今天我们来看看美国中学生的词汇等级

100 Words Every Middle Schooler Should Know

下面是我的藏书截图：

我还是挑出前20个单词给大家参考：

adversary
aplomb
apprehensive
aptitude
attentive
banish
barricade
bluff
brackish
brandish
circumference
commotion
concoction
conspicuous
contortion
counter
cunning
debris
defiance
deft

很明显，这里面已经有SAT水平的单词了，有些还长得很像，比如：brackish & brandish，commotion & concoction & contortion。如果你觉得四级词汇就很难搞清楚，那么请做好准备，以后的词汇只会越来越难区分。

下面我挑其中几个相对简单的来给大家展示一下，和小学那本不同，这本书增加了“word origin”一项，给读者讲述了单词的起源。

【aplomb】沉着自信，泰然自若。注意这个单词末尾的字母b不发音。

Self-confidence, especially in difficult situation; poise; assurance.

原著例句：

She stood behind the tree and watched them walk toward the house. Then a really funny thing happened. Mr. Waldenstein got on his bycicle. Harriet thought for a minute that he was going off for a while to deliver things, but then her hair stood on end as she watched Ole Golly, with great agility and even more aplomb, hop onto the delivery cart.
——Louise Fitzhugh, Harriet the Spy

「WORD ORIGIN」Aplomb comes from the French word aplomb, which means basically “vertical position” and also “stability” and “emotional control under pressure”. ..后面还有一堆，我就不敲出来了，可以看出这个单词来自法语。

【aptitude】天资，才能。

The ability to learn or understand something quickly.

原著例句：

She began to describe this year’s group and its variety of personalities, though she singled no one out but by name. She mentioned that there was one who had singular skills at caretaking, another who loved newchildren, one with unusual scientific aptitude, and a fourth for whom physical labor was an obvious pleasure.
——Lois Lowry, The Giver

举这个单词，主要是想给大家看几个著名的“形近词”，请一口气说出下面这两句话的意思：

【bluff】虚张声势，唬人。大家一定在各种“赌局”上听过这个词。

To engage in a false display of strength or confidence, especially in order to deceive someone.

原著例句（这段话里有我最钟爱的句式 it dawned on me that…）：

A full minute went by before it dawned on me that I was still in one piece. When I realized this, I began noticing things. Every time the big monkey ran at me he only came a little way, then he would turn and shuffle back. He was bluffing.
——Wilson Rawls, Summer of the Monkeys

【brandish】挑衅地挥舞，激动地挥舞。

To wave or exhibit something in a dramatic or threatening way.

原著例句来自《哈利·波特》

“Allow me!” Shouted Lockhart. He brandished his wand at the snake and there was a loud bang; the snake, instead of vanishing, flew ten feet into the air and fell back to the floor with a loud smack.
——J.K.Rowling, Harry Potter and the Clamber of Secrets

【debris】残骸，碎片。注意这个单词末尾的字母s不发音。

The scattered remains of something broken, destroyed, or discarded; rubble or wreckage.

原著例句：

There was a shadowy alcove at the other end of the cellar, filled with old furniture and other stuff. Adam recognized old wicker chairs they had used long ago in the summer, in the backyard. His mother waded through this debris of other years, clearing a path to a box tied with and old rope, about four feet square, in the corner.
——Robert Cormier, I Am the Cheese

总结一下词源：

【aplomb】法语

【aptitude】拉丁文

【bluff】荷兰语

【brandish】古法语

【debris】法语

李哲：资深英语讲师，从教16年，英文藏书3000册；翻译出版过《可怕的科学》系列等多部英文著作；企鹅图书纪念莎士比亚诞辰450周年大型活动武汉站主讲嘉宾；互联网预言大师、《失控》&《必然》作者凯文·凯利读者见面会特邀现场翻译；用英语讲述的个人故事被BBC选用并在国际频道BBC World Service中播出。