Week Five Assignment

10/15-17/2007

1.  Read and Respond:

      Tuesday:  Read Oliver Twist, chapters 10-14.  Write an intelligent, thought provoking question for each chapter.  I will use these for our reading quiz on Thursday!

                Thursday:   Read chapters 15-23.  Summarize each chapter in two or three sentences (due October 22).  Divide the pages in your reading assignment by the number of days on which you will read.  The answer represents the number of pages you should read each day.

2.  Vocabulary:

1.  Lugubrious:  Mournful, dismal, or gloomy, especially to an exaggerated or ludicrous degree.

2.  Metamorphosis:  A marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function; a transformation.  In biology, a change in the form of an animal during normal development after the embryonic stage.

3.  Mitosis:  The process in cell division by which the nucleus divides, typically consisting of four stages.

4.  Moiety:  A half; a part, portion, or share:  “Tom divided the cake and Becky ate with good appetite, while Tom nibbled at his moiety  (The Adventures of Tom Sawyer).

5.  Nanotechnology:  The science and technology of building devices, such as electronic circuits, from individual atoms and molecules.

6.  Nihilism:  In philosophy, an extreme form of skepticism that denies that existence is real; the belief that all values are baseless and that nothing can be known or communicated.  In 19th century Russia, a movement that scorned authority and believed in reason, materialism, and radical change in society through terrorism and assassination.

7.  Nomenclature:  A system of names used in art or science; the procedure of assigning names to organisms listed in a taxonomic classification.

8.  Notarize:  To certify or attest to the validity of a signature on a document as a notary public.

9.  Obsequious:  Full of or exhibiting servile compliance; fawning.

10.  Oligarchy:  Government by a few, especially by a small faction of persons or families.

“For they that are discontented under monarchy call it tyranny; and they that are displeased with aristocracy call it oligarchy:  so also, they which find themselves grieved under a democracy call it anarchy” (Thomas Hobbes, Leviathon).

3.  Write:

       Think about the chain of events that brings Silas from despair to hope, and from isolation to community.  Write an essay in which you discuss the events, people, or ideas that influence Marner’s transformation.  Consider how the light (gold) imagery provides a ribbon that links it all together.  Begin by articulating the central issue of his development as you see it:  How is he different at the end of the story?  Then, in a simple declarative sentence, state the means of his change.  The sections of your paper should each consider and discuss one influence and how it worked on him.  Link them together with the symbols of light and gold (750 words; due Thursday, October 18).

                In the text of your paper include the following elements:  two colons; two appositives; two nominative absolutes.

4.  Write:  Write the first 750 words of a novel—set a scene, introduce a character, establish a situation.  The decision is up to you—you must write with interest, detail, and lots of verbs.  Enjoy!!! (Due Wednesday, October 24).

 

4.  Finger Exercise:

      Bring your Kaplan SAT book to class on October 16.