Spotlight on Terminology and Language – ESL
Pointers
Page 112 “Air—or some other medium, such
as water—is necessary to make the vibrations
of objects reach us.”
Module 10: Hearing and the Other Senses
Page 111 “The blast-off was easy compared with
what the astronaut was experiencing now: space
sickness.”
A blast-off is the initial thrust and acceleration
that occurs when rocket ships launch into space.
Page 111“The constant nausea and vomiting were
enough to make him wonder why he had worked
so hard to become an astronaut.”
Nausea is a condition in which your stomach is
unsettled and feels like it is rolling and tightening.
This can lead to vomiting, which is the contents of
your stomach coming back out of your mouth (i.e.,
throwing up, barfing)
Page 111 “This sense allows people to navigate
their bodies through the world and keep
themselves upright without falling.”
Upright is vertically upward. You are upright
when you are standing.
Page 111“The outer ear acts as a reverse
megaphone, designed to collect and bring sounds
into the internal portions of the ear (see Figure 1).”
A megaphone is a cone shaped objected used to
increase the loudness of sound.
Page 111 “Sounds, arriving at the outer ear in the
form of wavelike vibrations, are funneled into the
auditory canal, a tube like passage that leads to the
eardrum.”
A funnel is a cone-shaped tool used for pouring
liquids into a small opening, as when changing the
oil in a car. When things like sound waves are
funneled they are being directed or guided into a
particular place.
Page 112 “If you have ever seen an audio speaker
that has no enclosure, you know that, at least
when the lowest notes are playing, you can see the
speaker moving in and out.”
An enclosure is an area that is closed off from
another area, like a box.
A medium is a substance that holds or
sustains something else, like paper supporting
the ink that makes up the words on this page.
Page 112 “This explains why there can be no
sound in a vacuum.”
A vacuum is an area, whether it is outer space
or inside an enclosure, that contains nothing;
no material (solid, liquid or gas) of any kind or
shape.
Page 113 “There are two official sign
language systems in Canada.
Sign language is a system of communication
for people who cannot hear, that uses finger
and hand movements to represent letters,
sounds and words.
Page 115 “After an auditory message leaves
the ear, it is transmitted to the auditory cortex
of the brain through a complex series of neural
interconnections.”
Transmit is to pass something on, send
something, or cause something to spread, from
one person, thing, or place to another. Many
diseases are transmitted by air-borne droplets.
An interconnection is a location where two
things are joined together.
Page 115 “Some neurons respond only to a
specific pattern of sounds, such as a steady
tone but not an intermittent one.”
When something is intermittent it happens at
irregular or unpredictable times.
Page 115 “The semicircular canals of the inner
ear (refer to Figure 1) consist of three tubes
containing fluid that sloshes through them
when the head moves, signaling rotational or
angular movement to the brain.”
When something sloshes, it moves with a
splashing motion.
When something rotates it goes around or moves
in a circle. Rotational motion is circular motion.
Angular means pointed or sharp, like a shape
made by an angle. Angular movement is motion
with many sharp turns.
Page 116 ‘It was like sulfuric acid,’ he said. ‘It
was like the hottest thing you could imagine
boring into your mouth.’”
Sulfuric acid is a very strong liquid chemical that
will burn skin on contact.
Page 116 “After extensive testing, it became clear
that he had damaged the nerves involved in his
sense of taste, probably because of a viral
infection or a medicine he was taking.”
Extensive means that something continues for a
long time or is wide-reaching.
A virus is a tiny parasite that lives in a host body.
When the virus reproduces quickly, it is called a
viral infection.
Page 116 “Although many animals have keener
abilities to detect odors than we do, the human
sense of smell (olfaction) permits us to detect
more than 10,000 separate smells.”
Page 117 “Umami is a hard-to-translate
Japanese word, although the English ‘meaty’
or ‘savory’ comes close.”
Meaty refers to something that is substantial.
Savory means full of flavor.
Page 117 “Ultimately, every taste is simply a
combination of the basic flavor qualities, in
the same way that the primary colors blend
into a vast variety of shades and hues
(Dilorenzo & Youngentob, 2003; Yeomans et
al., 2007).”
A hue is a shade of a color.
Page 117 “Some people, dubbed
‘supertasters’, are highly sensitive to taste;
they have twice as many taste receptors as
‘nontasters’, who are relatively insensitive to
taste.”
To dub some one is to name them.
Page 117 “But even though the initial injury
healed, the excruciating, burning pain
accompanying it did not go away.”
Excruciating pain is pain that hurts so much
that it is unbearable.
The keen sense of smell allows some animals to
sense very minor differences and distinctions in
smell.
Page 117 “Pain like Darling’s can be
devastating, yet a lack of pain can be equally
bad.”
Page 116 “We also have a good memory for
smells, and long-forgotten events and memories
can be brought back with the mere whiff of an
odor associated with a memory (DiLorenzo &
Youngentob, 2003; Stevenson & Case, 2005;
Willander & Larsson, 2006).”
When something is devastating it is
overwhelmingly demoralizing or upsetting.
A whiff is a slight or brief odor, just a trace of a
smell of something.
Page 109 “The sense of smell is sparked when the
molecules of a substance enter the nasal passages
and meet olfactory cells, the receptor neurons of
the nose, which are spread across the nasal
cavity.”
To spark something is to create it. The molecules
of a substance spark, or create, the smell.
Page 119 “In contrast, even a minor stimulus
can produce the perception of strong pain if it
is accompanied by anxiety (like a visit to the
dentist).”
Anxiety refers to a feeling of dread – being
scared or worried – when the situation does
not cause the feeling, but what one thinks of
the situation.
Page 120 “When these receptors are activated
because of an injury or problem with a part of
the body, a ‘gate’ to the brain is opened,
allowing us to experience the sensation of pain
(Melzack & Katz, 2004).”
A gate is a door or opening.
Page 120 “Some of these variations are
astounding.”
When something is astounding it is so amazing it
is unbelievable, or beyond belief.
Page 120 “For example, in India people who
participate in the ‘hook-swinging’ ritual to
celebrate the power of the gods have steel hooks
embedded under the skin and muscles of their
backs.”
Embedded means something that is inside
something else, like a nail in a piece of wood.
Page 113 “What would seem likely to induce
excruciating pain instead produces a state of
celebration and near euphoria.”
Euphoria is a state of great joy.
Page 121 “Psychologists and medical specialists
have devised several strategies to fight pain”
When something is devised, it is thought up,
planned and then built (or, written or drawn).
Page 121 “Still, because of the danger that other
bodily functions will be affected, surgery is a
treatment of last resort used most frequently with
dying patients (Cullinane, Chu, & Mamelak,
2002).”
When you have a choice of actions, your last
resort is the choice that carries the most risks, so
it is the action you after you do everything else
you can to solve the problem.
Page 122 “For instance, increasing evidence from
brain imaging studies show that the senses work in
tandem to build our understanding of the world
around us (see Figure 6; Macaluso & Driver,
2005).”
Tandem means two things working together to do
one thing; on a tandem bicycle – a bicycle built
for two -- both sets of pedals are connected, so the
person in front and the person in back both pedal
at the same rate to move forward.