胡敏读故事记单词托福词汇171

　　171. The platitudinous¹ priest老调重弹的牧师 pioneer-platitudinous
There was a priest who, because of his plainspoken sermons, was considered pioneering in his field. When he gave his sermons, he would use plain language to avoid platitude³ and pique⁴ the interest of the congregation.
Of course any pious⁵ pioneer is going to have his antagonist⁶, and the priest was no exception. One Sunday morning, after passing around the collection plate, the priest was giving his sermon, “and God cursed the heathens with a plague” He had already reached a plateau, and as he was approaching the pivotal point, one of the men, who had been squirming and pivoting⁸ in his pew, suddenly stoop up and yelled, “Plagiarism⁹! Plagiarism!” The congregation began to grumble¹⁰. The priest, trying to placate¹¹ the congregation, said to the man, “Sir, if I have spoken any platitudinous remarks,” As the priest spoke² and gestured, he inadvertently knocked over a wine pitcher¹² next to the platform, which in turn fell into the orchestra pit and struck a boy soprano, who let out a high-pitched, ear-splitting shrill¹³. The rafters at the top of the church shook, a platelike piece of plaster followed by a plank¹⁴ fell and struck the antagonistic¹⁵ man.
As the man was lying in the ambulance with a bottle of plasma¹⁶ connected to his arm, a policeman said, “Who is the plaintiff here?” “I am,” said the man. “And who is the accused?” asked the policeman. “I am,” said the priest. The priest mumbled¹⁷ to himself, “It would have been better if I had been struck by the plague.”
The priest is now serving time at a penal¹⁸ plantation¹⁹.
pioneer n.开拓者,先驱,倡导者v.开辟,倡导
pioneering adj.开创性的
pious adj.(对宗教)虔诚的
pique vt.激起(好奇等),激怒
pit n. 坑,地坑,煤矿vt.使对抗,使相斗
pitch n.音高
pitcher n.大水罐,水壶
pivot⁷ n.枢轴,支点,(讨论的)中心点,重点
pivotal adj.枢轴的,关键的
placate v.安抚,平息愤怒
plagiarism n.剽窃,抄袭
plague n.瘟疫,灾祸vt.折磨,使苦恼
plain n.平原,草原adj.简单的,朴素的
plainspoken adj.直言不讳的
plaintiff n.原告
plank n.厚木板
plantation n.种植园
plasma n.血浆
plaster n. 灰泥,石膏vt.抹泥,涂
plate n.盘子,版图,大片平面,金银餐具
plateau n.高原
platelike adj.层状的
platform n.(车站)月台,平台
platitude n.陈词滥调
platitudinous adj.陈词滥调的,陈腐的

1 platitudinous   

adj.平凡的，陈腐的

参考例句：

• The whole speech was platitudinous nonsense. 整篇讲话都是陈谷子烂芝麻。 来自互联网
• What troubles me most about this is not the workshop or platitudinous questionnaire the DNA bit. 我最感到苦恼的还不是研讨班，也不是这种陈腐的问卷调查，而是机构DNA这码事。 来自互联网

2 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

3 platitude   

n.老生常谈，陈词滥调

参考例句：

• The talk is no more than a platitude. 这番话无非是老生常谈。
• His speech is full of platitude. 他的讲话充满了陈词滥调。

4 pique   

v.伤害…的自尊心，使生气 n.不满，生气

参考例句：

• She went off in a fit of pique.她一赌气就走了。
• Tom finished the sentence with an air of pique.汤姆有些生气地说完这句话。

5 pious   

adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的

参考例句：

• Alexander is a pious follower of the faith.亚历山大是个虔诚的信徒。
• Her mother was a pious Christian.她母亲是一个虔诚的基督教徒。

6 antagonist   

n.敌人，对抗者，对手

参考例句：

• His antagonist in the debate was quicker than he.在辩论中他的对手比他反应快。
• The thing is to know the nature of your antagonist.要紧的是要了解你的对手的特性。

7 pivot   

v.在枢轴上转动；装枢轴，枢轴；adj.枢轴的

参考例句：

• She is the central pivot of creation and represents the feminine aspect in all things.她是创造的中心枢轴，表现出万物的女性面貌。
• If a spring is present,the hand wheel will pivot on the spring.如果有弹簧，手轮的枢轴会装在弹簧上。

8 pivoting   

n.绕轴旋转，绕公共法线旋转v.（似）在枢轴上转动( pivot的现在分词 )；把…放在枢轴上；以…为核心，围绕（主旨）展开

参考例句：

• Here is a neat YouTube video showing the Gyro's pivoting mechanism. 这里是一个整洁的YouTube视频显示陀螺仪的旋转机制。 来自互联网
• Dart pivoting is widely used in the gannent pattern design. 省道转移的原理在服装纸样设计中应用十分广泛。 来自互联网

9 plagiarism   

n.剽窃，抄袭

参考例句：

• Teachers in America fight to control cheating and plagiarism.美国老师们努力对付欺骗和剽窃的问题。
• Now he's in real trouble.He's accused of plagiarism.现在他是真遇到麻烦了。他被指控剽窃。

10 grumble   

vi.抱怨；咕哝；n.抱怨，牢骚；咕哝，隆隆声

参考例句：

• I don't want to hear another grumble from you.我不愿再听到你的抱怨。
• He could do nothing but grumble over the situation.他除了埋怨局势之外别无他法。

11 placate   

v.抚慰，平息(愤怒)

参考例句：

• He never attempts to placate his enemy.他从不企图与敌人和解。
• Even a written apology failed to placate the indignant hostess.甚至一纸书面道歉都没能安抚这个怒气冲冲的女主人。

12 pitcher   

n.(有嘴和柄的)大水罐；(棒球)投手

参考例句：

• He poured the milk out of the pitcher.他从大罐中倒出牛奶。
• Any pitcher is liable to crack during a tight game.任何投手在紧张的比赛中都可能会失常。

13 shrill   

adj.尖声的；刺耳的；v尖叫

参考例句：

• Whistles began to shrill outside the barn.哨声开始在谷仓外面尖叫。
• The shrill ringing of a bell broke up the card game on the cutter.刺耳的铃声打散了小汽艇的牌局。

14 plank   

n.板条，木板，政策要点，政纲条目

参考例句：

• The plank was set against the wall.木板靠着墙壁。
• They intend to win the next election on the plank of developing trade.他们想以发展贸易的纲领来赢得下次选举。

15 antagonistic   

adj.敌对的

参考例句：

• He is always antagonistic towards new ideas.他对新思想总是持反对态度。
• They merely stirred in a nervous and wholly antagonistic way.他们只是神经质地，带着完全敌对情绪地骚动了一下。

16 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。

17 mumbled   

含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• He mumbled something to me which I did not quite catch. 他对我叽咕了几句话，可我没太听清楚。
• George mumbled incoherently to himself. 乔治语无伦次地喃喃自语。

18 penal   

adj.刑罚的；刑法上的

参考例句：

• I hope you're familiar with penal code.我希望你们熟悉本州法律规则。
• He underwent nineteen years of penal servitude for theft.他因犯了大窃案受过十九年的苦刑。

19 plantation   

n.种植园，大农场

参考例句：

• His father-in-law is a plantation manager.他岳父是个种植园经营者。
• The plantation owner has possessed himself of a vast piece of land.这个种植园主把大片土地占为己有。