Monday Vocabulary Paragraph

Perhaps you read about our school in the newspapers? We were one of the first to have a showdown on the topic of long hair for boys. Two honor students, Ron Harris and Len Chester, were sent to the principal by their French teacher, an implacable foe of nonconformists, who went into a paroxysm of anger when she spied the boys in the hall. At first it seemed like a simple case. The school would reprimand the boys for their reprehensible appearance and order them to cut their hair or be suspended. But the boys’ parents decided that the school had overstepped its jurisdiction; they took their case to the newspapers. What had started as a local skirmish now began to take on the appearance of a full-scale war.

Fill-in-the-Blank1. The detective was _____________ in his search

for the murder weapon.2. Saying that it was beyond his _____________,

Judge Klein refused to rule on the case.3. In a ____________ of rage, the tenant stormed

out of the landlord’s office.4. The precocious boy enjoyed an intellectual

_____________ with his elders.5. The brash student was forced to apologize for her

____________ conduct.

Matching

1. implacable

2. paroxysm

3. reprehensible

4. jurisdiction

5. skirmish

a) a fit; a sudden outburst

b) cannot be pacified; inexorable

c) small fight; brief encounter

d) worthy of blamee) power; range of

authority

Wednesday Vocabulary Paragraph Once the newspapers got the story, the case of the

longhairs became a cause célèbre. Ron and Len were interviewed, seen on TV, and regarded by their fellow students as heroes. “These are not delinquents or hoods,” one reporter wrote, “but clean-cut American boys who are being harassed by a monolithic school system.” A caustic editorial referred to the school’s decision as arbitrary and inane. A false story even circulated about the boys being rock-’n-roll performers whose indigent families needed their salaries. Finally, the Civil Liberties Union jumped into the fray with a court order stipulating that the principal be required to show cause why the boys should not be allowed to return to class.

Fill-in-the-Blank1. After the _____________, the feuding families

agreed to patch up their differences.2. The ______________ client was surprised when

she was accosted by her social worker in the elegant restaurant.

3. To my mind the decision was unreasonable and ______________.

4. George Orwell’s 1984 depicts a frightening, ______________ government.

5. If anonymous telephone callers _____________ you, the phone company will give you an unlisted number.

Matching

1. harass

2. monolithic

3. indigent

4. arbitrary

5. fray

a) based on whim;

dictatorial

b) poor; needy

c) massively solid

d) a disorderly fight

e) to trouble, torment, or

annoy persistently