●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.

●Phrases and Expressions

List

agree with sb. / as many / can’t wait to do sth. / get sth. over with / help out / linger over/on / more often than not / off the rack / put away / put brakes on / save sb. The trouble of doing sth. / save up / stuff with

1. agree with sb.

If something agrees with you, it doesn’t make you feel ill.v

Examples:

●Stop taking the medicine if it doesn’t agree with you.

●I find that country life really agrees with me.

2. as many

the same number as another particular number

Example:

●Those coolies were great. I could eat as many again.

3. can’t wait to do sth. = can hardly wait to do sth.

to be very excited about something or keen to do it

Example:

●I can’t wait to go to school then: I will be a big kid, and I’ll make friends and learn so much at school.

4. get sth. over with

to do and finish something difficult that you have to do把••••••做完了事

Examples:

●I’ll speak first if you like—I’d rather get it over with quickly.

●He looked upon the marriage ceremony as a mere formality—something to be got over with as quickly as possible.

5. help out

to help somebody in a difficult situation

救助，协助（渡过难关）

Examples:

●Who is helping out in the garden this afternoon?

●I’ve often helped Bob out when he has been a bit short of money.

6. linger over/on

to stay somewhere a little longer, especially because you do not want to leave

Examples:

●They lingered over coffee and missed the last bus.

●She let her eyes linger on him.

7. more often than not = as often as not

Examples

●Nancy comes over on Saturday more often than not.

●More often than not, the argument could have been avoided.

all too often

used for saying that something makes you sad or upset because it happens more often than you think it should.

●All too often, parents leave their children home alone.

every so often

sometimes, but not frequently

●She still phones me every so often.

8. off the rack

off-the-rack (AmE)/ off-the-peg (BrE)

●It was only a cheap suit, bought off the rack/off the peg.

●The interviewer’s questions put the President on the rack.

9. put away

Examples:

●My grandfather had put away over $100,000.

●Put away all your books on the desk. The guest might come any time.

●Please put all negative thoughts away.

●The boy put away the dinner in just a few minutes.

10. put brakes on

put a brake on/ put the brakes on sth.

to stop sth. that is happening

使停顿

Examples

●The high level of debt continued to put a brake on economic recovery.

●The town government put the brakes on all these projects by giving them less money.

11. save sb. the trouble of doing sth.

to make somebody able to avoid extra effort or work

Example:

●Fast-food restaurants are popular because they save people the trouble of cooking.

12. save up

to keep or store something so that you can use it in the future

Examples:

●They are saving up for a new car.

●She spent all the money I have saved up for our trip.

13. stuff with

a. to fill sb. with food until one is not hungry

b. to fill a container or space with sth., especially sth. soft

Examples:

●They stuff the children with food.

●The bed was stuffed with cotton so it was very soft.

●Word Building

List:

●Prefix—super-

●Prefix—pre-

●Root—centenary

●Grammar

●Gerund

●Definition:Gerund is used as a noun, but like a verb it can take an object.

●Example:

1) For four hours, our only real amusement consisted of counting exit signs and wondering what it would feel like to hold still again.

2) Now it’s no use your saying anything, Mother—I’ve made up my mind.

3) … all we are good at is saving time… not spending time.

4) Why doesn’t everybody try slowing down and exploring the countryside?

5) The scene is set in the comfortable, well furnished living room of an American upper-class family, the Kents.

6) After all, why waste 45 minutes listening to the whole thing when someone else has saved us the trouble of picking out the best parts?