Unit 32

premise / surmise / demise

premise n. 前提 (a proposition used as the basis of an argument or inference) /ˈpreməs/

• Joy won the debate because she was able to prove that her opponent's premise was based on a false assumption rather than fact.

surmise v. 猜测 (to make a thought or idea based on scanty evidence; conjecture) / sərˈmaɪz/

• We tried to surmise what our neighbor was doing digging in his garden at 3 a.m., but without additional evidence, we failed to come to any reasonable conclusion.

demise n. 死亡, 灭亡 (death) / dəˈmaɪz/

• Following spurious newspaper reports of his demise, the writer Mark Twain is often misquoted as saying, "Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated."

employ / deploy / ploy

employ v. 使用 (to hire, use, occupy) / əmˈploi/

• Carlton employed a wrench to loosen the nut that held the pipes in place.

deploy v. 部署 (to organize and send out (people or things) to be used for a particular purpose) / dəˈploi/

• The navy deployed a battalion of ships to patrol the coast line.

ploy n. 策略 (a clever trick or plan that is used to get someone to do something or to gain an advantage over someone) / ploi/

• The Trojans famously used a massive wooden horse as ploy to help their army successfully enter and attack the city of Athens.

apposite / opposite

apposite adj. 合适的，相关的 (highly pertinent or appropriate) /ˈæpəzət/

• Lin was an English language maven who was able to come up with strikingly apposite adjectives when writing her SAT Essay.

opposite adj. 相反的，对立的 (completely different) /ˈäpəzət/

• The saying that compares "apples to oranges" is used to indicate things that are so different that they can be considered diametric opposites.