Earlier this year, in a sweltering classroom in Delhi, I met a young Indian boy named Ram. His father is a watchman in a government apartment block, and the family live in the building’s garage. But there is no toilet, so Ram, a small, whipsmart and endearingly cheeky boy, must cross two busy highways to get to the overcrowded public toilet in a nearby slum. For further reading, visit “The Guardian”.
Article Written by: Rose George.
Courtesy: Guardian News & Media Ltd.
Word List:
- Sanitation (noun) – it generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces (Courtesy: WHO)
- Sweltering (adjective) – very hot.
- Whipsmart (adjective) – extremely intelligent/clever.
- Endearingly (adverb) – charmingly, admiredly, pleasantly.
- Cheeky (adjective) – impudent, bold; somewhat disrespectful & rude but in an amusing way.
- Sibling (noun) – brother or sister.
- Defecation (noun) – excretion, discharging faeces/stools/bodily waste; going to the lavatory/toilet/loo.
- Shrug (verb) – a gesture (by raising and lowering shoulders) to express doubt/ignorance.
- Lament (noun) – complaint; wail, moan, crying.
- Salivate (verb) – thirsting (desiring strongly) for something.
- Caught Short (phrase) – unprepared for.
- Stunted – children who are too short for their age; (stunting – low weight for age).
- Toddler (noun) – a young child.
- Faecal (adjective) – relating to faeces/stools/bodily waste.
- Excrement (noun) – faeces, excreta, stools, droppings, waste matter.
- Parasite cysts – a type of tapeworms’ growth in intestines/stools.
- Ingest (verb) – take into the body.
- Ensue (verb) – result, happen, occur.
- Nourishment (noun) – nutrition, food, sustenance.
- Malnutrition (noun) – undernourishment, undernutrition, poor/unhealthy/inadequate diet.
- Searing (adjective) – critical, strong, fierce.
- Indifference (noun) – lack of concern/interest, apathy, disregard, carelessness.
- Ethnicity (noun) – a particular (linguistic, ancestral, cultural, social) ethnic group.
- School (verb) – educate, teach, instruct.
- Gesture (verb) – signal, make a gesture, make a sign, motion.
- Trinket (noun) – inexpensive household ornament, toy, worthless object.
- Thriving (adjective) – growing, prosperous; flourishing.
- Look through (phrasal verb) – to pretend like you do not see something; snub, ignore, disdain, look past, avoid, brush off.
- Marginal (adjective) – minor, insignificant, lower class.
- Sophisticated (adjective) – attractive, interesting, appealing.
- Groundbreaking (adjective) – innovative, pioneering, unique, new.
- Head off (phrasal verb) – turn aside, turn away, draw away.
- Window (noun) – a situation/condition/opportunity (to understand something which is unknown).
- Opaque (adjective) – difficult/hard to understand.
- Tolerate (verb) – allow, permit, authorize, approve.
- Through a looking-glass (phrase) – the other side (of something) which is strange/peculiar.
Note:
- Click each one of the words above for their definition, more synonyms, pronunciation, example sentences, phrases, derivatives, origin and etc from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ .
- Definitions (elementary level) & Synonyms provided for the words above are my personal work and not that of Oxford University Press.
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