女神殿

Vocab. recap:

elision - The omission of a vowel, consonant or syllable in pronunciation. Blending your words together. (hl)

If you master the rules of elision in English, your speech will sound more [smooth] and [natural].

see 
paren(the)tic 
mnemonic semantic


choppy - Of speech, not smooth and flowing, halting. (col)

Her English is [grammatically] correct, but somewhat choppy.

(of a novel) [The plot] was too choppy for my taste; the author fails to create [continuity] between the chapters.


creative license - A kind of literary device. Refers to the way in which artists and authors [bend] or [break] rules in order to [achieve] a particular [aesthetic] or creative effect.

The poet K was criticized by his contemporaries for his blatant disregard [for] convention. It was not until years after his death that critics came to appreciate his liberal [use] of creative license.

Orwell [took] some creative license [with] the historical events of the Russian Revolution.


word play - creative [use] of language.

Shakespeare was known for his ample [use] of word play.


fellow, guy, chap, dude, man, guy, gentleman -

Guy is what most American young people use to refer to any grown man. I say dude too, but it is perhaps a little slangier.

see advert (refer to, stuffy)

Gentleman is a polite word for a grown man.

Chap sounds British to me. I would avoid it.

Fellow sounds outdated to be used in normal contexts, but it does have some idiomatic usages: sorry fellow - a worthless person, a rogue. (惡棍)

see brogue

Fellow has another meaning in the academic world - someone who is part of some scholarship program or academic association.
She was one of only three people selected to be [Hugh's] Fellow this year.


strike as - to give one the impression of being someway.
 
She strikes me as [an extremely talented young woman]. 

I only read the first chapter, but the author's style struck me as [excessively elaborate and almost florid]. (鮮紅色的,過分華麗的)

see 
lurid dun tawny


uncouth - clumsy, awkward or unmannerly. (hl)

His uncouth cousin proved to be [an] [embarrassment] at every family gathering.

This word is a little similar to philistine, but not the same. Philistine refers more to [a] lack of 
cultural sensitivity, 
intellectual pursuit[s], or 
aesthetic refinement; whereas uncouth emphasizes poor manners.

An uncouth person is called a boor (hl).

see 
fumble 
incongruous cacophony


juxtapose - to draw a contrast between two things, or to describe two ideas as opposite, incompatible and conflicting. 

Her theory juxtaposed [religion] and [science].

The journalist's Olympic coverage juxtaposed [the extravagance] of Beijing's new buildings, [with] [the slums] which still cover much of the city.

frolic
[From] the surreal opening image of a Christ statue "flying" over Rome by helicopter 
[through] Anita Ekberg's [frolic] in the Trevi Fountain 
[to] the final beach scene, 
Fellini [filled] his first [foray] into widescreen photography with evocative imagery [juxtaposing] 
[ancient Rome] 
[with] [modernity], surface beauty with spiritual desolation.  

virtuoso
Suzanne's interest in Chinese marionettes [links] Hou's Red Balloon (as well as the original) [to] his 1992 masterpiece, The Puppetmaster. The mode can be off-handedly self-reflexive, 
[as when] 
Hou's camera ponders the virtuosity of two movers [maneuvering] a piano up an impossibly narrow stairway, 
[or] 
in the melancholy [juxtaposition] of 
[archaic 8mm home movies] 
[with] [Suzanne's voiceover characterizations].

punctuate
A movie that encourages the spectator to rummage, Flight of the Red Balloon is contemplative but never static, and [punctuated] by passages of pure cinema.

vacillate 
As Eli, Paul Dano's voice [vacillates] between 
[a soft-spoken gentleness in his serene moments] and 
[a thin, reedy growl during his Biblical orations].
It is Conchita's emotional ambivalence towards the tenaciously persistent suitor that is reflected through the physical [vacillation] between the two actresses playing the role of Conchita, 
[Carole Bouquet (cold and demure)] and 
[Angela Molina (sensual and aggressive).]

oscillate
(figuratively, to vacillate)
Like [a flower in the wind], he [oscillated] between 
[one view] and 
[another], unable to make up his mind.
osculate 
(to kiss, to touch)
His chief political skill was in [osculating] the infants of eligible voters.


pet peeve - a personal annoyance. 

One of [my] pet peeves is being late.

vial 
pour out vial[s] of wrath
travail