英語四六級詞匯復(fù)習(xí)技巧：8天攻克8000詞匯(六)

　　SCHOLAR: leisure to study

　　To be a true scholar one must have leisure for reading , research, meditation , and intelligent discussions. So it isn’t strange to find that our word scholar is from the Greek word schole which means “l(fā)eisure.” Later , when philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato taught groups of young men, the early classes were termed schole. This passed into Latin as schola, “school,” and so gave us school, scholar, and all the related words. But the word school as used in the phrase “ a school of fish “ is from an entirely different source. It comes down to us from the Dutch word school which is related to the Old English term scolu which meant “a band of people.”

　　SCOTLAND YARD: palace of the kings

　　This place ,made famous by detective story writers, was so called because it stands on the site of a palace where the Scottish kings once lived when they visited England . The last of the Scottish Royal Family to stay there was Margaret ,Queen of James VI.

　　ZODIAC:meant animal

　　The zodiac is that imaginary belt of animals that supposed by the ancients to encircle the heavens.The twelve parts were named for taurus,"the bull,"pisces,"the fish,"and such .Each division is important to astrology for reading the character of those born under these signs.If we follow this word zodiac back far enough ,we will find its ancestor in the Greek word zoion,"animal."

　　9. Romantic Stories of Words about Women

　　ALIMONY: eating money

　　We have in English the word aliment that menas foof. This traces to the Latin alo, “norish.” So the way the most of our divorce laws are written now, if a wife sues for release from her bonds, she expects alimony, which, etymologically, is really“eating money.”

　　ALLURING: from falconry

　　When falconry was at its height in Englang and on the continent, allure was a device used by hunters to call back their hawks. It consisted of a bunch of feathers with a long cord attached. It was from this contraption that the hawk wasd fed during his training period, hence the attraction. So when a girl purposely allures a man, she is using the deceptive methods of a hunter. We have inherited the word from Old French allure; a, “to,”and lure, “bait.”

　　AMAZONS: they had only one breast

　　The Amazons were a race of female warriors who were alleged by the Greek historian Herodotus to live in Scythia. These manlike women fought many battles with the Greeks and the famous hero Achilles was presumed to have slain their queen penthesilea when the Amazons were trying to heop the besieged Trojans. These mythical women were said to have cut off their right breasts so that they could draw their bows more easily. The Greeks invented this fable to connect the word Amazon with a “without,”and mazos,”breast.”These Scythian women were responsible for the name of our south American river, the amazon. This river was called by its discoverer Rio Santa Maria de la Mar Dulce. But when the Spanish explorer Orellana made the first descent of the river from the Andes to the sea, he was engaged in battle by a savage tribe in which he believed that women fought beside the men and it is the accepted story that he then techristened the mighty river Amazonas. So when we call a modern woman an amazon, we mean that she is masculine, powerful, and inclined to give battle.

　　AUBURN: blong to red

　　Lots of mistakes have occurred in the making of our language.For example, the Latin word alburnus meant fair-haired,literally”like shite,”for alba meant”white.”Albunus passed over into Old French and Middle English as auburne, and then ,of all things, got confused with the native word vroune which meant brown. So the alburnus or fair –haired girls of ancient rome –and the Roman club-men loved their blondes –became The auburn-or reddish-brown-haired girls of today.