www.yasi-kouyu.com.cn          

Updated Apr. 19, 2010

 

VOCABULARY LISTS (2)

 

Index

18. Animals

19. Parks

20. Describing People

21. The Sections of a Newspaper

22. Types of Magazines

23. Law

24. Water

25. Games

26. Playgrounds

27. Cooking

28. A Sense of + 名词

29. Sports Facilities

 

\To Page 1

***********************************************************************

18. Animals

Major Biological Classifications of Animals

----------------------------------------------

Domesticated Animals

a) Pets

Dogs

  young dog = a puppy

Cats

 young cat = a kitten

Birds

 bird food: birdseed /fruit /nuts

Fish

Other Pets

b) Farmed animals

c) Work Animals

------------------------------------------

Wild Animals

a)  Endangered Animals of China

b)  Other Wild Animals in China

c)  Wild Animals in the Cities of China

The following wild animals are seen in some parts of some cities.

***********************************************************************

19. Parks

***********************************************************************

20. Describing People

The adjectives below could be used in the following sentence: "She's very _________. " Or, "She's a very _______ person." Or, "She's a very _______ type of person."

Of course, instead of, 'very' you can also use other words such as:  'quite', 'rather', 'somewhat', 'really' and, 'extremely'.

Some nouns

***********************************************************************

21. The Sections of a Newspaper

The following are the main sections that typical newspapers have.

Other sections that most often appear in weekend editions of newspapers are:

***********************************************************************

22. Types of Magazines

There are magazines for almost every topic of interest, whether a sport, hobby, general interest or a career interest.

***********************************************************************

23. Law

***********************************************************************

24. Water

Water Usage

***********************************************************************

25. Games 

Adult games

chess

mahjong

weiqi (I suggest you use the Chinese name, not the Japanese name, 'Go')

card games (e.g., poker)

pool (= "8 ball"), billiards, snooker

computer games

drinking games

guessing games

 

Children's Games

(See also here for some traditional Chinese children's games)

marbles

'Hide and seek'

Hopscotch

'Scissors, rock and paper'

***********************************************************************

26. Playgrounds

Basic List

a swing

a slide = a slippery dip

a carousel

a see-saw

a jungle-gym = a set of monkey bars

 

The following internet articles will show you some good vocabulary (along with pictures) for the topic of children's playgrounds and playground equipment. (On the left of the wikipedia pages you will see a place to change into Chinese language if you want.)

http://www.aaastateofplay.com/ 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Playground 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jungle_gym 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See-saw 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swing_(seat)

***********************************************************************

27. Cooking

Not done yet.

 

***********************************************************************

28. "A Sense of + noun (名词)"

Using the expression, "A Sense of + noun (名词)" is a variation on using adjectives to describe qualities of people (and things) or to describe feelings.

For many adjectives, there is an equivalent noun. For example, the adjective, "adventurous" has the noun form, "adventure". You can describe a person using both the adjective or the noun. The pattern is: "He is + adjective" = "He has a sense of + noun". For example, "He is adventurous" = "He has a sense of adventure".

Note: This item (Item 28) is quite advanced.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

List A) When you are describing a quality in another person or thing. For example, "He's got a good sense of humour"; or, "That play had a strong sense of pathos." (Note that we don't usually use these words to describe one's own qualities or feelings.)

List B) When you are describing your own feelings or the feelings of others. For example, "It gives me a sense of tranquility when I walk alone in the forest." Or, "To be a good soldier, you need to have a sense of patriotism." When talking about others, the examples in List B are describing both the feelings and qualities of these others.

For example, most English speakers would not say, "When she told me she got 99% in the test, I felt a sense of surprise". Instead, most English speakers would simply say, "When she told me she got 99% in the test, I was surprised" ("I was surprised when she told me she got 99% in the test.") The reason we would not say, "a sense of surprise" is that the emotion of surprise is quite simple and clear-cut. It's also possible to say, "I felt surprised" or, "I felt happy" for these simple, clear-cut emotions.

On the other hand, look at this example: "I had to kill my pet cat when she got very old and ill with cancer. But after I did it, I felt a great sense of guilt." In this example, the feelings the speaker is trying to express are deep, complex and diverse. It is possible to say, "I had to kill my pet cat when she got very old and ill with cancer. But after I did it, I felt guilty" but if you described your feeling in such a short, quick way, you would be decreasing the emphasis on the complexity and depth of your feelings.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Lists of "A sense of + ..."

List A:

balance

taste

fairness

co-ordination

integrity

humour

proportion

pathos

style

rhythm

 

List B:

acceptance

achievement

affiliation

alienation

ambivalence

anxiety

awareness

belonging

bitterness

community (= community spirit)

connection

devotion

desolation

destiny (= the belief that one is destined for greatness)

devotion

disillusionment

doom

duty

emptiness

failure

foreboding

fulfillment

guilt

humility

indignation

insight

liberation

loyalty

morality

nostalgia

one's own importance

outrage  

perspective

power

proportion

reassurance

relief

resentment

reverence

satisfaction

serenity

spirituality

the past

transformation (= change)

trust

victory (= triumph)

wariness

wonder

accomplishment

adventure

affinity

allegiance

anticipation

autonomy (= independence)

awe

being needed, being wanted, being loved, being appreciated, being accepted, being respected, being useful, being rejected, being judged, being laughed at, being free, being used, being trapped, being part of the community, being among friends,  etc.

betrayal

closure

competence

contentment  

curiosity

déjà vu

despair  

detachment

direction

dislocation

dread

empowerment  

expectancy

fellowship

freedom

gratification

history

identity

indifference

irony

loss

mastery

mystery

oneness with nature

optimism

patriotism

pessimism

pride

purpose

rejection

remorse

responsibility

right and wrong (= morality)

security

shame  

the future

tranquility

triumph (= victory)

urgency

vitality

well-being

worth

 

***********************************************************************

29. Sports Facilities

The information here was written especially to help people answer the questions, "What sports facilities are there near where you live?" and, "What sports facilities are there at your university?"

Maybe there's a private school in your community that has a swimming pool and several tennis courts. If you, a non-student at the school, are not allowed to enter and use these facilities (even when you offer to pay), then it is not suitable to include the school's sports facilities as examples of sports facilities near where you live. Of course, you could mention these facts to the examiner and explain how these facilities exist but are not available for the public to use, and that would be suitable for a Part 3 answer but a little unsuitable for Part 1 unless you firstly address the question of facilities available to the public. Anyway, in Part 1 you probably won't have time to give such an extended and detailed example.

Some sports are done mostly for competition, such as football, basketball or tennis. This is the main group of activities that people think of when using the word, 'sport'. These competitive sports have set rules and special areas where the activity is done. 

A broader definition of 'sport' includes some physical activities that are done purely for recreation, not competition, such as hunting, fishing, or horseback riding. Most of the water sports such as scuba-diving, snorkeling, water skiing and surfing (surfboard riding) are non-competitive, although water skiing and surfing competitions are held sometimes.

The 'extreme sports' are also usually non-competitive. These sports really involve competing against oneself or against nature. Examples of these are: 'sky diving', 'white water rafting' down a fast-moving river or mountain climbing (rock climbing), such as climbing Mt. Everest (珠穆朗玛). 

Some sports don't require much physical exertion but do require physical skills, for example pistol shooting. Similarly, games such as snooker (斯诺克) which are games of physical skill rather than physical exertion are usually also classified as 'sports'.

Sometimes there is a 'fine line' (= an unclear dividing line) between what is exercise and what is sport. For example, if you go to the swimming pool three times a week and swim ten laps of the pool each time, can you say that you do a sports activity? Personally, I would call it a form of exercise, not sport. (Certainly you cannot say that is 'playing a sport' because you can only 'play' a game and swimming, even in competition, is not a "game".) On the other hand, if you hit a ping-pong ball across a ping-pong table with your friend for an hour, without keeping score, then I would say you are playing a sport, even though you are not actually playing a formal, competitive game of ping-pong. 

However, even though I think swimming laps in a swimming pool is not sport, and even though very few Chinese people swim as a competitive sport, it is still suitable to call a swimming pool a 'sports facility' because in other parts of the world, a swimming pool is a place that is often used for sporting competition. For example, in Australia, every public swimming pool has a swimming club where the members hold swimming competitions against each other and against other swimming clubs.

I also would not call 'a gymnasium' a sports facility, where 'gymnasium' here simply means 'an exercise room' with weights and exercise machines. But it's probably ok to use that example in your answer, provided you communicate to the examiner the idea that, "it's not really a sports facility but more an exercise facility".

The word, 'gymnasium' can also be used to mean, 'an indoor sports arena' where sporting competitions are held – that certainly is a sports facility.

a swimming pool

a basketball court

a badminton court

a tennis court

a squash court

a volleyball court

a football field

a baseball field

a hockey field

an athletics field  

a running track  

a cycling track

a golf course

a golf driving range

an archery range

a shooting range  

a shooting gallery

a) a gymnasium ( = a room for exercising, weightlifting, etc. This item is suitable if you add the fact that it's really an exercise facility rather than a sports facility.)

b) a gymnasium = an indoor stadium = a big competition room (大厅) that probably has seats for spectators and with facilities for such competitions as weightlifting, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball etc.  

a bowling alley (for ten-pin bowling)

an ice-skating rink / a roller-skating rink / a skating rink

a ski slope / a ski run / a ski resort

ping-pong tables (= table tennis tables) For example, concrete ping-pong tables in a public park.

a billiard room / a pool hall (台球室)  

a go-cart track; a go-cart course (if the general public is able to use it, even if they have to first join a club to use it.)

a skateboarding park

a mountain bike track = a mountain bike competition ground 

-------------------

a stadium, a football stadium

If you are answering the question, "What sports facilities are there in your university?" then to include a stadium is suitable because that facility is used by the students in competition and for general sporting use. 

But if the question is, "What sports facilities are there near where you live?" then you need to be careful about using a stadium as an example because some big football stadiums are only used by professional football clubs and are not available to the general public as places where people can (join a club and) play amateur football, or other sports. If this is the case, these stadiums are more suitably classified as "entertainment facilities" for the general public rather than sports facilities for the general public. 

However, if the stadium is available for amateur footballers to use, then it is suitable to include it as a "sports facility near where you live". This kind of stadium would probably be owned and run by the city government, rather than by a private football club.

(I don't know about the situation in China but in most parts of the world, these big football stadiums are connected to one professional football club and this club often has a 'junior league' which is a club that boys can join in order to play competitive football. Although this is only available for a select or limited group of boys, the boys in the junior league are part of the general public and in this sense, the facility could be called, 'a sports facility for the public'.)

Similarly, the F1 racing course in Shanghai is more of an entertainment facility rather than a sports facility.

-------------------

Other Sports Facilities

There are other sports facilities that exist in the community but the following descriptions are not as good as those above because the words "club", "center" etc. tend to refer more to an organization rather than a facility. And "a river", "lake" or "the ocean" are not usually used to mean "a facility" – they simply refer to "places" rather than "places with special equipment".

a wushu training centre

a taekwondo (跆拳道) class

a tennis club

a rowing club

an archery club

a lake or river (for swimming, water skiing, rowing, sailing or fishing)

the ocean or a beach (for swimming, scuba diving, snorkeling, surfboard riding, jet ski riding, sailing or fishing)

etc.

 

-------------------

Exercise Facilities

The following examples are not suitable to use if the question is, "What sports facilities are there near where you live?" As noted above, "exercise" and "sport" are not exactly the same in meaning. However, it is possible to include these examples in your answer to that question, if you communicate to the examiner that you know the difference between "exercise facilities" and "sports facilities" and you are giving an extended answer to the question. This is especially true if either of the two questions about sports facilities are used in Part 3. You are unlikely to have enough time in Part 1 for such an extended answer.

"exercise machines in an exercise area" ( = "exercise equipment" in public parks or public exercise areas)

a gymnasium / an exercise room

a walking path in a public park

a jogging track

the steps going to the top of a big hill or a mountain (= a walkway which many people use for regular exercise, for example, old people at 6 o'clock in the mornings)

a yoga class (Yoga is classified as a form of exercise or a form of physical training rather than "a sport".)

an aerobics class (or, an aerobics group)

a 'jazz dancing' class or group (which some women join as a form of exercise)

a hiking club; a mountain trail for hiking;

etc.

***********************************************************************

aTo Page 3