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[Meaning in Context] [Word Form]
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2. Logical
Relationships |
 Sometimes
you cannot locate different words which can show
relationships of words such as synonyms or antonyms.
Still you can deduce from the logical relationships of
words or sentences to decide meanings of new words. |
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 Reading: Continued
from Alimiqui |
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A Cuban farmer¡¦s discovery
of a strangely ugly creature rooting around his
plantation has erased one rodent¡¦s name from a list of
animals believed to be extinct. The last time someone
saw the small, rate-like almiqui was in 1999, a
quarter-century after the last previous sighting, so
experts feared that all the almiqui had died. Almiqui
look as if they¡¦ve been assembled from
left-over parts:
They have a long, anteater-like
snout
and a narrow, scaly tail.
The animal is covered in long, shaggy, brown-to-black
hair. It emerges from underground
burrows
at night to feed primarily on spiders and insects,
subduing
its
prey
with a poison secreted from glands
above its teeth. |
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 Explanation: |
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Other words also helping you
to understand almiqui are:
¡§left-over parts¡¨, ¡§snout¡¨,
¡§burrows¡¨, ¡§subdue¡¨, ¡§prey¡¨,
¡§to secrete¡¨, and ¡§glands¡¨. To understand the meanings
of these words, you should use logical relationships to
determine each word¡¦s meaning. ¡§Left-over¡¨ normally
means remaining parts of something and they are not good
and fresh looking. So we know that almiqui looks ugly.
An anteater is famous for its ¡§nose¡¨ because the nose is
used to suck in ants when eating. So you know snout is
nose. ¡§Burrows¡¨ means holes. The word helps you
associate with the meaning is ¡§emerge¡¨ (appear; come
out). So ¡§to emerge from burrows¡¨ could mean ¡§to come
out holes¡¨.
Besides, rodents love to
live underground; they dig holes in underground. So the
habitat of almiqui also helps you determine the meaning
of ¡§burrows¡¨ although it is not commonly used as ¡§hole¡¨.
A prey is often referred to
victims of a carnivore who kills them for food. In this
sense, ¡§subdue¡¨ means to kill by a poison ¡§secreted¡¨
from ¡§glands¡¨ above its teeth.
In this context, ¡§secrete¡¨
does not mean ¡§secret¡¨ - ¡§hiding or confidential¡¨ since
it does not fit to the contextual meaning. Actually, ¡§¡Ka
poison secreted from glands above teeth,¡¨ means this
poison is produced from glands which is a chemical
element in body. So we know almiqui¡¦s kills the prey by
a poison produced from the glands. ¡§Secrete¡¨ in this
context means to ¡§produce¡¨ ¡V producing a poisonous
chemical from gland. |
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