Today's Word List - Learning

Abhor

means, To regard with horror or loathing, detest vehemently 

To hate a way of behaving or thinking, often because you think it is not moral 

Example Scenario:

“Nature abhors the old, and old age seems the only disease; all others run into this one.”  

  "He abhors cats"

  "Abhor the evil, hold on to what is good"

Abject

Brought low in condition or status.

Being of the most contemptible kind: abject cowardice.
Being of the most miserable kind; wretched; abject poverty.

Example Scenario:

"abject cowardice"

 "abject sorrow"

 

Abjure

Renounce upon oath,

To recant solemnly; renounce or repudiate 

To state publicly that you no longer agree with a belief or way of behaving.

Example Scenario:

"Our doors for peace talks with the ULFA are open, but then they have to abjure violence and give up the demand of sovereignty," the chief minister told journalists. 

Abrasive

 adj. Causing abrasion:
 adj. Harsh and rough in manner: an unpleasant, abrasive personality.
 n. A substance that abrades.

"Ana scratched the stove-top with an abrasive cleanser"

"Another type of personality disorder is the assertive or sadistic personality. They act abrasive and harsh around others and have an overall hostile attitude to them. They act in random outbursts and in an unexpected nature. They are daring and are drawn towards challenges, risks and harm. They are undeterred by things most people would be, such as pain, danger, or punishment. Instead, these risks draw then nearer. These types of people get satisfaction from intimidating or humiliating others. They are usually verbally abusive, and may be physically abusive and brutal as well. They are usually close-minded and extremely opinionated, and feel there beliefs are superior. They are also usually prejudice and like to hold themselves higher up than others. They are proud of their strength and their competitive assertiveness and like to show themselves as dominating and powerful. Sometimes they may be unaware of their own destructiveness. These type of people will do whatever it takes to get what and where they wand and are willing to do harm to get what they what they want."

GRE Word List - Describing People

GRE Study Guide/Books Overview

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Read Chris's vocabulary articles at http://magoosh.com/gre/

Today's Reading Comprehension - Quality of Dreams

Directions: Answer the question based on the following passage.

Sometimes, or should one say most of the times, there seems to be no logical reasoning for the events that take place in most people’s dreams although this statement also has to be taken with more than a large grain of salt. Over the period of centuries, since people started getting interested in analyzing dreams, everyone from Plato to Jung to Freud and many others have gone on and proposed theories about the meaning and import of dreams and dreaming. One often wonders if all the embroilment and the gaggle of voices is a tool to satisfy individual, super-size egos rather than satisfy the thirst for interpretation of a phenomenon that has puzzled, fascinated and baffled man since ages.

One school of thought goes with the idea of a conscious, a subconscious and an unconscious mind and feels that dreams are the bridges that connect these three parts of the human psyche. They feel that all that we dream is a sum result of all our desires - suppressed and expressed, our emotions overt and covert, and our experiences - good and the bad. This school feels that dreaming is an activity of the brain that exercises it when we sleep. Just as walking, running etc are physiological workouts, the sequence of dreams - remembered and forgotten - contributes an essential and vital input in the development of the muscles of our brain. This, being a kind of simplistic explanation perhaps, could not curry favor with the researchers looking for more esoteric explanations for the same ang that has spawned an entire industry that thrives on offering various, often discordant postulations for something that perhaps is very important - as worthwhile as it gets. Cases in point are the two explanations given by Burdach and Weygandt. While one asserts that dreams are a kind of a safety valve that take the mind away from the trials and tribulations of the present, the other view asserts that dreams are intimately and inextricably connected to our present state of affairs. Just as the former explanation finds it hard to give an irrefutable evidence for its correctness; the latter also flounders when put to the rack.

According to the passage, which of the following cannot be a quality of dreams?

1.  They epitomize various schools of interpretations.

2.  They are a form of psychical conditioning.

3.  They are a circumvention tool for the cognitive faculties.

4.  They provide the illusion of an elusion.

5.  They are a coupling for the overt and the covert.

Paul Anka - Put Your Head On My Shoulder (1963 Version)

Lyrics:

Put your head on my shoulder
Hold me in your arms, baby
Squeeze me oh so tight
Show me that you love me too

Put your lips next to mine, dear
Won't you kiss me once, baby
Just a kiss goodnight, maybe
You and I will fall in love
(You and I will fall in love)

People say that love's a game
A game you just can't win
If there's a way
I'll find it someday
And then this fool with rush in

Put your head on my shoulder
Whisper in my ear, baby
Words I want to hear
Tell me, tell me that you love me too
(Tell me that you love me too)

Put your head on my shoulder
Whisper in my ear, baby
Words I want to hear, baby
Put your head on my shoulder

The Platters - Only You

Lyrics:

Only you
can make this world seem right
Only you
can make the darkness bright
Only you and you alone
can thrill me like you do
and fill my heart with love for only you

Only you
can make this change in me
For it's true
you are my destiny
When you hold my hand, I understand
the magic that you do
You're my dream come true
my one and only you, only you

Only you and you alone
can thrill me like you do
and fill my heart with love for only you

Only you
can make this change in me
For it's true
you are my destiny
When you hold my hand, i understand
the magic that you do do
You're my dream come true
my one my one my one and only you

Mario Lanza - The Donkey Serenade

There's a song in the air,
But the fair senorita
Doesn't seem to care
For the song in the air.
So I'll sing to the mule
If you're sure she won't think that I am just a fool
Serenading a mule.

Amigo mio, does she not have a dainty bray?
She listens carefully to each little word we play.
La bella senorita?
Si, si, mi muchachito,
She'd love to sing it too if only she knew the way.
But try as she may,
In her voice there's a flaw!
And all that the lady can say Is "e-e-aw!"
Senorita donkey sita, not so fleet as a mosquito,
But so sweet like my Chiquita,
You're the one for me.

There's a light in her eye,
Tho' she may try to hide it,
She cannot deny,
There's a light in her eye.
Oh! the charm of her smile
So beguiles all who see her
That they'd ride a mile
For the charm of her smile.

Amigo mio, is she listenin' to my song?
No, no, mi muchachito, how could you be so wrong?
La bella senorita?
Si, si, la senorita,
She loves to sing it to me
If only she knew all the words,

Her face is a dream
Like an angel I saw!
But all that my darlin' can scream
Is: "e-e-aw!"
Senorita donkey sita, not so fleet as a mosquito,
But so sweet like my Chiquita,
You're the one for me.