16：英検対策準1級（Eiken Grade Pre-1）

12: Eiken Grade Pre-1 Vocabularies Lesson 12

Part 1: Vocabulary words

1. relevant adjective (rel-uh-vuhnt)

bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent

◼ Example: Income is relevant insofar as it shows consumers' purchasing power.
◻ Note: alternative words for relevant are important and significant

2. widespread adjective (wahyd-spred)

distributed over a wide region, or occurring in many places or among many persons or individuals

◼ Example: Beginning in the past decades, some formerly widespread species have declined severely and now have a restricted range.
◻ Note: Widespread is a compound word from wide + spread to mean far-reaching or far-flung.

3. superpower noun (soo-per-pou-er)

an extremely powerful nation, especially one capable of influencing international events and the acts and policies of less powerful nations.

◼ Example: America was the capitalist superpower and the USSR (Russia) was the communist superpower during the Cold War era.
◻ Note: Superpower usually denotes a nation which has global dominion in politics, economics and military. Do you consider Japan as a superpower? Why or why not?

4. hydrogen noun (hahy-druh-juhn)

a colorless, odorless, flammable gas that combines chemically with oxygen to form water

◼ Example: Because there is so much hydrogen in stars, it is by far the most abundant element in the universe.
◻ Note: (Chemistry/Physics)The lightest chemical element; its symbol is H. Hydrogen normally consists of a single electron in orbit around a nucleus made up of a single proton.

5. pilgrim noun (pil-grim, -gruhm)

a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion

◼ Example: Hundreds of years ago, English knights protected pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land, which is the Kingdom of Israel.
◻ Note: related words are explorer and traveler

6. discomfort noun (dis-kuhm-fert)

an absence of comfort or ease; uneasiness, hardship, or mild pain

◼ Example: Having high temperatures is a major discomfort during the summer season.
◻ Note: should not be confused with discomfit, which means ‘to confuse’ (e.g. The army was discomfited in every battle.)

7. autograph noun (aw-tuh-graf, -grahf)

a person's own signature

◼ Example: Basketballs with autographs of Michael Jordan, a famous NBA player, are now on sale on eBay and Amazon for as high as a thousand US dollars apiece.
◻ Note: from the Latin word autographum, which means "written with one's own hand"

8. detention noun (dih-ten-shuhn)

custody or confinement, especially of a suspect awaiting trial

◼ Example: The Chinese government protested against the detention of 14 Chinese activists arrested by the Japanese government for landing a month ago on one of the Senkaku islands.
◻ Note: from Latin word. detinere, which relates to a sense of "confinement"

9. legislation noun (lej-is-ley-shuhn)

a law or a body of laws enacted

◼ Example: US President Obama’s legislation on health care had an impact on his 2012 reelection bid.
◻ Note: related words are act, bill and charter

10. existence noun (ig-zis-tuhns)

the state or fact of existing; being

◼ Example: The famous Physicist Stephen Hawking believes in the existence of aliens, which, according to him, would probably come to Earth in search of resources and would be bent on our destruction.
◻ Note: Do you believe in the existence of aliens? Why or why not?

Part 2: Exercise 1

Give the word being asked for each number.

◼ Existence

◼ Detention

◼ Legislation

◼ Discomfort

◼ Autograph

◼ Superpower

◼ Hydrogen

◼ Pilgrim

◼ Relevant

◼ Widespread

_______________ 1. distributed over a wide region, or occurring in many places or among many persons or individuals

_______________ 2. an extremely powerful nation, especially one capable of influencing international events and the acts and policies of less powerful nations

_______________ 3. the state or fact of existing; being

_______________ 4. a law or a body of laws enacted

_______________ 5. a colorless, odorless, flammable gas that combines chemically with oxygen to form water

_______________ 6. an absence of comfort or ease; uneasiness, hardship, or mild pain.

_______________ 7. a person who journeys, especially a long distance, to some sacred place as an act of religious devotion

_______________ 8. custody or confinement, especially of a suspect awaiting trial

_______________ 9. bearing upon or connected with the matter in hand; pertinent

_______________10. a person's own signature

Part 2: Exercise 2

Choose the correct words to complete the sentences below.

1) It takes two molecules of the diatomic _________ gas, combined with one molecule of the diatomic oxygen gas to produce two molecules of water. This is why we have the chemical formula H20.

a. Hydrogen

b. Detention

c. Superpower

d. Pilgrim

2) U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said that a war with an emerging _________ like China would mean World War Three. Of course, nobody hopes for a war to transpire, however, this kind of thing is sometimes imminent.

a. Relevant

b. Legislation

c. Superpower

d. Pilgrim

3) Singers usually have their _________ signing sessions after their major concerts. Thousands of fans wait in line for hours and hours just to get a closer glimpse of their idol and have their shirts or CDs signed by them.

a. Existence

b. Legislation

c. Discomfort

d. Autograph

4) Diarrhea is a _________ disease in most parts of Africa mainly due to the lack of clean drinking water. This is a very common problem most especially among tourists who made the wrong move in drinking tap water.

a. Superpower

b. Detention

c. Autograph

d. Widespread

5) Backache is a major _________ for workers who spend all day in front of their desks. A sedentary lifestyle adversely affects the backbone by overly compressing the lower part of it.

a. Relevant

b. Detention

c. Widespread

d. Discomfort

6) Against widening violent Middle East protests sparked by an anti-Islam film, Pope Benedict XVI began a two-day pilgrimage to Lebanon declaring that he was there as a "_______ of peace” to the entire region.

a. Pilgrim

b. Widespread

c. Superpower

d. Detention

7) Aung San Suu Kyi, a Burmese opposition politician, was released from _________ in 1989 and since then has become one of the most prominent figures who has advocated for freedom and democracy.

a. Pilgrim

b. Discomfort

c. Detention

d. Legislation

8) Space exploration is not only _________ to humanity’s curiosity of the great beyond but also it is a very important leap for the future of the earth and all of us living on it.

a. Autograph

b. Relevant

c. Detention

d. Existence

9) NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover, which landed on the planet Mars in August of 2012, could provide evidences whether there was indeed substantial proof of the _________ of life on the “Red Planet”.

a. Detention

b. Widespread

c. Superpower

d. Existence

10) The British Congress made several revisions regarding the _________ on domestic violence, which accounts for around 16 percent of all violent crimes in Britain.

a. Existence

b. Legislation

c. Widespread

d. Detention