VIP Class Notes (Nick)

Homework

What did you do for Qingming Jie? Was it what you usually do? Is it what your ancestors would have done?

Vocabulary

the Midwest – an area in the center of the United States
e.g. Chicago is sort of the center of the Midwest.

the Windy City – Chicago, because of the politicians, who talk and talk and don’t do anything

Vote early, vote often! – an old saying in Chicago showing the corruption, that people would vote more than once, which is illegal
e.g. This election season, remember to vote early and vote often! Hahaha!

Voter fraud – when one person pretends to be someone else so that they can vote more than once
e.g. Recent studies have shown that, actually, there is very little voter fraud in the US today.

Faction – different parts of a single party that fight to control the direction the party will go
e.g. Donald Trump was elected by a particular faction of the Republican.

Comic – a story that includes a lot of pictures; often about superheroes
e.g. Superman is a very famous comic.
Comic Strip – usually about four pictures that form a small story, or part of longer story; these were often printed in newspapers
e.g. Calvin and Hobbes is my favorite comic strip.
Graphic Novel – a story with a lot of pictures but a long, complex story, like a novel
e.g. Maus is a very serious, book, but it is written mostly through pictures.

“To be or not to be, that is the question” – a famous quote from Hamlet

Biased – to not be a fair judge because you already support one side or the other of some argument
e.g. We can’t trust Nick to decide what the center of the Midwest is because he has an interest in his hometown winning. He’s biased!

Diplomacy – 外交, the relations between countries

Switch – to put one place where something else was, and to put that other thing where the first one was
e.g. English switches the order of a sentence compared to Chinese.

Remember – to recognize something from the past
e.g. I remember him from the time we met in class.
Memorize – to be able to repeat something exactly; like for a song, a poem, part of law
e.g. I memorized this poem to recite in class today.

Nerve-Wracking – something that makes you feel very nervous, which over time would make you feel very tired
e.g. Law school can be nerve-wracking because you never know when the professor will ask you to speak.

Rank – to give a list of the best in some category