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FIN comes from the Latinword for “end” or “boundary.” Final describes last things, and a finale or afinish is an ending. (And at the end of a French film, you may just see theword “Fin.”) But its meaning is harder to trace in some of the other Englishwords derived from it.
confine (1) To keep (someone or something) within limits. (2) To hold(someone) in a location.
* He had heard the badnews from the CEO, but when he spoke to his employees he confined his remarksto a few hints that sales had slipped.
Confine meansbasically to keep someone or something within borders. Someone confined to abedroom or a wheelchair is too ill or disabled to be anywhere else. A personunder “house arrest” is confined to his or her house by the government. At a businessmeeting, the discussion may be confined to one area by means of zoning. Andsomeone confined to the state prison for 20 years has probably committed quitea serious crime.
definitive (1) Authoritative and final. (2) Specifying perfectly or precisely.
* The team’s brilliantresearch provided a definitive description of the virus and its strangemutation patterns.
Somethingdefinitive is complete and final. A definitive example is the perfect example.A definitive answer is usually a strong yes or know about someone. EllaFitzgerald’s famous 1950s recordings of American songs have even been calleddefinitive—but no one ever wanted them to be the last.
finite Having definite limits.
* Her ambitions wereinfinite, but her wealth was finite.
It has come asa shock to many of us to realize that resources such as oil—and the atmosphere’sability to absorb greenhouse gases—are finite rather than unlimited. The debatecontinues as to whether the universe if finite or infinite and, if it’s finite,how to think about what lies beyond it. Religion has always concerned itselfwith the question of the finite (that is, human life on earth) versus theinfinite (God, eternity, and infinity). But finite is mostly used in scientificwriting, often with the meaning “definitely measurable.”
infinitesimal Extremely or immeasurably small.
* Looking more closelyat the research data, he now saw an odd pattern of changes so infinitesimalthat they hadn’t been noticed before.
Just as infinitedescribes something immeasurable (“without limit”), infinitesimal describessomething endlessly small. When Antonie van Leeuwenhoek invented the microscopein the 17th century, he was able to see organisms that had beenthought too infinitesimally infinitesimal aspects of matter that evenLeeuwenhoek could not have imagined.
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CEPT comes from the Latinverb meaning “take, seize.” Capture, which is what a captor has done to acaptive, has the same meaning. Captivate once meant literally “capture,” butnow means only to capture mentally through charm or appeal. But it some otherEnglish words this root produces, such as those below, its meaning is harder to find.
reception (1) The act of receiving. (2) A social gathering where guests areformally welcomed.
* Although the receptionof her plan by the board of directors was enthusiastic, it was months beforeanything was done about it.
Reception isthe noun form of receive. So at a formal reception, guests are received orwelcomed or “taken in.” A bad TV reception means the signal isn’t beingreceived well. When a new novel receives good reviews, we say it has met with agood critical reception. If it gets a poor reception, on the other hand, that’sthe same as saying that it wasn’t well-received.
intercept To stop, seize, or interrupt (something or someone) before arrival.
* The explosives hadbeen intercepted by police just before being loaded onto the jet.
Since theprefix inter means “between”, it’s not hard to see how intercept was created.Arms shipments coming to a country are sometimes was intercepted, but suchinterceptions can sometimes be understood as acts of war. In football, soccer,and basketball, players try to intercept the ball as it’s being passed by theother team. In years gone by, letters and documents being carried betweenofficers or officials were sometimes intercepted when the carrier was caught;today, when these communications are generally electronic, an interceptede-mail isn’t actually stopped, but simply read secretly by a third party.
perceptible Noticeable or able to be felt by the sense.
* Her change in attitudetoward him was barely perceptible, and he couldn’t be sure he wasn’t justimagining it.
Perceptibleincludes the prefix per-, meaning “through,” so the word refers to whatever canbe taken in through the senses. A perceptive person picks up minor changes,small clues, or hints and shades of meaning that others can’t perceive, so oneperson’s perception—a tiny sound, a slight change in the weather, a differenttone of voice—often won’t be perceptible to another.
susceptible (1) Open to some influence; responsive. (2) Able to be submitted toan action or process.
* She impressed everyone immediately with her intelligence,so they’re now highly susceptible to her influence and usually go along withanything she proposes.
With its prefixsus-, “up,” susceptible refers to something or someone that “takes up” orabsorbs like a sponge. A sickly child may be susceptible to colds, and anunlucky adult may be susceptible to back problems. A lonely elderly person maybe susceptible to what a con man tells him or her on the phone. And studentsare usually susceptible to the teaching of an imaginative professor—that is,likely to enjoy and learn from it.
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作为家长，也不能闲着，努力掌握点外语，万一有什么事，自己可以搞定，不至于无法与沟通，处处仰赖别人传声
同时打点儿国学根基，解决文化认同的问题
这两样，都需日积月累，不是朝夕之力一蹴而就的
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昨天中午吃饭时问女儿，假如你心仪的学校都没有录取你，你怎么办呢？
不是说人要从最坏处打算、往最好处努力吗？
遇到这样最坏的情况，你怎么打算？
女儿吃了一惊，显然没想过这个问题。
晚上回来说，妈妈我想过了
你看这样好不好，如果我今年没有被这些学校录取，我就去了解一下原因，然后有针对性的培训提高一年，明年再去申请。
我觉得这个想法也还行，虽然也有明显的不妥之处，但总在找出路，比没有自己的想法好。
似乎出去念书是她一定要做的事，那要重点解决的有两个问题：
1、发展方向
2、文化认同
文化认同是根，发展方向是伸展的枝叶。
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语言学家赵元任（与梁启超、王国维、陈寅恪一起被称为清华“四大导师”），一生会讲 33 种方言，会说英、法、德、日、西班牙语等多种外语。
据说他听过别人讲话，顺着音节，就可以在很短的时间掌握这门方言。
我不知道这里面是否有夸张的成分，但天才不是我能揣度的。
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这些单词用到的机会不多，背记的意义不是特别大。
但阅读本身是一种乐趣，了解到每小段音节是有历史有来源有出处彼此之间有关联的，象研究一张藏宝图，不断有新发现，这感觉，挺有意思。。。
学而时习之，不亦悦乎
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PSYCH comes from the Greekword psyche, meaning “breath, life, sould.” Psychology is the science of mindand behavior, and a psychologist treats or studies the mental problems ofindividuals and groups. Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that deals withmental and emotional disorders, and a psychiatrist (like any other doctor) mayprescribe to treat them.
psyche Soul, personality, mind.
* Analysts areconstantly trying to understand the nation’s psyche and why the U.S. often behavesso differently from other countries.
Sometime back inthe 16th century, we borrowed the word psyche directly from Greekinto English. In Greek mythology, Psyche was a beautiful princess who fell inlove with Eros (Cupid), god of love, and went through terrible trials beforebeing allowed to marry him. The story is often understood to be about the soulredeeming itself through love. (To the Greeks, psyche also meant “butterfly,”which suggests how they imagined the soul.) In English, psyche often soundsless spiritual than soul, less intellectual than mind, and more private thanpersonality.
psychedelic (1) Of or relating to a drug (such as LSD) that produces abnormal andoften extreme mental effects such ashallucinations. (2) Imitating the effects of psychedelic drugs.
* In her onlypsychedelic experience, back in 1970, she had watched with horror as the wallsbegan crawling with bizarrely colored creatures.
The most famous—ornotorious—of the psychedelic drugs is LSD, a compound that can be obtained fromvarious mushrooms and other fungi but is usually created in the lab. The otherwell-known psychedelics are psilocybin (likewise obtained from fungi) andmescaline (obtained from peyote cactus). How psychedelics produce their effectsis still fairly mysterious, partly because research ceased for almost 20 yearsbecause of their reputation, but scientists are determined to find the answersand much research is now under way. Psychedelics are now used to treat anxietyin patients with cancer, and are being tested in the treatment of such seriousconditions as severe depression, alcoholism, and drug addiction.
psychosomatic Caused by mental or emotional problems rather than by physicalillness.
* Her doctor assumed herstomach problems were psychosomatic but gave her some harmless medicationanyway.
Since the Greekword soma means “body,” psychosomatic suggests the link between mind and body.Since one’s mental state may have an important effect on one’s physical state,research on new medicines always involves giving some patients in theexperiment a placebo (fake medicine), and some receive the sugar pills willseem to improve. You may hear someone say of someone else’s symptoms, “Oh, it’sprobably just psychosomatic,” implying that the physical pain or illness isimaginary—maybe just an attempt to get sympathy—and that the person could willit away if he or she wanted to. But this can be harsh and unfair, since,whatever the cause is, the pain is usually real.
psychotherapist One who treats mental or emotional disorder or related bodily illsby psychological means.
* He’s gettingmedication from a psychiatrist, but it’s his sessions with the psychotherapistthat he really values.
Manypsychologists offer psychological counseling, and psychological counseling canusually be called psychotherapy, so many psychologists can be calledpsychotherapists. The most intense form of psychotherapy, calledpsychoanalysis, usually requires several visits a week. A competing type oftherapy known as behavior therapy focuses on changing a person’s behavior(oftensome individual habit such as stuttering, tics, or phobias) without lookingvery deeply into his or her mental state.
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MANIA in Latinmeans “madness,” and the meaning passed over into English unchanged. Our wordmania can mean a mental illness, or at least and excessive enthusiasm. We mightcall someone a maniac who was wild, violent, and mentally ill—or maybe just reallyenthusiastic about something. Too much caffeine might make you a bit manic. Butthe intense mood swings once known as manic-depressive illness are now usuallycalled bipolar disorder instead.
kleptomania A mental illness in which a personhas a strong desire to steal things.
* Kleptomania leads its sufferers to steal items of little value thatthey don’t need anyway.
Klepto—comes fromthe Greek word kleptein, “to steal.” Even though kleptomania is often the buttof jokes, it’s actually a serious mental illness, often associated with mooddisorders, anxiety disorders, eating disorders, and substance abuse.Kleptomaniacs tend to be depressed, and many live lives of secret shame becausethey’re afraid to seek treatment.
dipsomaniac A person with an extreme anduncontrollable desire for alcohol.
* She didn’t like the word alcoholic being applied to her, and likeddipsomaniac even less.
Dipsomaniaccomes from the Greek noun dipsa, “thirst,” but thirst usually has nothing to dowith it. Some experts distinguish between an alcoholic and a dipsomaniac,reserving dipsomaniac for someone involved in frequent episodes of bingedrinking and blackouts. In any case, there are plenty of less respectful wordsfor a person of similar habits: sot, lush, wino, souse, boozer, guzzler,tippler, tosspot, drunkard, boozehound—the list goes on and on and on.
megalomaniac A mental disorder marked byfeelings of great gersonal power and importance.
* When the governor started calling for arming his National Guard withnuclear weapons, the voters finally realized they had elected a megalomaniac.
Since the Greekroot megalo—means “large,” someone who is megalomaniacal has a mental disordermarked by feelings of persona grandeur. Megalomania has probably afflicted manyrulers throughout history: The Roman emperor Caligula insisted that he beworshipped as a living god. Joseph Stalin suffered from the paranoia countrymenexecuted as a result. J.-b. Bokassa, dictator of a small and extremely poorAfrican nation, proclaimed himself emperor of the country he renamed theCentral African Empire. And even result of public acclaim. But megalomaniac isgenerally thrown around as an insult and rarely refers to real mental illness.
egomaniac Someone who is extremelyself-centered and ignored the problems and concerns of others.
* He’s a completely unimpressive person, but that doesn’t keep himfrom being an egomaniac.
Ego is Latin for “I,” and in English egousually means “sense of self-worth.” Most people’s egos stay at a healthylevel, but some become exaggerated. Egomaniacs may display a grandiose sense ofself-importance, with fantasies about their own brilliance or beauty, intenseenvy of others, a lack of sympathy, and a need to be adored or feared. But likemegalomaniac, the word egomaniac is thrown around by lots of people who don’tmean much more by it than blowhard or know-it-all.
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浓睡不消疲惫。。。
明天家长开放日，顺带报名，下周六考试。
多报几个学校，有选择比没得选好。
只是连轴转地考试，辛苦了孩子。
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看了一下，那个货币换算好象不太对，用的是以前的汇率吧。
现在12.5万美元，约87万人民币。
天朝的房子，太贵了，尤其是北上广深。
而成都的房子，相对于糟糕的空气，性价比渣到底了。
连续一周不出太阳，感觉左心室都快长绿毛了。
连续出个两天太阳，感觉俩肺叶变PM2.5存量屋。
好雨知时节，当春乃发生。
随风潜入夜，润物细无声。
野径云俱黑，江船火独明。
晓看红湿处，花重锦官城。
说好的锦城夜雨呢？拜托快快来洗涤一下吧，好让我明天一早，能看清对面楼房的轮廓。
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