Barron's 1100 Words You Need to Know » Week 17 - Day 3

Word List
  • murky [mer kē]
    dark, obscure
    → “Mud dumping from the bottom of Long Island has created a murky picture.” “Fishermen’s Woes,” Newsday, 6/22/99
  • component [kəm pō´ nənt]
    element
    → “The F.B.I. did, in fact, develop a racial component, the profile of serial killers as predominantly white, male loners.” Jeffrey Goldberg, “The Color of Suspicion,” New York Times, 6/20/99
  • hoax [hōks]
    deception
    → “Frank Spencer, an anthropologist who rummaged through the bones of controversy to theorize about the identity of the mastermind behind the Piltdown Man hoax of 1912, died on Sunday.” Obituary notice, New York Times, 6/12/99
  • labyrinth [lab´ ə rinth]
    arrangement of winding passages
    → “He himself was so lost in the labyrinth of his own unquiet thoughts that I did not exist.” Daphne Du Maurier, Rebecca
  • evaluate [i val´ yü āt]
    appraise, find the value of
    → “Mr. Gooding hopes to find the answer if his mentor gives him the chance to evaluate the prisoner.” Lawrence Van Gelder, New York Times, 6/4/99

A submarine took the body out to sea. Then, “Major Martin,” the man who never was, was slid into the murky Atlantic waters off the coast of Huelva, Spain. Attached to this courier’s coat was a briefcase that contained the components of the hoax. Shortly thereafter, the Spanish Embassy notified the British that the body had been recovered. But Commander Montagu learned that the important documents had already been scrutinized* and later resealed so that the British would not be suspicious. The secret information was transmitted to the German High Command, through a labyrinth of underground networks, to be evaluated. Now the true test of the months of assiduous* planning would come—the question remained, would the Germans swallow the bait?

Use the new words in the following sentences.

  1. The practical joker had the temerity* to perpetrate* a __________ upon the Dean of Boys.
  2. A good motion picture producer should be skilled in all the manifold* __________ of film-making.
  3. After wandering through the __________ , the young hero came face to face with the dragon who was indigenous* to the caves.
  4. When I asked the English teacher to __________ my plan for the term paper, her incisive* comments were very helpful.
  5. The __________ quality of the artist’s latest painting is the antithesis* of her former style.

Definitions Match the new words with their meanings.

  1. a. dark, obscure
  2. b. element
  3. c. deception
  4. d. arrangement of winding passages
  5. e. appraise, find the value of
  1. murky __________
  2. component __________
  3. hoax __________
  4. labyrinth __________
  5. evaluate __________

Answer Key
to turn the tables—to turn a situation to one’s own advantage
The wrestler thought that he could pin me to the mat, but I quickly turned the tables on him.

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