2017年2月28日内容（周二）
Merriam-Webster’s Vocabulary Builder


词根: tend / tent
词根释义：to stretch, extend, spread
词根背景知识补充：extend最明显不过了吧，延伸；延长。比如写的论文太难了，老师总是把due的时间推了又推是吧：❤️The lecturer always extends the deadline by twenty-four hours.


1. contentious [kən'tenʃəs]
定义: having a tendency to pick fights; quarrelsome
例句: The school board meeting lasted late into the night as contentious parents argued over every detail of the new bus routes.
例句语法结构：主谓宾，as引导原因状语从句
例句中文翻译：学校董事会开到了半夜，原因是好斗嘴的家长们就新的公交路线的每一个细节争得不可开交。
单词中文意思及词性：contentious adj. 有争议的；好争吵的
介绍段落精简句型解析及推荐背诵句式：❤️Obamacare has been a very contentious issue. 奥巴马医保， 一直都饱受争议咯。之前还有句话说，“有争议是好事，一个连争议都没有的人，说明不值得关注。”so being contentious is a good thing. 那么这个词和“延长”这个词根有什么关联呢？because these contentious people sometimes go great lengths to start a fight.

2. distend [dis'tend]
定义: to swell or become expanded
例句: Television viewers were shocked to see the distended bellies of the young children, usually a sigh of malnutrition and starvation.
例句语法结构：主谓宾
例句中文翻译：观众都被电视中那些由于营养不良和饥饿引起腹胀的儿童震惊了。这里我要说belly这个词。❤️肚皮舞belly dance不陌生咯~ ❤️belly up这个词组特别形象，大家想死鱼就是肚皮向上的，所以belly up表示“倒闭；破产”。
单词中文意思及词性：distend v. 扩大；膨胀
介绍段落精简句型解析及推荐背诵句式：举几个简单的例子说明一下这个词其实不学术，很好用：❤️Air distends a balloon. 空气使气球膨胀。❤️to distend the facts夸大事实。

3. portend [pɔ:'tend, pəu-]
定义: (1) to give a sign or warning beforehand (2) to indicate or signify
例句: Although the warm spell in February was welcome, the huge puddles by the melting snowbanks portended the spring floods that were likely to follow.
例句语法结构：although引导的让步状语从句
例句中文翻译：虽然二月份的温暖天气很受欢迎，然而雪堆融化形成的大水坑却预示着春洪的到来。
单词中文意思及词性：portend v.预示；意味着
介绍段落精简句型解析及推荐背诵句式：这个词通常预示的都是不好的事情或灾难，比如portend chaos，注意选用。

4. tendentious [ten'denʃəs]
定义: learning toward a particular point of view; biased
例句: In his later years, the professor wrote a series of tendentious essays attacking many modern novelists and praising authors from earlier eras.
例句语法结构：主谓宾，非谓语动词做定语
例句中文翻译：教授晚年写了一系列有偏见的论文，贬低了很多现代小说家，褒奖了早年间的作家们。
单词中文意思及词性：tendentious adj. 有偏见的
介绍段落精简句型解析及推荐背诵句式：这个词其实特别好记，tend表示“趋势”，所以tendentious就是“有倾向的”，也就是说有偏见咯。这个句子让我想到了美国大选，候选人背后团队包装的理念就是要outstand candidate，哪怕是用过激的言论、有倾向性的演讲赢得支持。我搬运过来：Politicians will adopt a particular philosophy, and from that day on they will tend to view matters from that point of view. Facts are replaced by tendentious claims, and debates become predictable and unproductive.