Week Two Assignment 9/11-13/2007

1.  Read and Respond:

Tuesday:  Read Chapter 8.  Write a one-paragraph summary of the chapter.  Your paragraph should be written in third person point of view, in the present tense, in a clear, objective style.  Do not use slang!  (-:  Due on Thursday, 9/13.

Thursday:  Read chapters 9-12.  Quiz on Tuesday, 9/18.

2.  Vocabulary: Learn the definitions and spelling of the following words.  Use three of them somewhere in your writing this week (italicize or underline them).  Quiz Tuesday, 9/18.

1. Chromosome: A threadlike linear strand of DNA and associated cells in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells that carries the genes and functions in the transmission of hereditary information of the cell.

2. Churlish: Of, like, or befitting a churl; boorish or vulgar. Having a bad disposition. “He is as valiant as the lion, as churlish as the bear” (Shakespeare).

3. Circumlocution: The use of unnecessarily wordy and indirect language; Evasiveness in speech or writing; A roundabout expression.

4. Circumnavigate: To proceed completely around: “The whale he had struck must also have been on its travels; no doubt it had thrice circumnavigated the globe” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick).

5. Deciduous: Shedding or losing foliage at the end of the growing season: “Orange-picking begins in December and overlaps the pruning of the deciduous orchards” (Mary Austin, Art Influence in the West).

6. Deleterious: Having a harmful effect; injurious. “I will follow that system of regimen which…I consider for the health and benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous” (Hippocratic Oath).

7. Diffident: Lacking or marked by a lack of self-confidence; shy and timid. “He was too diffident to do justice to himself; but when his natural shyness was overcome, his behavior gave every indication of an open affectionate heart” (Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility).

8. Enervate: To weaken or destroy the strength or vitality of. “What is the nature of the luxury which enervates and destroys nations?” (Henry David Thoreau, Walden).

9. Enfranchise: To endow with the rights of citizenship, especially the right to vote; to free, as from slavery or bondage. “Many people who were enfranchised were nonetheless unable to vote because of onerous poll taxes.”

10. Epiphany: A Christian feast celebrating the visit of the three Magi to the young Jesus; a sudden manifestation of the essence or meaning of something: a revelation. “I experienced an epiphany, a spiritual flash that would change the way I viewed myself” (Frank Maier, Newsweek).

3.  Write: Write a short essay in which you discuss and explain the villagers’ manner of life and how it differs from what Marner has been accustomed to in the city.  (600 words; due Thursday, Sept.20).

Be sure to use the present tense of the verbs as you discuss the story!

4.  Finger Exercise: Keep a list of phrases from these chapters that refer to light, gold, or darkness.  Be on the alert for synonyms as well.  For each example, include the page number in parentheses.  Due Tuesday, 9/18. Notice similes and metaphors of all kinds as well.  In particular, be alert for animal imagery.