2008年8月22日 星期五

8/23/08 LE Notes 1






Vocab. recap:



elision - The omission of a vowel, consonant or syllable in pronunciation. Blending your words together. (hl)


If you master the rules of elision in English, your speech will sound more [smooth] and [natural].



see 

paren(the)tic 

mnemonic semantic





choppy - Of speech, not smooth and flowing, halting. (col)



Her English is [grammatically] correct, but somewhat choppy.



(of a novel) [The plot] was too choppy for my taste; the author fails to create [continuity] between the chapters.





creative license - A kind of literary device. Refers to the way in which artists and authors [bend] or [break] rules in order to [achieve] a particular [aesthetic] or creative effect.



The poet K was criticized by his contemporaries for his blatant disregard [for] convention. It was not until years after his death that critics came to appreciate his liberal [use] of creative license.



Orwell [took] some creative license [with] the historical events of the Russian Revolution.





word play - creative [use] of language.



Shakespeare was known for his ample [use] of word play.





fellow, guy, chap, dude, man, guy, gentleman -


Guy is what most American young people use to refer to any grown man. I say dude too, but it is perhaps a little slangier.



see advert (refer to, stuffy)



Gentleman is a polite word for a grown man.



Chap sounds British to me. I would avoid it.



Fellow sounds outdated to be used in normal contexts, but it does have some idiomatic usages: sorry fellow - a worthless person, a rogue. (惡棍)



see brogue



Fellow has another meaning in the academic world - someone who is part of some scholarship program or academic association.

She was one of only three people selected to be [Hugh's] Fellow this year.





strike as - to give one the impression of being someway.

 

She strikes me as [an extremely talented young woman]. 



I only read the first chapter, but the author's style struck me as [excessively elaborate and almost florid].
(鮮紅色的,過分華麗的)



see 

lurid dun tawny





uncouth - clumsy, awkward or unmannerly. (hl)



His uncouth cousin proved to be [an] [embarrassment] at every family gathering.



This word is a little similar to philistine, but not the same. Philistine refers more to [a] lack of 

cultural sensitivity, 

intellectual pursuit[s], or 

aesthetic refinement; whereas uncouth emphasizes poor manners.


An uncouth person is called a boor (hl).



see 

fumble 

incongruous cacophony





juxtapose - to draw a contrast between two things, or to describe two ideas as opposite, incompatible and conflicting. 



Her theory juxtaposed [religion] and [science].



The journalist's Olympic coverage juxtaposed [the extravagance] of Beijing's new buildings, [with] [the slums] which still cover much of the city.



frolic

[From] the surreal opening image of a Christ statue "flying" over Rome by helicopter 

[through] Anita Ekberg's [frolic] in the Trevi Fountain 

[to] the final beach scene, 

Fellini [filled] his first [foray] into widescreen photography with evocative imagery [juxtaposing] 

[ancient Rome] 

[with] [modernity], surface beauty with spiritual desolation.  



virtuoso

Suzanne's interest in Chinese marionettes [links] Hou's Red Balloon (as well as the original) [to] his 1992 masterpiece, The Puppetmaster. The mode can be off-handedly self-reflexive, 

[as when] 

Hou's camera ponders the virtuosity of two movers [maneuvering] a piano up an impossibly narrow stairway, 

[or] 

in the melancholy [juxtaposition] of 

[archaic 8mm home movies] 

[with] [Suzanne's voiceover characterizations].



punctuate

A movie that encourages the spectator to rummage, Flight of the Red Balloon is contemplative but never static, and [punctuated] by passages of pure cinema.



vacillate 

As Eli, Paul Dano's voice [vacillates] between 

[a soft-spoken gentleness in his serene moments] and 

[a thin, reedy growl during his Biblical orations].

It is Conchita's emotional ambivalence towards the tenaciously persistent suitor that is reflected through the physical [vacillation] between the two actresses playing the role of Conchita, 

[Carole Bouquet (cold and demure)] and 

[Angela Molina (sensual and aggressive).]



oscillate

(figuratively, to vacillate)

Like [a flower in the wind], he [oscillated] between 

[one view] and 

[another], unable to make up his mind.

osculate 

(to kiss, to touch)

His chief political skill was in [osculating] the infants of eligible voters.





pet peeve - a personal annoyance. 



One of [my] pet peeves is being late.



vial 

pour out vial[s] of wrath

travail


















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