List 36 Flashcards
philistine
philistineN. /俗气的人，无教养的人；心胸狭窄的人/narrow-minded person, uncultured and exclusively interested in material gain. We need more men of culture and enlightenment; we have too many philistines among us.
philology
philologyN. /语言学/study of language. The professor of philology advocated the use of Esperanto as an international language.
picaresque
picaresqueADJ. /以歹徒为题材的文学作品的/pertaining to rogues in literature. Tom Jones has been hailed as one of the best picaresque novels in the English language.
piebald
piebaldADJ. /花斑的；斑驳的/mottled; spotted. You should be able to identify Polka Dot in this race; it is the only piebald horse running.
piecemeal
piecemealADV. /一次一个的，逐个的；渐渐的；碎的/one piece at a time; gradually. Tolstoy’s War and Peace is too huge to finish in one sitting; I’ll have to read it piecemeal.
pied
piedADJ. /杂色的；斑驳的/variegated; multicolored. The Pied Piper of Hamelin got his name from the multicolored clothing he wore.
piety
pietyN. /虔诚；孝行/religious devotion; godliness. The nuns in the convent were noted for their piety; they spent their days in worship and prayer. Pious,ADJ.
pigment
pigmentN. /色素/coloring matter. Van Gogh mixed various pigments with linseed oil to create his paints.
pillage
pillageV. /掠夺/plunder. The enemy pillaged the quiet village and left it in ruins.
pious
piousADJ. /尽职的；虔诚的/devout; religious. The challenge for church people today is how to be pious in the best sense, that is, to be devout without becoming hypocritical or sanctimonious. piety, N.
piquant
piquantADJ. /开胃的；辛辣的；刺激的；淘气顽皮的/pleasantly tart-tasting; stimulating. The piquant sauce added to our enjoyment of the meal. piquancy, N.
pique
piqueN. /愤怒；不满/irritation; resentment. She showed her pique at her loss by refusing to appear with the other contestants at the end of the competition. alsoV.
pique
piqueV. /激起，煽动；激怒/provoke or arouse; annoy. “I know something you don’t know,” said Lucy, trying to pique Ethel’s interest.
pithy
pithyADJ. /精炼的；抓住灵魂的/concise; meaningful; substantial; meaty. While other girls might have gone on and on about how uncool Elton was, Liz summed it up in one pithy remark: “He’s bogus!”
pittance
pittanceN. /微薄的薪水/a small allowance or wage. He could not live on the pittance he received as a pension and had to look for an additional source of revenue.
pivotal
pivotalADJ. /关键的/crucial; key; vital. The new “smart weapons” technology played a pivotal role in the quick resolution of the war with Iraq.
placate
placateV. /安抚/pacify; conciliate. The store manager tried to placate the angry customer, offering to replace the damaged merchandise or to give back her money right away.
placebo
placeboN. /安慰剂/harmless substance prescribed as a dummy pill. In a controlled experiment, fifty volunteers were given aspirin tablets; the control group received only placebos.
plaintive
plaintiveADJ. /哀伤的/mournful. The dove has a plaintive and melancholy call.
plasticity
plasticityN. /塑性/ability to be molded. When clay dries out, it loses its plasticity and becomes less malleable.
platitude
platitudeN. /陈词滥调/trite remark; commonplace statement. In giving advice to his son, old Polonius expressed himself only in platitudes; every word out of his mouth was a commonplace.
plaudit
plauditN. /喝彩/enthusiastically worded approval; round of applause. The theatrical company reprinted the plaudits of the critics in its advertisements. plauditory,ADJ.
plenitude
plenitude N. /充分，富足/abundance; completeness. Looking in the pantry, we admired the plenitude of fruits and pickles we had preserved during the summer.
plethora
plethoraN. /过剩；过多/excess; overabundance. She offered a plethora of excuses for her shortcomings.
plumb
plumbADJ. /垂直；铅锤；用铅锤量/checking perpendicularity; vertical. Before hanging wallpaper it is advisable to drop a plumb line from the ceiling as a guide. also N. andV.
plumage
plumageN. /鸟类的羽毛/feathers of a bird. Bird watchers identify different species of bird by their characteristic songs and distinctive plumage.
plummet
plummetV. /垂直落下/fall sharply. Stock prices plummeted as Wall Street reacted to the crisis in the economy.
plutocracy
plutocracyN. /富豪统治/society ruled by the wealthy. From the way the government caters to the rich, you might think our society is a plutocracy rather than a democracy.
podiatrist
podiatristN. /足病医生/doctor who treats ailments of the feet. He consulted a podiatrist about his fallen arches.
podium
podiumN. /指挥台；检阅台/pedestal; raised platform. The audience applauded as the conductor made his way to the podium.
poignancy
poignancyN. /强烈的；感人的；尖锐的/quality of being deeply moving; keenness of emotion. Watching the tearful reunion of the long-separated mother and child, the social worker was touched by the poignancy of the scene. poignant,ADJ.
polemical
polemicalADJ. /辩论的，好辩的/aggressive in verbal attack; disputatious. Lexy was a master of polemical rhetoric; she should have worn a T-shirt with the slogan “Born to Debate.”
polygamist
polygamistN. /多配偶/one who has more than one spouse at a time. He was arrested as a polygamist when his two wives filed complaints about him.
polyglot
polyglotADJ. /多语言/speaking several languages. New York City is a polyglot community because of the thousands of immigrants who settle there.
pomposity
pomposityN. /夸大，华丽；浮夸；自大/self-important behavior; acting like a stuffed shirt. Although the commencement speaker had some good things to say, we had to laugh at his pomposity and general air of parading his own dignity. POMPOUS,ADJ.
pontifical
pontificalADJ. /教皇的；主教的/pertaining to a bishop or pope; pompous or pretentious. From his earliest days at the seminary, John seemed destined for a high pontifical office. However, he sounded so pompous when he pontificated that he never was chosen pontiff after all.
pore
poreV. /沉思；考察；深思熟虑；小孔，细口/study industriously; ponder; scrutinize. Determined to become a physician, Beth spent hours poring over her anatomy text.
porous
porousADJ. /筛子似的/full of pores; like a sieve. Dancers like to wear porous clothing because it allows the ready passage of water and air.
portend
portendV. /预示/foretell; presage. The king did not know what these omens might portend and asked his soothsayers to interpret them.
portent
portentN. /征兆/sign; omen; forewarning. He regarded the black cloud as a portent of evil.
portly
portlyADJ. /健壮的；肥胖的；魁梧的/stately; stout. The overweight gentleman was referred to as portly by the polite salesclerk.
poseur
poseurN. /装模作样的人；邯郸学步/person who pretends to be sophisticated, elegant, etc., to impress others. Some thought Salvador Dali was a brilliant painter; others dismissed him as a poseur.
posterity
posterityN. /子孙；后裔/descendants; future generations. We hope to leave a better world to posterity.
posthumous
posthumousADJ. /身后的；遗腹的（书出版于作者死后，孩子生于父亲死后）/after death (as of child born after father’s death or book published after author’s death). The critics ignored his works during his lifetime; it was only after the posthumous publication of his last novel that they recognized his great talent.
potable
potableADJ. /可饮用的/suitable for drinking. The recent drought in the Middle Atlantic states has emphasized the need for extensive research in ways of making sea water potable. also N.
potent
potentADJ. /有效的/powerful; persuasive; greatly influential. Looking at the expiration date on the cough syrup bottle, we wondered whether the medication would still be potent. potency, N.
potentate
potentateN. /当权者/monarch; sovereign. The potentate spent more time at Monte Carlo than he did at home on his throne.
potion
potionN. /剂量/dose (of liquid). Tristan and Isolde drink a love potion in the first act of the opera.
practitioner
practitioner N. /从业者/someone engaged in a profession (law, medicine). In need of a hip replacement, Carl sought a practitioner with considerable experience performing this particular surgery.
prank
prankN. /胡闹；打扮/mischievous trick. Is tipping over garbage cans on Halloween merely a childish prank, or is it vandalism?
prate
prateV. /空谈/speak foolishly; boast idly. Let us not prate about our good qualities; rather, let our virtues speak for themselves.
prattle
prattleV. /闲聊；胡说；废话；唠叨/babble. Baby John prattled on and on about the cats and his ball and the Cookie Monster.
preamble
preambleN. /导言；介绍词/introductory statement. In the Preamble to the Constitution, the purpose of the document is set forth.
