American Literature
Assignment #3: September 18 & 20, 2007
“If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and
rotten, either write things worth reading, or do things worth the writing.”
-Benjamin
Franklin
1. Vocabulary: Study the spelling and definitions of
the words on pages 12- of the Merriam Webster book. Be prepared for a quiz on Tuesday, September
25.
1. Equinox: Either of the two times in a year when the
sun crosses the celestial equator and when the night and the day are
approximately equal: The vernal
equinox occurs on March 20 or 21, and the autumnal equinox occurs on September
22 or 23.
2. Euro: The basic unit of currency among the members
of the European Union.
3. Evanescent: Vanishing or likely to vanish like
vapor: "Most certainly I shall
find this thought a horrible vision--a maddening but evanescent dream" (Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley).
4. Expurgate: To remove erroneous, vulgar, obscene, or
otherwise objectionable material from a text before publication.
5. Facetious: Playfully jocular; humorous.
6. Fatuous: Foolish or silly, especially in a smug or
self-satisfied way: "'Don't you
like the poor, lonely bachelor?' he yammered in a fatuous way" (Sinclair
Lewis).
7. Feckless: Lacking purpose or vitality; feeble or
ineffective. Careless and irresponsible.
8. Fiduciary: Of or relating to the holding of something in
trust for another; of or being a trustee.
9. Filibuster: The use of obstructionist tactics, especially
prolonged speechmaking, for the purpose of delaying legislative action.
10. Gamete: A reproductive cell having the haploid number
of chromosomes, especially a mature sperm or egg capable of fusing with a
gamete of the opposite sex to produce the fertilized egg.
2.