List 6

Question 1

avarice (n)

Answer 1

greediness for wealth
ex: King Midas is a perfect example of avarice, for he was so greedy that he wished everything he touched would turn to gold

Question 2

avenge (v)

Answer 2

take vengeance for something (or on behalf of someone)

ex: Hamlet vowed he would avenge his father’s murder and punish Claudius for his horrible crime

Question 3

averse (a)

Answer 3

reluctant, disinclined

ex: The reporter was averse to revealing the sources of his information

Question 4

aversion (n)

Answer 4

firm dislike
ex: Bert had an aversion to yuppies; Alex had an aversion to punks. Their mutual aversion was so great that they refused to speak to one another.

Question 5

avert (v)

Answer 5

1. prevent
2. turn away
   ex: Hitting the brakes, the vigilant driver was able to avert what seemed like an inevitable collision. She averted her eyes from the dead opossum on the highway

Question 6

avid (a)

-> avidity (n)

Answer 6

greedy; eager for

ex: Avid for pleasure, Abner partied with great avidity

Question 7

avocation (n)

Answer 7

secondary or minor occupation
ex: His hobby proved to be so fascinating and profitable thay gradually he abandoned his regular occupation and concentrated on his avocation

Question 8

avow (v)

-> avowal (n)

Answer 8

declare openly

ex: Lana avowed that she never meant to steal Debbie’s boyfriend, but no one believed her avowal of innocence.

Question 9

awe (n)

Answer 9

solemn wonder

ex: The tourists gazed with awe at the tremendous expanse of the Grand Canyon

Question 10

axiom (n)

Answer 10

self-evident truth requiring no proof (tien de, chan li, su that, duong nhien)
ex: Before a student can begin to think along the lines of Euclidean geometry, he must accept certain principles or axioms

Question 11

babble (v), (n)

Answer 11

chatter idly (khong dau, vu vo, van vo), noi van vo, bap be noi
ex: The little girl babbled about her doll

Question 12

baffle (v)

Answer 12

frustrate, perplex (làm lúng túng, làm bối rối)

ex: The new code baffled the enemy agents

Question 13

balk (v)

Answer 13

foil or thwart (cản trở, ngăn trở, phá ngang, làm trở ngại); stop short; refuse to go on
ex: When the warden learned that several inmates were planning to escape, he took steps to balk their attempt. However, he balked at punishing them by shackling them to the walls of their cells.

Question 14

banal (a) /bə’nɑ:l/

-> banality

Answer 14

hackneyed; commonplace; trite (cũ rích, cũ kỹ, lặp đi lặp lại, sáo, nhàm); lacking originality
ex: The back writer;s worn-out clichés made his comic sketch seem banal. He even resorted to the banality of having someone slip on a banana peel!

Question 15

bane (n)

-> baneful (a)

Answer 15

cause of ruin; curse (nguyên nhân suy sụp, sự suy sụp; tai ương)
ex: Lucy’s little brother was the bane of her existence: his attempts to make her life miserable worked so well that she could have poisoned him with ratsbane for having such a baneful effect.

Question 16

baroque (a), (n)

Answer 16

highly ornate (hoa mỹ kỳ cục)

ex: Accustomed to the severe lines of contemporary buildings. the architecture students found the flamboyance of baroque architecture amusing
- They simple didn’t go for baroque

Question 17

barren (a)

Answer 17

desolate (hoang vắng, không người ở, tiêu điều), fruitless and unproductive (không đem lại kết quả), lacking
ex: Looking out at the trackless, barren desert, Indiana Jones feared that his search for the missing expedition would prove barren

Question 18

barricade (n), (v)

Answer 18

hastly put together defensive barrier; obstacle. (vat chuong ngai de chan, phong thu)
ex: Marius and his fellow students hurriedly improvised a rough barricade to block police access to the students’ quarter. Malcolm and his brothers barricaded themselves in their bedroom to keep their mother from seeing the hole in the bedroom floor.

Question 19

beam (n) (v)

Answer 19

• (n) ray of light (chum anh sang); long piece of metal or wood; course of a radio signal (tin hieu radio (cho may bay))
• (v) smile radiantly (rang ro, tuoi cuoi)
  ex: If a beam of light falls on you, it illuminates you; if a beam of iron falls on you, it eliminates you. (No one feels like beaming when crushed by an iron beam)

Question 20

befuddle (v)

Answer 20

confuse thoroughly

ex: His attempts to clarify the situation succeeded only in befuddling her further.

Question 21

begrudge (v)

Answer 21

resent (bất đắc dĩ phải, miễn cưỡng phải (làm cái gì, cho cái gì)
ex: I begrudge every minute I have to spend attending meetings; they’re a complete waste of time

Question 22

beguile (v)

Answer 22

mislead or delude; pass time (đánh lừa, lừa dối; làm tiêu khiển, làm cho qua đi (thời gian))
ex: With flattery and big talk of easy money, the con men beguiled Kyle into betting his allowance on the shell game. Broke, he beguiled himself during the long hours by playing solitaire.

Question 23

belabor (v)

Answer 23

explain to go over excessively or to a ridiculous degree; attack verbally
ex: The debate coach warned her student not to bore the audience by belaboring her point.

Question 24

belated (a)

Answer 24

delayed
ex: He apologized for his belated note of condolence to the widow of his friend and explained that he had just learned of her husband’s untimely death.

Question 25

belie (v)

/bi’lai/

Answer 25

contradict; give a false impression

ex: His coarse, hard-bitten exterior belied his inner sensitivity.

Question 26

belittle (v)

Answer 26

disparage or depreciate; put down.
ex: Parents should not belittle their children’s early attempts at drawing, but should encourage their efforts. Barry was a put-down artist: he was a genius at belittling people and making them feel small.

Question 27

belligerent (a)

-> belligerence (n)

Answer 27

quarrelsome (hay gay roi, hay sinh su)

ex: Whenever he had too much to drink, he became belligerent and tried to pick fights with strangers

Question 28

bemoan (v)

Answer 28

lament; express disapproval of
ex: the widow bemoaned the death of her beloved husband. Although critics bemoaned the serious flaws in the author’s novels, each year his latest book topped the best-seller list

Question 29

bemused (a)

Answer 29

confused; lost in thought; preoccupied

ex: Jill studied the garbled instructions with a bemused look on her face.

Question 30

benefactor (v)

Answer 30

gift giver; patron

ex: Scrooge later became Tiny Tim’s benefactor and gave him gifts.

Question 31

beneficial (a)

Answer 31

helpful, useful

Question 32

beneficiary (n)

Answer 32

person entitled to benefits or proceeds of an insurance policy or will.
ex: In Scrooge’s will, he made Tiny Tim his beneficiary: everything he left would go to young Tim

Question 33

benevolent (a)

Answer 33

generous; charitable
ex: Mr Fezziwig was a benevolent employer, who wished to make Christmas merrier for young Scrooge and his other employees