Active Vocabulary General and Academic Words - Amy E. Olsen 2013

Chapter 7. Romance
Part 1 General Words

A Knock on the Door

Estella slowly opens the door. It is one o'clock in the morning—who could possibly be knocking so forcefully? Little does she know the pandemonium that is going to disturb her quiet night. Her big brown eyes open wide when she sees Byron's virile build fill the doorway. His manliness causes Estella's heart to pound as loudly as his knocking on the door. It has been five months since they broke up, but she is once again in an amorous mood after admiring Byron's strong frame.

"I must see you," he gasps.

The provocative look in his eyes is one Estella can­not resist. She motions him inside and shuts the door.

Byron stumbles to the couch and collapses. Estella spies the blood stain on Byron's chest. She tears off her robe and presses it against his rippling muscles, so easily noticeable under the damp shirt. Byron's eyes slowly open. He smiles and draws her closer.

"Estella," he whispers, "I need your help. If you no longer abhor me, please, please, hide me."

Estella pulls away. She stares at Byron trying to penetrate his thoughts. Does he actually believe she hates him? Could he really not know how she feels?

Byron begins to open his mouth, but Estella puts her finger to his lips.

"Oh, Byron, I don't hate you. You know you have come to the ideal place for seclusion. Let's not delude ourselves any longer. We are the perfect team. We were fooling ourselves by thinking we could work or love better alone. You must know that you are always safe with me."

"I love you, too, Estella. Unfortunately, there is no time to embellish my story, even though it is a good one. The simple truth is I am being chased by ...”

Estella smiles and pulls Byron to her. Oblivious to the danger close by, they embrace. A pound­ing at the door soon shatters their euphoria.

"We know you're in there, Byron. Come out, or we'll break down the door."

A quick look passes between the two of them. They know what they need to do.

Predicting

For each set, write the definition on the line next to the word to which it belongs. If you are unsure, return to the reading on page 48, and underline any context clues you find. After you've made your predictions, check your answers against the Word List on page 53. Place a checkmark in the box next to each word whose definition you missed. These are the words you'll want to study closely.

Set One

to hate

passionate

strong

chaos

exciting

□ 1. pandemonium (line 3) ...

□ 2. virile (line 5) ...

□ 3. amorous (line 8) ...

□ 4. provocative (line 11) ...

□ 5. abhor (line 19) ...

Set Two

to add details

to fool

a feeling of extreme happiness  

unaware

solitude

□ 6. seclusion (line 25) ...

□ 7. delude (line 26) ...

□ 8. embellish (line 28) ...

□ 9. oblivious (line 30) ...

□ 10. euphoria (line 31) ...

Self-Tests

1 In each group, there are three synonyms and one antonym. Circle the antonym.

2 Finish these sentences from a fictitious tabloid magazine. Use each word once.

Vocabulary list

virile

oblivious

embellish

provocative

amorous

delude

pandemonium

seclusion

abhors

euphoria

1. When Elvis was recently discovered working in the produce section of a Memphis grocery, ... broke out.

2. A well-known scientist reports receiving a text message from Big Foot that declares his greatest desire is ... from curious tourists.

3. A(n) ... couple was caught in an embarrassing position on a float in yesterday's Thanksgiving Day parade.

4. Townspeople could not believe it when Paul Owens, a ... young man of twenty, lifted a house off of a child who was trapped underneath it.

5. Though her husband had been gone for six months, Mrs. Weller shockingly reports that she was ... to his disappearance.

6. The ... design of their new red leather uniforms is causing trouble for some police officers in a small California town.

7. The team's ... on winning the state championships quickly disappeared when an alien spaceship landed and abducted their coach.

8. Dixie Lee Jean makes the startling prediction that a billionaire banker will ... his wife about the real purpose of his business trips.

9. Which Latin teen idol recently announced that he ... samba music?

10. Only film-star legend Maggie Gabor would dare to ... the site of her eighth wed­ding with fifty varieties of flowers, one thousand pink balloons, and a dozen peacocks.

Identify the two vocabulary words represented in the drawings.

3 Write the vocabulary word on the line next to the situation it best illustrates. Use each word once. Imagine each scene begins with "When a person..."

Set One

Vocabulary list

amorous

abhor

euphoria

delude

oblivious

1. wins the lottery ...

2. has to stand in a long line ...

3. crosses the street in front of a car ...

4. thinks he or she can write a great research paper in an hour ...

5. feels like French kissing ...

Set Two

Vocabulary list

embellish

seclusion

pandemonium

virile

provocative

6. wants to spend the summer in a cabin in the woods ...

7. starts bullfighting ...

8. says that the walk to the comer store was fifty miles, all uphill, through fields of cactus, in the burning sun ...

9. asks whether all drugs should be legal ...

10. is faced with a room full of five-year-olds at a birthday party ...

Collocations

At the precise moment I was thinking of calling Adela, the phone rang, and she was on the line. (Chapter 6)

I was oblivious to the conflicts that would result when I invited Karl to dinner. During dessert, he asked a provocative question, and everyone spent the rest of the evening arguing about whether nude sunbathing should be allowed on our beaches. (Chapter 7)

Word Pairs

Dissent/Assent: Dissent (Chapter 6) means "to differ in feeling or opinion." Assent (Chapter 8) means "to agree or concur." Sam had to dissent from the majority opinion because he felt the way to slow people down was a new stop sign, not lowering the speed limit. Samantha assented to the plan to lower the speed limit because she agreed with the rest of the council that that was the best way to slow traffic near the school.

Interactive Exercise

Put yourself into the author's chair by answering the following questions.

1. What kind of pandemonium breaks out when the door is opened?

2. If Byron had time to embellish his story, who would he say is chasing him?

3. What virile activities will they need to engage in to escape?

4. Has Byron deluded Estella about anything?

5. What kinds of danger will the couple have to be oblivious to in order to succeed?

6. What provocative question will Byron ask Estella at some point in their adventure?

7. Where do they go to find seclusion?

8. Will Byron and Estella have any amorous meetings during their escape?

9. Will they abhor or love each other when ' their adventure is over? Why?

10. Will they find euphoria or tragedy at the end of the story? Explain.

More Choices

If want to read more for pleasure, here are some excellent writers of science fiction, romance, and mysteries to get you started:

Word List

Word List

Words to Watch

Which words would you like to practice with a bit more? Pick 3-5 words to study, and list them below. Write the word and its definition, and compose your own sentence using the word correctly. This extra practice could be the final touch to learning a word.