Graduate Record Examinationの略で、アメリカ合衆国やカナダの大学院へ進学するのに必要な共通試験です、

このGREの中に、Verbalというセクションがあり、これがいわゆるアメリカ人に課される英語の試験ということになります。

英語の母語話者であるアメリカ人で、しかも大学を卒業して、これから大学院に進学しようとしている人に課される英語の試験なので、かなり難しいです。

このGRE試験によく出題されるボキャブラリーを20語あげてみますね。

20の中で、いくつ知っているか数えてみてください！

Extant (adj.) – in existence.

Few documents antedating the advent of papyrus are extant today.

Ephemeral (adj). – short-lived

Youtube has made fame truly ephemeral. Just ask Rebecca Black.

Capricious (adj.) – unpredictable, whimsical

Because Martha was so capricious her friends felt they could not rely on her.

Corroborate (v.) – to confirm, make stronger

Three witnesses were able to corroborate Lucy’s alibi that she had been at the bowling alley at the time of the murder.

Loquacious (adj.) – talkative

Nancy was so loquacious her friends usually didn’t like to watch a movie with her.

Esoteric (adj) – known to a select few

Many jazz artists once deemed esoteric have emerged due to the greater access users have to avant-garde music on-line.

Erudite (adj.) – scholarly

A Rhodes Scholar, Max was a true erudite, and a formidable opponent on Jeopardy.

Pragmatic (adj.) – practical

Edna never cared for abstract thinking and preferred the pragmatic world of business, in which every action, ideally, has an intended consequence.

Ambivalent (adj.) – having contradictory feelings

Erin was ambivalent about her freshman year in college; her classes were fascinating but she missed her high school friends.

Soporific (adj.) – inducing sleep

Professor’s Moore’s lectures were soporific to the point that students, before they nodded off in class, would usually quip, “It’s time for Professor Bore.”

Prolific (adj.) – producing or creating abundantly

Irving Berlin had one of the most prolific careers in song-writing history; dozens of his hundreds of tunes are familiar to us. Anyone dreaming of a “White Christmas?”

Auspicious (adj.) – favorable

The team’s run for the pennant started auspiciously with 24 wins. Two starting pitchers snapped their elbows mid-season, clearly an inauspicious sign.

Sanguine (adj.) – cheerful; optimistic

A Yale graduate with a 4.0, she was sanguine about finding a job right out of college.

Enervate (v.) – to weaken; drain the energy from

Sitting in the windowless room, the tropical humidity soaking through the walls, I was enervated before noon.

Magnanimous (adj.) – big-hearted; generous

Upon receiving his first Wall Street paycheck, Jerry was so magnanimous he not only bought his Mom a car, he bought his Dad one too.

Mercurial(adj.) – 1. Changing one’s personality often and unpredictably. 2. Animated, sprightly

One never knew exactly what the professor’s class would be like; he was so mercurial that many of his students thought of him as two different people.

Belligerent (adj.) – Inclined to fighting

After a few drinks Stevie was convivial; after two six-packs he became belligerent, challenging anyone around him to a head-butting contest.

Fastidious (adj.) – nitpicky

A fastidious eater, Herman would only eat the center of anything he touched. As a result, his plate was strewn with the remnants of his dinner, an eyesore for the hapless dinner guest.

Reticent (adj.) – tightlipped, not prone to saying much, reluctant

Paul was reticent and preferred observing others mannerisms.

Inculpate (adj.) – to charge with wrong-doing; accuse

To inculpate Eddy with the murder was absurd; he’d been bowling with Lucy.

さあ、上記の20個の中で、いくつ知っていた語彙でしたか？

分かった単語が15個以下の人は、アメリカの大学院に行けませんよ！！(笑)

アメリカ人の大学生や大学院に負けない語彙力を付けましょうね！！

では、また明日！！