Yuan Xue's List: Vocabulary

• Meme的涵义主要可以通过两个方面来理解：meme是复制因子；模仿是meme的主要传递方式。
• meme具有遗传、变异和选择这三个特征，它是一种复制因子。
• 在她看来，正如基因之间相互竞争着，自私地、不顾一切地要进入到下一代的身体之中，最终决定了生物世界的格局及其结构；与此类似，meme之间相互竞争着，自私地、不顾一切地要进入到另一个人的大脑、另一本书、另一个对象之中，这最终决定了我们的文化以及我们的心理结构。按照这一思路，meme观念实际上已经发展为一种独立的关于人类文化的全新理论。”(via)她在《谜米机器》一书中写道，“有关文化进化的meme理论，其全部要点就在于将meme视为一种独立存在的复制因子。这就意味着，是meme的选择在驱动着观念的进化，而观念的进化必须有利于meme的自我复制，而不是有利于基因的自我复制。这是将meme理论与先前有关文化进化的理论区别开来的一个巨大的差异。”

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• understood by or meant for only the select few who have special knowledge or interest; recondite: poetry full of esoteric allusions.
• (of a philosophical doctrine or the like) intended to be revealed only to the initiates of a group: the esoteric doctrines of Pythagoras
• 1655, from Gk. esoterikos "belonging to an inner circle," from esotero, comp. adv. of eso "within." In Eng., originally of Pythagorean doctrines. According to Lucian, the division of teachings into exoteric and esoteric originated with Aristotle.

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• scintilla
  noun1. a tiny or scarcely detectable amount [syn: shred] 2. a sparkling glittering particle
• 
   

  1692, from fig. use of L. scintilla "particle of fire, spark, glittering speck, atom," probably from PIE *ski-nto-, from base *skai- "to shine, to gleam" (cf. Goth. skeinan, O.E. scinan "to shine").

• erstwhile
   

  1569, from M.E. erest "soonest, earliest" (see ere) + while (q.v.).

• Usage: Calamity, Disaster, Misfortune, Mishap, Mischance. Of these words, calamity is the strongest. It supposes a somewhat continuous state, produced not usually by the direct agency of man, but by natural causes, such as fire, flood, tempest, disease, etc, Disaster denotes literally ill-starred, and is some unforeseen and distressing event which comes suddenly upon us, as if from hostile planet. Misfortune is often due to no specific cause; it is simply the bad fortune of an individual; a link in the chain of events; an evil independent of his own conduct, and not to be charged as a fault. Mischance and mishap are misfortunes of a trivial nature, occurring usually to individuals. "A calamity is either public or private, but more frequently the former; a disaster is rather particular than private; it affects things rather than persons; journey, expedition, and military movements are often attended with disasters; misfortunes are usually personal; they immediately affect the interests of the individual." --Crabb.

• 1. Pertaining to twilight; glimmering; hence, imperfectly clear or luminous.

  This semihistorical and crepuscular period. --Sir G. C. Lewis.

  2. (Zo["o]l.) Flying in the twilight or evening, or before sunrise; -- said certain birds and insects.

  Others feed only in the twilight, as bats and owls, and are called crepuscular. --Whewell.

• exuberance
  noun
  1.	joyful enthusiasm
  2.	overflowing with eager enjoyment or approval

    

   

     

    WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University. 

• –noun

  1.	Architecture. a. the front of a building, esp. an imposing or decorative one. b. any side of a building facing a public way or space and finished accordingly.

  2.	a superficial appearance or illusion of something: They managed somehow to maintain a facade of wealth.
• 1. The face of a building, especially the principal face.
   
  2. An artificial or deceptive front: ideological slogans that were a façade for geopolitical power struggles.
   
   <!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF--> <!--BOF_DEF-->  
   [French, from Italian facciata, from faccia, face, from Vulgar Latin *facia, from Latin faciēs; see dhē- in Indo-European roots.]<!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF-->

• Fester

  Fes"ter\, n. [OF. festre, L. fistula a sort of ulcer. Cf. Fistula.]

  1. A small sore which becomes inflamed and discharges corrupt matter; a pustule.

  2. A festering or rankling.

  The fester of the chain their necks. --I. Taylor.
• fester  (v.)
   

  1377, from O.Fr. festre, from L. fistula "pipe, ulcer" (see fistula). The noun is from 1300.

• to recline or lean in a relaxed, lazy, or indolent manner; lounge: to loll on a sofa.

  2.	to hang loosely; droop; dangle: The dog stood in the heat with his tongue lolling out of his mouth.
• Middle English lollen, probably from Middle Dutch, to doze.

• 
• 
   (click for larger image in new window) 
   <!--// <br /> //--> <!--BOF_HEAD--> n.  <!--EOF_HEAD--> <!--BOF_DEF--> A roofing tile with an S-shaped profile, laid so that the down curve of one tile overlaps the up curve of the next one.<!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF-->

• <!--EOF_HEAD--> <!--BOF_DEF--> 
  1. 1. An artificial channel for conducting water, with a valve or gate to regulate the flow: sluices connecting a reservoir with irrigated fields.
      
     2. A valve or gate used in such a channel; a floodgate: open sluices to flood a dry dock. Also called sluice gate.
      
      
   
  2. A body of water impounded behind a floodgate.
   
  3. A sluiceway.
   
  4. A long inclined trough, as for carrying logs or separating gold ore.
   
   <!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF--> <!--BOF_HEAD--> v.  <!--EOF_HEAD--> <!--BOF_SUBHEAD--> sluiced, sluic·ing, sluic·es 
   <!--EOF_SUBHEAD--> <!--BOF_DEF--> <!--EOF_DEF--> 
    <!--BOF_HEAD--> v.  <!--EOF_HEAD--> <!--BOF_SUBHEAD--> tr. 
   <!--EOF_SUBHEAD--> <!--BOF_DEF--> 
  1. To flood or drench with or as if with a flow of released water.
   
  2. To wash with water flowing in a sluice: sluicing sediment for gold.
   
  3. To draw off or let out by a sluice: sluice floodwater.
   
  4. To send (logs, for example) down a sluice.
   
   <!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF--> <!--BOF_HEAD--> v.  <!--EOF_HEAD--> <!--BOF_SUBHEAD--> intr. 
   <!--EOF_SUBHEAD--> <!--BOF_DEF--> To flow out from or as if from a sluice.<!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF--> 
    <!--BOF_DEF-->  
   [Middle English scluse, from Old French escluse, from Late Latin exclūsa, from Latin, feminine past participle of exclūdere, to shut out; see exclude.]<!--// <br /> //--><!--EOF_DEF-->

• 1. An artifical passage for water, fitted with a valve or gate, as in a mill stream, for stopping or regulating the flow; also, a water gate or flood gate.

  2. Hence, an opening or channel through which anything flows; a source of supply.
• Each sluice of affluent fortune opened soon. --Harte.

  This home familiarity . . . opens the sluices of sensibility. --I. Taylor.

  3. The stream flowing through a flood gate.

  4. (Mining) A long box or trough through which water flows, -- used for washing auriferous earth.

  Sluice gate, the sliding gate of a sluice.

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• 1.	retired or honorably discharged from active professional duty, but retaining the title of one's office or position: dean emeritus of the graduate school; editor in chief emeritus.
• 
  emeritus 
   

  1602, from L. emeritus "veteran soldier who has served his time," pp. of emerere "serve out, complete one's service," from ex- "out" + merere "to serve, earn." First used of retired professors 1794 in Amer.Eng.

• 1.	interaction, esp. sexual activity, in which one person enjoys inflicting physical or mental suffering on another person, who derives pleasure from experiencing pain.
• gratification, esp. sexual, gained through inflicting or receiving pain; sadism and masochism combined. Abbreviation: S-M, S and M