1100 Words, Week 7, Day 2
1100 Words, Week 7, Day 2
Watch this video to see how the teacher teaches this lesson:
New Words
harass — monolithic — arbitrary — indigent — fray
The Tempest Spills out of the Teapot
Once the newspapers got the story, the case of the longhairs became a cause célèbre.* Ron and Len were interviewed, seen on TV, and regarded by their fellow students as heroes. “These are not delinquents or hoods,” one reporter wrote, “but clean-cut American boys who are being harassed by a monolithic school system.” A caustic* editorial referred to the school’s decision as arbitrary and inane.* A false story even circulated about the boys being rock-‘n-roll performers whose indigent families needed their salaries. Finally, the Civil Liberties Union jumped into the fray with a court order stipulating* that the principal be required to show cause why the boys should not be allowed to return to class.
Sample Sentences
Use the new words in the following sentences.
1. After fray, the feuding families agreed to patch up their differences.
2. The indigent client was surprised when she was accosted* by her social worker in the elegant restaurant.
3. To my mind the decision was unreasonable and arbitrary.
4. George Orwell’s 1984 depicts a frightening, monolithic government.
5. If anonymous telephone callers harass you, the phone company will give you an unlisted number.
Definitions
Match the new words with their meanings.
6. harass ➡ to trouble, torment
7. monolithic ➡ massively solid
8. indigent ➡ poor, needy
9. arbitrary ➡ based on whim, dictatorial
10. fray ➡ a fight, skirmish
Today’s Idiom
one swallow does not make a summer: don’t jump to conclusions based on incomplete evidence
“Sure, the Yankees won their opening game, but one swallow does not make a summer.”
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