"Believe my words
For they are certain and unfallible."
Shakespeare. I Henry VI
Words to Learn This Week
biography
drench
swarm
wobble
tumult
kneel
dejected
obedient
recede
tyrant
charity
verdict
Read the following story to see how the new words are used in it.
Gulliver's Travels
Jonathan Swift tried to show the smallness of people by writing the biography of Dr. Lemuel Gulliver. In one of his strangest adventures, Gulliver was shipwrecked. Drenched and weary, he fell asleep on the shore. In the morning, he found himself tied to pegs in the ground, and swarming over him were hundreds of little people six inches high.
After a time he was allowed to stand, though he began to wobble from being bound so long. He was then marched through the streets, naturally causing a tumult wherever he went. Even the palace was not big enough for him to enter, nor could he kneel before the king and queen. But he did show his respect for them in another way.
The king was dejected because he feared an invasion of Lilliput by Blefuscu, the enemy across the ocean. The reason for the war between the two tiny peoples would seem small and foolish to us. The rebels of Blefuscu were originally Lilliputians who would not abide by the royal decision to crack their eggs on the small end instead of on the larger end. Gulliver, obedient to the king's command, waded out into the water when the tide receded, and sticking a little iron hook into each of fifty warships, he pulled the entire enemy fleet to Lilliput. Gulliver later escaped from Lilliput when he realized the tiny king was really a tyrant with no charity in his heart.
Oddly enough, the verdict of generations of readers has taken no heed of the author's intention in Gulliver's Traveis. Instead, while Lilliputians are still the symbol of small, narrow-minded people, Swift's savage attack upon humankind has become one of the best-loved children's classics.
Place one of the new words in each of the blanks below.
01. The principal probed the cause of the __________ in the cafeteria.
02. A __________ of insects descended on the picnic food.
03. When asked for their _________ on the agreement, the members gave their approval spontaneously.
04. The first project in our creative writing class was a __________ of a close friend or relative.
05. Until the flood waters __________ the authorities prohibited anyone from returning to the vicinity.
06. Mr. Finley was redeemed in the eyes of his employees by his ____________ in overlooking their costly error.
07. The grateful traveler would ____________in prayer every night.
08. Mother is an expert at soothing our ____________ spirits.
09. It is absurd to surrender your rights to a ____________ when you have abundant reason to remain free.
10. We faced the dilemma of being ____________ in the downpour while we covered our boat or having to bail the water out of the boat after the rain had ceased.
11. Melinda shrieked as the unstable pedestrian ____________ into the path of the oncoming car.
12. A glance from the mother was enough of a reminder to bring the ____________ child back to her side.
