【文章內(nèi)容簡介】 ic: member of a school of ancient Greek philosophy that despised ease and forta cynical remark, attitude, smile They39。ve grown rather cynical about democracy, ie no longer believe that it is an honest system.7. deal, dealt: to give , to give out, to strike, to distributeWho deals the cards next?to deal sb. a blowPay attention to the sentence structure of this part: Saddened by the profound personal tragedies life dealt him, he grew cynical, bitter.8. obsess: fill the mind continuously, AmE, to worry continuously and unnecessarily. If sth obsesses you or if you are obsessed with it or by it, you keep thinking about it over a long period of time, and find it difficult to think about anything else. He became absolutely obsessed with a girl reporter on television. She is obsessed by the desire to bee a great scientist. cf: preoccupy: to fill the thoughts or hold the interest of sb. almost pletely, esp. so that not enough attention is given to other (present) matters.9. frailty: a weakness of character or behaviour.One of the frailties of human nature is laziness.That chair looks too frail to take a man39。s weight.There is only a frail chance that he will pass the examination.10. tramp: a person who has no home or permanent job and very little money. Tramps go from place to place getting food and money by taking occasional job or begging. A woman who is thought to have sex with a lot of men is cursed to be a tramp. When used as a verb, tramp means to walk heavily in a particular direction or along roads or streets.There39。s a tramp at the door begging for food.We tramped for hours through the snow.Don39。t tramp about so noisily, you39。ll wake everyone up.cf: 盲流，”blind flow”, unauthorized move, persons who move without government sanction11. pilot: a person who with special knowledge of a particular stretch of water, esp. the entrance of a harbour, and who is trained and specially employed to go on board and guide ships that use it.A pilot is also a person who is trained to fly an aircraft.12. Confederate States of America (186165), also Confederacy. the government established by the southern states of the US after their secession / official separation from the union. When president Lincoln was elected (Nov. 1860), seven states South Carolina, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, and Texas, seceded /si39。si:d/. A provisional government was set up at Montgomery, Ala, and a constitution was drafted. Later four more states Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee joined. Richmond, Va., became the capital, and Jefferson Davis and . Stephens were elected president and vice president. The story of the Confederacy is the story of the loss of the Civil War. The Confederacy fell after Gen. Robert Edward Lee39。s surrender in Apr. 1865 to Gen. Grant at Appomattox (town in cent. Va) Courthouse. 13. guerrilla (guerilla): a member of an unofficial fight group which attacks the enemy in small groups unexpectedly.Song of the Guerrillas14. prospector: a person who examines the land in order to find gold, oil, etc. 15. starry: full of stars in the sky, indicating sparkling, glowing, and flashing. starryeyed: full of unreasonable or silly hopes. If you are starryeyed, you are so full of dreams or hopes or idealistic thoughts that you do not see how things really are. We were all starryeyed about visiting London. 16. acidtongued: If sb. is acidtongued, he makes unkind or critical remarks.Notice that the first four expressions refer to the job he did and the last two expressions imply the characteristic feature of his personality.17. range: to travel without any definite plan or destination, a fairly literary use.cf: wander, range, saunter, strollWander implies the absence of a fixed course or more or less indifference to a course that has been fixed or otherwise indicated. The term may imply the movement of a walker whether human or animal, but it may be used of anything capable of direction.His eyes wandered over the landscape.His mind wandered and he was unsure of himself.Range may be preferred when literal wandering is not implied or when the stress is on the sweep of territory covered rather than on the form of lootion involved.He spent the summer ranging the world.Animals range through the forests.Saunter stresses a leisurely pace and in idle and carefree mind. Stroll differs from saunter chiefly in the implications of an objective, (as sightseeing or exercise) pursued without haste and sometimes with wandering from one place to another.strolling (around) in the park 18. digest:a. When you digest food, the food passes through your stomach and is broken down so that your body can use it.Don39。t give the baby meat to eat, because he cannot digest it. b. If you digest information, you think about it, understand it, and remember it.The report contains too much to digest at one reading.He reads rapidly but does not digest very much.c. A digest is a collection of things that have been written, which are put together and published again in a more concise form.The leading magazines in the . include Golf Digest, Reader39。s Digest, and Soap Opera Digest.19. adopt: to take and use as one39。s ownThe US government decided to adopt a hard line towards terrorists.Congress has adopted the new measures. I adopted their method of making the machine. adopt a name, a custom, an idea, a style of dress Having no children of their own they decided to adopt an orphan / dog. Paul39。s mother had him adopted because she couldn39。t look after him herself.her adopted country, ie not her native country but the one in which she has chosen to live adept: ~ (in sth)。 ~ (at/in doing sth) She39。s adept at growing roses.He39。s an adept in carpentry. adapt ~ sth (for sth) make sth suitable for a new use, situation, etc。 modify sthThis machine has b