昨天的答案：

1. b   2. c   3. e   4. a   5. g   6. h   7. d   8. f

今天又将进入神奇的神话世界~

蓝色的部分添加了外部链接，点击即可看到详细资料~

Words from Mythology

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Apollonian. Harmonious, ordered, rational, calm.

例句：After a century of Romantic emotion, some composers(作曲家) adopted a more Apollonian style, producing clearly patterned pieces that avoided extremes of all kinds.

In Greek mythology, Apollo was the god of the sun, light, prophecy(预言), and music, and the most revered(尊敬，推崇) of all the gods. Partly because of the writings of Nietzsche, we now often think of Apollo (in contrast to the god Dionysus) as a model of calm reason, and we may call anything with those qualities Apollonian. This isn't the whole story about Apollo, however; he had a terrible temper and could be viciously cruel when he felt like it.

bacchanalian. Frenzied(狂乱的), orgiastic(狂欢的).

例句：The bacchanalian partying on graduation night resulted in three wrecked cars, two lawsuits by unamused parents, and more new experiences than most of the participants could remember the next day.

The Roman god of drama, wine, and ecstasy(狂欢), Bacchus was the focus of a widespread celebration, the Bacchanalia. The festivities were originally secret, and only initiated members could participate. There was wine in abundance, and participants were expected to cut loose from normal restraints and give in to all sorts of wild desires. Eventually the Bacchanalia became more public and uncontrolled, finally getting so out of hand that in 186 B.C. the Roman authorities had it banned. Much the same bacchanalian spirit fills tropical carnivals every year, including New Orleans' Mardi Gras.

delphic. Unclear, ambiguous, or confusing

例句：All she could get from the strange old woman were a few delphic comments that left her more confused than ever about the missing  documents.

Delphi in Greece was the site of a temple to Apollo at which there resided an oracle, a woman through whom Apollo would speak, foretelling the future. The Greeks consulted the oracle frequently on matters both private and public. The prophecies(语言能力) were given in difficult poetry that had to be interpreted(解释) by priests(祭司), and even the interpretations could be hard to understand. When Croesus, king of Lydia, asked what would happen if he attacked the Persians, the oracle announced that he would destroy a great empire; what she didn't say was that the empire destroyed would be his own. Modern-day descendants of the oracle include some political commentators(政治评论员), who utter words of delphic complexity every week.

Dionysian. Frenzied, delirious.

例句：Only in the tropics did such festivals become truly Dionysian, he said, which was why he was booking his fight to Rio.

Dionysus was the Greek forerunner of Bacchus. He was the inventor of wine, which he gave to the human race. For that gift and for all the wild behavior that it led to, Dionysus became immensely popular, and he appears in a great many myths. He is often shown holding a wine goblet(高脚杯), with his hair full of vine leaves, and attended by a band of goat-footed satyrs and wild female spirits called maenads. In the 19th century, scholars such as Nietzsche claimed that the ancient world could be understood as a continuing conflict between the attitudes represented by Apollo and Dionysus--that is, between order and disorder, between moderation and excess, between the controlled and the ecstatic.

Dionysos

jovial.(愉快的) Jolly, good-natured.

例句：Their grandfather was as jovial and sociable as their grandmother was quiet and withdrawn(内向的).

Jove, or Jupiter, was the Roman counterpart(相当的人) of the Greek's Zeus, and like Zeus was regarded as chief among the gods. When the Romans were naming the planets, they gave the name Jupiter to the one that, as they may have already known, was the largest of all (though only the second-brightest to the naked eye). When the practice of astrology reached the Roman empire from the East, astrologers(占星家) declared that those "born under Jupiter" were destined to be merry and generous, and many centuries later this would result in the words jovial and joviality.

mercurial.(变化无常的) Having rapid and unpredictable changes of mood.

例句：His mother's always mercurial temper(坏脾气) became even more unpredictable, to the point where the slightest thing would trigger a violent fit.

The god Mercury, with his winged cap(翅膀帽) and sandals(凉鞋), was the very symbol of speed, and the planet Mercury was named for him by the Romans because it is the fastest-moving of the planets. His name was also given to the liquid silver metal that skitters around on a surface so quickly and unpredictably. And the word mercurial seems to have come from the metal, rather than directly from the god (or an astrologer's view of the planet's influence). Mercurial people are usually bright but impulsive and changeable (and sometimes a bit unstable).

Olympian. Lofty, superior, and detached(不带感情的).

例句：Now 77, he moved slowly and spoke to the younger lawyers in Olympian tones, but his college friends could remember when he was brash(自以为是的), crazy risk-taker.

The Greek gods lived high atopMt. Olympus, which allowed them to watch what went on in the human realm below and intervene as they saw fit. They insisted on being properly worshipped by humans, but otherwise tended to treat the affairs of these weak and short-lived creatures almost like a sport. So olympian describes someone who seems "lofty" and "above it all, " as if surveying a scene in which other people appear the size of ants. The Olympic Games were first celebrated in the 8th century B.C., at the religious site called Olympia (far from Mt. Olympus), and Olympian today actually most often refers to Olympic athletes.

venereal.(性病的) Having to do with sexual intercourse or diseases transmitted by it.

例句：In the 19th century syphilis(梅毒) especially was often fatal(致死的), and venereal diseases killed some of the greatest figures of the time.

Venus was the Roman goddess of love, the equivalent of the Greek Aphrodite. Since she governed all aspects of love and desire, a word derived from her name was given to the diseases acquired through sexual contact. Most of these venereal diseases have been around for many centuries, but only in the 20th century did doctors devise tests to identify them or medicines to cure them. Today the official term is sexually transmitted disease, or STD; but even this name turns out to be ambiguous, since some of these diseases can be contracted in other ways as well.

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Quiz:

Choose the correct synonym and the correct antonym:

1. Dionysian   a. frenzied   b. angry   c. calm   d. fatal

2. apollonian   a. fruity   b. irrational   c. single   d. harmonious

3. mercurial   a. stable   b. changeable   c. sociable   d. depressed

4. jovial   a. youthful   b. mean-spirited   c. merry   d. magical

5. olympian   a. involved   b. lame   c. detached   d. everyday

6. venereal   a. sensual   b. intellectual   c. diseased   d. arthritic

7. bacchanalian   a. restrained   b. dynamic   c. frenzied    d. forthright

8. delphic   a. clear   b. dark   c. stormy   d. ambiguous