TỪ VỰNG TOEIC unit 23

Unit 23
TEXT PLAC AUT/AUTO GRAT CLAM/CLAIM CRAC/CRAT PUNC
POT Greek and Latin Borrowings
Quiz 23-1 Quiz 23-2 Quiz 23-3 Quiz 23-4 Quiz 23-5 Review Quizzes 23
TEXT comes from a Latin verb that means “to weave.” So a textile is a
woven or knitted cloth. The material it's made from determines its texture, the
smoothness or roughness of its surface. And individual words are “woven”
into sentences and paragraphs to form a text.


textual

Having to do with or based on a text.

• A textual analysis of 1,700 lipstick names, including Hot Mama and Raisin
Hell, suggested to the author that the women buying them lack a healthy
sense of self-worth.
Before the invention of the printing press, books were produced by hand.
When the text of a book is copied this way, textual errors can creep in, and a
text that's been copied again and again can contain many such errors. By
comparing different copies of a work, textual critics try to figure out where
the copyists went wrong and restore the text to its original form so that
modern readers can again enjoy the correct versions of ancient texts. When a
class performs textual analysis of a poem, however, they are looking closely
at its individual words and phrases in an effort to determine the poem's
meanings.


context
(1) The surrounding spoken or written material in
which a word or remark occurs. (2) The conditions or circumstances in which

an event occurs; environment or setting.
• The governor claimed that his remarks were taken out of context and that
anyone looking at the whole speech would get a different impression.
Context reveals meaning. The context of an unfamiliar word can give us
contextual clues to help us determine what the word means. Taking a remark
out of context can change its meaning entirely. Likewise, people's actions
sometimes have to be understood as having occurred in a particular context.
The behavior of historical figures should be seen in the context of their time,
when standards may have been very different from our own.


hypertext
A database format in which information related to
that on a display screen can be accessed directly from the screen (as by a
mouse click).
• Three days ago my mother was asking me why some of the words are
underlined in blue, but by yesterday she was already an expert in hypertext.
Since hyper- generally means “above, beyond” (see HYPER), hypertext is
something that's gone beyond the limitations of ordinary text. Thus, unlike
the text in a book, hypertext permits you, by clicking with a mouse, to
immediately access text in one of millions of different electronic sources.
Hypertext is now so familiar that most computer users may not even know
the word, which was coined by Ted Nelson back in the early 1960s. It took a
few more years for hypertext to actually be created, by Douglas Engelbart,
and then quite a few more years before the introduction of the World Wide
Web in 1991.


subtext
passage.

The underlying meaning of a spoken or written

• The tough and cynical tone of the story is contradicted by its romantic
subtext.
A literary text often has more than one meaning: the literal meaning of the
words on the page, and their hidden meaning, what exists “between the
lines”—the subtext. Arthur Miller's play The Crucible, for example, is about
the Salem witchcraft trials of the 17th century, but its subtext is the
comparison of those trials with the “witch hunts” of the 1950s, when many
people were unfairly accused of being communists. Even a social
conversation between a man and a woman may have a subtext, but you may
have to listen very closely to figure out what it is. Don't confuse subtext with
subplot, a less important plot that moves along in parallel with the main plot.


PLAC comes from the Latin placere, “to please or be agreeable to,” or
placare, “to soothe or calm.” Pleasant, pleasurable, and pleasing all derive
from this root, even though their spelling makes it hard to see.


placate

To calm the anger or bitterness of someone.

• The Romans had a number of ways of placating the gods, which
occasionally included burying slaves alive.
Politicians are constantly having to placate angry voters. Diplomats
frequently need to placate a country's allies or possible enemies. Parents are
always placating kids who think they've been unfairly denied something. And

lovers and spouses are some of the champion placaters. It's no secret that
people with the best social skills are often the best at placating other people—
and that they themselves may be the ones who benefit the most by it.


placebo
A harmless substance given to a patient in place of
genuine medication, either for experimental purposes or to soothe the patient.
• The placebo worked miraculously: his skin rash cleared up, his sleep
improved, and he even ceased to hear voices.
Doctors doing research on new treatments for disease often give one group a
placebo while a second group takes the new medication. Since those in the
placebo group usually believe they're getting the real thing, their own hopeful
attitude may bring about improvement in their condition. Thus, for the real
drug to be considered effective, it must produce even better results than the
placebo. Placebos have another use as well. A doctor who suspects that a
patient's physical symptoms are psychologically produced may prescribe a
placebo in the hope that mentally produced symptoms can also be mentally
cured.


placidity
calmness.

Serene freedom from interruption or disturbance;

• Her placidity seemed eerie in view of the destruction she had witnessed and
the huge loss she had suffered.
A placid lake has a smooth surface untouched by wind. A placid scene is one
in which everything seems calm; it may even include a meadow with a few

placid cows grazing on it. Someone with a placid personality has an inner
peacefulness that isn't easily disturbed. As a personality trait, placidity is
surely a lot better than some of the alternatives; however, the word
sometimes describes people who are also a bit passive, like those contented
cows.


implacable
changed.

Not capable of being pleased, satisfied, or

• Attempts to negotiate a peace settlement between such implacable enemies
seem doomed to failure.
Implacable, with its negative prefix im-, describes something or someone that
can't be calmed or soothed or altered. A person who carries a grudge feels an
implacable resentment—a resentment that can't be soothed. An implacable
foe is one you can't negotiate with, perhaps one who's fueled by implacable
hatred. And implacable sometimes describes things that only seem to be
alive: an implacable storm is one that seems as if it will never let up, and an
implacable fate is one that you can't outrun or hide from.


Quiz 23-1
A. Fill in each blank with the correct letter:
a. placebo
b. textual
c. placate
d. context
e. subtext

f. implacable
g. hypertext
h. placidity
1. When the sentence was taken out of ___, it sounded quite different.
2. An ___ mob had been demonstrating outside the presidential palace for
two weeks now, with their numbers growing from day to day.
3. Many young people wonder how anyone ever did research without the
benefit of ___ links.
4. It took a week of bringing flowers home every day to ___ his wife.
5. The deeper meaning of many literary works lies in their ___.
6. The group of patients who were given a ___ did as well as those who were
given the real drug.
7. The study of poetry normally requires careful ___ analysis.
8. The ___ of the quiet countryside was soothing after a week in the city.
Answers


B. Match the word on the left to the correct definition on the right:
1. placate
a. relating to written matter
2. context
b. unyielding
3. placebo c. underlying meaning
4. textual
d. soothe
5. placidity e. setting of spoken or written words
6. subtext
f. harmless substitute
7. implacable g. computer links
8. hypertext h. peacefulness

Answers


AUT/AUTO comes from the Greek word for “same” or “self.” Something
automatic operates by itself, and an automobile moves by itself, without the
help of a horse. An autograph is in the handwriting of the person him- or
herself, and an autopsy is an inspection of a corpse by an examiner's own
eyes.


automaton
(1) An automatic machine, especially a robot. (2)
An individual who acts mechanically.
• The work he used to do as a welder in the assembly plant has been taken
over by a sophisticated automaton designed overseas.
The idea of the automaton has fascinated people for many centuries. A
traveler to the emperor's court in Byzantium in A.D. 949 reported that
mechanical birds sat in a golden tree singing the songs of their species; that
mechanical lions flanked the throne, roaring and switching their great tails;
and that, as he stood watching, the emperor's throne suddenly shot upward
toward the high ceiling, and when it slowly descended the emperor was
wearing new robes. Early automata (notice the common plural form) often
relied on water, steam, or falling weights to power them. Today automata,
often called robots, are used in manufacturing plants to build not only
vehicles but also much smaller electronic equipment.


autoimmune
Of, relating to, or caused by antibodies that
attack molecules, cells, or tissues of the organism producing them.

• His doctors suspected that the strange combination of symptoms might be
those of an autoimmune disease.
Any healthy body produces a variety of antibodies, proteins in the blood
whose job is to protect the body from unwanted bacteria, viruses, and cancer
cells. The cells and organs that deal with such infections make up the
immune system. In some people and animals, for various reasons, the
antibodies become overactive and turn on the body's healthy tissues as well;
the result is an autoimmune disease—an immune response directed against
one's own self. More than eighty autoimmune diseases have been identified,
the best-known being type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, lupus, and
rheumatoid arthritis.


autonomy
(1) The power or right of self-government. (2)
Self-directing freedom, especially moral independence.
• Though normally respectful of their son's autonomy, the Slocums drew the
line at his request to take a cross-country motorcycle trip.
Since nomos is Greek for “law,” something autonomous makes its own laws.
The amount of autonomy enjoyed by French-speaking Quebec, or of
Palestinians in certain towns in Israel, or of independent-minded regions of
Russia, have become major issues. The autonomy of individual states in the
United States has posed serious constitutional questions for two centuries.
The autonomy of children is almost always limited by their parents. But when
those parents are elderly and begin driving poorly and getting confused about
their finances, their children may see the need to limit their autonomy in
much the same way.


autism

\ A condition that begins in childhood and causes
problems in forming social relationships and in communicating with others
and includes behavior in which certain activities are constantly repeated.
• She was beginning to think that her four-year-old's strange behavior and
complete lack of interest in his playmates might be due to autism.
Autism, in its strict sense, becomes evident before the age of 3. The autistic
child generally refuses to talk, becomes obsessive about toys, resists any
change vehemently, and sometimes flies into unexplained rages. Autism is
believed to be biological in origin, and seems to be related to several milder
conditions such as Asperger's syndrome. As many as 1 in 100 children,
mostly boys, may have autism, Asperger's, or a related condition. About one
in ten autistic children turns out to have a remarkable mental gift, such as the
ability to play a difficult piece on the piano after a single hearing or repair a
complex machine without any training. Many autistic children seem to grow
out of it as they become adults, and some autistic adults manage to live
independently. Autistic is sometimes used loosely to describe a much more
common kind of psychological withdrawal in adults.


GRAT comes from the Latin words gratus, meaning “pleasing, welcome, or
agreeable,” and gratia, meaning “grace, agreeableness, or pleasantness.” A
meal that's served graciously will be received with gratitude by grateful
guests; those who show no appreciation could be called ingrates.


gratify
(1) To be a source of pleasure or satisfaction; give
pleasure or satisfaction to. (2) To give in to; indulge or satisfy.
• It gratified him immensely to see his daughter bloom so beautifully in high
school.

A gratifying experience is quietly pleasing or satisfying. But gratifying an
impulse means giving in to it, which isn't always such a good idea, and
“instant gratification” of every desire will result in a life based on junk food
and worse. Truly gratifying experiences and accomplishments usually are the
result of time and effort.


gratuity

Something, especially a tip, given freely.

• After sitting for three hours over a six-course meal at Le Passage, we
always leave the waiter a very generous gratuity.
Gratuity is a fancier and more formal word than tip. It occurs most often in
written notices along the lines of “Gratuities accepted.” Its formality makes it
best suited for describing tips of the dignified, expensive variety. For the taxi
driver who takes you to the superb Belgian restaurant, it's a tip; for the
restaurant's maitre d', it's a gratuity.


gratuitous

Not called for by the circumstances.

• Members of the committee were objecting to what they considered
gratuitous violence on television.
In its original sense, gratuitous can refer to anything given freely, like a tip.
But the word now almost always applies to something that's seen as not only
unnecessary (like a tip, which you don't really have to give) but also
unwelcome. To insult or criticize someone gratuitously is to make a hurtful

remark that's uncalled for and undeserved. But scenes in a film that you
yourself might call gratuitous were, unfortunately, probably put there to
attract an audience that wants to see them.


ingratiate
deliberate effort.

To gain favor or acceptance by making a

• None of her attempts to ingratiate herself with the professor seemed to
improve her grades.
To ingratiate yourself is to put yourself in someone's good graces—that is, to
gain someone's approval. People often try to ingratiate themselves by
engaging in an activity known by such names as bootlicking, apple-polishing,
and brownnosing. But some people are able to win favor just by relying on
their ingratiating smiles.


Quiz 23-2
A. Complete the analogy:
1. favor : prefer :: gratify : ___
a. use b. please c. thank d. repay
2. liberty : freedom :: autonomy ___
a. government b. car science c. independence d. robot
3. entertain : joke :: ingratiate : ___
a. flatter b. devour c. vibrate d. criticize
4. worker : laborer :: automaton : ___
a. robot b. computer c. gadget d. employee
5. necessary : needed :: gratuitous : ___

a. thankless b. unthinking c. welcome d. uncalled-for
6. immune : infections :: autoimmune : ___
a. bacteria b. viruses c. epidemic d. body tissues
7. bonus : salary :: gratuity : ___
a. obligation b. thankfulness c. refusal d. bill
8. paranoia : suspicion :: autism : ___
a. sleep b. withdrawal c. anger d. fear of cars
Answers


B. Indicate whether the following pairs of words have the same or
different meanings:
1. automaton / robot
same ___ / different ___
2. gratuity / tip
same ___ / different ___
3. autoimmune / invulnerable
same ___ / different ___
4. gratuitous / deserved
same ___ / different ___
5. autonomy / freedom
same ___ / different ___
6. gratify / gladden
same ___ / different ___
7. autism / dictatorship
same ___ / different ___
8. ingratiate / contribute
same ___ / different ___
Answers

CLAM/CLAIM comes from the Latin verb clamare, meaning “to shout or
cry out.” To claim often means “to call for.” And an exclamation is a cry of
shock, joy, or surprise.