Star Player Is Caught

The cheating scandal came to a head when Art Krause, our football captain, made the egregious mistake of getting caught cheating on a midterm exam. If Art were suspended for his part in that sordid* affair, our chances for winning the city championship would go up in smoke.* The distraught coach asked the principal to overlook Art's duplicity, but Mr. Dorsey replied in an acrimonious fashion that the players had been given "a plethora* of athletic instruction but a paucity of moral guidance."

Sample Sentences: Use the new words in the following sentences.

1. The bank teller's __________ error was difficult to correct.

2. We tried to ignore her _________ comments, but that took considerable

restraint.

3. ___________ is the stock in trade of all adroit* counterspies.

4. Although it was a creative writing class, the teacher complained about the

___________ of talent there.

5. The soldiers were ___________ to learn that their furloughs had been canceled.

Definitions: Match the new words with their meanings.

6. egregious _______ a. scarcity

7. distraught _______ b. cunning, trickery

8. duplicity _______ c. mentally confused, crazed

9. acrimonious _______ d. remarkably bad

10. paucity _______ e. bitter

Today's Idiom to pass the buck ― to evade responsibility (the "buck" may have been a piece of buckshot passed from one poker player to another

to keep track of whose turn it was to deal)

He always gives me a straight answer and never tries to pass the buck.

5th Week / 4th Day

New Words: elicit pernicious tolerate construe impunity

Our Pyrrhic Victory*

Mr. Dorsey summoned a representative group of teachers and student leaders to his office in order to elicit their reactions to the suspension of the football captain. He told cheating was a pernicious disease that could not be tolerated at our school. He loathed * having to discipline Art Krause so severely, but unless strict measures were taken, the student body would construe the incident as an open invitation to cheat with impunity. "We may lose a football game," the principal said, "but we can salvage our self-respect."

Sample Sentences: Use the new words in the following sentences.

1. The border guards allowed the doctor to cross the frontier with __________.

2. It isn't easy to ___________ answers from a sleepy class on Monday morning.

3. Dentists appreciate patients who can ___________ pain.

4. She hoped that we would not ____________ her decision to run for office as a thirst for power.

5. The dictator's __________ rules failed to intimidate * the leaders of the

underground.

Definitions: Place the letter of the correct definition in the blank next to the new vocabulary word.

6. elicit ________ a. freedom from punishment

7. pernicious ________ b. to make a deduction, to infer

8. tolerate ________ c. to put up with, to bear

9. construe ________ d. to draw forth

10. impunity ________ e. harmful, causing injury

Today's Idiom to lionize a person ― to make a big fuss over someone (the lions at the Tower of London were considered its main attraction)

When the famous poet Dylan Thomas visited the United States, he was lionized wherever he lectured.

6th Week / 1st Day

New Words: affluent feasible discern sally consternation

Дата добавления: 2015-10-30