Barron’s 1100 Words You Need to Know (MCQ Test + PDF) Week 35 – Day 2

Thurber punctures in an incisive* way the platitudes* that come from stories handed down through the generations. These old saws are accepted by everyone. One such tale is about a tortoise who had read in an ancient book that a tortoise had beaten a hare in a race. The sage* old tortoise construed* this story to mean that he could outrun a hare. With equanimity he hunted for a hare and soon found one. “Do you have the effrontery to challenge me?” asked the incredulous* hare. “You are a nonentity,” he scoffed* at the tortoise. A course of fifty feet was set out. The other animals gathered around the site*. At the sound of the gun they were off. When the hare crossed the finish line, the flabbergasted tortoise had gone approximately eight and three-quarter inches. The moral Thurber draws from this debacle for the tortoise: A new broom may sweep clean, but never trust an old saw.

Which of the five “new words” have you seen before? Answer with equanimity.

Sample Sentences: Use the new words in these sentences.

He was a precocious* youngster, but he soon reached the nadir* of his career, lost all of his prestige*, and became a _____.