2 verbs, 3 adjectives

to adumbrate something - to outline something vaguely, to express in a shadowy or not perfectly clear way

to decry something - to verbally attack something, to openly and strongly criticize something

fecund - capable of producing, fertile

indefatigable - unbeatable, refusing to quit or give up

manifold - many, various, a bunch of 

Answers are below the exercise:

The female Ocean Sunfish is especially _______________. She carries more eggs than any other vertebrate - and can release hundreds of millions at a time.

Many conservatives are using the recent immigration crisis at our Mexican border as an opportunity to ____________ the immigration policies of the Obama administration.  They claim that this administration has welcomed people to engage in illegal immigration.

The reasons Bob gave for the policy failure were ________________ but not one of them was satisfying.

When Richard Nixon ran for the presidency in 1968, he did not even _______________ a plan to end the Vietnam War; he simply lied and said he had a fully articulated plan prepared and ready to go should he be elected. 

The West German national soccer team (from 1954 to 1990) had a reputation for being _________________. Over and over again they would come back from behind and tie or win games.  They never seemed to stop striving.

Answers are below:

Answers:

1. fecund

2. decry

3. manifold

4. adumbrate

5. indefatigable

Daniel Gauss http://djg51qu.wix.com/gauss

2 nouns, 3 verbs, 4 adjectives

onerous - very difficult work or an activity that requires a great struggle (often physical); if something is burdensome, it is onerous

to bristle - literally this is when hair or bristles stand up on an animal indicating fear or aggression; to bristle means to become upset and consequently to become more aggressive. A person might bristle at the actions of another person.

sullen - this describes a person who is upset or sad and who simply won't talk

infamous - famous for negative reasons

to indulge oneself - to give yourself some source of pleasure, usually as a type of reward

a coup - an achievement that was unexpected and amazing

to calibrate - to adjust some type of measuring device so that it can measure something with the utmost accuracy

ghastly - terrible, disgusting

a palisade - a fence established to provide protection - the fence is usually made of wooden posts with pointed tips at the top


Answers are below the exercise:


Joe _______________ at Mike's suggestion that he was lazy and not working at full capacity. Joe felt himself to be a hard worker and took pride in this.

Al Capone was the most _________________ gangster and criminal in Chicago's history.  He bribed police and officials and was a cold-blooded killer.

Bob had been ill for several weeks.  Frankly, when I saw him he looked __________________; he was as pale as a ghost and seems quite tired and weak.

These days many children feel that taking care of elderly parents is an ________________ task but it is often unavoidable.

I am not even sure how far I walked yesterday. It's true I wore a special device on my shoe to measure my number of steps, but it turns out that the device wasn't properly ________________________ and did not count any steps.

Getting a great writer like Maribel for our magazine was a real ______________.  Everybody wanted her and she chose us because she liked our energy and integrity.

It was just impossible to communicate with Bill yesterday.  Due to the death of his dog he was _______________ all day.

I have been working so hard for so long that I think it's time I _________________ myself in a long night of eating chocolate.

Jamestown is known as the first sustainable European-type city in North America.  Yet, it wasn't really a city.  Basically it was a little collection of houses surrounded by a __________________ to ensure safety from potential native American attacks.


Answers are below:






Answers:

bristled
infamous
ghastly
onerous
calibrated
coup
sullen
indulged
palisade

7 adjectives, 1 noun - Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL Vocabulary

resplendent - shining beautifully, brightly colored, shining

nascent - being born, developing

implacable - if someone is implacable, he/she is very angry about something and this person cannot be made less angry or made happy

insidious - something insidious is something sneaky which causes harm, or something which doesn't appear to be harmful but you slowly realize it is harmful; something insidious can actually look very attractive at first, before you realize it is harmful

savvy - if someone is savvy about something, he/she has a shrewd or very insightful understanding about something that most people don't have, but the connotation of the word is a bit negative - a savvy politician knows what voters want and will promise this to them or a savvy businessman will know how to make money (in a less than honorable way) than other people

a neophyte - a beginner, a newbie

irredeemable - hopeless, not possible of being saved

ponderous - when this word is used, it usually means someone is trying to say or write something very deep and profound, but instead what the person writes is very boring and dry and dull and uninteresting

Answers are under the exercise:


Alexander Hamilton believed that industrialization would be good for the ________________ American economy after the Revolution.  The economy was, after all, being born, and it was necessary to generate wealth quickly for the new republic.

When you start to ski you have to be patient.  As a _____________ I lacked patience and tried to ski down slopes that were too difficult for me, and I took some violent falls.

Sunflowers were a favorite object for Vincent van Gogh to paint.  He would go to ______________ fields of such flowers and create images that were even more vibrant than what he saw. 

Is there still chance for peace in the Middle East or is the situation totally ____________________?

I'm really interested in philosophy because it raises interesting questions we all should ask ourselves.  But this professor delivers some of the most ___________________ lectures I have ever heard. He gives philosophy a bad name.

Joseph McCarthy was a _______________ politician who realized that he could benefit from the fear Americans had of communism in the early 1950s.  He became quite popular and won several elections by falsely accusing other powerful people of being communists.

I don't know what Bob did to make Joe angry, but Joe has become ___________________ in his anger and hatred toward Bob.  He does not even want to see Bob again and if he does, I think there will be trouble.

AIDs is one of the more __________________ viral diseases.  A person who has AIDs will probably live with the disease for many years and will not even know it until the disease suddenly appears.  

Answers are below:






Answers:

nascent
neophyte
resplendent
irredeemable
ponderous
savvy
implacable
insidious

4 adjectives, 2 nouns, 1 verb

precipitous (precipitously - adverb) - this adjective comes from the noun 'precipice.' A precipice is a high point or cliff on a mountain - if you accidentally step off a precipice, you drop to your death.  So 'precipitous' means a quick decision that you make without thinking about it and often can't change after you make it or a quick action that was taken without enough thought behind it.

prodigious - basically this means huge or much bigger than normal

an ambit - a range or a boundary within which something or someone works

ad hoc - put together for just one reason or purpose; often you will read about ad hoc committees or ad hoc action - this means a committee is put together or action is taken to address this one situation

enmity - very strong hatred toward someone; often enmity means that two groups or two people really hate each other

ruthless -  showing no mercy or pity or compassion for others when taking an action

to curdle - when milk is treated with chemicals to become harder, so that it can be made into cheese; this term usually has another common meaning though: if a person is really shocked or scared, he might say that his/her blood curdled.


Answers are beneath the exercise: 

 
It was very dark in the room, and the light switch would not work.  Suddenly I heard a scream that made my blood ______________________.

The pirates of the Caribbean were renowned for being totally __________________ toward any ship that provided resistance.  If a ship's captain surrendered, the crew was spared but the cargo was stolen. If the captain chose to fight, no mercy would be shown and the entire crew would be slaughtered. 

Bob was a little too ___________________ in his choice to marry Becky.  They had only gone out with each other for 2 months before he proposed marriage to her, and their marriage only lasted 6 months.

Cyrano, with his __________________ nose, is a story of unrequited love (un-returned) love. His huge nose made him ugly to women but he was able to coach his handsome friend to be beautifully eloquent and to win the heart of the woman that Cyrano, himself, loved. 

Bill was an amazing US History professor, but he had spent so much time doing research within his academic________________ that he knew very little else about other fields of study.

There seems to be so much long-standing ______________ between countries in the Mideast that some US presidents do not even try to initiate peaceful negotiations.

Bob was not the most organized person in the world, nor was he good at predicting problems.  Instead, he chose to deal with things in an _______________ manner.

Answers are below:



Answers:

curdle
ruthless
precipitious
prodigious
ambit
enmity
ad hoc

4 adjectives, 1 verb --> Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL Vocabulary Exercise

mercurial - if a person changes his mood or temper very quickly, he/she is mercurial (The god Mercury traveled quickly between the other gods and people.)

louche - decadent, lacking in morals, corrupt, not an ethical person (pronounced loosh)

glutinous - glue-like or sticky

to ingratiate yourself with someone - to try hard to make someone like you

to be hobbled - to be slowed down (in the old west cowboys would deliberately tie the front legs of their horses together at night to make sure they would not run away - this was 'hobbling' their horses)

Answers are below the exercise:


I had heard that my current boss was a no-nonsense type of person who could be difficult to work with.  So I went out of my way to _____________________ myself with him.  I often asked his advice, complimented him and even bought him lunch sometimes.

I asked Bob how his research was going, and he told me it wasn't going well.  His team has been __________________ by the fact that the government has cut their funding in half.

I'm a rotten cook (a bad cook).  I can't even cook rice.  When I cook rice it looks, feels and tastes like some _________________ mess.

Chicago is known as one of the most politically corrupt (dishonest) cities in America. Political corruption has existed for so long that most of the politicians become ___________________ after just a short time. If you don't go along with the system there, you don't get anywhere in your political career.

Jack is an amazing guy with a good heart, but he has a significant shortcoming in his personality.  He is quite _________________ and it's hard to predict what his mood will be from one moment to the next.


Answers are below:





Answers:

ingratiate
hobbled
glutinous
louche
mercurial

2 nouns, 2 adjectives, 1 verb

compunction - a feeling of regret or a sense of guilt over something a person did which he/she considers wrong.  This word is often used with 'without' - he acted without compunction, or: he had no compunction in regard to etc.

tandem -  when two people/groups work together on something or work on something at the same time; or two people working in conjunction with each other (for instance, in the Olympics there is 'tandem' swimming where two people perform the same activity at the same time)

to abscond with - this means to go somewhere and secretly take something and run away with it

bumptious - a person who is really proud and boastful and kind of rude so that he/she annoys others

protocol - a list of rules to be followed to accomplish something


Answers are below the exercise:


The United States and the Soviet Union pursued their space programs __________________ and the competition added extra pressure which allowed quick and amazing innovations.

Al Capone showed little or no ___________________ for the years that he had run a criminal organization in the City of Chicago.

If a student wants to learn how to conduct a scientific experiment properly, he/she must learn the proper ___________________.

We all understood that Bob was very proud that he had won a scholarship to the college he wanted to attend, but it went to his head.  He became very arrogant and ____________________ to the point where we began avoiding him.

The elderly lady thought that Mark was a kind person who liked doing volunteer work.  When she invited him to her home, however, she later discover that he had __________________ with some of her priceless jewelry.

Answers are below:




Answers:


in tandem
compunction
protocol
bumptious
absconded

5 adjectives, 4 nouns, 1 verb ---> Free SAT, GRE, TOEFL vocabulary

I chose these 10 words from an amazing book:  The Empire of the Summer Moon (by S.C. Gwynne).  It is a book about an American Indian tribe (the Comanches) that lived in Texas until the 1800s.  If you are studying for the SAT or GRE, this would be a good book to read to improve your vocabulary (if you look up all the words you don't know.)  


malfeasance - this means an illegal or wrong action, especially by a government official

ornery - an ornery person is kind of a nasty, bad-tempered person who likes to argue and fight

untrammeled - unrestricted, not fenced in, free to move about

arbitrage - when you buy something cheaper in one place and sell it for a higher price in another place

ubiquitous - all over the place; if something looks as if it is all over the place, it is ubiquitous (the word is pronounced with an initial 'you' sound --> you BIK wih tus

unalloyed - pure, not mixed with anything else

an obloquy - a very nasty or mean statement about another person; harsh, severe criticism (this noun can be countable or non-countable...i.e. non-countable: How can you resort to such obloquy!  countable: I am tired of all these obloquies being directed at the president!)

a blandishment - this is a deliberately kind of flattering or nice statement meant to get a person to do what you want him/her to do

to bowdlerize - to remove material from a literary work because the material is thought to be too 'dirty', vulgar or offensive; basically this means to censor a work but there is an extra meaning - if a work is bowdlerized, it no longer has the same meaning as it had before the censoring

athwart -  in opposition to, against something


Answers are below the exercise:


Sometimes young adult versions of classic famous novels are ____________________ so much that they no longer even resemble the original works.

The current data were completely ________________ what everyone had believed.  The theory obviously had to be changed.

One of the worst cases of _________________ in recent American history involved Rod Blagojevich, the governor of Illinois.  He was thrown in jail for trying to sell a high-ranking political position to anyone who wanted to buy it.

These days there are people who engage in what is called the "forex" trade, which is a type of ___________________.  They buy a certain amount of foreign currency at one price and then sell it at a higher price in a different market.  Basically, 'forex' is a type of individual gambling that produces no real good for any economy.

Sometimes it's better to use _________________ to encourage a person to do something that is right than using threats of punishment.

I don't understand why it is so hard to catch a cab in Manhattan.  The cabs seem to be _________________, yet they all also seem to be carrying people. 

If a country in Europe joins the European Union, their citizens will have ____________________ access to other EU countries.

Bob recently proposed marriage to Becky and when she accepted, he was filled with the deepest and most _______________ joy he had ever felt.

Frankly, I was disgusted by the recent presidential campaign.  I do not understand why candidates cannot focus on the issues and why they have to resort to ____________________ that attack the reputations of other candidates.

Many people say that New York City cabbies (cab drivers) are rude.  That is an understatement.  They are worse than rude, they are __________________ and it is best to just take the subway in order to avoid arguments and nasty exchanges with them.

Answers are below:




Answers:

bowdlerized
athwart
malfeasance
arbitrage
blandishments
ubiquitous 
untrammeled
unalloyed
obloquies
ornery

3 nouns, 1 verb, 1 adjective

1. adulation - extreme praise, when someone is almost worshiped by someone or others
2. a eulogy - a little speech mentioning good things about a person who recently died
3. to linger - to remain a little longer than others, to be slow in leaving
4. reticent - not saying much, if anything; being quiet 
5. a sycophant - someone who flatters more powerful or influential people to get ahead, a 'yes-man', someone who falsely praises his superior to get some type of benefit



One of the best ______________ for Rosa Parks, at her funeral, came from Oprah Winfrey, one of the most famous women of color in the world.

A teen pop star will receive so much ________________ from his/her fans, that it might become difficult for this person to transition into the 'real' world and live meaningfully.

Many professors will ______________ in their classrooms after the class is over to answer questions from students.

It is, of course, important to be a supportive employee, but nobody wants to be mistaken for a _________________ who goes out of his way to praise the boss.

One of the toughest jobs a teacher has is to help a very shy and _________________ student to begin speaking in class.  Often times such a student is just a little insecure and needs a little encouragement.


answers are below:




answers:

eulogies
adulation
linger
sycophant
reticent

4 nouns and 1 adjective

a criterion - a standard by which to measure something
fallacious - false
a hedonist - someone who lives for pleasure
a skeptic - someone who needs proof before he/she believes anything
adversity - difficult or trying times


Although the new theory as to how life began on earth sounds nice, I remain a ___________ because there has yet to be any hard proof or sound experiments to verify the theory.

Frans Hals is one of my favorite painters and he was certainly no ascetic. Indeed, if anything he was a ____________ who loved the pleasures of life.

Many academic experts do not believe that a student should be admitted to a university based on just one test. There should be more than one _____________ by which to determine college admission.

I like this philosophical question: Are you ethical or were you lucky?  The question implies that people who are 'good' are people who have often not experienced much _______________.  It implies that if you have not experienced difficult times, you have not truly been tested and you are 'lucky' and not 'good' or ethical.

To say that I can't prove that fairies do not exist, and therefore they may exist is a _________________ argument.  You can't prove a 'negative'.

answers are below:




answers:

skeptic
hedonist
criterion
adversity
fallacious

Paintings by Frans Hals!

9 intermediate level words

Word Bank:

hereditary, to be offended by something, to be slain, deliberately, to collaborate with, abundant, to plummet, to emit something, to accommodate someone, 

Exercise:

1. The difference between murder and manslaughter depends on whether a person was killed _______________ or accidentally.  If it was an accident but the death was caused through carelessness, a person can be charged with manslaughter.

2. The two political parties in the USA rarely ________________ each other.  This is why the US government recently had to shut down for several days.

3. There are two types of the disease called diabetes.  Type one diabetes is _____________ while type two is acquired through bad eating habits and other factors a person can control.

4. A supervisor has to make it clear to an employee that he/she should not be ________________ by any type of job evaluation.  An evaluation is meant to help an employee assess how he/she has been doing and to also allow the employee to provide some feedback on what he/she might need in the future.

5. Everyone read some terrible news over the weekend in New York City.  A mother and her four children were ________________ by a mentally ill relative in Brooklyn.  He killed the entire family.  

6. The air in Los Angeles is polluted because of all the carbon monoxide gas that is ____________ by all the cars in that city every day.

7. The waiter was very kind.  Even though we were a large group and we had very specific and hard to meet requests, he was able to ___________________ us and give us the types of  meals we wanted.

8. The stock market can often be quite unstable.  If investors are confident in the government, stock prices can soar.  If investors lose confidence at any time, stock prices can _________________.

9. Many people think there is hunger throughout the world because we lack food.  No. Food is actually __________________.  But, even though there is more than enough food, political and economic systems are not efficient enough to distribute the food adequately.

Answers are below:





Answers:

1. deliberately
2. collaborate with
3. hereditary
4. offended
5. slain
6. emitted
7. accommodate
8. plummet
9. abundant

Exercise your reading/vocabulary: An indigenous group struggles with the Chilean government

Please review the vocabulary and then read the article.  This type of exercise will help you to prepare for the vocabulary in the reading passages on the SHSAT.

The Mapuche are a group of 'indigenous' people in South America.  This means that they existed in South America before the Spanish came over from Europe to colonize the area.

Over the centuries (a century is 100 years) The Mapuche have fought hard to maintain their independence and identity.  Apparently now the Chilean government is trying to classify this indigenous group as 'terrorists.'

The article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-23512784

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

rapporteur - basically this is the person whom an organization chooses to do research about an issue and to write a report.

a dispute - this is a type of argument in which both sides believe something different about a situation.  For instance, Japan and Korea have had a dispute about which country owns a specific island - both countries believe the island belongs to them and they dispute that the island belongs to the other country.

to boil over into violence - if you heat water on a stove for long enough, it will begin to boil.  If the water is too high in the pot, the water will boil over.  So if a situation boils over, it is a critical situation and trouble comes from it.

a systematic use of excessive force - they regularly or often or commonly use too much force against the Mapuche. (pronounced:  Mah POO che)

to discriminate against - remember you always use 'against' with discriminate.  If someone discriminates against someone else, the first person takes action against the second person to harm him/her because of some racial or ethnic issue.  If someone doesn't like black people and he refuses to hire black people for his business, he is discriminating against black people.

arbitrary - this means random.  If they are using an anti-terrorism law against the Mapuche in an arbitrary manner, they use it when they feel like it and there are no real or objective standards.

if something is volatile - it is unstable and unpredictable.

prompt - if you are a prompt person, you are always on time

to escalate - to get worse

a vast swath(e) of land - a large area spread out over a great distance.

renowned for their ferocity - famous for how cruel and  brutal they were.  If a dog is ferocious, it will bite a person easily.

they resisted conquest - they fought against being conquered or beaten.

waged a campaign - fought

arson - starting stuff on fire

to sabotage machinery - to deliberately destroy machines

to invoke a law - to use a law. So if the Mapuche fight to try to get their land back, the government calls them terrorists and tries to throw them in jail.

drafted - written by Pinochet.  Pinochet was a violent dictator in Chile who helped assassinate the Chilean president Salvador Allende.

to stamp out opposition - to eliminate, get rid of

harshest - most severe

statute book - law book

a conviction - when a person is determined to be guilty.  By using this law, the Chilean government can find people guilty without providing any evidence or witnesses.

anonymous - you don't know the person's name.

a paradigm shift - a change in the way that the government views the situation.  A paradigm is a way you look at things.  The government has to stop looking at the Mapuche as terrorists and view them as people who had their land stolen.

conspicuously - obviously

rumbling on - going on slowly but steadily

sporadic - every once in a while

assailants - attackers

the blaze - the fire

a hunger strike - when people refuse to eat to protest something

a raid - when the police suddenly and quickly attack someone or some group.

-----------------------------------

Writing/discussion questions:

How do you determine when a group is a group of freedom fighters or terrorists?

How do you determine when a government is engaged in terrorism?

Review/build your reading vocabulary: Protests and deaths in Egypt

How to use this entry: First, please review the vocabulary list and understand the meanings of the words.  Then, please read the article provided.  Refer back to the vocabulary list if you do not remember the meanings of some words.

By reviewing the vocabulary words over and over, they will begin to 'stick' in your memory and you will be able to use them when you speak.  Additionally, if you come across these words on the SHSAT, you will understand them easily.

Protests and deaths in Egypt:

Recently the president of Egypt was ousted (removed from power) by Egypt's military.  The military claimed that this president - Morsi - was running the country terribly.  

In the West, many leaders were happy that Morsi was removed from power.  He belongs to a group called The Muslim Brotherhood.  This group is felt to be a very extreme Islamic organization.  Yet, Morsi had been elected by the Egyptian people.

Now supporters of Morsi are engaged in a peaceful protest, and over the weekend many seem to have been killed by the new military government.

The article:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23480957

Vocabulary to help you understand the article:

turmoil - there is social turmoil when there is a situation which is not peaceful.  Turmoil would be the opposite of peaceful.  If there is turmoil, there is trouble.

a protest - when a group of people get together to express the fact that they are unhappy or upset about a situation.

to defy someone or something - to refuse to do what someone or some group has told you to do.

a removal threat - a threat is when someone makes another person feel that he is in danger.  Here the military is threatening to remove the protesters by using force.

to be ousted - to be kicked out of office.

a sit-in - this is a type of protest where the people just merely sit down and refuse to move.

a clash - this is when two groups meet each other violently.

pro-Morsi - if a person is 'pro' something, he/she is for something (approves of something); if you are 'anti' something you are against it (you disapprove of it)

to back down - to stop fighting and to give up.

to be reinstated - to be put back in power.

to disperse - to disperse a group is to break the group up.

to oust - to get rid of; to kick out.

to condemn s/t - to say something is wrong.

tyranny - this is when one person or group dominates the government and violates the rights of the people.

a coup - this is when the military takes control of the government violently.

barricades - these are structures set up to block a road.

morale - please don't confuse this word with 'moral.'  If you are a moral person, you are a good person.  (Moral is pronounced: MORE ul).  If you have or a group has good morale (pronounced: more AL), that means you are in good spirits or optimistic and enthusiastic.  If a crowd has good morale, they are happy and enthusiastic.  Morale is a noun, moral is an adjective.

to carry out s/t - to do something.

a just cause - a 'cause' can mean something that you do or a group does to try to make the world better.  So a 'just cause' is a cause which is supported by the concept of justice.  i.e.  I think I am going to donate money to a homeless shelter - ending homelessness is a good cause.   i.e. Even though we all oppose war, most Americans felt that fighting in World War II was a just cause, sine the USA was attacked.

the death toll - the number of people who died.

thugs - criminals; a thug is usually someone young and male who looks uneducated and aggressive.

plain-clothed police - police dressed in normal clothes.

come to your senses - if someone tells you to come to your sense, he/she is telling you to accept reality.  Basically the person is saying: "Don't be stupid!"

lawsuits - legal cover -  it looks as if some people in that area went to a court and filed legal papers to have the protesters removed.  Therefore the military is using this as an excuse (legal cover) to remove the protesters.

to deny - to say that something is not true.

live rounds - real bullets.  Bullets are the things fired from guns.

tear gas - a type of gas that causes people to experience extreme pain in their eyes.

severity - the degree to which something is forceful.  Extremely severe means that something as very forceful.

an interim government - a temporary government.  A government which will be replaced by another one.

excessive - too much

to extend the barricades - to push the barricades out farther

medics - doctors or people trained in basic medical techniques

live fire - real bullets shot by real people at real people

snipers - military guys who hide on roofs or in tress and shoot at people

a confrontation - when two people or groups meet each other in anger.

to unfold - to happen.

militants - people who believe that violence is ok to accomplish what they want.

a mandate - a order; in this case, an order from the people to the government.  So after the military kicked Morsi out fo office, they encouraged people who hated Morsi to 'take to the streets' (go out into the streets) and protest.  the military felt this would show that they had a 'mandate' to kick out Morsi.

to flood an area - when people flood an area, they fill the area quickly.

remanded in custody - held by the police; kept in a prison cell by the police.

premeditated - if you commit premeditated murder, that means you thought about the murder ahead of time.  Premeditated means that someone thought about something before doing it - the person did not do something due to his immediate emotions.

alleged - apparent; if someone is an alleged criminal, it is being said that he is the criminal, but this hasn't been proved yet.

to plot something - to develop a plan to do something (usually illegal).

to conspire with - to work (illegally) with others

Check your vocabulary with: NY City's Rise to Power and Fame

First read the passage then scroll down to the vocabulary and read the passage again to improve your vocab and reading skills. Then do the fill-in-the-blank exercises.

Here's an interesting chapter from an ESL book I wrote a couple years ago. It will give you some insight into how New York City became such an important and famous city.

My book is on amazon as an e-book, and I kept the price low so that every learner of English who wants it can easily buy it. It is well worth the very affordable price: http://www.amazon.com/York-Sucks-Youll-Wanna-Anyway-ebook/dp/B004TSPAQS

The vocabulary was chosen primarily for foreign adult students of English, but many of the vocabulary words are of middle school and high school level.  Many terms are defined below the reading passage, and there is also a vocabulary exercise that will allow you to test your vocabulary.

New York City’s Rise to Power and Fame

Why did New York City become so famous?  Two reasons:  geography and money.  The geography led to the money, by the way.  Let me explain.

What’s so special about New York City geographically?  Well!  It has the deepest port/harbor in the western hemisphere.  Huge ships from Europe and all over the world could sail right up to land and unload their cargos (the goods or stuff that they carried). In regard to other cities on the east coast, sometimes the ships had to anchor out to sea and send the cargo in to land on smaller boats.  That was a real pain in the behind.  It was much better to sail right up to the land and unload or load up a ship.

Also, New York City did not really have any type of crop nearby. The soil was bad and no real crop could be grown.  A crop is a type of food that is grown: wheat, rice, barley, corn etc.  People could not survive as farmers so they became highly aggressive traders.  They built roads and canals to help farmers and manufacturers get their goods to New York City’s port, where the goods could be shipped overseas.  Once goods arrived in New York, they were easily transported out to various other regions of the country.  For example, the southern part of the USA was heavily dependent on New York City to ship its cotton overseas to England and other countries.  The South then also received various goods from England.  So the first stage of New York City’s rise was located at South Street.  This is where the main port was.  You can still go there and see some old ships.  They have lots of stores and restaurants there and few people even know that this area is what gave New York City its early boost toward wealth and fame.

People who engaged in trade out of New York City became fabulously (hugely) wealthy.  America’s first millionaire – John Jacob Astor – was one of these guys.  Astor came to America right after the Revolution, from Germany.  He began to buy animal furs from Native Americans and he would sail his ships all the way to China to trade these furs for Chinese silk, tea and porcelain. He would then sail to Europe to sell these Chinese goods.  When Astor died it was estimated that he had so much wealth that if his money were converted into contemporary dollars, he would be considered the third wealthiest person to have ever lived! (I don’t know who the first two were.)

OK, so that’s the geography part.  Guys like Astor were making so much money trading that they literally couldn’t use most of it.  Even with the fanciest houses in the USA and every luxury, they still had too much money just lying around.  So, basically, they began building banks.  This way they could loan money they didn't need to others and make a profit by collecting interest on these loans.  Where did they start building these banks?  Wall Street.  One bank after the other was built along Wall Street by the guys who made money by trading.  As I mentioned earlier, Trinity Church is the only building that still exists that existed before they began tearing down houses and churches to build banks on Wall Street.  A stock market was also set up on that street and it is now the famous Stock Exchange (get your picture taken next to the giant statue of a bull there).

So these guys who had been traders began to realize that it was a lot easier to make money by building banks and loaning out money for interest.  Within a relatively short time New York City started to become the financial capital of the world.  So do you see the development here?  New York City started out as a trading center but was so successful as a trading center, it evolved into a banking center.

It took the Civil War, however, to really launch New York City into the stratosphere.  At this time, 1861, America had two different economies – a northern industrial economy and a southern agricultural economy.  The industrial economy was based on folks who owned factories and folks who worked in factories while in the south the agricultural or farming economy was based on folks who owned land and the slaves who were forced to work on this land for free under inhumane conditions. 

The interesting thing is, traders and Wall Street bankers in New York City were making a huge amount of money from the cotton that was being produced by slaves in the south.  The cotton had to be transported up north and then it had to be shipped across the Atlantic Ocean, primarily to England.  So, believe it or not, initially folks on Wall Street wanted to support the South in the American Civil War.

In fact, southerners joked that once the south stopped sending its cotton up to New York City, grass was going to start to grow in the streets of lower Manhattan and Wall Street because there would be no business any more.  Wrong.  Once the southern states left the United States and stopped shipping cotton to New York City, the northern economy paradoxically took off.  Why?  New York City traders and bankers realized that, in reality, the southern method of doing business was not very efficient and the exporting of cotton was a good source of making money but not the best source of making money.  New York City traders soon began gathering grain and various food products from the Midwest and other northern areas and began exporting this.  At that time Europe had been experiencing a drought and desperately needed food.  So New York City lost the cotton trade but discovered a much more lucrative food trade.  The economic situation for the Wall Street bankers blossomed.

Furthermore, the United States government needed money to fight the war.  They got virtually all of the money they needed from Wall Street.  Basically, Wall Street bankers paid for the North to win the civil war.  They loaned the United States government an immense amount of money and the government paid that money back with interest.  And, now that the south was gone, the Congress was made up entirely of northern congressmen.  Southern congressmen had been stopping northern industrialization by blocking various laws that the north needed to develop technologically.  Such laws would have hurt the south.  Now that the south was gone from the Union (the term for the United States of America) the north began to pass laws that allowed the development of many new industries and technologies and the development of a transcontinental railroad system. 

Getting rid of the south for awhile and then beating the south in the Civil War was the best thing that ever happened to America!  Unfortunately hundreds of thousands of people died in this war brought about by ignorant southern racists.  Without the South the Wall Street economy really took off!  It went through the roof!  The south had been dead weight to the American economy and without the South, America was now free to fulfill its economic potential.  Or, at least, lots of bankers and factory owners got filthy filthy filthy rich.  Filthy rich means really rich. 

So this is another paradox.  Basically New York City is the most exciting city in the world primarily because of the bankers and factory owners who lived from around 1861 to 1900.  They created so much wealth in the United States of America that all kinds of things could be developed and created.  Great universities, museums, concert halls, huge department stores, skyscrapers etc.  I mean, the Metropolitan Museum, which has to be one of the greatest museums in the world, was started by these wealthy guys who made a fortune between 1861 and 1900.  Oh! Did you ever hear of The Frick Collection?   

There was a guy named Henry Frick who lived during this time and he was a steel guy – he worked with Andrew Carnegie to produce some of the best steel in the world.  Steel is the strong metal you need to build railroad tracks and skyscrapers.  He made so much money that he bought a lot of great works of art from Europeans who were desperate for money.  When he died he had so many masterworks of world art that they just turned his house into a museum!  And it’s one of the nicest museums in the city!  There are paintings by Rembrandt and Velasquez and Goya and Holbein there!  Virtually every painting is a masterwork! 

So these greedy white guys who lived for money and were super aggressive, and who often treated their workers like garbage, endowed this city with great art and great services.  That’s why I say it’s a paradox.  You would think that greedy behavior would lead to corruption and decline, but New York City seemed to develop amazing institutions.  In fact, economists have an expression for this paradox: private vice leads to public good.  So basically the more greedy people are, and the more they pursue their own economic interests, the more wealth will be generated for the public to enjoy. Yet, New York City has a huge gap between the rich and the poor, so, obviously, this system isn’t as perfect as the economists might suggest.

So there have been various incarnations of New York City.  The first incarnation was when the Native Americans lived here and farmed and hunted.  Then the Dutch came and lived pretty peacefully with the Native Americans (for awhile).  They were interested in getting beaver skins from the Indians so they could make money by making and selling fancy hats back in Holland.  So there was trade and peaceful coexistence.  If you look at the flag of New York City you’ll actually see two beavers on it.  

So we can say the second incarnation of New York City involved the Dutch, and later the English, who stole New York City from the Dutch in a war, and this incarnation was a pre-international trade New York.  Then we get the third incarnation, which was centered around South Street.  This is the big trading period where New York City’s excellent port came in handy and helped traders develop excess (more than was needed) wealth.  This period led to the fourth incarnation, which was the banking incarnation.  The excess wealth developed through trade was used to create banks which allowed more wealth to be created more easily.  These days New York City seems to remain the off-spring of these wealthy, greedy, aggressive white guys who turned to banking. Of them, J.P. Morgan was the most famous and powerful.  They turned his house into a museum as well – it’s near the Empire State Building. 

How does that make you feel?  Basically NY City kind of owes its prominence to a few guys who made zillions of dollars through trade, oil, steel and banking. I’m not sure how it makes me feel.  Should I feel grateful to these guys who were not interested in creating wealth for their society but who accidentally created it while they got filthy rich? 

Will there be another incarnation of New York?  Probably.  Who knows? I can feel New York City struggling toward something else, but without proper leadership, and New York City hasn’t had any leadership in a long time, the struggle might be in vain.

Definitions of terms

geography – the physical features of an area; i.e. Chicago is near a lake and on a flat area of land.  The city of San Francisco is located geographically in a hilly area.

a port/harbor – this is a place where ships come in to shore (land) or the place from which ships depart from the land.

right up to – some students are confused by two prepositions next to each other.  Right up to means directly up to something; practically touching something.

anchor out to – again, two prepositions…no big deal.  To anchor out to sea means that a ship drops its anchor out in the middle of the sea or far from land.  An anchor is that huge and heavy cross-shaped thing that ships drop into the water to stop the ship from moving.

in to land – again, two prepositions…moving in toward the land

a pain in the behind – If a person is a pain in your behind the person bothers you.  If something is a pain in the behind it is a nuisance or a bother.  Don't use this expression formally - it is only for very casual conversation among friends.

a boost - this is a lift off the ground; it means assistance or help, to help someone get off the ground or to help someone or something to get started.

The Revolution – this is the American Revolution, which was fought against England from 1775-1783.  Basically, this was a revolution started by wealthy people living in America at that time, but fought primarily by brave farmers and city workers.  The wealthy people did not want to pay taxes to a far-away English government that wanted to use its American colonies to support the English economy.  Basically, England wanted Americans to produce raw materials that would be processed in England and sold back to Americans.  That wasn’t fair, was it?  Of course not!  Americans wanted to process and export their own goods.  Some people have said that this “revolution” was more of a “Civil War” since the Americans had considered themselves English citizens.  That’s an interesting argument.  It’s not true, though.  By 1775 Americans and Englishmen were totally different types of people.

fur – this is the skin of an animal that helps to keep a person warm when it is worn by the person.  Many women own fur coats made of mink, for instance.

to convert – to change.

contemporary – right now.

interest – if you take out a loan, you will be charged interest.  This is extra money you have to pay back in addition to the amount you borrowed.  This allows the loaner to make a profit.  If you take out a loan you are a borrower.  Many students get confused when they use the terms “borrow” and “loan.”  If you give the money, you are loaning.  If you take the money, you are borrowing.

The Civil War – this was the war that was fought between the north part of the US and the south part from 1861 – 1865.  Basically the USA had two economies at that time.  There was a northern industrial economy and a southern agricultural (farming) economy.  The southern economy was based on slave labor.  The big issue which really caused the war to start, however, was the issue of tariffs.  A tariff is a tax on imports to a country.  The north always wanted high tariffs because they were good at producing goods and the south always wanted low or no tariffs because they liked importing stuff from England.  When Lincoln won the presidential election of 1860 the south realized he would promote an economic policy favoring the north and they left the United States and formed their own country: The Confederate States of America.  Ultimately they lost the war because of Wall Street, Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and many brave northern soldiers who died because they believed the world could be a more just place (a "just" place is a place with justice - real justice). God bless them for believing that.

the stratosphere – this is an upper layer of the earth’s atmosphere.  To say that something went into the stratosphere means that something really did well or really soared; it did unbelievably well.

inhumane – not showing human or humane values. If someone acts in a cruel or nasty way, he is inhumane.

a paradox – when you expect one thing and something opposite happens.

a drought – a long period of time without rain.

lucrative – if something is lucrative it generates a lot of money.

Congress – The US Congress makes the laws.  There are three parts to the US government: the Congress, The President and the Court system.  Each of these parts can control or limit the power of the other parts.  This is one reason why the USA has never had a dictator.  Even though the president is called the most powerful person in the world, his power is really quite limited by the Congress.

transcontinental – going across the continent of North America.

to take off – to soar, to rise, to increase.

through the roof – a figurative term.  If something goes through the roof it increases quickly and more than anyone could have expected.

dead weight – something unnecessary that might hold back a person’s progress.  Let’s say that you go hiking in the mountains.  You don’t want to take high-heeled shoes with you – those would be dead weight because you can’t use them.

sky scrapers – tall buildings found in cities around the world.

to endow – to fund or to provide resources to.

vice – immoral behavior, behavior which seems evil or wrong.

an incarnation – a version of something.

beaver skins – the skins from the fat little animal that likes to build dams in small streams.  You know the type of animal – he likes to float on his back.

coexistence – to live together.

to come in handy – to be useful.

the off-spring – something born from something else.

Prominence/to be prominent – if something is prominent, it stands out from other stuff.  A prominent doctor is more famous or well-known than other doctors.  

to be in vain – if something is “in vain,” that means that an effort was made but nothing was accomplished. i.e.  Jack had studied for 3 years to pass his CPA exam, but each time he took it, he failed.  All of that studying was in vain. 

15 essential vocab words  Fill-in-the-blanks

geography, a harbor, fur, to convert, contemporary, in vain, inhumane, a paradox, a drought, lucrative, to endow, an incarnation, to coexist, vice, skyscraper

Many people who object to the usage of fur coats feel that the animals used for this fur are treated in an ______________ or very cruel manner.

Tibetan Buddhists believe that the Dalai Lama is the actual, literal ___________ of the God of Mercy; the God of Mercy lives within his body.

I am an open-minded and tolerant person and I respect everyone’s religious beliefs, but I hate it when people try to _________ me to their religion by taking me to their church and trying to make me believe what they believe.

A society’s definition of what constitutes (makes up) ____________ often changes.  At one point drinking alcohol was considered immoral and wrong in America, but now alcohol is drunk freely in the States.

Henri did not want to give up the dream of owning his own business. He had worked hard and saved money for many years and he did not want all of this effort to be _____________.

Although the differing races and ethnicities in America don’t always mix with each other socially, at least they seem to ____________ with each other peacefully.

Due to scientific farming techniques, farmers do not need to fear ____________ as much as they used to.  Even if it doesn’t rain, water can be stored or transported long distances.

Some people like the artwork of the old masters but for those who like more ___________ art, the Guggenheim Museum or MoMA might be more interesting.

J.P. Morgan, an incredibly wealthy banker from the early 1900s, helped to ___________ a number of cultural institutions with his huge amount of wealth.

America not only has a diverse population but also a diverse __________; there is everything here from deserts, to mountains to prairies to marshlands.

A great transition occurred in the history of the economy of New York City when it was discovered that banking could be much more _____________ than trading; bankers made more money more easily than traders.

Although New York’s ____________ is the deepest in the western hemisphere, it is not used as often as it was when thousands of ships would sail up to the pier near South Street.

The origin of the universe seems to involve a puzzling __________: how could something come from nothing or how could something always have existed?

The Empire State Building used to be the world’s tallest ____________.  Looking at it now, it still seems tall, but that that huge.

John Jacob Astor became America’s first millionaire by obtaining animal ________ from the Indians and trading it with the Chinese for tea, silk and porcelain.


Answers are down below:

Answers: inhumane, incarnation, convert, vice, in vain, coexist, droughts, contemporary, endow, geography, lucrative, harbor, paradox, skyscraper, fur