Friday, August 24, 2007

WORDS


1. Glib - Marked by ease and fluency of speech or writing that often suggests or stems from insincerity, superficiality, or deceitfulness.
2. Gregarious - Seeking and enjoying the company of others; sociable
3. Altruistic - Unselfish concern for the welfare of others; selflessness
4. Exacting - Making severe demands; rigorous; requiring great care, effort, or attention
5. Ensue - To follow as a consequence or result
6. Infirm - Not strong or stable; shaky; irresolute; feeble
7. Noxious - Harmful to the mind or morals; corrupting; injurious to health
8. Ensnare - To gain control of or an advantage over by or as if by trapping
9. Remiss - Exhibiting carelessness or slackness
10. Vivacious - Full of animation and spirit
11. Dire - Warning of or having dreadful or terrible consequences; calamitous
12. Cron - A time unit equal to 1000000 years; used in reference to evolutionary processes
13. Votary - One zealously devoted to a religion
14. Reek - To have or give off a foul odor; to smoke, steam, or fume; to be pervaded by something unpleasant
15. Germane - Related to the matter at hand; appropriate
16. Nocturnal - Of, relating to, or occurring in the night
17. Obfuscate - To render indistinct or dim; darken; to make so confused or opaque as to be difficult to perceive or understand
18. Discern - To perceive or recognize as being different or distinct; distinguish
19. Inconspicuous - Not readily noticeable
20. Croon - To sing softly or in a humming way
21. Accrue - Accumulate or increase; increasing by addition of growth, often financial
22. Imprudence - A lack of caution in practical affairs
23. Indelible - Indestructible

24. Quisling - A traitor who serves as the puppet of the enemy occupying his or her country
25. Termagant - A person, traditionally a woman, who persistently nags or criticizes
26. Wilt - Sag, fail; to become limp or flaccid
27. Bromide - A tiresome person; a bore; a commonplace remark or notion; a platitude
28. Proscribe - To denounce or condemn; to prohibit; forbid.
29. Haughtiness - Overbearing pride evidenced by a superior manner toward inferiors; scornfully and condescendingly proud
30. Evanescent - Vanishing or likely to vanish like vapor
31. Fetid - Having an offensive odor; foul, rancid
32. Pariah - A social outcast; an untouchable
33. Tort - Law. damage, injury, or a wrongful act done willfully, negligently, or in circumstances involving strict liability, but not involving breach
34. Surly - bad tempered; unfriendly

35. Culpable - Deserving of blame or censure as being wrong, evil, improper, or injurious
36. Motley - Having elements of great variety or incongruity; heterogeneous
37. Coterie - A small, often select group of persons who associate with one another frequently

38. Protuberance - Something, such as a bulge, knob, or swelling, that protrudes. The condition of being protuberant
39. Perspicuity - The quality of being perspicuous; clearness and lucidity
40. Succinct - Characterized by clear, precise expression in few words; concise and terse
41. Digress- To turn aside, especially from the main subject in writing or speaking; stray
42. Aphorism - A brief statement of a principle; a tersely phrased statement of a truth or opinion; an adage
43. Eulogy - A laudatory speech or written tribute, especially one praising someone who has died; high praise or commendation
44. Fallacious - Tending to mislead; deceptive
45. Solemn - Deeply earnest, serious, and sober; gloomy; somber; performed with full ceremony; invoking the force of religion; sacred
46. Dissention - Difference of opinion; disagreement
47. Suture - The fine thread or other material used surgically to close a wound or join tissues; a seam used in surgery; thread of catgut or silk or wire used by surgeons to stitch tissues together; join with a suture, as of a wound in surgery
48. Sangfroid - A stable, calm state of the emotions
49. Humdrum - Lacking variety or excitement; dull; boring , dull; monotonous talk or routine.
50. Untenable - Incapable of being defended or justified
51. Inexpungeable - Not capable of being expunged
52. Expunged - To erase or strike out
53. Obliterate - To do away with completely so as to leave no trace
54. Happenstance - An unexpected random event
55. Charisma - The power or quality of attracting
56. Bore - One that is wearingly dull, repetitive, or tedious
57. Muster - To assemble, prepare, or put into operation, as for war or a similar emergency; a number of persons who have come or been gathered together
58. Crew - A group of people organized for a particular purpose; serve as a crew member on
59. Cord - To pile (wood) in cords; a line made of twisted fibers or threads
60. Polymorphous - Having, or assuming, a variety of forms, characters, or styles
61. Incontrovertible - Impossible to dispute; unquestionable
62. Pulchritude - Great physical beauty and appeal
63. Flounder - To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance
64. Nugatory - Of little or no importance; trifling. having no force; invalid
65. Hull - Dry outer covering of a fruit or seed or nut; the frame or body of ship
66. Succinct - Marked by or consisting of few words that are carefully chosen; brief, to the point; briefly giving the gist of something
67. Diazepam - A tranquilizer (trade name Valium) used to relieve anxiety and relax muscles; acts by enhancing the inhibitory actions of the neurotransmitter GABA
68. Sagitta - A constellation in the Northern Hemisphere near Aquila and Vulpecula
69. Amity - Peaceful relations, as between nations; friendship
70. Decimate - To destroy or kill a large part of (a group)
71. Fecund - Capable of producing offspring or vegetation; fruitful. Marked by intellectual productivity
72. Tawdry - Gaudy and cheap in nature or appearance; cheap, tasteless
73. Marrow - The most central and material part; the choicest or most essential or most vital part of some idea or experience
74. Cognizant - Fully informed; conscious
75. Fiasco - A complete failure
76. Folly - A lack of good sense, understanding, or foresight; an act or instance of foolishness: regretted the follies of his youth
77. Forage - Food for domestic animals; fodder. The act of looking or searching for food or provisions
78. Quart - A unit of volume or capacity in the US Customary System, used in liquid measure, equal to / 4 gallon or 32 ounces
79. Shuck - A husk, pod, or shell, as of a pea, hickory nut, or ear of corn. The shell of an oyster or clam
80. Green - Lacking training or experience
81. Furrow - A long shallow trench in the ground; make wrinkled or creased;
a deep wrinkle in the skin, as on the forehead

82. Trite - Lacking power to evoke interest through overuse or repetition; hackneyed
83. Suture - The process of joining two surfaces or edges together along a line by or as if by sewing
84. Furor - A general commotion; public disorder or uproar. Violent anger; frenzy; a fashion adopted enthusiastically by the public; a fad
85. Castigate - To inflict severe punishment on; to criticize severely

86. Pique - A state of vexation caused by a perceived slight or indignity; a feeling of wounded pride
87. Sanctimonious - Excessively or hypocritically pious; feigning piety or righteousness; of or practicing hypocrisy
88. Evacuant - Of, relating to, or tending to eliminate; tending to cleanse or purge, especially causing evacuation of the bowels
89. Striate - Marked with striae; striped, grooved, or ridged; to mark with a line or band, as of different color or texture
90. Legerdemain - A show of skill or deceitful cleverness; the use of skillful tricks and deceptions to produce entertainingly baffling effects
91. Overture- An instrumental composition intended especially as an introduction to an extended work, such as an opera or oratorio
92. Opera - A theatrical presentation in which a dramatic performance is set to music; the score of such a work
93. Chasten - To castigate for the purpose of improving; to correct using punishment or suffering
94. Hirsute - Covered with hair; having a hairy covering
95. Chortle - To laugh quietly; a snorting, joyful laugh or chuckle

96. Topical - Of or belonging to a particular location or place; local; currently of interest; contemporary
97. Perfunctory - Hasty and without attention to detail; not thorough
98. Terrestrial - Earthly

99. Livestock - Domestic animals, such as cattle or horses, raised for home use or for profit, especially on a farm
100. Gall - The quality or state of feeling bitter; the state or quality of being impudent or arrogantly self-confident; to trouble the nerves or peace of mind of, especially by repeated vexations; nerve, brashness; upset, irritate
101. Frisky - Playful
102. Quatrain - A stanza or poem of four lines
103. Hubris - Overbearing pride or presumption; arrogance
104. Kudos - Acclaim or praise for exceptional achievement
105. Exodus - A departure from a place or country, especially of many people; act of leaving
106. Vulgaris - Being of the usual type; common
107. Frill - Something costly and unnecessary
108. Superficiality - Trivial; insignificant
109. Void - An empty space
110. Swath - A path or strip; the space created by the swing of a scythe or the cut of a mowing machine
111. Haughty - Scornfully and condescendingly proud; arrogant
112. Vaporous - Extravagantly fanciful; high-flown; so light and insubstantial as to resemble air or a thin film
113. Saga - Epic tale, long story; a long detailed report
114. Sagittal - Of or relating to the suture uniting the two parietal bones of the skull;
115. Eyesore - Something, such as a distressed building, that is unpleasant or offensive to view
116. Vim - Ebullient vitality and energy; an imaginative lively style
117. Formulaic - Being of no special quality or type
118. Budge - To move very slightly; overformal; pompous
119. Superfluity - Overabundance; excess
120. Pelf - Wealth or riches, especially when dishonestly acquired
121. Impecunious - Lacking money; penniless
122. Confinement - Imprisonment; restriction

123. Rostrum - A stage or raised platform for public speaking
124. Denude - To divest of covering; make bare
125. Stultify - Deprive of strength or efficiency; make useless or worthless; cause to appear foolish; prove to be of unsound mind or demonstrate someone's incompetence
126. Faradic - Of, relating to, or using an intermittent asymmetrical alternating electric current produced by an induction coil
127. Martinet - A strict disciplinarian, especially in the armed forces; one who demands absolute adherence to forms and rules
128. Vulgar - Common, general; rude, offensive
129. Aesthetic - Showing good taste
130. Cistern - A receptacle for holding water or other liquid, especially a tank for catching and storing rainwater
131. Wanton - Careless; cruel, malicious
132. Grovel - To support slavishly every opinion or suggestion of a superior; to behave in a servile or demeaning manner
133. Shoal - A shallow part of a body of water: shallow; measuring little from bottom to top or surface

134. Sylvan - Relating to or characteristic of woods or forest regions; abounding in trees; wooded

ANALOGIES


1) refridgerator:food
2) fan:cable
3) schedule:time
4) splurge:money
5) peripheral:edge

6) church:state - Ans must be B
A.confusion:adaption
B.priest:officer
C.time:minutes
D.team player
E.breeze:sunshine
7) needle : sew - Ans must be D
A.pencil:papaer
B.radio:electricity
C.picture :color
D.towel:dry
E.book:cover
8) tag:identity
9) car:wheel
10) careless:punctual
11) theatre:play
12) pariah:ostracize
13) vindicated:blame
14) culpable:condemnation
15) coterie:intimates
16) schedule:time
17) bulge:protuberance
18) resignation:office
19) attentive:officious - Ans must be refine:snobbish
20) barrage: explosives - Ans must be B
A.cacophony :sound
B.deluge:rain is the answer
C.vista:signs
D.grenade:bombs
E.volcano:lava
21) ruffle:shirt - Ans must be B
A.rafter:roof
B.molding:cabinet
C.gate:path
D.curb:sidewalk
E.shade:window
22) ineradicable:eliminate
23) vaccinate:disease
24) untenable:defend
25) charisma:bore
26) muster:crew
27) incontrovertible:dispute
28) carefree:responsibilities
29) beckon:hand

30) matter:hardness
31) arrogant:defer
32) experience:green
33) date:calender
34) overture:opera
35) striate:grooved
36) magician:legerdemain
37) chasten:humbled
38) knot:solve
39) chortle:glee
40) perfunctory:depth
41) topical:currency
42) fence:livestock
43) terrestrial:earth
44) lock:secure
45) frilll:superfluity
46)saga:poem
47) vivid:intensify
48) infinite:measure
49) judge:laws
50) pelf:impecunious
51) cell:confinement
52) cistern:liquids

ISSUE TOPICS

1. The primary goal of technological advancement should be to increase people's efficiency so that everyone has more leisure time
2. The arts (painting, music, literature, etc.) reveal the otherwise hidden ideas and impulses of a society.
3. To be an effective leader, a public official must maintain the highest ethical and moral standards.
4. Governments should focus more on solving the immediate problems of today rather than trying to solve the anticipated problems of the future
5. While some leaders in government, sports, industry, and other areas attribute their success to a well-developed sense of competition, a society can better prepare its young people for leadership by instilling in them a sense of cooperation
6. Both parents and communities must be involved in the local schools. Education is too important to leave solely to a group of professional educators
7. Many of the world's lesser-known languages are being lost as fewer and fewer people speak them. The governments of countries in which these languages are spoken should act to prevent such languages from becoming extinct
8. It is impossible for an effective political leader to tell the truth all the time. Complete honesty is not a useful virtue for a politician
9. In any profession—business, politics, education, government—those in power should step down after five years. The surest path to success for any enterprise is revitalization through new leadership

10. In any given field, the leading voices come from people who are motivated not by conviction but by the desire to present opinions and ideas that differ from those held by the majority
11. For the growth of professions and academic fields imagination is more important than knowledge

11. The way people look, dress, and act reveals their attitudes and interests. You can tell much about a society's ideas and values by observing the appearance and behavior of its people

12. Some educational systems emphasize the development of student's capacity for reasoning and logical thinking, but students would benefit more from an education that also taught them to explore their own emotions

ARGUMENT TOPICS

1. In a study of reading habits of Leeville citizens conducted by the University of Leeville, most respondents said they preferred literary classics as reading material. However, a follow-up study conducted by the same researchers found that the type of book most frequently checked out of each of the public libraries in Leeville was the mystery novel. Therefore, it can be concluded that the respondents in the first study had misrepresented their reading habits.

2. The following appeared in a letter to the editor of the Clearview newspaper.
"In the next mayoral election, residents of Clearview should vote for Ann Green, who is a member of the Good Earth Coalition, rather than for Frank Braun, a member of the Clearview town council, because the current members are not protecting our environment. For example, during the past year the number of factories in Clearview has doubled, air pollution levels have increased, and the local hospital has treated 25 percent more patients with respiratory illnesses. If we elect Ann Green, the environmental problems in Clearview will certainly be solved."


3. The following appeared as an editorial in a wildlife journal."Arctic deer live on islands in Canada's arctic region. They search for food by moving over ice from island to island during the course of a year. Their habitat is limited to areas warm enough to sustain the plants on which they feed, and cold enough, at least some of the year, for the ice to cover the sea separating the islands, allowing the deer to travel over it. Unfortunately, according to reports from local hunters, the deer populations are declining. Since these reports coincide with recent global warming trends that have caused the sea ice to melt, we can conclude that the decline in arctic deer populations is the result of deer being unable to follow their age-old migration patterns across the frozen sea."

4. The following appeared as an editorial in a local newspaper.
"In order to attract visitors to Central Plaza downtown and to return the plaza to its former glory, the city should prohibit skateboarding there and instead allow skateboarders to use an area in Monroe Park. At Central Plaza, skateboard users are about the only people one sees now, and litter and defaced property have made the plaza unattractive. In a recent survey of downtown merchants, the majority supported a prohibition on skateboarding in the plaza. Clearly, banning skateboarding in Central Plaza will make the area a place where people can congregate for fun or for relaxation."


5. As people grow older, an enzyme known as PEP increasingly breaks down the neuropeptide chemicals involved in learning and memory. But now, researchers have found compounds that prevent PEP from breaking neuropeptides apart. In tests, these compounds almost completely restored lost memory in rats. The use of these compounds should be extended to students who have poor memory and difficulty in concentrating — and therefore serious problems in school performance. Science finally has a solution for problems neither parents nor teachers could solve.

6. The following is a memorandum from the sales director to the president of the Healthy-and-Good food company.
"A recent study indicates that Venadial, a new margarine currently produced only in the country of Alta, actually reduces cholesterol levels. Derived from the resin of pine trees, Venadial works by activating a metabolic response that is not yet well understood. However, cholesterol levels fell ten to fifteen percent among participants in the study who consumed Venadial daily, and the risk of heart attack by one-third. In addition, the new margarine is so popular that stores in Alta are unable to keep it on their shelves. Therefore, if our company obtains the exclusive right to sell Venadial internationally, our profits are sure to increase substantially within a very short time."


7. Recent study shows that people living on the continent of North America suffer 9 times more chronic fatigue and 31 times more chronic depression than do people living on the continent of Asia. Interestingly, Asians, on average, eat 20 grams of soy per day, whereas North Americans eat virtually none. It turns out that soy contains phytochemicals called isoflavones, which have been found to possess disease-preventing properties. Thus, North Americans should consider eating soy on a regular basis as a way of preventing fatigue and depression.

8. Due to the declining profits we have to reduce the operating expenses of the ten rental vedio stores we have. We have to not increase the profits because we are famous for special bargains. By reducing the operating hours..is a good idea. Last month our vedio-store in downtown have reduced the working time to 6:pm rather than 9:pm which is our usual time. It ha also reduced the inventory by excluding the stock two years from now. So, we have to do the same..for all the rental stores

9. The following is a letter from an editor at Liber Publishing Company to the company's president.
"In recent years, Liber has unfortunately moved away from its original mission: to publish the works of regional small-town authors instead of those of big-city authors. Just last year, 90 percent of the novels we published were written by authors who maintain a residence in a big city. Although this change must have been intended to increase profits, it has obviously backfired, because Liber is now in serious financial trouble. The only way to address this problem is to return to our original mission. If we return to publishing only the works of regional small-town authors, our financial troubles will soon be resolved"