Friday, November 2, 2007

WORDS

1. Stench - A strong, foul odor; a stink; a distinctive odor that is offensively unpleasant
2. Temper - To make or become less severe or extreme; temporary state of mind or feeling; person's customary manner of emotional response; angry outburst; tendency to become angry or irritable; prevailing quality, as of thought, behavior, or attitude; angriness; bad mood; calmness; calm, moderate; harden
3. Protuberance - Something, such as a bulge, knob, or swelling, that protrudes; unevenness or elevation on a surface; lump, outgrowth
4. Prescribe - To set down as a rule or guide; enjoin; to order the use of (a medicine or other treatment); establish rules, laws, or directions; to set forth expressly and authoritatively

5. Flashy - Cheap and showy; gaudy; giving a momentary or superficial impression of brilliance; flamboyant, in poor taste
6. Assuage - To make less severe or more bearable; soothe, relieve; reduce fear, excitement, pain, or disease
7.
Venerate - To regard with respect, reverence, or heartfelt deference
8.
Bogus - Counterfeit or fake; not genuine; fraudulently or deceptively imitative
9. Engrossed -
Preoccupied; attentive to
10. Teem -
To be full of things; abound or swarm; to be or become pregnant; bear young; give birth to; be abundantly filled or richly supplied
11. Decrepit -
Weakened, worn out, impaired, or broken down by old age, illness, or hard use; deteriorated, debilitated; showing signs of wear and tear or neglect
12. Hoary - Gray or white with or as if with age; covered with grayish hair or pubescence; old as to inspire veneration; ancient; elderly; trite
13. Sturdy - Having or showing rugged physical strength; substantially made or built; stout; marked by resoluteness or determination; firm; solid, durable; strong and hardy
14. Homely - Not attractive or good-looking; lacking elegance or refinement; of a simple or unpretentious nature; plain; characteristic of the home or of home life; not beautiful, ordinary; having a feeling of home; cozy and comfortable; without artificial refinement or elegance
15. Sober - Exercising moderation and self-restraint in appetites and behavior; having or indicating an awareness of things as they really are; full of or marked by dignity and seriousness; calm, peaceful; dull; not partaking of alcohol; having a serious attitude
16. Melodious - Of, relating to, or containing a pleasing succession of sounds; tuneful; agreeable to hear; containing or constituting or characterized by pleasing melody
17. Trademark - A name, symbol, or other device identifying a product, officially registered and legally restricted to the use of the owner or manufacturer; distinctive characteristic by which a person or thing comes to be known; label (a product) with proprietary identification; register (something) as a trademark
18. Scepter (sceptre) - A staff held by a sovereign as an emblem of authority; ruling power or authority; sovereignty; invest with royal authority; a king's staff of office, the sign and symbol of his authority
19.
Monarch - One who reigns over a state or territory, usually for life and by hereditary right, especially; sovereign, such as a king or empress, often with constitutionally limited authority; sole and absolute ruler
20. Signatory - Bound by signed agreement; one that has signed a treaty or other document; someone who signs and is bound by a document
21. Seal - A device for impressing characteristic marks into a soft surface, often to indicate ownership. Seals may be in the form of stamps or cylinder seals; authentication; stamp; ensure, finalize; make airtight; affix a seal to in order to prove authenticity or attest to accuracy, legal weight, quality, or another standard
22. Palliate -
To make (an offense or crime) seem less serious; extenuate; make less severe or intense; mitigate; relieve the symptoms of a disease or disorder; loss over; cover up
23. Concord - Harmonious mutual understanding; formal, usually written settlement between nations; pleasing agreement, as of musical sounds; agreement, treaty; unity, harmony
24. Cascade -
A waterfall or a series of small waterfalls over steep rocks; something, such as lace, thought to resemble a waterfall or series of small waterfalls, especially an arrangement or fall of material; succession of stages, processes, operations, or units; series of components or networks, the output of each of which serves as the input for the next; to fall or cause to fall in or as if in a cascade
25. Fabrication - The making or construction of something; act of fabricating, framing, or constructing; construction; manufacture; that which is fabricated; a falsehood; lie
26. Melancholy - Sadness or depression of the spirits; gloom; affected with or marked by depression of the spirits; sad; pensive; thoughtful
27. Divulge - To make known (something private or secret); to proclaim publicly; disclose in a breach of confidence; confess
28. Unsubstantial - Lacking material substance; insubstantial; lacking firmness or strength; flimsy; lacking basis in fact; lacking material form or substance; unreal
29. Oscillate - To swing back and forth with a steady, uninterrupted rhythm; to waver, as between conflicting opinions or courses of action; vacillate; vary between alternate extremes, usually within a definable period of time; change back and forth; move rhythmically back and forth suspended or as if suspended from above
30. Untactful - Lacking sensitivity and skill in dealing with others; lacking or showing a lack of what is fitting and considerate in dealing with others
31.
Palpable - Capable of being handled, touched, or felt; tangible; obvious; concrete, real
32. Pomp - Dignified or magnificent display; splendor; vain or ostentatious display
33.
Willowy - Slender and graceful; planted with or abounding in willows
34. Uncanny - Peculiarly unsettling, as if of supernatural origin or nature; so keen and perceptive as to seem preternatural; of a mysteriously strange and usually frightening nature; very strange, unusual
35.
Insouciant - Marked by blithe unconcern; nonchalant; easygoing, casual
36. Puckish - Mischievous; impish; naughtily or annoyingly playful
37.
Assiduous - Constant in application or attention; diligent; unceasing; persistent; hard-working
38.
Hapless - Luckless; unfortunate; involving or undergoing chance misfortune
39. Pillory -
A wooden framework on a post, with holes for the head and hands, in which offenders were formerly locked to be exposed to public scorn as punishment; to expose to ridicule and abuse; a wooden framework in which an offender is fastened to boards for punishment and is exposed to public scorn


ARGUEMENTS

1. The vice president for human resources at Climpson Industries sent the following recommendation to the company's president.

"In an effort to improve our employees' productivity, we should implement electronic monitoring of employees' Internet use from their workstations. Employees who use the Internet from their workstations need to be identified and punished if we are to reduce the number of work hours spent on personal or recreational activities, such as shopping or playing games. By installing software to detect employees' Internet use on company computers, we can prevent employees from wasting time, foster a better work ethic at Climpson, and improve our overall profits."

2. The following appeared in a letter to the school board in the town of Centerville.

"All students should be required to take the driver's education course at Centerville High School. In the past two years several accidents in and around Centerville have involved teenage drivers. Since a number of parents in Centerville have complained that they are too busy to teach their teenagers to drive, some other instruction is necessary to ensure that these teenagers are safe drivers. Although there are two driving schools in Centerville, parents on a tight budget cannot afford to pay for driving instruction. Therefore an effective and mandatory program sponsored by the high school is the only solution to this serious problem."

ISSUE TOPICS

1. Both parents and communities must be involved in the local schools. Education is too important to leave solely to a group of professional educators
2.
Most people recognize the benefits of individuality, but the fact is that personal economic success requires conformity
3.
The function of science is to reassure; the purpose of art is to upset. Therein lies the value of each
4.
Governments must ensure that their major cities receive the financial support they need in order to thrive, because it is primarily in cities that a nation's cultural traditions are preserved and generated.

ANALOGIES

1). engrossed:occupied
2). furniture:sofa
3). stench:nose
4). fingerprint:identification
5). trademark:manufacturer
6). rescue:save
7). tilt:level
8). punish:pillory