advocates building more schools.

●There is no point advocating high salaries for teachers unless we can do it.

●He is a tireless advocate of political reform.

2. antique

adj. being old and therefore valuable

n. an old object such as a piece of furniture or jewellery that is valuable because it is rare, beautiful, or well made

Examples:

●It is an antique rosewood desk.

●The palace is full of priceless antiques.

3. compress

v. a. to press or squeeze something so that it fits into a smaller space

b. to write something in fewer words

c. to make a process last for a shorter time than usual

Examples:

●The machine compresses old cars into blocks of scrap metal.

●Try to compress your notes so that they are easier to learn.

●You’d better compress two months’ work into one.

4. condense

v. a. to cause (a gas or vapor) to change to a liquid

b. to remove water from (milk, for example)

c. to make a piece of writing shorter by removing some parts

Examples:

●Steam condensed on the bathroom mirror.

●condensed milk (炼乳)

●condensed story (缩写本)

Fill in the blanks with the right word.

●The pupil of the eye dilates and _________ in response to light.

●She sat on the lid of the suitcase to ________ the clothes.

●The chairman __________ all the suggestions put forward into a single plan of action.

5. defer

v. to delay something until a later date

defer to sb./sth.

(formal) to agree to accept someone’s opinion or decision because you have respect for that person

Examples:

●Let’s defer the decision for a few weeks.

●I will defer to Mr. Walter on this point.

Defer implies an intentional delaying.

Postpone implies an intentional deferring, commonly until a definite time.

Delay causes to be behind schedule.

Fill in the blanks with the right word.

●I _______ paying the bills.

●The bus was _______ by a cloudburst.

●We would like to ________ your appointment until Saturday.

6. deposit

n. a. a first payment that you make when you agree to buy something expensive such as a car or house

b. an amount of money you pay when you rent something that is returned to you when you stop renting it

c. an amount of money that you pay into a bank account

d. a layer of metal that has formed in soil or rock

Examples:

●We put down a deposit on a house last week.

●You will have to pay one month’s rent in advance, plus a deposit of $500.

●I’d like to make a deposit, please.

●Rich mineral deposits have been discovered in the area.

7. guarantee

v. a. to promise sth. will happen

b. to make sth. certain

n. a. an agreement that if sth. you buy does not work, it will be repaired or replaced

b. a formal and firm promise that sth. Will be done or will happen

Examples:

●The government guaranteed to free the captives.

●The rain guarantees a good crop this year.

●The new television had a guarantee with it.

●The new television had a guarantee with it.

8. outlet

n. a. a shop or a place where a particular product is sold

b. a way of expressing strong feelings that you would normally not express

Examples:

●Most of their sales are through traditional retail outlets.

●He plays basketball as an outlet for stress.

9. refresh

v. to make someone feel less tired or less hot

refresh one’s memory

to make someone remember something

to make someone remember something

to add more of an alcoholic drink to someone’s glass

Examples:

●A shower will refresh you.

●I looked at the map to refresh my memory of the route.

●Can I refresh your drink?

10. revitalize

v. to put new strength or power into sth.

Example:

●They hope to revitalize the neighborhood by providing better housing.

11. scale

●large scale

●evolutionary scale

●the bathroom scales

●the scale on a thermometer

●Richter scale

●a scale of 1∶250

●scales of fish

12. skim

v. a. to remove floating fat or solids from the surface of a liquid

v. a. to remove floating fat or solids from the surface of a liquid

c. to move along quickly, nearly touching a surface

Examples:

●After simmering the meat and vegetables skim the fat off from the surface.

●Just skim through the second section to save time.

●The swallows were skimming over the water.