31

31.5.2008.

viscous, vicious, weary, verbatim, content, contend, amplify, perambulate, stagger, swagger, snarl, swamp, grim, grime

1. The technology exists to complement and AMPLIFY the human mind.

2. She CONTENTED herself with a bowl of soup since she was not very hungry.

3. The police said that this was one of the most VICIOUS attacks they'd ever seen.

4. The once beautiful building is now covered with GRIME from the city streets.

5. The dogs had started to SNARL at each other so I thought I better separate them.

6. He walked out of the room with a self-confident SWAGGER.

7. Although WEARY after the long journey, the riders appeared together for a photograph after the race.

8. He kept VERBATIM transcripts of discussions with his friends so he could use them in his next novel.

6.2006 #1

beckon, castigate, commend, commission, deign, eulogize, implicate, plunder, reiterate, unimpeded1 Publishers have commissioned a French translation of the book.

2 Let me reiterate that we are fully committed to this policy.

3 She was commended on her handling of the situation.4 The partys senior officials were implicated in the scandal.

5 The teacher told the parents that the boy should be severely castigated for being insolent and refusing to do what his teachers ask his to.

6 The new measures should ensure free and unimpeded trade between the two countries.

7 He was eulogized as a hero by the entire community.

8 Many treasures were lost when the tombs were plundered in the last century.

9 She just grunted, not deigning to look up from the page.

10 The clear blue sea beckoned.6.2006. #2

contend, erroneous, fan out, grandeur, impending, lordly, stomp, swagger, tingle,

wary1 He seems to be under the erroneous impression that she is in love with him.

2 He dismissed us with a lordly gesture.

3 She is clearly suffering from delusions of grandeur.

4 He swaggered into the room looking very pleased with himself.

5 The bird fanned out its tail feathers.

6 She was wary of getting involved with him.

7 She was still tingling with excitement.

8 Three armed groups were contending for power.

9 She stomped angrily out of the office.

10 They were all filled with a sense of impending doom.6.2007. #2

1. It was almost 30 degrees today and I went out for what is becoming my daily two oclock

PERAMBULATION.

2. We ran up the hill and arrived at the top cowered in sweat and PANTING.

3. The conservation group was TENACIOUS in its opposition to the new airport.

4. These are the problems that call for bold, not TIMID responses.

5. She often complains I was an OBSTINATE child with a violent temper.

6. The army QUELLED the rebellion in September, arresting dozens of participants.

7. The questionnaire was intended to ELICIT information on eating habits.

8. If our schedules COINCIDE, we will go to Spain together.

9. The police are trying to stop the ILLICIT trade in stolen vehicles.

10. The DISSOLVED into giggles just like silly schoolgirls.

2.10.2007

contend, erroneous, fan out, grandeur, impending, lordly, stomp, swagger, tingle,

wary

11 He seems to be under the erroneous impression that she is in love with him.

12 He dismissed us with a lordly gesture.

13 She is clearly suffering from delusions of grandeur.

14 He swaggered into the room looking very pleased with himself.

15 The bird fanned out its tail feathers.

16 She was wary of getting involved with him.

17 She was still tingling with excitement.

18 Three armed groups were contending for power.

19 She stomped angrily out of the office.

20 They were all filled with a sense of impending doom.

10.6.2008beak, beckon, behold, blast, braid, bridle, brusque, cravenly, obstinacy, fathom, inadvertently, persecution, plod, prosecution1. The prosecution alleged that he lured the officer to his death by making an emergency call.2. She bridled at the suggestion that she had been dishonest.

3. He'd be quite handsome if it wasn't for that great beak (= large nose) of his.

4. The Internet search giant said Tuesday that it inadvertently disclosed its closely guarded financial projections.

5. Despite the wind and the rain, they plodded on until they reached the cottage.6. For many young people, the bright lights of London beckon, though a lot of them end up sleeping on the streets. 7. For years people have been trying to fathom the mysteries of the whale's song.

8. The new bridge is an incredible sight to behold.

9. His appearance was short and filled with the usual brusque remarks concerning his former boss.10. Human beings are the only animals of which I am throughly and cravenly afraid.18.6.2008

abrasion, blistering, commendable, debonair, eulogize, intercept, lustrous,

luxurious, mouthpiece, parry, pending, tedium, yore

1. At a press conference he parried all questions with caustic comments.

2. According to Ayurveda, maintaining healthy and lustrous hair is an ongoing process, which starts with the nourishment.

3. The Wichita Police Department is committed to rewarding its members for commendable performance.

4. Previously, there only existed government owned radio stations, which worked as the government mouthpiece.

5. A legal challenge to chaplaincy programs has been put on hold, pending a Supreme Court decision. 6. Superficial cuts, abrasions and blisters are usually best treated by cleansing the area and then applying a simple dressing.

7. Soldiers often say that the worst thing about fighting is not the moments of terror, but all the hours of tedium in between.

8. Noting the informer's debonair appearance in a trim double-breasted suit, the defense lawyer asked Mr. Han if he wore suits from Saks Fifth Avenue.

9. Law enforcement agents intercepted a shipment of drugs from Latin America.

10. Had he been a journalist with a prominent Haitian or foreign outlet visiting Cite de Dieu, he would have been eulogized for his courage in going into that neighborhood.1.7.2008

aghast, aloof, bargain, beckon, jabber, proffer, relish, obstinate, orotund, quell, heave, penalty, petitionEric has an aloof behaviour and a frozen heart: his parents had a very bad marriage relationship and he learnt to not trust love.

The shop window decorations beckoned, and she surrendered to temptation.She kept jabbering on in Chinese and Alan said she was blessing us all.This workshop will try to proffer solutions to the environmental problems like pollution, global warming and climate change.She relished challenges and took advantage of all the opportunities open to her here.Ominous drones, brilliant brass proclamations and the sounds of orotund speech rise from the Stonehenge-like arena of wire, wood and vacuum tubes.She wrote an excellent book about 100 varieties of fruit plants which can quell thirst and hunger.A judge may sanction a party during a legal proceeding, by which it is meant that he/she imposes penalties.3.9.2008

calf, content, contented, guffaw, inadvertently, lap, lunge, lurch, probe, quell, reportedly, reputable, rousing, rowdy, saunter, tackle, wince

1. They had reached the street now, and now she obtained a better view of the misshapen thing that lurched jerkily along beside her.

2. Only moments before speaking with ABC News, the troops had been listening to Vice President Dick Cheney give a rousing speech, but it didnt change their political preference.

3. Commissions of enquiries have been set-up and used for probing corruption allegations in a number of countries in Africa.

4. Work done by a plant worker inadvertently set off the fire alarm at the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant this morning.

5. The Israeli government has been reportedly approved a military plan, similar to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

6. The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.

7. Lane Jensen, 30, has more than 20 tattoos, including the one of the woman on his left calf.

8. What she saw on that television show was a woman labouring in water that lapped around her abdomen and a birth that seemed smooth and gentle.

9. This report shows that many affordable technologies and effective policies are readily available to tackle climate change.

10. A satisfied smile is one for having felt joy derived from an external factor, whereas a contented smile comes from within.

11.9.2008

amplify, bare, bear, censure, censor, constabulary, flinch, imminent, incipient, intercept, jocularly, presently, sew, sow, usury

1. Islam eschews usury, so if I were to fund my business start-up with a loan from an Islamic bank, how would this differ from a loan from an ordinary bank?

2. He captured the audio in digital audio editing software, amplified it, then ran noise reduction to lower the background hiss.

3. My aunt will be down presently, Mr. Nuttel, said a very self-possessed young lady of fifteen; in the meantime you must try and put up with me.

4. Andrew Johns says he bared his soul in his autobiography so that he could "move on" after a brilliant rugby league career laced with misery.

5. The Special Constabulary in South Yorkshire has an important role to play, and the Force encourages the use to supplement the regular officers.

6. She flinched when they showed the slaughtering of the calf.

7. Cut this fabric into more strips and sew them back together again to create interesting geometric patterns.

8. A Denver magistrate this week was publicly censured after a woman appearing in his courtroom accused him of passing her a note asking for a date and calling her four times in one day.

9. The original track is an example of what Kofi himself jocularly referred to as "disco boogie".

10. Police in Senegal say they have intercepted a ship and its passengers who are believed to be Senegalese migrants trying to reach Europe.

1.7.2009bargain, bail, breed, commission, damage, docket, florid, gleam, grim, grime, orotund, parole, parry, plead, premise, probation, reiterate, viscous, vicious, vile, voluptuous

1. The former president of the Army War College, Liggett was a thinking general. He was also 40 pounds overweight, but he parried criticism of his condition by declaring: " There's nothing wrong with fat, if it isn't above the collar. "

2. The Cantonese even favor a soy sauce less viscous and dark than that used in other regions, and their menus tend to emphasize seafood.

3. Security is tight at Biofoam's pellet-production plant in Rapid City, South Dakota, where Bif, a rottweiler of certified East German guard-dog lineage, now patrols the premises .

4. Of nearly 30 cases on the judge's docket this day only a handful will be concluded. The rest are continued.

5. In the old days, deejays were people who played music by other artists. Today, there's also a breed of deejays who make music of their own.

6. Gorillas probably never were that plentiful, but their ranks have dwindled, too. Field counts from Nigeria to Rwanda since 1998 show at least three subspecies number only in the hundreds. Things are equally grim in Asia, where the orangutan population has been reduced to fewer than 20,000 in Borneo and Sumatra.

7. Dotson was taken into custody in Maryland. He pleaded not guilty and in October was declared unfit to stand trial.

8. At work a woman named Lily flirted with Rory. Where Marta was compact and voluptuous , this woman was rangy and angular. Her seduction lacked any of Marta's shy smiles and wide innocent eyes.

9. Although relatively small about two hundred pounds, the size of a leopard velociraptors were quick, intelligent, and vicious , able to attack with sharp jaws, powerful clawed forearms, and the devastating single claw on the foot.

10. Ace doesn't sound happy. There's something in his voice, some air of desperation about him, as if he just has to make this sale or he loses the commission .

11. You were six when last we met. I put a toad down your dress, if I remember right. His eyes gleamed when he said this and she blushed.

9.7.2009

confinement, clench, commit, aloof, indictment, trial, pant, retaliate, implicate, cereal, lace, well, brim, indictment, suspect, arraignment, estrange, vow, fathom, conviction, rout, wince, venture, serial, swell

1. In the weeks following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, he was arrested on charges of espionage and kept in solitary confinement for 33 days.

2. Gingerly Sarah rolled up the leg of her blue jeans, wincing in pain as the rough material scraped the open wound.

3. Grady climbed into his truck and clenched the steering wheel with both hands as the anger flooded through him.

4. When calling our customer service office, please tell the agent the serial number of your product.

5. Most of those arrested on misdemeanor charges are set free during arraignment, the first court hearing for a suspect and one that typically lasts just a few minutes.

6. He could feel tears welling in his eyes, and he looked away. He did not want to cry in front of his father.

7. After the U.S.-led coalition routed Saddam's army in March 1991, President George H.W. Bush encouraged the Kurds and Shiites to rebel against Saddam.

8. By 1978, Martorano had already killed 18 people, and facing an indictment for fixing horse races, he fled to Florida, where he was living a quiet life under the name " Richard Aucoin. "

9. Running as fast as he could, he was panting for breath as he reached the top of the hill.

10. By then the killing by militants had begun -- shootings, bombings, and stabbings directed first at police officers but soon at civilians, both in the cities and the countryside. The security forces retaliated with equal brutality, setting the current pattern of bloodletting.

11. Tour de France favorites Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso are out of the race after being implicated in a doping scandal.

3.9.2009

lewd, affect, pitiless, brusque, knowing, rove, effect, chum, wander, prosecutor, wonder, plaintiff, deign, swamp, slope

1. The streets of Santiago are very narrow and crooked and all slope down to the bay.

2. Like many people with traumatic brain injury, Tom had lost some ability to recognize inappropriate behavior. Seeing a pretty woman, he'd make the lewd sort of remark an adolescent might make.

3. During the 20th century, navigation, flood control, reservoirs, and agriculture profoundly affected the basin. Dams on the Missouri reduced sediment input to the delta, and navigation and flood control activities separated the mainstream channels from most of the riparian floodplain. But the most far-reaching impacts come from agriculture.

4. A local bus driver had been particularly kind to us (he treated middle school students with respect, deigned to speak with us, and even, wonder of wonders, waited when he saw us running rather than shutting the door in our faces).

5. Pippos is a restaurant where the tables are covered in white paper, the waiters are brusque, and two can share a salad, a heaping bowl of pasta with both pesto and meat sauce, garlicky papas fritas, steak milanesa, and wine and seltzer for less than $20.

6. She reached the sand on her hands and knees, half-drowned and cold to the bone, frozen anew by the pitiless wind whose lashing impact curled her to a shivering ball.

7. He went into the family room and switched on the TV. He tried several movies on cable, but none held his interest. He watched the news for a while, but his mind wandered.

8. His eyes roved her face and voluptuous body. She'd gotten even more beautiful than he remembered.

9. Sotomayor won a scholarship to Princeton, then attended Yale Law School. She became a prosecutor in New York, then a corporate litigator, before being seated to a federal trial court by the first President Bush.

10. Last night Kevin, an elementary school chum of mine, contacted me on Facebook. He works for the Ford Modeling Agency.

11.9.2009

distinction orotund elicit bear castigate conscience probation custody illicit rotund rowdy scrawny consciousness mutter scrupulous censure curt sullen censor

1. Every once in a while the librarian would remind the students to be quiet, but they would begin again the moment she turned her back, like a rowdy junior high school class mocking a substitute teacher.

2. The newspaper not only condones the action of the protesters to enter the premises and disrupt the business, it encourages them to continue. It also castigates the management for calling the police to enable operations to continue.

3. Every year, the president of the university bestows students of distinction with the Medal of the University during the graduation ceremony.

4. The justice issued a warrant for the arrest of the defendant, and the sherriff took the person into custody pending trial.

5. "I have been cursed to stalk the night through all eternity," he went on, his voice orotund, carrying all across the playground.

6. He had the same almost comically oversized shoulders, out of proportion to his scrawny legs.

7. Reporters generally consult with their editors in preparing questions for a news conference, searching for the wording that they hope will elicit a response that will make some news.

8. If someone is asked to commit an immoral act, no matter who orders it, the conscience of the person should not allow the request to be acted upon.

9. In male athletics, the use of illicit performance-enhancing drugs is widespread and often accepted. An effect of many of these drugs is increased body mass and muscularity.

10. In less than nine years, Helen bore five children. After a pause of 13 years, she had her sixth.

23.9.2009

malefactor felon effect principal pad aloof fathom glum obstinate reciprocal rule reproach inadvertent affect fling

1. The main ingredients of this theatrical souffl are well-known: "two suitors, two girls under the erroneous impression that they are engaged to a man called Ernest, a gorgon-like mother-in-law and a baby inadvertently left in a handbag at Victoria Station left-luggage office (the Brighton line)".

2. If a British citizen has lived in a European Community country or any country whose social security system is linked to Britain's by a reciprocal agreement, contributions or residence there may be counted towards their British pension.

3. Uncle Alfred woke from his day-long nap to find Anabelle sitting by the canal. He took one look at her long face and said, "What's wrong, sugar plum? Why so glum?" Anabelle sighed heavily. "I don't know. I guess I still miss him after all these years.

4. Rory Scott says roguishly: "She was very sexually attractive and the relationship was not a platonic one as far as I was concerned but it remained that way. She was always a little aloof; you always felt that there was a lot you would never know about her."

5. The courtroom itself was specially constructed with an inch-thick wall of bullet-proof glass to separate the principals in the case from reporters and spectators.

6. The Raving Lunatics, a boy band from New Jersey, came to prominence in 2002 and, despite constant criticism from the established media, has obstinately refused to disappear from the U.S. music scene.

7. Suddenly, it growled at her, bent its great shaggy head, picked up the carcass in bloody jaws and padded away to settle on the grass, paws holding the meat down while it tore the flesh with its teeth.

8. The coolly spoken words were like a bucket of ice-cold water thrown in her face, but instead of restoring her composure it had the opposite effect of stoking her anger all the more.

9. "What's so special about Droxford, anyway, Sir John?" "He's special, Master Venables, because he's a murderer, a felon who has stolen over two hundred pounds of his master's monies, and it looks as if he has got away scot free!"

10. "You shouldn't ask for compliments, Pickles," Aubrey reproached her. "I don't think I've ever met anyone more vain than you. Other girls wait to be told they look halfway decent.

16.6.2010incipient probation weary imperative upstanding effect parole inadvertent affect sinister unimpeded wary triumphant disgorge florid grave jocular1. Although Colin couldn't identify much of the room's instrumentation, he did notice an old line printer in the rear of the lab. Buzzing in rhythm with the chirps, it disgorged a waterfall of continuous-feed paper to the floor.

2. Large numbers of students enter their first year of college with below college-level competencies; it is imperative to give these students a chance to improve their skills

3. His grip was firm but careful, the touch of a powerful man wary of his own physical strength.

4. In the most powerful story, which unfolds like a grim fairy tale, a Nigerian boy realizes the feasts his uncle is providing have a sinister purpose the boy and his sister must be plump before they're sold into slavery.

5. A major concern for economic development actors was the lack of infrastructure in the county, in terms of old or insufficient water and sewer systems, roads, and public schools, whose maintenance directly affects low-income populations.

6. Mr. Jacobs spent five years at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining for a 1998 felony burglary conviction and was released on parole in 2004, according to state criminal records.

7. I returned to my room, furiously reviewing the events of the previous day. Where had I slipped up, what breadcrumbs had I inadvertently trailed behind me?

8. Hard work is the only way to be the best I can be. I try to be responsible, upstanding, honest and a good person. I don't want to be seen as a role model simply because I run fast.

6.9.2010

advert, aghast, alleviate, avert, backlash, backlog, ballot, beckon, boom, blistering, buoyant, cavernous, conscientious, cubbyhole, elevate, heave, incipient, orotund, rout, slither, venture, wary, weary, wispy1. Michael and two armed guards took me down a corridor to a door that looked like any interior door. But when we stepped through it, I found myself in a CAVERNOUS room as large as a football pitch and at least three stories tall, windowless but illuminated by ancient mercury-vapor lamps.

2. My head floated, detached from a lifeless body, a floppy mass of muscles that had no one telling them what to do. I lay on a stretcher, unable to AVERT my gaze from the brilliant light of the procedure suite in the vascular institute, and listened as the interventional radiologist explained the procedure to his resident in vivid detail.

3. I find it ironic that Democratic politicians love to portray themselves as fighting for the little guy, and yet most of them will vote in favor of card check, an insidious union ploy that will eliminate the secret BALLOT, thus enabling union organizers to intimidate workers into joining.

4. Much of the Obama administration's early effort seems to have been aimed at clearing out a BACKLOG of old cases: The number of requests still waiting past deadlines spelled out in the open-records law fell from 124,019 in budget year 2008 to 67,764 at the end of the most recent budget year. There is no way to tell whether people whose cases were closed ultimately received the information they sought.5. She stopped, her head thrown back to face the open sky and her chest HEAVED/HEAVING as she sucked in the crisp sea air. It was nearly dark, the last shreds of sunset a dying streak of dull orange over the western sky.

6. I got a lovely lecture about pure scientific exploration before he went on to admit, reluctantly, that he supposed the machine could waste its time accomplishing various tasks beyond its intended purpose such as sniffing out deeply buried radioactive materials, or warning of INCIPIENT earthquakes by measuring subterranean pressures.7. My parents were never ones to sugarcoat anything, so instead of some story about Barney going to visit his family in Minnesota, I was told that he had passed away. Naturally I was devastated, but my parents did all they could to ALLEVIATE my grief. Not only did they get me a new dog, but they also got me a personalized pet photo pillow to memorialize my fallen friend.

8. A gentle seascape stretched off to a horizon that didn't seem unduly close. Waves a half meter high lazily drifted across the field of view, glinting in the sunlight. WISPY white clouds added to the Earthlike impression, and even the sky didn't look that different, being more bluegray rather than bright blue.4.6.2011

1. James Quinn, an eminent pro-life activist, became the subject of public ridicule after his wife revealed that Mr. Quinn had had a/an illicit association with his secretary, who got pregnant but at some point terminated the pregnancy.

2. Most states have copied the federal law. Some expand on the federal laws language and prohibit all surreptitious recording or filming without the consent of all parties3. ''A lack of solemnity is not necessarily a lack of seriousness.'' (Robert Rice)

4. As soon as the premiere ended, the crowd shuffled slowly out of the theatre.

5. He was so arrogant and loud that none of us could put up with it any more. His presumption was intolerable!

6. After we took the first bite of Jane's cake, we all started laughing like crazy! We didn't know what came over us, but she later told us that she had laced the dough with some marijuana.

7. All oncologists agree that the most important thing in curing cancer is to detect incipient tumors. If it is caught on time, there are great chances for full recovery.

8. Mary used guile to get Frank to propose to her. She told him she was pregnant, but it soon turned out not to be true. He found out three weeks after they got married.

9. My husband's obstinacy drives me crazy. He won't yield even if I prove him wrong. I'm so afraid that our son will take after him I wouldn't be able to handle that much stubborness!

10. My mother had always been the most fastidious and organized of people a wet ring left on her coffee table by a glass could drive her to distraction.

16.6.2011

aghast, ajar, aloof, ballot, breed, conclusive, constituent, eminent, engulf, florid, footing, incipient, orotund, prevail, solemn, tenacious, tentative, timid, wispy

1. The Sudan Plated Lizard is a/an ____________________ animal found in Africa. Although naturally shy, this lizard can easily be acclimated to the company of humans. They are a moderately sized animal and make an excellent pet for a lizard-lover.

2. Thin Leather, never writing down his thoughts, communicated through Oodham translators who were capable of reading and writing in English, the results of which shaped two major anthropological reports and one story collection. In light of this, one can only ____________________ refer to Thin Leather as an intellectual, if for no other reason than the fact that there is no such word in the Oodham language.

3. Im normally the most placid doormat you could ever meet but this time I just screamed at him and used the f word for the first time ever in my life! He and my kids just stood there ____________________. It was like I had stepped out of my body and was watching someone else.

4. The US government controls about 80 percent of the land in Nevada. In a case in the 1990s, the state argued that this violated the equal ____________________ doctrine, which holds that states should be treated equally when admitted to the Union.

5. Current research in the field of genetics, including that on the human genome, has ____________________ shown that all humans are essentially identical and that we are genetically related to all other living things on this planet.

6. Linda Evangelista was one of a new ____________________ of models dubbed the supes who dominated fashion during the 1990s.

7. Paul stopped in his tracks and watched the car as it receded into the distance. He was still panting and sullen, his eyes moist with ____________________ tears of anger that, in the end, he did not allow to flow. Instead, his tears subsided, like the waters that gather behind an earthen dam after a torrent, then recede, the dam still intact.

8. McNulty was in his early forties, a tall, slope-shouldered guy with a round little belly and a slouching, easy, keep-on-truckin walk. He had ____________________ blond hair turning already to gray, which he kept short like a Beach Boys.

9. Like a fox he was ____________________, determined to become the best agent in New York. It did not matter what it took poaching, dramatic escapades that put him in the media news. He did not shy away from the intent of his ambition, always attended with charm.10. Only about 5,000 of the estimated 55,000 Palestinian voters in East Jerusalem cast their ____________________ in the January 1996 Palestinian election.

KEY

1. timid

2. tentatively

3. aghast

4. footing

5. conclusively6. breed

7. incipient

8. wispy

9. tenacious

10. ballot(s)

30.6.2011

aloof, ascertain, coincide, crony, elicit, flail, guffaw, heave, illicit, inadvertent, indignation, indignity, mouthpiece, obstinate, ooze, prevail, proffer, roundabout, solemn, tedium1. Si, seor, she was killed because she was beautiful. But it is no crime to be beautiful. I wanted to say more, with ____________________ and moral outrage, but I didnt speak the language well enough.

2. The boy seemed preternaturally suspicious, senses heightened by guilt or shame, as if caught in the midst of some ____________________ activity and expecting apprehension.

3. They need to reflect critically on their own behavior, identifying the ways they often ____________________ contribute to the organizations problems, and then change how they act. In particular, they must learn how the very way they go about defining and solving problems can be a source of problems in its own right.

4. I cracked the kitchen door open a few inches and peered out at the ladies. Aunt Teji sprawled against the back of the sofa, her eyes shut and her chest ____________________ with each deep, rhythmic breath.

5. In a letter to Scotland, Andrew mentions that his wife has been feeling poorly for the past three years. This may be a/an ____________________ way of saying that during those years she bore her sixth, seventh, and eighth children.6. Where was the source of all the noise in the room? Nobody appeared to be making any of it, but there it was a drumming, ubiquitous din of laughter and babble and ____________________ and ululation and hideous piano music, all of which seemed unrelated to the general rapture. 7. This philosophy that moral, scientific, political, and religious truths can be ____________________ by the average person is more than an intellectual conviction in the United States; it is a cultural force. Jacksonians regard supposed experts with suspicion, believing that the credentialed and the connected are trying to advance their own class agenda.8. It was as if the entire world, in the early years of a new century, had given up believing in higher callings. Peace, love and understanding felt like quaint ideas ____________________ by naive people.9. Although it has not moved to freeze the assets of Mubarak and Ben Ali, the Treasury Department has sent a special notice to banks in recent weeks to be on the lookout for evidence of illegal transfers of money by the fallen Egyptian and Tunisian despots and their ____________________. Theres a lot going on behind the scenes, says a department official.10. The church is not to be a/an ____________________ for a political party; rather, it is to be a moral voice to the nation, and the public role of Christians is to be a sort of moral conscience to society. To operate in that role, we must remain faithful to the principles of the Scriptures and the character of Jesus Christ.KEY

1. indignation

2. illicit

3. inadvertently4. heaved/heaving5. roundabout

6. guffaw

7. ascertained

8. proffered

9. cronies

10. mouthpiece

31.8.2011

also-ran, bounty, brew, gob, halting, haul, humid, plod, pram, putter, quell, reproach, rouse, saunter, scamper, stagger, swagger, timid, unbowed, usury, venture, wince

1. His courtesy contained a reticence that did not permit him to ask outright just how she had come by her knowledge of Mn when she spent only a week a year on the island. The fact that she spoke __________ Danish and fluent German and held a British passport led him to conclude that she probably knew the island before World War II.

2. Los Angeles scared him a little and for the first six months he barely __________ out of the house alone.

3. A grey squirrel, spry after its winter sleep, startled Ben by __________ across his path. It darted up a tree with breathtaking ease, and the young man watched it leaping from bough to bough, as light and airy as a puff of grey smoke.

4. Sparkes lodged his bike against Carters fence, knocked on the door and, getting no reply, he __________ round the premises peering through each window - nothing seemed out of place or obviously suspicious.

5. Peggy glanced across at the six women seated nearby. She had learned, over the past five years, that a vicars wife is expected to be sympathetic, helpful, and above __________.

6. Corbett did not go through Edinburgh but took the same route as he had earlier followed, skirting the city, __________ his way through marsh and bog till he reached the clean, white sanctity of the Abbey.

7. If Armstrong does not agree to turn over the missing assets, he must prove he does not have them. Otherwise, he may spend the next 18 months in jail while his civil and criminal trials proceed. Of the many peaks and valleys in Armstrongs life, this appears to be a new low. And yet, he is __________.

8. Kauai is as exotic a place as you can find and still be within the comfort zone of the United States. Over millennia, the elements have carved Kauais volcanic mountains into lyrically serrated peaks that remain mysterious and mythic no matter how many times youve viewed them. Perhaps the most striking of all natures __________ is the famous Na Pali coast.

9. It had rained during the night, and toward three oclock the day was overcast and __________.

10. Carefully, she poured a disgustingly weak greenish __________ from the pot into her mug, sipped, and smiled.

1. halting2. ventured3. scampering

4. sauntered5. reproach6. plodding

7. unbowed8. bounty9. humid10. brew

9.9.2011

1. While Zarqawi was at AQI's helm, he reportedlysoughtpermission to expand his area of operation to include Jordan, but it is not known whether permission was granted.

2. " I'm here, " she said as she walked through thetangleof weeds, past a collapsed, rusty swing set, and through a broken chain-link fence.

3. I looked down at Chunk, and even in the dark, I could tell he was looking at Leonard the way I sometimes looked at him, like he was looking into a deep darkpitthat had no bottom.

4. " He's down in his cabin, like you should be, " Meg said. " If that storm catches us and the ship starts pitching around, you'reliableto fall off! "

5. In going public about his drug dependency during interviews with USA TODAY, Fridovich, 59, echoes the findings of an Army surgeon general task force last year that said doctors too often rely on handing out addictive narcotics toquellpain.

6. Raising funds was a slow and careful process because they followed the common Muslim belief that the Quran bansusury, or the lending of money with interest.

7. He set about stroking the keyboardtentatively, then fingering it inspiredly, then pounding it crazily, like Eubie Blake, the unrivaled master of ragtime blues

8. I loved this new sweater so much, though, that I decided to mend it then and there. I asked my hostess, Lisa, for her sewingkit, and that was when I suddenly realized that I no longer had one at home.

9. Do you exercise? I've been a/anjockmy whole life. Now I go to the gym once a week and hike once a week.

10. While half the original membershipcravenlystayed home, the stronger half returned to confront their own fears,