Unit One Chapter 2: Hardly a Loser

Matching Words with Definitions

To make fun of; mock; refuse to take seriously

• When Sarah and I were asked to collaborate on an article for the school newspaper, we found it difficult to work together.
• Several writers and editors have collaborated in preparing this vocabulary text, sharing their knowledge and skills.

• Devon becomes despondent too easily. If he gets even one bad grade, he loses all hope of succeeding in school.
• For months after his wife died, Mr. Craig was despondent. No matter how hard they tried, his family and friends could not cheer him up.

• The rock group’s violent performance instigated a riot in the audience.
• An English captain named Robert Jenkins instigated a war in 1738 by displaying his pickled ear, which he said had been cut off by a Spanish patrol. The horrified British declared war on Spain—the “War of Jenkins’ Ear.”

• Children can be amazingly resilient. Even after a sad or frightening experience, they often bounce back to their normal cheerful selves.
• Plant life is resilient. For example, a few weeks after the Mount St. Helens volcano erupted in Washington in 1980, flowers were growing in the ashes.

• After hobbling around on her broken foot for a week before seeing a doctor, Mae then needed surgery. In retrospect, it’s clear she should have gotten help sooner.
• When I took Ms. Klein’s writing course, I thought she was too demanding. In retrospect, though, I realize that she taught me more than anyone else.

• A grammar book usually starts with rudimentary skills, such as identifying nouns and verbs.
• I’m so used to adding and subtracting on a calculator that I’ve probably forgotten how to do those rudimentary mathematical calculations on my own.

• Bystanders scoffed at the street musician playing a tune on a row of tin cans, but he seemed unaware that people were making fun of him.
• Tony scoffed at reports that a hurricane was coming until he saw the winds knocking down trees and overturning cars.

• My history teacher shot me a dirty look during class when I couldn’t quite manage to squelch a burp.
• Decades of communism in Eastern Europe didn’t squelch the desire for freedom. As soon as they could, the people in these countries began to form democracies.

• The Tlingit Indians venerate the wolf and the raven, and their totem poles illustrate stories in praise of these animals.
• The guests at our dean’s retirement banquet made it clear that they venerated her; when she entered the room, everyone rose.

• Annie, a zealot about health, runs a hundred miles a week and never lets a grain of sugar touch her lips.
• The Crusaders were Christian zealots during the Middle Ages who left their homes and families and went off to try to capture the Holy Land.