contention¹ n.争论；争斗

同competition, struggle, argument, conflict

There was much contention about the proposed city subway system.

市区地铁系统的提议引起了许多争论。

dawn n.黎明

同sunrise, daybreak

Jane awoke at dawn, while everyone else in the house was still sleeping.

简天亮就醒了，而屋子里的其他人仍在睡梦中。

deplore² v.感到遗憾

同mourn, grieve, sorrow

Ms. Adams deplored³ the lack of money in education and made a large donation to her local school.

亚当斯女士对缺乏教育经费感到很遗憾，因此捐了一大笔钱给当地的学校。

discreet⁴ adj.谨慎的

同prudent⁵, cautious, judicious⁶, careful, wary⁷

Pauline was discreet about handing me a note in English class.

上英语课时，波琳很谨慎地递给我一张纸条。

eerie⁸ adj.阴森的；可怕的

同weird⁹, awesome¹⁰, fearful, ghastly, spooky

That night we heard an eerie sound as we were playing cards.

那晚我们玩牌时听到了奇怪的声音。

egotistic adj.自负的

同self-centered, egocentric, narcissistic¹¹, self-important

As he began to earn more and more money, his personality became more and more egotistic.

他的钱越赚越多时，他的个性也变得越来越自负。

endure v.忍耐；持久n. endurance

同bear, abide¹², tolerate, stand

I cannot endure the noise and dirt from the construction site next to my house.

我无法忍受从我家隔壁工地传来的噪音和尘土。

facile adj.轻易的；灵巧的

同easy, skillful, adroit¹³, effortless, simple

Her facile reply to the problem with the computer was to turn it off.

对于电脑发生的问题，她的简单回应就是关机。

Exercise: Fill in the blanks.

1. We compromised and _____ between watching the drama series Joe liked and my favorite sports show.

2. A _____ to end corruption¹⁴ in the government has just begun.

3. The teachers' only _____ to ending the strike was the schoolshavingssmaller class sizes.

4. After all they had _____ during the war, anything seemed possible to them.

5. The _____ movement of her hands over the keyboard showed her years of practice on the piano.

解答：1. Alternated 2. Campaign 3. Contention 4. Endured 5. facile