STUDENT’S CORNER

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Understanding the words and increasing your vocabulary.

The numbered words below are taken from the four short stories featured in this issue. Get to know them.

Trotted /traa·tuhd/ verb, past tense and past participle of trot. If a horse or similar animal with four legs trots, it runs at its slowest speed, using short steps in which a front leg and the back leg on the opposite side move together.
Tarmac /taar·mak/ noun. An area of ground covered with a hard surface, especially the areas of an airport where aircraft park, land, and take off.
Negotiation /ni·gow·shee·ay·shn/noun. The process of discussing something with someone in order to reach an agreement with them.
Penalty /peh·nuhl·tee/ noun. A punishment, or the usual punishment, for doing something that is against a law.
Granaries /gra·nr·eez/ noun, plural. Storehouses for threshed grain or grain separated from the straw to which it is attached.
Sadanga /sada-nga/noun. a fifth-class municipality in the Mountain Province.
Civet /si·vuht/ noun; A Philippine palm civet cat. It eats the red fruit of the coffee plant. When it excretes the partially digested beans, the beans can be processed into coffee, regarded as one of the most expensive in the world.

Interpreter /in·tur·pruh·tr/noun. Someone whose job is to change what someone else is saying into another language; a person whose job is to translate what somebody is saying into another language.
Basque /bæsk/noun. A member of a people living in the Basque Country of France and Spain. Culturally one of the most distinct groups in Europe, the Basques were largely independent until the 19th century.
Tierra /tyeh-rrah /noun. A Spanish word that means “land.”
Din /dɪn/noun. A loud, unpleasant noise that lasts for a long time.
Journal /jur-nl /noun. A daily record of news and events of a personal nature; a diary.
Sextant /ˈsekstənt/noun. An instrument for measuring angles and distances, used to calculate the exact position of a ship or an aircraft.
Balangay / ba‧la‧ngay /noun. A type of lashed-lug boat built by joining planks edge-to-edge using pins, dowels, and fiber lashings. They are found throughout the Philippines and were used largely as trading ships up until the colonial era.

Shapeshifter /shayp·shif·tr /noun. A person or an animal that is able to change into other people, animals or things.
Apathetic /a·puh·theh·tuhk/adjective. Showing no interest or energy and unwilling to take action, especially over something important.
Compassion /kuhm·pa·shn/noun. A strong feeling of sympathy and sadness for the suffering or bad luck of others and a wish to help them.
Gloomy /gloo·mee/adjective. Unhappy and without hope.
Coherent /kow·hee·ruhnt/adjective. having clarity or capable of being understood; expressing thoughts in a clear and calm way, so that other people can understand what is being said.
Vulnerability /vuhl·nr·uh·bi·li·tee/noun. The quality of being easily hurt, influenced, or attacked.
Venting /ven·ting/verb. Give free expression to a strong emotion.

Molto bene /molto·bene/adjective or adverb depending on usage. An Italian phrase that means “very good.”
Jurisprudence /jur·uh·sproo·dns/noun. The theory or philosophy of law; a legal system.
Diaspora /dai·a·spr·uh/noun. The dispersion or spread of a people from their original homeland.
Gurneys /gur·neez/noun. A wheeled stretcher used for transporting hospital patients.
Agnostic /uhg·naa·stik/noun. A person who claims neither belief nor disbelief in God.
Chaotic /kay·ah·tick /adjective. In a state of complete confusion and disorder; out of control or disorganized.
Tawdry /taa·dree/adjective. Looking bright and attractive but in fact cheap and of low quality; involving low moral standards; extremely unpleasant or offensive.

Find the poems where these words appeared. Define each word.