省级精品课程
《高级英语》第三版第一册
制作人：徐李洁
Lesson 5
Libido
for the
Ugly
-- Henry Louis Mencken
(1880-1956)
Objectives of Teaching Unit 7
• To familiarize students with subjective
writing.
• To memorize all the new words in the
text.
• To enable students appreciate the
figures of speech
Henry Louis Mencken (1880-1956)
• Born in Baltimore City, USA, September 12, 1880 to a family of cigar
makers.
• Baltimore Morning Herald as a reporter
• Mencken was no ordinary reporter. Mencken was well known for his
commentary during the Scopes Monkey Trial in 1929. As a free-lance
columnist, his columns addressed many of the social issues of the day,
ranging from civil rights and social Darwinism to Prohibition and the
Great Depression.
• In addition to his reporting and editing career in periodical
publications, Mencken also published over thirty books during his
lifetime, his best known being The American Language, an exhaustive
survey of American English. three volumes of his autobiography,
Happy Days, Newspaper Days, and Heathen Days.
• Died in 1956, at the age of 75.
Mencken’s quotations
A cynic is a man who, when he smells a flower, looks around for a coffin.
Mencken's Creed

I believe that religion, generally speaking, has been a curse to mankind - that
its modest and greatly overestimated services on the ethical side have been more
than overcome by the damage it has done to clear and honest thinking.
I believe that no discovery of fact, however trivial, can be wholly useless to
the race, and that no trumpeting of falsehood, however virtuous in intent, can be
anything but vicious.
I believe that all government is evil, in that all government must necessarily
make war upon liberty...
I believe that the evidence for immortality is no better than the evidence of
witches, and deserves no more respect.
I believe in the complete freedom of thought and speech...
I believe in the capacity of man to conquer his world, and to find out what it
is made of, and how it is run.
I believe in the reality of progress.
I - But the whole thing, after all, may be put very simply. I believe that it is
better to tell the truth than to lie. I believe that it is better to be free than to be a
slave. And I believe that it is better to know than be ignorant.
• Pittsburgh: a city in Southwest Pennsylvania. It is one of the
most important industrial cities of America, and a center of rail
and river transportation. Termed the “Steel City” or “Smoky
City”, it is the center of rich bituminous-coal(生煤) region,
producing also natural gas, oil and limestone; a large part of U.S.
steel and iron is produced here.
• Westmoreland county: a county in Southwest Pennsylvania. Its
county seat is Greensburg. It is a mining and manufacturing
region.
• Greensburg: a county city of Westmoreland county, Southwest
central Pennsylvania. 25 miles east southwest of Pittsburg.
Pennsylvania
Objective vs. Subjective
• Objective, realistic or expository: the intent of the writer is to
inform or explain. He records what his senses detect, much like
a black and white photograph. He paints with words an
objective and impersonal picture, selecting factual details and
using denotative and concrete words to avoid an emotional or
distorted reproduction.
• Subjective, impressionistic or emotional: the purpose of the
writer is to share with the reader a single dominant impression.
He selects words rich in connotative meaning and appeals
strongly to the senses.
Dominant impression of ugliness
• Nouns:
desolation, filth, grime, horror, ugliness,
monstrousness, grotesqueries
• Adjectives:
hideous, bleak, forlorn, abominable, dirty, horrible,
misshapen, shabby, uncomely, dingy, decomposing,
shocking, loathsome, gloomy, God-forsaken,
frightful, putrid, ghastly, unlovely, diabolical,
dreadful, macabre, depressing
• phrases:
appalling desolation, dreadfully hideous, intolerably
bleak, unbroken and agonizing ugliness, revolting
monstrousness, incomparable
• Images:
leprous hill, uremic yellow, eczematous patches, malarious
hamlets,
one blinks before a man with his face shot away,
bury themselves swinishly,
like gravestones in some gigantic decaying cemetery,
color of an egg long past all hope or caring,
that of a fat woman with a black eye,
that of a Presbyterian grinning
• Sentences with sarcasm, ridicule and irony:
would have disgraced a race of alley cats,
insult and lacerate the eye
there was not a single decent house in sight…there was not one
that was not shabby
I award this championship
incomparable in color, incomparable in design,
the Parthenon would not doubt offend them
Sarcasm(讽刺), ridicule(嘲弄), irony(反讽)
• Sarcasm: a bitter or wounding remark,
• e.g. Obviously, if there were architects of any professional sense of
dignity in the region, they would have perfected a chalet to hug the
hillsides.
• Ridicule- make fun of, deride, laugh at. Make ridiculous
e.g. …a steel stadium like a huge rat-trap somewhere further down the line.
…they made it perfect in their own sight by putting a completely
impossible penthouse.
•
irony (saying one thing and meaning the opposite)
masterpieces of horror
Structure
of the text
Part I (para 1-5)
Describing ugliness:
range(2), design(3), color(4);
conclusion-championship
in ugliness
Part II (para 6-9)
Searching for the source
of the ugliness—the libido
for the ugliness
---The writer contrasts the great wealth of this region with the
abominable human habitations seen everywhere.
libido -concept originated by Sigmund Freud to signify the
instinctual physiological or psychic energy associated with
sexual urges and, in his later writings, with all constructive
human activity. In the text, it means psychic energy
generally; specifically, a basic form of psychic energy,
comprising the positive, loving instincts manifested
variously at different stages of personality development.
Drive, desire. 欲望
appalling: horrifying, shocking, 令人震惊的
roll: to travel in a wheeled vehicle
lucrative: producing wealth or profit; profitable; 有利可图的
hideous: horrible to see, hear, etc; very ugly or revolting;
dreadful 非常丑陋的
bleak: cheerless, gloomy, desolate, depressing 荒凉的
forlorn: in pitiful condition; wretched; miserable 悲惨的, 不幸的
aspiration: strong desire or ambition, as for advancement, honor
热望,渴望
macabre: gruesome; grim and horrible; ghastly 令人毛骨悚然的
abominable: nasty and disgusting; vile; loathsome 讨厌的
alley: a narrow street or walk; especially, a lane behind a row of
buildings or between two rows of buildings that face the
adjacent streets. 胡同
Here … heart of industrial America, the center of its most lucrative and
characteristic
activity, the boast and pride of the richest and greatest nation ever seen on earth—
Metaphor, comparing this center to the heart of a human body; hyperbole:
exaggerating the richness and grandeur of the region and of America as a whole.
Here was the center of the most profitable and characteristic American activity –
industrial activity.;
and here was a scene so dreadfully hideous, to a macabre and depressing joke.
The scene that met the eye was terribly ugly and the whole region was so
miserable and gloomy that it was unbearable. This dreadful scene makes all
human endeavors to advance and improve their lot appear as a ghastly, saddening
joke.
Here was wealth beyond computation, almost beyond Imagination –and here were
human habitations so abominable that they would have disgraced a race of alley cats.
Hyperbole: exaggerating the wealth that was beyond computation and
imagination; And habitations so abominable that even homeless cats would have
felt ashamed to live in them;
Para 2
---The writer describes the range of the ugliness in the
county.
filth: disgustingly offensive dirt, garbage, etc.
lacerate: tear jaggedly; mangle (something soft, as flesh)
wound or hurt (one’s feelings, etc.) deeply; distress
monstrousness: strange shape
agonize—vt./ vi. (cause) pain.痛苦, 难受
He agonized for months over the thought of his son’s
death.
agony. n. (u) (c) deep pain, extreme suffering or tiredness
This country must not again go through the agony of war.
The agony of the injured man was dreadful to see.
He suffered agonies from his broken arm
What I allude to is the unbroken and agonizing ugliness, the
sheer revolting monstrousness, of every house in sight.
hyperbole, an exaggeration that every house is ugly.
unbroken ugliness: ugliness that was continuous and
uninterrupted. It was ugly no matter where you looked.
agonizing ugliness: ugliness that caused great pain (to
people who saw it)
sheer revolting monstrousness: the absolute digesting
hideousness.
one blinked before them as one … a man with his face shot
away.
a simile. The ugliness of these houses was as gruesome as
a face that has been shot and mangled.
leprosy
A few linger in memory, horrible even there.
Some of the houses remain in one’s memory and
later when one pictures them in one’s mind they
still appear to be horrible.
There was not a single decent house within …. There
was not one that was not misshapen, and there
was not one that was not shabby.
The repetition of the same structural pattern and
the use of double negatives help to emphasize
the two words “misshapen” and “shabby”.
(Para 3)
----The writer describes the ugliness of the house design
uncomely: having unpleasant appearance
grime: dirt, esp. sooty dirt, rubbed into or covering a surface as
of the skin
gully: a channel or hollow worn by running water; small narrow
ravine 狭沟
chalet: a type of Swiss house, built of wood with balconies and
overhanging eaves (瑞士的木造)山上小舍
highpitched: steep in slope side of roofs
dingy: dirty-colored; not bright or clean, grimy不干净、弄脏的
clapboard: a thin, narrow board with one edge thicker than the
other, used as siding 护墙板, 隔墙
A chalet—a type of Swiss house, built of wood with
balconies and overhanging eaves 瑞士式小木屋
preposterous: so contrary to nature, reason, or
common sense as to be laughable; absurd;
ridiculous 反常的, 十分荒谬的
pier: a heavy column, usually square, used to support
weight, as at the end of an arch 支柱
perpendicular: exactly upright; vertical, straight up
and down 垂直的
precarious: uncertain; insecure; risky 不安全的
eczematous: of itching skin disease 湿疹的
Eczematous patches, eczema—an itching skin disease
The country itself is not uncomely
not uncomely: litotes, meaning quite comely or pleasant to look at. The country
itself is pleasant to look at.
there are very few solid blocks.
solid block: a group of buildings with no breaks or empty space separating
them. Even in the larger towns there are very few solid blocks of houses, so
there are still much empty space on which new buildings can be put up.
if there were architects of any professional sense or dignity in the region, they
would have perfected a chalet…
sarcasm. It sarcastically emphasizes the fact that there were no architects
worthy of the honor or the high standards demanded of by its profession.
And one and all they are streaked in grime, with dead and eczematous patches of
paint peeing through the streaks.
metaphor, comparing the patches of paint to dried-up scales formed by a skin
disease. All the houses here are smeared with sooty dirt, and some paint
which is not covered up by the soot looks like dried-up scales formed on the
skin by eczema.
A Brief Introduction to Litotes
not uncomely—quite pleasant, beautiful
Litotes 曲言法(正话反说), 是(understatement) 低调陈述
中的一种表现形式. 主要是用no, not, none, never以及
否定词缀等否定词或否定表达法来表述肯定的内容.
e.g. The face wasn’t a bad one; it had what they called
charm.
The man is no fool.
It was no small skill to putting a knife into the mouth
without getting hurt.
Synaesthesia/ Synesthesia (通感）,
• Synaesthesia (通感)—sensation felt in one part of the body
when another part is stimulated.
• Synaesthesia”。這個字源於希臘文“syn”(綜合)+aisthesis(感官
知覺)，意謂各感官之間的相互綜合。
sweet voice 味觉与听觉
sour remark 味觉与听觉
icy look
触觉与视觉
sharp cry
触觉与听觉
暖色
冷色
热辣辣的目光
(Para 4)
---The writer describes the ugliness of the
color of the bricks
When it has taken on the patina of the mills it is the color of an egg long
past all hope or caring.
ridicule and irony, laughing scornfully at the color of these houses; also
metaphor, comparing the color of the bricks to color of rotten eggs.
When the brick is covered with black soot of the mills it takes on
the color of a rotten egg.
No more than it was necessary to set all of the houses on end.
Neither was necessary. The writer poses the question in order to
provoke the questioning of the cause.
Red brick, even in a steel town, ages with some dignity.
Red brick, even in a steel town, looks quite respectable with the passing
of time. Even in a steel town, old red bricks still appear pleasing to
the eye.
and so they have the most loathsome towns and villages ever seen by
mortal eye.
hyperbole, exaggerating the ugliness of the towns and villages.
mortal eye: human eyes
(Para 5)
---The writer evaluates the ugliness of this region as the top one in the
world.
laborious: involving much hard work; difficult; industrious; hard-working
decompose: break up or separate into basic components or parts; rot
malarious: of fever conveyed by mosquitoes
forsake: to give up; renounce ( a habit, idea, etc.)
hamlet: a very small village
aberrant: turning away from what is right, true, etc; deviating from what is
normal or typical
uncompromising: not yielding; firm; inflexible; determined
inimical: like an enemy; hostile; unfriendly; adverse; unfavorable
ingenuity: cleverness, originality, skill, etc.
grotesquery: the quality or state of being grotesque, absurd
diabolical: of the devil or devils; fiendish
concoct: to devise, invent, or plan
I award this championship only after laborious research and incessant prayer.
sarcasm and irony. I came to the conclusion that Westmorland had the most
loathsome towns and villages only after visiting and comparing many
places not only in the United States but also in other countries and after
constantly praying to God for guidance.
championship: used ironically to describe not the best but the worst.
I have seen…. I am familiar with…, and have made scientific explorations ….
Safe in a Pullman, I have whirled through … I have been to…
Parallel structures to show his visits to those places.
in a pullman: traveling in a pullman car. (which was named after its inventor
George M. Pullman (1831-97)
back streets: small, mean streets; streets in slum area
God-forsaken villages: gloomy. Desolate villages
tidewater hamlet: very small village near the sea affected by the rise and fall
of tides
They are incomparable in color, and they are incomparable in design.
sarcasm. People cannot find such terrible color and design in any other
region.
It is as if some titanic and aberrant genius, uncompromisingly inimical to
man, had devoted all the ingenuity of Hell to the making of them.
genius: used ironically to mean an evil genius, having great ability to do
evil.
Hell: the powers of evil or darkness
hyperbole and irony. It is as some genius of great power, who didn’t like
to do the right things and who was an inflexible enemy of man,
employed all the cleverness and skill of hell to build these ugly houses.
They show grotesqueries of ugliness that, in retrospect, become almost
diabolical.
They show such fantastic and bizarre ugliness that, in looking back,
they become almost fiendish and wicked.
one can scarcely imagine human beings bearing life in them.
One can scarcely imagine people living in these houses and bearing and
bringing up children in them
(Para 6)
---The writer tries to trace the source of the ugliness
from the foreigners, yet it is not the case.
Are they so frightful because the valley is full of foreigners—
dull, insensate brutes, with no love of beauty in them?
insensate: not feeling, or not capable of feeling
Rhetoric question for effect. Are the houses so frightfully
ugly because the valley is inhabited by a lot of
foreigners who are stupid and unfeeling like animals
and who have no love of beauty in them?
—saving perhaps in the more putrid parts of England.
putrid: decomposing; rotten and foul-smelling
you won’t find any abominable houses in Europe, except in
some rotten and decaying areas in England.
But in the American village and small town the pull is always
toward ugliness, and in that Westmoreland valley it has been
yielded to with an eagerness bordering upon passion.
pull: drawing force, appeal
border upon: to be like, almost be
sarcasm. But in the American village and small town, the
appeal is always towards ugliness, and in that Westmoreland
valley people have given in to this appeal eagerly or almost
passionately.
It is incredible … achieved such masterpieces of horror.
sarcasm and irony. It is hard to believe that people built such
horrible houses
just because they did not know what beautiful houses were
like.
(Para 7)
---The writer speculates on a solution for the puzzle: libido for the
ugly
There seems to be a positive libido for the ugly, as on other and less
Christian levels there is a libido for the beautiful
antithesis. People in certain strata of American society seem
definitely to hunger after ugly things; while in other less Christian
strata, people seem to long for things beautiful.
On less Christian level: refers to Pagans. Mencken mocks at the
Christians and attacks their code of behavior. The Christians are
supposed to have the qualities of love, kindness, humility, etc.
it is impossible to put down the wallpaper that defaces the
average American home of the lower middle class to mere
inadvertence, or to the obscene humor of the
manufacturers
put down (to) attribute (to)
deface: spoil the appearance of ; disfigure; mar 损坏外表
inadvertence: the quality of being inadvertent; oversight, 粗
心大意，疏忽
obscene: offensive to one’s feelings, or to prevailing notions
of modesty of decency; lewd; disgusting 猥渎的， 可憎的
.
They meet, in some unfathomable way, its obscure and
unintelligible demands.
unfathomable: which cannot be understood; which cannot be
reached.
obscure: offensive because related to sex, violence in a way that
is shocking, unplesant.
unintelligible: which can not be understood
These ugly designs, in some way that people cannot understand,
satisfy the hidden and unintelligible demands of this type of
mind.
The taste for them is as enigmatical and yet as common as the
taste for dogmatic theology and the poetry of Edgar A Guest
enigmatical: perplexing, puzzling， enigma
dogmatic: like a dogma, doctrinal, dogma
(Para 8)
---The writer shows evidence to prove himself right
But they chose that clapboarded horror with their eyes open, and having
chosen it, they let it mellow into its present shocking depravity.
with eyes open: with full understanding of what is involved
mellow: to make full, rich, soft, gentle. Mencken uses this word ironically
to mean “to let it deteriorate, to let it go from bad to worse”
depravity: a depraved condition; corruption; wickedness
They chose, fully understanding what they were doing, this horrible house
made of clapboard and then let it deteriorate to this present shocking,
sinful condition
They like it as it is: beside it, the Parthenon would no doubt offend them.
sarcasm. If one were to put a beautiful building like the Parthenon there,
they would be offended.
After … they made it perfect in their own sight by putting a
completely impossible penthouse, painted a staring yellow,
on top of it.
impossible: not capable of being endured, used, agreed to;
hard to tolerate
ridicule. They put a penthouse on top of it, painted in a
bright, conspicuous
yellow color and thought it looked perfect but they only
managed to make it absolutely intolerable.
The effect is that of a fat woman with a black eye. ….of a
Presbyterian grinning.
metaphor, comparing the ugliness to a woman and a
Presbyterian grin
(Para 9)
---The writer finally believes that the American race hates
beauty and has a libido for the ugly. (implying that only in
this way can we explain the intolerable ugly houses they
have built)
etiology: the assignment of a cause, or the cause assignment 病源学
in obedience to: according to
pathological: of pathology; of or concerned with diseases 病理学的
Out of the melting pot emerges a race which hates beauty as it hates
truth.
melting pot: a country, place, etc. in which immigrates of various
nationalities and races are assimilated.
From the intermingling of different nationalities and races in the
United States emerges the American race which hates beauty
as strongly as it hates truth.
It arises and flourishes in obedience to biological laws, and
not as a mere act of God.
The birth and development of this madness is governed by
the scientific laws of biology and not due to some
supernatural act of God.
Let some honest Privat Dozent in pathological sociology
apply himself to the problem.
Privat Dozent: in German universities, an unsalaried letterer
paid only by his students’ fees.
apply: to concentrate one’s faculties on; employ oneself
diligently
Let some lecturer in pathological sociology work diligently
on this problem
Answer the following questions
1)
2)
3)
4)
Why does Mencken use the uncommon word libido in his
title?
In the text, Mencken has used one particular image of
disease such as: libido, leprous hill, malaria-infested,
eczematous patches, uremic yellow, etiology of this
madness, pathological, psychologist. What general
impression does Mencken intend to create?
What is implied in this text behind the discussion of
libido for the ugly? What does it suggest about the
American society? What is Mencken’s viewpoint of the
American race?
Compare with the style of Lesson Two –Marrakech, which
one do you like better? Why?
Stylistic Features
1)
A piece of subjective, impressionistic or emotional description
bombastic style and acid tongue.
Excessive use of strong language, words bordering upon the abusive
2) Profuse use of hyperboles, metaphors, similes
3) Images of diseases: leprosy, eczema, uremia to create the impression
of US. Deliberately use the word libido, a special term in
psychoanalysis, a pathological problem. Being very sick.
•
Drawbacks:
The excessive use of strong language is self-defeating. On the one
hand, all the force of diction, structure and figures only to batter his
readers into insensitivity; on the other hand, the average reader
begins to doubt the objectivity and fairness or even the honesty of the
writer.
Word Study
revolt—vi. rebel against
The people revolted against their ruler.
revolt. ---v.t / vi. (cause ) (feel) hatred or sickness of …
The violence in the movie revolted my parents.
His whole nature revolts at/from/against such a crime.
There is a revolting smell in the seafood market.
• 一想到要在海产品市场工作我就想吐（令人恶心）
The very thought of working in the basement revolted me.
• 我的灵魂对这样做生意感到反感
My soul revolted against this way of doing business.
pretentious—seem important or significant,
used to show disapproval (自命不凡,爱夸
耀的,虚饰的,野心勃勃的)
e.g. He was a talented but pretentious writer.
This pub was of a very different type,
smaller, less pretentious.
sheer –absolute, complete
eg. She fainted from sheer weariness.
He won by sheer luck.
a sheer waste of money, by sheer chance
downright----adj. straightforward, frank
e.g. Her downright answer startled us present.
He is a downright sort of person.
---adj. complete
e.g. You are a downright cheat.
She told a downright lie.
downright ---adv. Absolutely, 彻头彻尾的
e.g. He was downright rude to us.
It makes me downright angry to see food thrown away.
loathe ---vt. feel hatred, dislike
e.g. You know how I loathe typing and shorthand.
She likes her job though she loathes getting up
early to go to work.
loathing. ---n. (u)
I have a great loathing for geometry.
loathsome----adj. to be disgusting, hated
e.g. Some people think snakes are loathsome
creatures while others think otherwise.
The villain of the play was completely
loathsome.
streak ---n. a long, narrow line 一长条(c)
e.g. You have a streak of paint on your forehead.
The plane left a white streak of vapor in the blue
sky.
--- some quality in one’s personality
e.g. She has a streak of selfishness in her.
streak ---v.t to mark a line on…
The Indians used to streak their faces with paint.
---vi. To pass rapidly like lightening
The winning horse streaked past the finish line.
他的黑发中有缕缕白发.
虽然他看上去很严肃，其实他有点幽默的。
他性格中有些残忍的东西。
那孩子泪流满面。
一只猫飞快地穿过马路，有一条狗在后面追着。
He has the streaks of grey in his dark hair. (Her dark
hair is streaked with grey.)
He has a streak of humor, though he looks very
serious.
There is a streak of cruelty in his character.
The child’s face was streaked with tears.
A cat streaked across the road with a dog behind it.
Quiz—making sentences with the given hints
(allude to, there is not one that…, revolt, incomparable, in
retrospect, border upon, put down…to…, if there is any ,
sheer, concoct)
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
这种行为简直是愚蠢.
不要将所有的不幸都归因于命运.
回想起来, 他所作的一切都是为了让我们全家过上像样的日子.
他没有指名道姓,但我们都明白他是在讲我.
他那副自命不凡的德行真让人感到恶心.
1)
2)
3)
Such behavior was sheer foolishness.
Don’t put down all your misfortunes to fate.
In retrospect, he did everything so that our family could live a
decent life.
He did not mention a name, yet we all knew that he alluded to
me.
His pretentious manner revolted me.
4)
5)
(allude to, there is not one that…, revolt, incomparable, in retrospect, border
upon, put down…to…, if there is any , sheer, concoct)
6)
7)
8)
9)
10)
我们的校园大而美,这在湖南省高校中是首屈一指的.
她对摇滚乐的喜爱近似于疯狂.
Jenny编造了一个没有交作业的借口, 老师居然相信了.
考试结束了, 人人都松了一口气.
你如果还有一点羞耻感的话, 你早就该认认真真地把这件事做完了.
6)
Our campus is incomparable in size as well as in beauty among all the
universities in Hunan Province.
Her love for rock’n’roll borders upon craziness. (She has a strong love
for rock’n’roll bordering upon craziness)
Jenny concocted an excuse for failing to hand in her exercises, and the
teacher believed her.
There was not one who was not relieved at the end of the examination.
If there were any sense of shame in you, you should have finished it
seriously long ago.
7)
8)
9)
10)
Discriminating meanings (Ex.41—44)
• Ghastly, hideous, gruesome, macabre
-- something ugly or extremely distasteful
Gruesome: hyperbole for anything evoking a response to
extremely distasteful things. It also specifically refers to
spectacles of physical violence. Gruesome murders
Hideous: often refers to extreme deformation or ugliness
Ghastly: specifically refers to a ghostlike pallor, one
resulting from fear. Ghastly face
Macabre: specifically refers to horror-inspiring ideas or
spectacles of any kind, without necessarily pointing to
physical destruction of any sort, macabre tales of
vampires.
Desolate, barren, bleak
-- people or things that look wasted or inhospitable
Bleak: most general word. Especially landscapes
or houses
Desolate: suggests an underpopulated starkness,
desolate countryside
Barren: a complete absence of life; barren rocks
where the smallest shrub could find no foothold.
lonely, forlorn, solitary
Forlorn: been deserted or abandoned, a
once fashionable resort that was now a
forlorn ghost town.
Solitary: it can mean lonely. Besides, it may
suggest an aloneness that has been
chosen rather than imposed. A solitary
person by nature prefers contemplation to
companionship.
Soot, grime, dirt, filth
• Dirt: dirty, refers to a lack of cleanness, such as :
dust, waste, rubbish, mud; impure morals: dirty
stories.
• Filth: filthy, extremely dirty, possibly disgusting;
filthy acts, pictures (porn's)
• Soot; refers to black substance, particles of coal,
• Grime: dirt, esp., sooty dirt, rubbed into or
covering a surface, as of the skin
Abominable, disgusting, loathsome, revolting
Loathsome: refer as to a horrified shivering action. It
applies best as a sweeping condemnation of group
action or behavior as well as individuals, or single acts.
His loathsome mistreatment of his wife.
Disgusting and revolting both suggest a shocked or
outraged reaction that can sometimes find physical
expression. Disgusting suggests an actual queasiness
stimulated by sth. objectionable, e.g. find her cooking
habit disgusting, whereas revolting implies physical
nausea or a psyche that reacts in rebellious upheaval to
such a phenomenon.
Abominable: stresses sth. Merits sever condemnation and
hatred. Abominable working conditions.
Dictation
1. appalling desolation
2.lucrative activity
3. macabre joke
4. agonizing ugliness
5. leprous hill
6. eczematous patches
7. preposterous
8. perpendicular
9.precariously
10. streaked in grime
11. aberrant genius
12. grotesqueries
13. diabolical
14. insensate brutes
15. putrid parts
16. unfathomable
17. enigmatic
18. inadvertence
19. shocking depravity
20. pathological sociology 21. dogmatic
22. libido
23. lacerate
25. uncompromisingly inimical
24. laborious
Homework
• Write a descriptive essay with subjective
attitude, trying to create a strong
impression and use a lot of adjectives and
images.