Words to Learn This Week
tradition
rural
burden
campus
majority
assemble
explore
topic
debate
evade
probe
reform
Read the following story to see how the new words are used in it.
Each summer at the Shaker Work Group, a special school in rural Pittsfield, Massachusetts, where teenagers learn by working, it has been a tradition to have the teenagers take on the burden of setting their own rules and living by them. Although there are some adults on the campus, teenagers are a majority.
One summer the group assembled to explore the topic of lights-out time. There was little debate until 10:30 P.M. was suggested. Why? Everyone at the Shaker Work Group works a minimum of several hours each morning on one project and several hours each afternoon on another. Since everyone has to get up early, no one wanted to stay up later at night anyway.
Few teenagers at the Shaker Work Group try to evade the rules. When one does, the entire group meets to probe the reasons for the "villain's" actions. Their aim is to reform the rule breaker. However, at Shaker Village, the theory is that teenagers who are busy working will have no time to break rules.
Place one of the new words in each of the blanks below.
01. I left the city for a peaceful ________ farm.
02. Professor Dixon liked the atmosphere of the university _________ .
03. He tried to ________ questions he didn't know how to answer.
04. The _______ of people wanted him to be president.
05. The guests began to ________ for Thanksgiving dinner.
06. Christmas trees are a popular _________ for many people.
07. Making a living for his family was too much of a __________ .
08. I want to all the cities I haven't visited. --------
09. If Gene doesn't ________ , he will get into serious trouble.
10. He had to do research on the _________ of biology for a school report.
11. Historians will the causes of the war in Bosnia. --------
12. Whether or not eighteen-year-olds should be allowed to vote was in ___________ for a long time.
Exercise
Now make up your own sentences, one for each of the new words you have just been taught.
