III. Categorized List

Academic Word List and other long words

subscribed to the same belief

adjective + noun

a good investment

discretionary income

tech-savvy cynics

impenetrable brick walls

particular qualifications

secretive operation

adverb + adjective

was ridiculously persistent

digitally manipulated images

change the world' perception of him

he assumed that I was waiting

tenacity is a virtue

Idioms and other useful expressions

was easy to spot

was a man of his word

was in awe of the place

was a setback

was top secret

was wowed by how prepared I was

was getting nowhere

a sabbatical

an oddball sabbatical

how geeky I am

a quest

dashed off my letters

he figured

I sweet-talked the winners into letting me

First come, first served.

a working low-budget virtual reality system

Grammar as Lexis

Have you ever walked around a carnival with a giant stuffed animal?

watched how people look at you and envy you?

used a stuffed animal to woo a woman?

Speaking topic

1. "Tenacity is a virtue."

2. "The brick walls are there for a reason. They're not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something."

The Last Lecture

Part Three: Adventures and Lessons Learned

Ch. 12 The Park is Open Until 8 p.m.

I. Chronological List

medical odyssey

slight unexplained pain

the scans revealed

the highest mortality rate

found myself hypothesizing

obscure journal articles

didn't seem to be put off by me

they didn't seem to mind when...

brought along advocates

research skills in navigating medical information

I'd be willing to endure anything

had an objective

complicated procedure

experienced specialists

I was in for a brutal time

receiving powerful dosages

slowly regained my strength

a romantic getaway

we were ushered into an examining room

felt no qualms at all about what I was about to do

be preemptive

was crying hysterically

the way in which Dr. W. went about the grim task before him

as things now stand

a normal life span

palliative chemotherapy

curative chemotherapy

ease symptoms

felt incredibly impressed

awed by

is so heartfelt and spontaneous

took note of

would be too presumptuous

I felt an odd sense of relief

II. Exercises

12.1 Match the beginning of the sentence with its ending.

1. When Randy and Jai heard the mortality rate for pancreatic cancer, ...

2. No experienced specialist could reassure Randy that he would ...

3. What began as a slight unexplained pain, would end with ...

4. As a scientist, Dr. Pausch could use his research skills to ....

5. Prof. Pausch took the preemptive step of looking...

6. Pausch was awe of the doctor's skills at communicating dire information ...

7. Though Randy felt no qualms about peeking at his records, Jai...

8. Randy was awed by the doctor's skill, thinking: ...

navigate a huge amount of medical information.

they knew his goose was cooked.

at his computerized medical records before the doctor came in to tell him.

in a heartfelt and spontaneous manner.

might have felt that it was inappropriate to do so.

"Boy, he's good at this."

have a normal lifespan.

palliative chemotherapy to ease his certain death.