6. At Christmastime, people __________ their homes with colored lights and all kinds of sparkling decorations.
7. Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia __________ his six-month travel experiences in southern Argentina.
8. The __________ of Superman have fascinated readers of comic books for decades and continue to do so.
9. This semester we have to take a class in __________ criticism.
10. In the novel, Gulliver's Travels, seventeenth-century Anglo-Irish author Jonathan Swift __________ European government.
EXERCISE 9-12
Answer the following questions using the vocabulary in bold type. Your answer must contain the same vocabulary.
1. Is chivalry dead, or do societies that place value on chivalry still exist? Give an example to support your answer.
2. How do people in your country adorn their houses for national celebrations?
3. What is the most challenging situation you've ever had to endure?
How to use advanced vocabulary in an academic context
4. For which crimes do people face a long period of incarceration?
5. In your country are there any television programs that satirize politicians or famous people? What are they?
6. What are some popular literary figures in your country? Are they based on real people?
7. Name a book or television series that chronicles the lives of a family-for example, The Forsyte Saga by John Galsworthy.
8. Do you like to read stories about romantic or dangerous escapades? Why or why not?
9. If you had an opportunity, what country or place would you like to venture to? Why?
10. Have you ever deluded yourself into thinking that studying at a foreign university was easier than it is?
Reading S:
Haiti's independence
During the eighteenth century, Haiti-or Saint-Domingue as it was known at the time-was France's most lucrative colony. More than 500,000 slaves were imported from western Africa to work thousands of coffee, sugar, cocoa, and tobacco plantations.
The French Revolution of 1789 spurred revolutionary fever in Haiti as well. Slaves outnumbered wealthy plantation owners ten to one, and the brutality they had been enduring at the hands of the white colonists set the stage for a violent conflict. In August 1791, a slave named Boukman led an uprising during which slaves burned plantations to the ground and used any weapon at their disposal to indiscriminately kill whites. After only three weeks, infighting between different slave factions weakened their position and enabled white slave owners to regroup and retaliate.
During the conflict, Pierre Toussaint, a savvy military leader, organized and strengthened 55,000 former slaves to defeat both France and Britain by 1798. In 1800 rebel forces liberated the entire island from French rule.
Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was not about to relinquish control over Saint
Domingue, however, and deployed 20,000 men to reestablish French rule.
In January 1802 French soldiers arrived, and in May Toussaint surrendered.
Although France assured Toussaint peaceful retirement after the war, he was betrayed, captured, and imprisoned. He died in April 1803.
Two of Toussaint's lieutenants-Jean-Jacques Dessalines and Henri
Christophe-resumed the fight and defeated Napoleon's forces on November 18, 1803. On New Year's Day 1804, Dessalines declared the country's independence, making Haiti the first black-governed republic in the western hemisphere.
After a bloody twelve-year revolt, Haiti was in shambles. Most of the plantations had been destroyed, and the United States, Spain, and Britain, which still practiced slavery, did little to foster the young nation's development. In October 1804 Dessalines crowned himself Jacques I, Emperor of Haiti, but in October 1806 Haitians resisted Dessalines's despotic governing
sty\e, and he was assassinated in October 1806.
How to use advanced vocabulary in an academic context
Despite its post-independence hardships, Haiti inspired uprisings abroad.
In the United States, slave rebellions led in 1831 by Nat Turner and in 1859 by white abolitionist John Brown demonstrated that the struggle to end slavery was not insurmountable.
EXERCISE 9-13
Match the vocabulary from Reading 5 with the word that is closest in meaning.
1. lucrative a. crusader
2. faction b. tyrannical
3. retaliate c. unconquerable
4. relinquish d. group
5. resume e. stimulate
6. foster f. renounce
7. despotic g. fight back
8. inspire h. promote
9. abolitionist i. continue
10. insurmountable j. profitable
EXERCISE 9-14
Complete each of the following sentences with the appropriate word in bold type from Reading 5. Be sure to use the correct form of each verb and to pluralize nouns if necessary.
1. Nelson Mandela ___________ black South Africans to overcome their suffering during the apartheid regime.
2. When the army moved into the capital, the rebels
___________ control and fled into the mountains.
3. Ventures that carry high financial risk can be very
---.; on the other hand, they can end in ruin.
4. Peace talks will __________ as soon as there is a ceasefire.