Asians: Too Smart for Their Own Good?

Question 1

good [gʊd]

Answer 1

Asians: Too Smart for Their Own Good?

[NOUN] [with poss] If something is done for the good of a person or organization, it is done in order to benefit them.

Question 2

constitute [kɒnstɪtu:t] 1

student body

Answer 2

Asian-Americans constitute 5.6 percent of the nation’s population but 12 to 18 percent of the student body at Ivy League schools.
[VERB] [no cont] If a number of things or people constitute something, they are the parts or members that form it.
[NOUN] [N of n] A body of people is a group of people who are together or who are connected in some way.
총학생

Question 3

underrepresented

Answer 3

But if judged on their merits, Asian-Americans are underrepresented at these schools.
*소외된, 덜 보여지는, 미약한

Question 4

vigor

Answer 4

In the 1920s, as high-achieving Jews began to compete with WASP prep schoolers, Ivy League schools started asking about family background and sought vague qualities like “character,” “vigor,” “manliness” and “leadership” to cap Jewish enrollment.
*정력, 힘, 활기
[VERB] If the government caps an organization, council, or budget, it limits the amount of money that the organization or council is allowed to spend, or limits the size of the budget.

Question 5

calamity [kəlæmɪti] 2

Answer 5

Would it be such a calamity if those numbers were reversed?

[NOUN] [FORMAL] A calamity is an event that causes a great deal of damage, destruction, or personal distress.

Question 6

pose [poʊz]

thorny [θɔ:rni] 1

Answer 6

For middle-class and affluent whites, overachieving Asian-Americans pose thorny questions about privilege and power, merit and opportunity.
[VERB] [FORMAL] If you pose a question, you ask it. If you pose an issue that needs considering, you mention the issue.
[ADJ] [usu ADJ n] If you describe a problem as thorny, you mean that it is very complicated and difficult to solve, and that people are often unwilling to discuss it.

Question 7

shy away from

outmatch [àutmǽtʃ]

Answer 7

Some white parents have reportedly shied away from selective public schools that have become “too Asian,” fearing that their children will be outmatched.

• ~을 피하다
• …보다 낫다, …보다 한 수 위이다

Question 8

flock to [flɒk]

시험에 맞추는 교육을 하다.

Answer 8

Many whites who can afford it flock to private schools that promote “progressive” educational philosophies, don’t “teach to the test” and offer programs in art and music.
[VERB] If people flock to a particular place or event, a very large number of them go there, usually because it is pleasant or interesting.
* teach to the test

Question 9

faceless [feɪsləs]1

virtuoso[vɜ:rtʃuoʊzi] 1 3

Answer 9

They feel viewed as a faceless bunch of geeks and virtuosos.
[ADJ] [disapproval] If you describe someone or something as faceless, you dislike them because they are uninteresting and have no character.특징없는, 정체불명의
[NOUN] A virtuoso is someone who is extremely good at something, especially at playing a musical instrument.

Question 10

stigmatize [stɪgmətaɪz] 1

Answer 10

Yet now we are stigmatizing their children for inheriting their parents’ work ethic and faith in a good education.
[VERB] If someone or something is stigmatized, they are unfairly regarded by many people as being bad or having something to be ashamed of.

Question 11

endorse [ɪndɔ:rs] 2

pernicious [pərnɪʃəs] 2

set back

Answer 11

Nor do I endorse the law professor Amy Chua’s pernicious “Tiger Mother” stereotype, which has set back Asian kids by attributing their successes to overzealous (and even pathological) parenting rather than individual effort.
[VERB] If you endorse someone or something, you say publicly that you support or approve of them.
[ADJ] [FORMAL] If you describe something as pernicious, you mean that it is very harmful.
[VERB] [tr, adverb] to hinder; impede

Question 12

magnet school

Answer 12

It is noteworthy that many high-achieving kids at selective public magnet schools are children of working-class immigrants, not well-educated professionals.
[NOUN] [JOURNALISM] A magnet school is a state-funded school, usually in a poor area, which is given extra resources in order to attract new pupils from other areas and help improve the school's performance.

Question 13

scrutiny skru:tɪni] 1

Answer 13

Surnames like Kim, Singh and Wong should not trigger special scrutiny.
[NOUN] If a person or thing is under scrutiny, they are being studied or observed very carefully.

Question 14

stellar [stelər] 1

Answer 14

We want to fill our top universities with students of exceptional and wide-ranging talent, not just stellar test takers.
[ADJ] [usu ADJ n] A stellar person or thing is considered to be very good.

Question 15

to the detriment of

Answer 15

But what worries me is the application of criteria like “individuality” and “uniqueness,” subjectively and unfairly, to the detriment of Asians, as happened to Jewish applicants in the past.
*~에게 해가 되다(=harming)

Question 16

suspect

valedictorian [vælɪdɪktɔ:riən] 1 4

Answer 16

I suspect that in too many college admissions offices, a white Intel Science Talent Search finalist who is a valedictorian and the concertmaster of her high school orchestra would stand out as exceptional.
[VERB] [vagueness] You use suspect when you are stating something that you believe is probably true, in order to make it sound less strong or direct.
[NOUN] [AM] A valedictorian is the student who has the highest marks in their class when they graduate from high school, college, or university, and who gives a speech at their graduation ceremony.수석졸업생

Question 17

*헛 수고

Answer 17

we are sending a message to all students that hard work and good grades may be a fool’s errand.

Question 18

Armchair [ɑ:rmtʃeər] 1

get into the hands of

Answer 18

Armchair diagnosticians have been quick to assert that keeping guns from getting into the hands of people with mental illness would help solve the problem of gun homicides.
[ADJ] An armchair critic, fan, or traveller knows about a particular subject from reading or hearing about it rather than from practical experience.
*~의 손에 들어가다

Question 19

affirm[əfɜ:rm] 2

*총기를 가지고 다니다.

felon [felən] 1

Answer 19

Even the Supreme Court, which in 2008 strongly affirmed a broad right to bear arms, at the same time endorsed prohibitions on gun ownership “by felons and the mentally ill.”
[VERB] [FORMAL] If you affirm that something is true or that something exists, you state firmly and publicly that it is true or exists.
*bear arms
[NOUN] [LEGAL] A felon is a person who is guilty of committing a felony.흉악범

Question 20

hold a grudge

Answer 20

They tend to be paranoid loners who hold a grudge and are full of rage.
*원한을 품다.

Question 21

florid [flɔ:rɪd]1

Answer 21

Most of these killers are young men who are not floridly psychotic.

Question 22

intoxicated [ɪntɒksɪkeɪtɪd] 2

Answer 22

Even though we know from large-scale epidemiologic studies like the E.C.A. study that a young psychotic male who is intoxicated with alcohol and has a history of involuntary commitment is at a high risk of violence, most individuals who fit this profile are harmless.
[ADJ] [FORMAL] Someone who is intoxicated is drunk.

Question 23

당신은 결과론적으로 용의자를 알 수 있습니다.

Answer 23

You can profile the perpetrators after the fact

*after the fact

Question 24

undeterred [|ʌndɪ|tɜ:d] 1 2

Answer 24

there are a lot of people who are undeterred by these laws.

[ADJ] not discouraged or dissuaded

Question 25

displace [dɪspleɪs] 2

Answer 25

All the focus on the small number of people with mental illness who are violent serves to make us feel safer by displacing and limiting the threat of violence to a small, well-defined group.
[VERB] If one thing displaces another, it forces the other thing out of its place, position, or role, and then occupies that place, position, or role itself.

Question 26

outwardly [aʊtwərdli] 1

in the grip of

unfettered [ʌnfetərd] 1 2

Answer 26

But the sad and frightening truth is that the vast majority of homicides are carried out by outwardly normal people in the grip of all too ordinary human aggression to whom we provide nearly unfettered access to deadly force.
[ADV] You use outwardly to indicate the feelings or qualities that a person or situation may appear to have, rather than the ones that they actually have.
*experiencing something unpleasant that cannot be stopped~에 사로잡힌
[ADJ] [FORMAL] If you describe something as unfettered, you mean that it is not controlled or limited by anyone or anything.