昨天的答案：

1. d   2. a   3. b   4. d   5. c   6. b   7. d   8.b

今天继续学习神话故事中引申出的词语~

Words from Mythology and History

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aeolian harp. A box-shaped instrument with strings that produce musical sounds when the wind blows on them.

例句：Poets have long been fascinated by the aeolian harp, the only instrument that produces music without a human performer.

诗人一直对风琴竖琴着迷，这是唯一没有人类演奏者就能制作音乐的乐器。

According to the ancient Greeks, Aeolus was the king or guardian of the winds. He lived in a cave with his many, many sons and daughters, and sent forth whatever wind Zeus asked for. When Odysseus stopped there on his way home from Troy, he received a bag of winds to fill his sails. But while he was asleep, his men, thinking it contained treasure, opened the bag and released the raging winds, which blew their ships all the way back to their starting point. An aeolian harp produces enchanting harmonies when the wind passes over it. According to Homer, it was the god Hermes who invented the harp, by having the wind blow over the dried sinews attached to the shell of a dead tortoise.

cynosure. (1) A guide. (2) A center of attention.

例句：Near the club's dance floor, a young rock star was hanging out, the cynosure of a small crowd of admirers.

在俱乐部的舞池附近，一个年轻的摇滚明星正在闲逛， 他是一小群崇拜者关注的中心。

In Greek kynosoura means "dog's tail," and in Latin Cynosura came to mean the constellation Ursa Minor (Little Bear)--what we usually call the Little Dipper. The first star on the dog's or bear's "tail," or the dipper's "handle," is Polaris, the North Star, long used as a guide for seamen or travelers lost on a clear night, since, unlike the other stars, it always remains in the same position in the northern sky, while the other constellations (and even the rest of its own constellation) slowly revolve around it. Since Cynosura also came to mean the star itself, the English cynosure now may mean both "guide" and "center of attention."

laconic. Using extremely few words.

例句：Action-film scripts usually seem to call for laconic leading men who avoid conversation but get the job done.

动作电影剧本似乎通常要求编者言简意赅、避免对话，并且要能完成工作。

Ancient Sparta was located in the region of Greece known as Laconia, and the Greek word lakonikos could mean both "Laconian" and "Spartan." The disciplined and militaristic Spartans, the finest warriors of their time, were known for putting up with extreme conditions without complaint. So English writers who knew their ancient history came to use laconic to describe the habit of saying few words. Today we can refer not only to laconic person but also to laconic wit, a laconic answer, or a laconic phrase--such as "Men of few words require few laws," uttered by a Spartan king.

mnemonic. Having to do with the memory; assisting the memory.

例句：Sales-training courses recommend various mnemonic devices as a way of remembering people's names.

销售培训课推荐各种助记设备作为记忆人名的一种方式。

The Greek word for memory is mnemosyne, and Mnemosyne was the goddess of memory and the mother of the Muses. So something that helps the memory is a mnemonic aid, or simply a mnemonic. Such traditional mnemonic devices as "Every Good Boy does Fine" (for the notes on the lines of a musical staff with a treble clef) or the "Thirty days hath September" rhyme help to recall simple rules or complicated series that might otherwise slip away. (For extra credit, guess what "King Henry Died Drinking Chocolate Milk" or "King Philip Could Only Find Greek Socks" stands for.) Notice that the first m isn't pronounced, unlike in other -mne- words such as amnesia and amnesty.

platonic. (1) Relating to the philosopher Plato or his teachings. (2) Involving a close relationship from which romance and sex are absent.

例句：The male and female leads in sitcoms often keep their relationship platonic for the first few seasons, but romance almost always wins out in the end.

在情景喜剧中，男女主角经常在前几季保持着柏拉图式的关系，但浪漫总是最终胜出。

The philosopher Plato presented his theories in a series of dramatic conversations between Socrates and other people, now called the "Platonic dialogues." Among many other important concepts, he taught that everything here on earth is a pale imitation--like a shadow--of its ideal form, and this ideal form is now often called the "platonic form." But platonic is probably usually seen in the phrase "platonic love." Because Socrates (through Plato) teaches that the philosophical person should turn his passion for a lover into appreciation of beauty and love of a higher power and of the universe, close but nonsexual friendship between two people who might be thought to be romantically attracted is today known as platonic love or friendship.

sapphic. (1) Lesbian. (2) Relating to a poetic verse pattern associated with Sappho.

例句：The Roman poets Catullus and Horace composed wonderful love poems in sapphic verse.

罗马诗人Catullus和Horace在女同诗集中创作了美妙的爱情诗。

The poet Sappho wrote poems of self-reflection but also of passion, some of it directed to the women attending the school she conducted on the Greek island of Lesbos around 600 B.C. Even though most of the poems survive only as fragments, they have been greatly admired for many centuries. They were written in an original rhythmical pattern, which has become known as sapphic verse. Later admirers, such as the Roman poets Catullus and Horace, honored her by adopting the sapphic meter for their own poetry. Because of Sappho, the island of Lesbos also gave its name to lesbianism, which writers often used to call sapphic love.

Socratic. Having to do with the philosopher Socrates or with his teaching method, in which he systematically questioned the student in conversation in order to draw forth truths.

例句：She challenges her students by using the Socratic method, requiring them to think and respond constantly in every class.

她用苏格拉底式的方法向她的学生提出挑战，要求他们在每堂课中不断思考和回应。

Socrates lived and taught in Athens in the 5th century B.C., but left no writings behind, so all we know of him comes through he works of his disciple Plato, almost all of which claim to be accounts of Socrates' conversations with others. Today Socrates is best remembered for his method of teaching by asking increasingly difficult questions, the so-called Socratic method. This generally involves the use of Socratic induction, a way of gradually arriving at generalizations through a process of questions and answers, and Socratic irony, in which the teacher pretends ignorance while questioning his students skillfully to make them aware of their errors in understanding.

solecism. (1) A grammatical mistake in speaking or writing. (2) A blunder in etiquette or proper behavior.

例句：The poor boy committed his first solecism immediately on entering by tracking mud over the Persian rug in the dining room.

这个可怜的男孩跟踪波斯地毯上的泥巴一进入餐厅，就犯了他(人生中)的第一次失礼。

In ancient Asia Minor (now Turkey), there was a city called Soloi where the inhabitants spoke Greek that was full of grammatical errors. So errors in grammar, and later also small errors in formal social behavior, came to be known (at least by intellectuals) as solecisms. The British magazine The Economist publishes a list of solecisms to be avoided in its prose, including the use of "try and" when you mean "try to," "hone in on" when you mean "home in on," and so forth. Social solecisms, such as mentioning how inferior the wine is to someone who turns out to be the hostess's sister, are more commonly called by a French name, faux pas.

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Quiz:

Fill in each blank with the correct letter:

a. solecism   b. sapphic    c. platonic    d. Socratic    e. cynosure    f. aeolian harp   g. mnemonic   h. laconic

1. She always learns her students' names quickly by using her own _____ devices.

2. Every so often, a breeze would spring up and the _____ in the window would emit its beautiful harmonies.

3. New Yorkers tend to think of their city as the _____ of the nation.

4. The _____ method is inappropriate for normal courtroom interrogation.

5. After encountering the fifth ______ in the report, we began to lose faith in the writer.

6. Her father-in-law was _____ in her presence but extremely talkative around his son.

7. As an experiment, he had written a poem in ____ verse, but he suspected that the rhythm was more suited to Greek.

8. The dinner was good, but saying that it approached the ______ ideal of a meal was probably too much.