Jordan
Basic Dwayne Composition
Dr. Carl Nelson
September 9, 2010
Vocabulary Words
1. Vocabulary Word: malleable (317)
Original Sentence: And human flesh," Rosen says, "is infinitely malleable.
Dictionary Definition:
Capable of being extended or shaped by hammering or by pressure
from rollers
Paraphrase: Human flesh can be changed noticeably
2. Vocabulary Word: frivolous (317)
Original Sentence: People say cosmetic surgery is frivolous--boobs and
noses.
Dictionary Definition:
Self-indulgently carefree; unconcerned about or lacking any serious
purpose
Paraphrase: People say plastic surgery is unnecessary and self-indulgent
3. Vocabulary Word: conduit (317)
Original Sentence: The body is a conduit for the soul, at least historically
speaking.
Dictionary Definition:
A pipe or channel for carrying a fluid
Paraphrase: The body is like a channel for the soul
4. Vocabulary Word: lyrical (318)
Original Sentence: On paper, maybe, this comment seems a little overblown,
but delivered orally, in a New England town when all the world is white, it has
its lyrical appeal
Dictionary Definition:
Characterized by or expressing spontaneous
Relatively light of volume and modest in range
Paraphrase: This statement may seem a little ridiculous but it has its special
appeal
5. Vocabulary Word: emblematic (319)
Original Sentence: Are those interventions really frivolous, or are they
emblematic of the huge and sometimes majestic human desire to alter, to
transcend?
Dictionary Definition:
Pertaining to, of the nature of, or serving as an emblem
Paraphrase: Are these interventions really frivolous or more like nature and
sometimes human desire
6. Vocabulary Word: predicated (319)
Original Sentence: If medicine is predicated upon the notion of making the
sick well, and a plastic surgeon operates on someone who is not sick, then can
the patient truly be called a patient, and the doctor a doctor?
Dictionary Definition:
To proclaim; declare; affirm; assert
Paraphrase: If medicine is said to make the sick better, and a plastic surgeon
does surgery on someone not sick, can the patient be called a patient and the
doctor be called a doctor?
7. Vocabulary Word: utilitarianism (319)
Original Sentence: Function and form, utilitarianism and aestheticism, joined
at the hip, grafted together: skin tight
Dictionary Definition:
The ethical doctrine that virtue is based on utility, and that conduct
should be directed toward promoting the greatest happiness of the
greatest number of persons
Paraphrase: Function and Form, beauty and happiness, joined as one
8. Vocabulary Word: aestheticism (319)
Original Sentence: Function and form, utilitarianism and aestheticism, joined
at the hip, grafted together: skin tight
Dictionary Definition:
The acceptance of artistic beauty and taste as a fundamental standard,
ethical and other standards being secondary
Paraphrase: Function and Form, beauty and happiness, joined as one
9. Vocabulary Word: aspirations (319)
Original Sentence: Rosen's ideas and aspirations, not to mention his anthrax
concerns, go beyond what I am comfortable with, though I can't quite unearth
the architecture of my concerns
Dictionary Definition:
Strong desire, longing, or aim; ambition:
Paraphrase: Rosens ideas and desire go further than what I am comfortable
with.
10. Vocabulary Word: mired (319)
Original Sentence: When Rosen thinks of beauty, he thinks of the human
form stretched on the red-hot rack of his imagination, which is mired in
medieval texts and books on trumpeter swans
Dictionary Definition:
To plunge and fix in mire; cause to stick fast in mire
To involve; entangle
Paraphrase: Rosen thinks of beauty as stretched from his hard racked
imagination, which is plunged in medieval texts and books.
11. Vocabulary Word: per se (320)
Original Sentence: John Harris, a medical-ethics specialist in Manchester,
England, writes in Wonder woman and Superman that "in the absence of an
argument or the ability to point to some specific harm that might be involved
in crossing species boundaries, we should regard the objections per se such
practices to ... as mere and gratuitous prejudice."
Dictionary Definition:
By, of, for, or in itself; intrinsically
Paraphrase: It is written Wonder woman and Superman that in the absence
of an argument or the ability to point to some specific harm that might be
involved in crossing species boundaries, we should regard the objections
intrinsically to such practices ... as mere and gratuitous prejudice," by a
medical-ethics specialist in Manchester, England named John Harris.
12. Vocabulary Word: gratuitous (320)
Original Sentence: John Harris, a medical-ethics specialist in Manchester,
England, writes in Wonderwoman and Superman that" in the absence of an
argument or the ability to point to somespecific harm that might be involved
in crossing species boundaries, we should regard the objections per se to such
practices ... as mere and gratuitous prejudice."
Dictionary Definition:
Given, done, bestowed, or obtained without charge or payment; free;
voluntary
Paraphrase: It is written Wonder woman and Superman that in the absence
of an argument or the ability to point to some specific harm that might be
involved in crossing species boundaries, we should regard the objections
intrinsically to such practices ... as mere and given prejudice," by a medicalethics specialist in Manchester, England named John Harris.
13. Vocabulary Word: fin de sicle (321)
Original Sentence: Except for this. Everyone I tell about Rosen and his
wings, his fin de sicle mind, widens his or her eyes, leans forward, and says,
"You're kidding."
Dictionary Definition:
The end of the 19th century, when traditional social, moral, and artistic
values were in transition
Paraphrase:
14. Vocabulary Word: lithe (321)
Original Sentence: She has a perfect Protestant nose and a lithe form, and a
single black bra strap slips provocatively from beneath her blouse.
Dictionary Definition:
Bending readily; pliant; limber; supple; flexible
Paraphrase: She has the perfect nose with a limber form, with a single black
bra strap slips provocatively from beneath her blouse.
15. Vocabulary Word: literal (323)
Original Sentence: Plastic surgery, in the future, can be about more than the
literal body
Dictionary Definition:
Being actually such, without exaggeration or inaccuracy
Paraphrase: Future plastic surgery can be more than just our bodies
16. Vocabulary Word: outliers (324)
Original Sentence: The essential question here is whether these people are,
and forever will be, outliers, or whether they represent the cutting edge of an
ever more popular trend.
Dictionary Definition:
A person residing outside the place of his or her business, duty
Paraphrase: the question is whether these people will always be outsiders, or
will they finally unite
17. Vocabulary Word: ambivalent (324)
Original Sentence: Perhaps he is more ambivalent than he lets on.
Dictionary Definition:
Uncertainty or fluctuation, esp. when caused by inability to make a
choice or by a simultaneous desire to say or do two opposite or
conflicting things
Paraphrase: Maybe he is more uncertain then we think
18. Vocabulary Word: concomitantly (325)
Original Sentence: Bill Joy, chief scientist at Sun Microsystems, says, as our
technological capabilities expand, "a sequence of small, individually sensible
advances leads to an accumulation of great power and, concomitantly, great
danger."
Dictionary Definition:
Existing or occurring with something else, often in a lesser way;
accompanying; concurrent
Paraphrase: Bill Joy says
19. Vocabulary Word: visage (327)
Original Sentence: We have given you, Adam, no visage proper to yourself,
nor endowment properly your own.
Dictionary Definition:
The face, usually with reference to shape, features, expression
Paraphrase: We have given Adam,
20. Vocabulary Word: lineaments (327)
Original Sentence: Trace for yourself the lineaments of your own nature
Dictionary Definition:
A feature or detail of a face, body, or figure, considered with respect to
its outline or contour
Paraphrase: Find for yourself the detail of your own self