CHAPTER III: WORKSHEET # 55

WORKSHEET #55.

Let’s practice some expressions from the episode #55 of Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary! 

 

1.   The author’s fans were so stunned and disappointed when they realized that his life story in the autobiography was no more than a c_________ed-up (*meaning “invented/ made-up”) conf______________ and lies. (*meaning “the creation of false memories without intent to deceive/ conversation or discussion”)

 

2.   Jeff’s friends had a hard time holding back tears at the w___________ of his brother’s funeral. They knew how close Jeff and his older brother had been to each other. (*meaning “a gathering for family and friends to share memories and offer support to the grieving family, either before or after the funeral service”)

 

3.   Quite a few elderly patients tend to become del_____________ when they wake up from a long-hours of surgery. (*meaning “in an acutely disturbed state of mind resulting from illness or intoxication and characterized by restlessness, illusions, and incoherence of thought and speech”)

 

4.   Kim loved to quote Amelia Earhart’s words about passion and goals in life that people need to remember and un___________.: “Everyone have oceans to fly….. What do dreams know of boundaries?” (*meaning “to make or become spread out from a rolled or folded state”)

 

5.   Hilary was so reti____________ about her childhood. (*meaning “not revealing one's thoughts or feelings readily”)

 

6.   I’m not in the mood for another __________-up with you over this matter. You are the only one who still argues that it wasn’t your mistake. (*meaning “a fight/ a quarrel”)

 

7.   I just don’t get it each time I see you in a ti___________ about nothing important. Just take a deep breath and chill. (*meaning “to be worried/ nervous/ agitated about something”)

 

8.   The m______________ (*meaning “undertaker or funeral director”) asked the bereaved family to wait outside the room while he was em__________________ the body of their loving father. (*meaning “to preserve (a corpse) from decay, originally with spices and now usually by arterial injection of a preservative”)

 

9.   Mr. Rynearson always had an icebreaking chat with his students before diving right into the day’s lesson, which created a good ra______t with children. (*meaning “a close and harmonious relationship in which the people or groups concerned understand each other’s feelings or ideas and communicate well”)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Throughout this week, the grocery markets, roads, and the airports are going to be the places in the States where you might see more crowds than usual. The fourth Thursday in November marks one of the biggest national holidays called “Thanksgiving” when family and/or friends get together to celebrate the day with a large meal, most commonly featuring roast turkey. Other activities include watching American football or Thanksgiving Day parades, engaging in traditions like the "Friendsgiving" meal, reflecting on what they are grateful for, or participating in charitable activities. Since the picture of American family has immensely changed for all these years, there are a variety of different ways for people from around the world to celebrate this big holiday.

Today, let us have fun with a couple of traditional Thanksgiving Trivia Quiz!

 

1.  The holiday's origins are thought to date back to ___ ___21 near what is now Cape Cod, Massachusetts. English colonists called P_________ are said to have invited the native American tribe named W_____________and shared a meal to celebrate their first harvest, which they had planted with the help of the tribe.        

2. Traditionally, the centerpiece of dinner is a roasted __________ that is normally served with sweet potatoes or y_______. Stuffing that fills the inside of the main dish is a mixture of bread cubes, onions, c__________y and herbs. On the side, mashed potato with gravy, green beans, huge chunk of ham with cr__________ sauce, mac & cheese, and creamy pumpkin soup are served. 

 

3.  So, do you think all that Americans do to celebrate Thanksgiving holiday is just having huge meals? Nope. On Thanksgiving morning, many people wake up early to run in local races (often for charity) called turkey ___________s. Other folks watch a Thanksgiving parade in person or on television. The largest and most iconic parade is the _____________'s Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City.

 

    4.  Many families spend hours watching NFL (National Football League), college and even high school football games in person or on television. Traditionally, NFL teams in Dallas, T_________, and Detroit, Mi____________, host games.

 

    5.  Thanksgiving is not a fun time for turkeys in the United States. One of the country's funnier traditions is having the president of the United States ________________ one turkey. The lucky bird's life is spared and it spends its final years at Mount Vernon in V_______________, the former estate of the nation’s first president, George Washington.

 

    6.  The day after Thanksgiving is celebrated as a different type of holiday, known as B___________ Friday. Stores across the nation offer extended business hours, deep discounts, and special promotions. Quite a few businesses don't even wait until Friday for their sales to begin. They open their doors on Thanksgiving evening. Intrepid shoppers have been known to line up hours before shops open, eager to take advantage of steep discounts. Some crazy shoppers would go to the mall’s parking lot late at night of Thanksgiving and sleep in their cars to rush to the store on the daybreak of Friday. If they haven’t had a chance to cop anything good on Friday, they enjoy the last-minute shopping spree on the C___________ Monday.

 

 

ANSWER KEYS

1.     1621, Pilgrims, Wampanoag

2.     turkey, yam, cranberry

3.     trots, Macy’s

4.     Texas, Michigan

5.     pardon, Virginia

6.     Black, Cyber

     Here I am sharing a small piece of poem that I wrote when I visited a museum of Native American Tribes in Cleveland. To quite a lot of indigenous peoples, Thanksgiving could be the beginning of a sad history between the original owners and the invaders of the land.

An Ode to Cuyahoga Valley

by Jean Jiyoung Lee

 

Along the twists and turns of the river,

All the leaves dredged in summer green holler with pain.

Listening to their roar,

We were led back to the remnant of the old days slain.

 

Who was it wearing innocent smiles in the upland plateau?

When was it that the indefatigable spirit got ousted with tear?

The Great blue Heron in the valley gives you a magnificent wing span

quite pseudo,

But her eyes are telling you the past in fear.

 

Streaming sounds mixed in the waterfall

Echo the voice lost for good, I'd say.

Breezy forest full of weeping wild flowers so tall

Resembles the hopeless eyes of yesterday.

CHAPTER III: WORKSHEET #54 (based on the Sequel Love Story to Episode #53)

WORKSHEET #54.

Let’s practice some expressions from the episode #54 of Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary! 

 

1.   The mayor is such a deceiving snolly_______________ who never cares about enhancing the city. He is emblematic of mammonism. (*meaning “shrewd, unprincipled person, especially a politician”)

 

2.   Theo feels that his girlfriend has been acting sh____________ (*meaning”to ack fake or sketchy and not trustworthy”) lately, which means time is ticking ‘till the moment comes when she for_________ (*meaning “to give up/ to let go of…”) this relationship.

 

3.   It looks like those two retail stores stand _________ to _________ with each other in our town. (*meaning “to be willing to confront/ compete/ fight with ….”)

 

4.   Her beauty was out of this ______________ (*meaning “very impressive or extremely good or excellent”) even though she was wearing a cheap ___________off (*meaning “a cheap imitation of a product”) necklace at the party.

 

5.   I’m not attracted to fli___________ man who keeps changing his attitude. (*meaning “lacking stability or steadiness/ capricious or changing/ unreliable”)

 

6.   My hubby and I had exchanged a ton of love letters. When we were apart, we felt absence would make the heart grow f__________. (*meaning “when someone or something is far away, you realize how much you love or miss them”)

 

7.   It’s time to lux____________ in watching movies! How could we release the weeklong stress without this family time?! (*meaning “to indulge in…/ to enjoy ….to the fullest”)

 

8.   William tends to finds fault with people around and deni__________ (*meaning “to criticize unfairly/ to disparage”) even their big or small achievement. That’s why most people call him a smell____________. (*meaning “a person who is a habitual faultfinder, complainer, or grumbler”)

 

9.   Greg is a de____________ of hunting in the woods. (*meaning “a person who is very interested in and enthusiastic about someone or something”)

 

10.             ____________ enough (*meaning “something is surprising or unexpected, often because it's strange, peculiar, or a curious coincidence”), I saw her in my dream last night and she gave me a call today.

 

11.             10 hours of d____g every day is way too much! (*meaning “(Scottish dialect of English) a day’s work”)

 

12.             I want you to stop ob____________ me by making simple things sound hard to understand! (*meaning “to make something less clear and harder to understand, especially intentionally”)

 

13.             It seemed that everybody had been working their ______ off to make my niece’s wedding ceremony perfect. (*meaning “to work very hard to achieve something or finish a task”)

 

14.             We're all packed and ready to go; we can leave at the drop of a ___________. (*meaning “to do something immediately or without hesitation”)

Time to play the NPR Word Puzzle! Check how good you are with the phonetics of English words!

 This is a phonetic puzzle. I'm going to give you some sentences. Each sentence contains homophones of two opposites/ antonyms. (Ex. People in Albany enunciate well. --> all, none) Try to hear the SOUNDS of words, (NOT their spellings) in each sentence to find two antonyms.

 

Note: The homophones may be buried inside words, but they're always discreet syllables. They always change spelling from their parts in the sentence.

 

1. The model wore a timepiece on her ankle.

2. Who will underwrite the cost of the sarong?

3. This is a rare Bolivian diamond.

4. The customer got a souvenir from the pharmacy.

5. Let's celebrate by throwing a party.

6. The stoker must reignite the furnace daily.

7. Can buffalo experience hypertension?

 

Answer Keys

    1.   (wore, timepiece): war, peace

    2.   (underwrite, sarong): right, wrong

    3.   (Bolivian diamond): live, die

    4.   (souvenir, pharmacy): near, far

    5.   (celebrate, by): sell, buy

    6.   (reignite, daily): night, day

    7.   (buffalo, hypertension): low, high

CHAPTER III: WORKSHEET 53 of Dr. Jedidiah's Diary

WORKSHEET #53

Let’s practice some expressions from the episode #53 of Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary! 

  

    1.   She has become a painfully disciplined perfectionist because she grew up under the strict parental t_______________e. (*meaning “protection or guardianship of parents”)

 

    2.   My boss doesn’t allow us to enjoy bad____________ in the meeting. He is such a rigid and inflexible man who can hardly ever stand frolic atmosphere at work. (*meaning “humorous and witty conversation”)

 

    3.   So ________ for our plans to travel abroad! (*meaning “an idiom used to express that something has ended or is no longer valid, often with a sense of disappointment or resignation”)

 

    4.   Not every actor could ______________ up all their courage like Tom Cruise to pull off such a lot of stunts as hanging from the side of a plane, skydiving, or climbing the world's tallest building. (*meaning “to try hard to find that quality in yourself because you need it in order to do something”)

 

5.   We’re over. You understand what I mean? I said so, and ________’s that. (*meaning “There is nothing more to say or do about it. The speaker is trying to indicate that he/she is not changing their decision.”)

 

    6.   Jessie has had a rough _______  of it since he divorced. (*meaning “to have a very difficult experience”)

 

    7.   The j__________d magician did not seem to show enthusiasm at the show anymore. (*meaning “tired; exhausted; bored; lacking zeal”)

 

    8.   I’m afraid she will freak out if Tim keeps showing her lim_________. (*meaning “a state of deep infatuation or romantic desire for someone”)

 

    9.   The politician is notorious for hemming and h___________ instead of revealing his stance in public. (*meaning “to hesitate; to be indecisive; to avoid giving a definite answer or position”)

 

    10.  The actor has gained critical acc_______________ from top notch film critics from many countries. (*meaning “to earn/ achieve enthusiastic approval”)

CHAPTER III: WORKSHEET #52 of Dr. Jedidiah's Diary

WORKSHEET #52. Let’s practice some expressions from the episode #52 of Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary! 

1. Jack felt embarrassed each time his wife p_______ him down in front of his friends. (*meaning “to disapprove or criticize someone or something”) 

   

    2.   Larry needs to cut down on sweet belly ____________ to stay fit. (*meaning “soft drinks”)

 

    3.   A flo_________t was added to the sample to make the impurities clump together so they could be removed. (*meaning “a substance which promotes the clumping of particles, especially one used in treating wastewater; containing, consisting of, or occurring in the form of loosely aggregated particles or soft flakes”)

 

    4.   Meg didn’t seem to have learned about funeral de____________. She was frowned upon by the way she behaved at her friend’s father’s funeral. (*meaning ”etiquette/behavior in keeping with good taste and propriety”)

 

    5.   Benjamin made a terrible mistake on that TV talk show, which has long been a c____________  celebre in show biz for a while. (*meaning “(French term) "famous case" that refers to a legal case, controversy, or incident that attracts significant public attention and interest”)

 

    6.   Did you mean it when you said you r___________ the day that we met? (*meaning “to bitterly regret”)

 

    7.   Bezos may be a key player in the Silicon Valley scheme to destroy privacy and ratchet up excess in the interest of mamm__________. (*meaning “the greedy pursuit of riches”)

 

    8.   John is scratching a living on the p___________y, but always donates small amount of money to the needy people in his community. (*meaning “to earn only just enough money to live”)

 

    9.   The movie was severely fl____________ by the critics because of its lack of verisimilitude. (*meaning “beat (someone) with a whip or stick as punishment or torture; or (figurative meaning of) to criticize somneone”)

 

10. Stephen was recognized for his business ac____________ by all his colleagues and higherups at work. (*meaning “the ability to make good judgments and quick decisions, typically in a particular domain”)

 

    11. I don’t expect any nic________________ at this Christmas party with friends. (*meaning “a refined, elegant, or choice feature, as of manner or living. working hard to acquire the niceties of life”)

 

12.  As a chef, restaur___________ Emeril Lagasse is known for his dynamic personality and his role in introducing Creole cuisine to a global audience. I love the way he adds lots of garlic and cheese to his dish, saying “bam!!!” (*meaning “a person who owns and manages a restaurant”) 

CHAPTER III: WORKSHEET #51 of Dr. Jedidiah's Diary

WORKSHEET #51.

Let’s practice some expressions from the episode #51 of Dr. Jedidiah’s Diary! 

 

1.   At some point in life, people come to face the moment of epi_______________ that changes their fixed perspectives towards the world. (*meaning “a usually sudden manifestation or perception of the essential nature or meaning of something”)

 

2.   This had been Arnold’s favorite wa_________ hole in town where he would sit back and enjoy a couple of beers with his buddies after work. (*meaning “a tavern or bar”)

 

3.   Brian popped the question to Jenn with a bunch of flowers and a diamond ring, which threw her for a ________________. (*meaning “to cause someone to be confused or shocked”)

 

4.   Back in the Midwest town, it had been dangerous to run outside, especially in the trails when you expected a proc________________ weather outside. (*meaning “stormy or turbulent”)

 

5.   He intended the book to be the cr______________ glory of his career as an author. (*meaning “the best/ the most/ the greatest”)

 

6.   Mike did not want to visit the mall with his children where a lot of shoppers are m____________ about, which could cause a pandemonium as they spot him and his kids. Such is a sad life of a high-profile celebrity’s! (*meaning “to move around with no obvious purpose”)

 

7.   Don’t fall for that guy. He is a g_____________ liar. (*meaning “(of words or the person speaking them) fluent and voluble but insincere and shallow”)

 

8.   After graduating, Toby was in l_________ for a few months before finding his first job. (*meaning “in an uncertain period of awaiting a decision or resolution; an intermediate state or condition”)

 

9.   I liked the way he delivered his ideas and thoughts at the conference. His speech was concise without any undue pro______________. (*meaning “the state or quality of being unnecessarily or tediously wordy; verbosity”)

 

10.           Ethan has some kind of photopic or eid________ memory. He took advantage of that special capacity while cramming and taking exams at school. However, he knew the memory wouldn’t last long. (*meaning “photographic memory marked by or involving extraordinarily accurate and vivid recall especially or visual images”)

 

11.           As the doctor ann__________ the elite runner’s scathed skin with special antibiotic ointment, he said “This could leave a scar later on, but it’d be another badge of honor as a winner of this race!” (*meaning “to rub (with oil)”  )

 

12.           Angela’s con________________ smile always makes me feel like a million dollar! (*meaning “pleasant/ agreeable/ friendly”)

 

13.           How I love the editorial cartoonist’s cari______________s of many stooges in the political world! (*meaning “a picture, description, or imitation of a person in which certain striking characteristics are exaggerated in order to create a comic or grotesque effect”)

 

14.           The pain in expecting or waiting for a positive future without any specific ground or reasoning lies in the aor____________ possibility. (*meaning “unlimited, unbounded, indeterminate, debatable ..”)

 

15.           Gavin has such an innocent and gui___less smile that makes me fall in love. (*meaning “innocent without deception”)

 

16.           Everyone at work accused him of lacking work ethics, but he was l_________less, too sick and weak to say much of anything to defend myself. (*meaning “lethargic/ lacking energy or enthusiasm”)