Language Study

●Word Study

Word list:

Futile / arouse / indulge / indignation / ridicule / retain / adroit / maneuver / unleash / service / blunder / malice / deluge / procrastinate / hereafter

1. futile < worthless, fu- (to pour out): producing no result or effect

Synonyms:

futile, barren, bootless, fruitless, unavailing, useless, vain (Antonym: useful)

Examples:

a futile effort; a barren search; bootless entreaties; fruitless labors; an unavailing attempt; a useless discussion; vain regrets.

Reference:

Edna could not help but think that it was very foolish, very childish, to have stamped upon her wedding ring and smashed the crystal vase upon the tiles. She was visited by no more outbursts, moving her to such futile expedients. She began to do as she liked and to feel as she liked.

2. arouse on the model of arise

1)To awaken from

2)To stir up; excite; to evoke or elicit (a reaction, feelings, emotion, or response); stimulate

●The odd sight aroused our curiosity.

●To arouse a crowd

●To arouse suspicion

Reference:

It's generally a gesture to arouse pity or terror in their lover.

3) To stimulate sexual desire in

3. Indulge

1)To yield to the desires and whims of; humor迎合，迁

2)To yield to; gratify使满足，使满意 indulge a craving for chocolate.

3)To allow (oneself) unrestrained gratification, pamper纵容indulged herself with idle daydreams.

4)To engage or take part, esp. freely or avidly沉湎于，沉溺于indulged in all the latest fads.

Reference:

"Since I cannot sleep," she said, "on account of your song which, believe me, is sweet as the lyre of Apollo, I shall indulge myself in drinking some nectar which Pallas lately gave me.

4. indignation unworthy, in- (not) + dignus (worthy)

4. indignation

●feelings of anger and surprise because you feel insulted or unfairly treated:

●To his indignation, Charles found that his name was not on the list.

●Lou's voice quivered with indignation.

●indignation at/about/over

●Her indignation at such rough treatment was understandable.

●He stormed into her office, full of righteous indignation.义愤填膺

5. ridicule

●To ridicule is to make fun of, either playfully or with intentional humiliating: to ridicule a pretentious person.

Synonym:

To deride is to laugh at scornfully: a student derided for acting silly.

Synonym:

To mock is to poke fun at someone, often by mimicking and caricaturing speech or actions: She mocked his surprised expression.

Synonym:

To taunt is to call attention to something annoying or humiliating, usu. maliciously and in front of others: The bully taunted the smaller boy.

6. blunder to go blindly, have one's eyes closed

vi. to move as if not seeing properly

●blunder about/around: blundering about in the kitchen.

●Phil came blundering down the stairs.

vi. to make a big mistake, because of carelessness or stupidity

●They blundered badly when they gave him the job.

vi. to enter a place or be involved in a difficult situation by mistake

●Somehow we blundered into the war.

●He would have agreed if you hadn't blundered in.

7. malice

n. [uncountable] the desire to harm someone because of hatred

●His eyes gleamed with malice.

●She did it out of sheer/pure malice.

●James bore her no malice .

●(law) with malice aforethought预谋

Reference:

…as I shall go to the mill again before Bessy comes to see me, or as I shall go and fall down o' my knees to Mr. Tulliver, and ask his pardon for showing him favors; but I shall bear no malice, and when Mr. Tulliver speaks civil to me, I'll speak civil to him. Nobody has any call to tell me what's becoming.

8. deluge flood, to wash away. dis-(apart) + -luere (to wash)

n. [usu. singular] sth. that overwhelms as if by a great flood

●Viewers sent a deluge of complaints about the show.

●To receive a deluge of fan mail

n. [formal] a large flood (from Bible, the great flood that occurred in the time of Noah)

v. [usu passive] To overwhelm with a large number or amount; swamp

●The press secretary was deluged with requests for information.

v. To overrun with water; inundate

9. procrastinate to put off until tomorrow, pro-(forward) + crās( tomorrow)

vi. [formal, put off] to delay doing something

●People often procrastinate when it comes to paperwork.

n. procrastination

Reference:

This last reason displeased old Solomon, for it was an encouragement to the birds to procrastinate.

10. hereafter

1)adv. Immediately following in time, order, or place; after this.

●hereafter you will no longer receive an allowance

2) In a future time or state:

●hope to win salvation hereafter

3) (Law) in a subsequent part of this document, matter, case, etc

●the Ulster Democratic Unionist Party (hereafter DUP)

●Compare: the Council of the Law Society (hereinafter called the Council)

4) n. The afterlife: belief in a hereafter.

11. retain to hold back, re- + tenēre (to hold)

vt. (formal)

1. To keep something or continue to have something

●The state wants to retain control of food imports.

●to retain one's rooms for the holidays

2. To store or to be able to hold or contain

●Limestone is known to retain moisture.

3. To remember , keep in mind

●I find it very difficult to retain facts.

4. To hire (an attorney, etc) by the payment of a fee

5. To keep in one's service or pay

●It's increasingly difficult to recruit and retain good staff.

12. adroit skillful, a- (ad-, towards) + droit (right)

adj. quick in thought or reaction, clever, skilful, resourceful, or ingenious, esp. in arguments under pressing conditions

●an adroit negotiator

adj. expert in using the hands or body; nimble, skilful, dexterous, and deft

adv. adroitly n. adroitness

Reference:

He nodded his head to and fro significantly, opened the door with an adroit movement, and stepped out with a lightness unexpected at his age. from Night and Day by Virginia Woolf

13. maneuver manual work, to work by hand, manū-(hand)

●►Spelling: manoeuvre (BE) ; maneuver (AE)

1 vi.& vt. to move or turn skillfully, esp. sth. large and heavy:

●She managed to maneuver expertly into the parking space.

●Josh maneuvered himself out of bed and hobbled to the door.

2 vi.& vt. to use cleverly planned and often dishonest methods to get the result that you want

●It was a well-organized plan to maneuver company president John Woolford out of office.

n. maneuvers军事演习

14. unleash

v.t. to release from or as if from a leash or restraint; let loose.

●To unleash the guard dogs

●To unleash his pent-up rage (uncork his anger)

Synonyms:

●Let go of the door handle, please!

●Relinquish your grip on the rope — you won't fall

Reference:

Cheering crowds. Weeping women. Strong situation. I unleash the Press-agent, and off he shoots, in time to get the story into the evening paper.

15. service v.

●[usu. passive] To make fit for use; adjust, repair, or maintain

●I'm having the car serviced next week.

●To provide services to schools that service local communities

●To pay the interest on a debt

●To service a debt/loan

●Phrases and Expressions

List:

apply to / in favor of / (put sb.) on the defensive / lift out / blow off steam / once too often / water under the bridge / in connection with

1. blow off steam

●also let off steam, to do or say something that helps you get rid of strong feelings or energy

●Though you have a lot of troubles in your office, you can't always blow steam off at your wife and kids if you want to maintain your marriage.

Compare:

full steam ahead: Fig. onward with determination.

●We started moving full steam ahead on the project.

2. once too often

●used to say that someone has done something wrong or stupid again, and this time they will suffer because of it又一次(指超过限度而发生问题)；多次幸免此次遭殃

●You've tried that trick once too often.

●as often as not/more often than not

●usually; in a way that is typical of someone or something

●As often as not, he's late for work.

●every so often:

●once in a while, occasionally; sometimes

●Every so often I heard a strange noise outside.

3. water under the bridge

●something that has happened and cannot be changed

●I should probably have asked for more money when I was offered the job, but hey, that's all water under the bridge now.

●burn your bridges: to do sth. that makes it impossible to return to the previous situation later过河拆桥

●Think carefully before you resign — you don't want to burn your bridges.

●Don’t cross a bridge till you come to it.

●take everything as it comes, let nature take its course, let it be 车到山前必有路，船到桥头自然直

4. in connection with

●for reasons connected with someone or something

●A man has been arrested in connection with the murder of the teenager.

●I am writing to you in connection with your recent job application.

Reference:

He had published some very astonishing facts in connection with the transfusion of blood, and in addition was known to be doing valuable work on morbid growths.

5. apply to

●apply something to something

1. Lit. to put something onto the surface of something.

●Apply the paint evenly to each surface.

2. Fig. to use force, effort, etc., on something or in the performance of some task.

●An even greater effort has been applied to make sure we finish on time.

●apply to someone or something

●[for rules, laws] to affect someone or something; to be relevant to someone or something.

●These policies apply only to very large companies.

6. in favor of

1) if you are in favor of someone or something, you support and agree with them/it

There were 247 votes in favor (of the motion) and 25 against.

I‘m all in favor of (= completely support) equal pay for equal work.

2) in exchange for another thing (because the other thing is better or you want it more)

He abandoned teaching in favor of a career as a musician.

curry favor (with someone) 与某人示好

do me a favor 帮个忙好么；给我点面子

do someone no favors 没有好处

in someone's favor 对某人有利

without fear or favor 公平地；公正地

7. (put sb.) on the defensive

●on the defensive: weary and ready to defend oneself.

●John goes on the defensive when his athletic ability is questioned.

●Their questions about the money put her on the defensive.

Reference:

This immediately put her on the defensive, and with one of those sudden impulses of reprisal to which she was liable she gave him a little push from her.

●from Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

8. lift out

●take out or up with or as if with a scoop

●lift the sugar out of the container

●to lift an anchor out of the water before sailing away

●Some investors worry that Americans are not doing enough to lift the world’s largest economy out of recession.

●Word Building

List:

●Prefix—un

●Root—sent

●Suffix—ate

●Grammar

Subject–auxiliary inversion 主谓倒装

Definition: a reversal of normal word order, especially the placement of a verb ahead of the subject (subject-verb inversion)

[1] In yes–no questions and wh-questions:

●Has Sam read the paper?

●What is Sam reading?

Exceptions: Inversion does not occur when the interrogative word is the subject

●Who / Which fool has read the paper?

Exceptions: Inversion does not occur in indirect questions.

●Cathy wonders what Sam ate.

●We asked whether Tom had left.

[2] Negative inversion:

●A negation (e.g. not, no, never, nothing, etc.) or a word that implies negation (only, hardly, scarcely) or a phrase containing one of these words precedes the finite auxiliary verb

●At no time will Sam relax. (Yes)

●Never has Jim tried that. (Yes)

●With no jacket did Bill go out in the cold. (Yes)

●With no jacket, Bill went out in the cold.(No)

[3] Inversion in condition clauses

●In a possible future condition, should is used

●Should you feel hungry, ... (inverted form)

●In a counterfactual present / future condition, the past subjunctive were is used:

●Were she here, ...(inverted form)

●In a condition clause expressing a counterfactual past condition, the auxiliary had can be inverted:

●Had he written, ... (inverted form)

●Inversion is possible when the present subjunctive be is used

●Be they friend or foe ... (Whether they be friend or foe …)

[4] Other cases

●Inversion is used after so or as, in elliptical clauses.

●Fred fell asleep, so / as did Jim.

●Inversion occurs when beginning with so or such:

●So tired (Such tiredness) did we feel that we fell asleep.

●Optional inversion in elliptical clauses introduced by than:

●Sally knows more languages than does her father / than her father does.

Additional:

●Locative inversion: In the corner lay a lamp. On that tree sleeps Larry.

●Directive inversion (verbs as come, go, run):

●Into the room came two students. Out of the tree fell the squirrel.

●Link-verb inversion: A concern was the objection.

●Quotative inversion: “We are going to win", said Bill.

●Multiple verbs: Under her bed have been found a pistol.

FOR SUBJECT-VERB INVERSION 主谓倒装（全部倒装）