20130111

aRMed and DanGErouS

Vocabulary:

  • werewolf: someone, who in stories, changes into a wolf at the time of full moon
  • folklore: the traditional local stories and culture of a group of people
    which creatures exist in the mythology or folklore of your country?
  • portray: to represent or describe someone or something in a painting
    how are animals often portrayed in cartoons and in films for children?
  • yacht: a boat with sails and sometimes with engine, used for racing or travelling
    the yacht was anchored 200 metres off the Queensland coast.
  • nauseous: feeling as if you might vomit
    i suddenly came over very nauseous.
  • agonising: causing extreme physical or mental pain
    Within minutes he was in agonizing pain, vomiting and struggling to breathe.
  • vomit: throw up
    he came home drunk and vomited all over the kitchen floor
  • vicious: describes people or actions that show an intention to hurt someone or something very badly
    He had been stung by a vicious creature named after an aboriginal tribe.
  • tribe: group of people, often of related families
    a tribe of Indians
  • tentacle: one of the long thin parts like arms of some sea creatures
    their transparent bodies are covered from head to tentacle tip in stinger cells.
  • harpoon: a long heavy spear fixed to a rope used for killing whales
  • venomous/venom: poisonous/poison
  • barb: the sharp part which points backwards from a fish hook, making it hard to remove it from something
  • brutish: rough, unpleasant and often violent; describes guys causing troubles based on physical strength.
    he was lucky not to have brushed up against it, a brutish creature the size of a birthday cake with sixty sting-encrusted tentacle.
  • flat: completely or to the greatest degree possible
    it can kill a grown man in three minutes flat.
  • rattle: to make a noise like a series of knocks
    rattled by bad publicity, the tourist industry has been pouring money into box jellyfish research. 
  • plough: to dig land with a plough
    in fact, it looks as though they have been plough a separate evolutionary furrow since the Pre-Cambrian period.
    plough one's furrow: follow a course of actions in which one is isolated or in which one can act independently
  • teeming: many, plenty
    the sea is teeming with unknown species.
  • cursory: quick and not detailed
    even a cursory survey has revealed more than a dozen underscribed ones.
  • dim-witted: not intelligent
  • voracious: very eager for something, very hungry
    one simple fact underlies this behaviour: box jellyfish are voracious predators.
  • predator versus prey
  • cuboid: a solid object with six rectangular sides
  • lethal: deadly
    their predatory eating habits also explain why they have such lethal toxins.
  • stalk: follow
  • flimsy: easily broken or thin
    it's one thing to stalk fish, but how do you catch them when all you have are flimsy, rubbery tentacles?
  • confine: to limit an activity in some way
    it was thought to be confined to northern Australian waters.
  • bout: period
    he was lucky to have a short bout -- it only took twenty hours for him to stop feeling like he was going to die.










No comments: