Word Power 23 | The Space Race
Description
In Word Power 23 | The Space Race from The Insatiable Writer Podcast, you will learn about The Space Race and you will learn 20 new words along the way. You will also get the chance to practice the new words in Quizlet interactive activities and quizzes and in the downloadable PDF worksheet that includes crossword puzzles, word searches, multiple-choice questions, and more.
Wordlist
amiss |
(adj.)
faulty, imperfect, not as it should be; (adv.) in a mistaken or improper way,
wrongly |
brawl |
(n.)
a noisy quarrel or fight; (v.) to quarrel or fight noisily |
detest |
(v.)
to hate, dislike very much, loathe |
domestic |
(adj.)
native to a country, not foreign; relating to the life or affairs of a
household; (n.) a household servant |
flagrant |
(adj.)
extremely bad, glaring; scandalous, notorious |
flaw |
(n.)
a slight fault, defect, crack |
fledgling |
(n.)
an inexperienced person, beginner; a young bird about to leave the nest;
(adj.) inexperienced, budding |
fluster |
(v.)
to make or become confused, agitated, or nervous; (n.) a state of confusion
or agitation |
foremost |
(adj.)
chief, most important, primary; (adv.) in the first place |
momentum |
(n.)
the force or speed with which something moves |
notable |
(adj.)
striking, remarkable; (n.) a person who is well known, distinguished, or
outstanding in some way |
nurture |
(v.)
to bring up, care for, train, nourish; (n.) rearing, training, upbringing |
paradox |
(n.)
a self-contradictory statement that on closer examination proves true; a
person or thing with seemingly contradictory qualities |
perjury |
(n.)
the act of swearing to a lie |
presume |
(v.)
to take for granted, assume or suppose; to dare, take upon oneself, take
liberties |
prior |
(adj.)
earlier, former |
proficient |
(adj.)
skilled, expert, or capable in any field or activity |
salvo |
(n.)
a burst of gunfire or cannon shot, often as a tribute or salute; a sudden
burst of anything; a spirited verbal attack |
vigilant |
(adj.)
wide-awake, alert, watchful |
wrath |
(n.)
intense anger |
Podcast Audio Episode
Podcast Video Episode
Episode Transcript
Disclaimer
I am using an automatic transcript service as it is not possible for me to do it on my own and I cannot afford human transcription at the moment. The service claims to have about 95% accuracy, which means there will still be some mistakes, so my apologies for having a less than perfect transcript, but I hope I can afford human transcription soon and this problem will be solved. However, the service is pretty good and the transcript will prove to be almost perfect.
Word Power 23 | The Space Race
Welcome to a new episode from the insatiable writer podcast.
Today's episode is word power. And word power is what you used to know as
vocabulary builder. It's the same thing. It hasn't changed, but because we may
add other more powerful things to it, I just changed the name from vocabulary
builder to word power.
[00:00:29] So without further ado, let's jump in to the
topic and the words we're going to learn today, today's topic is the space
race. And before we talk about the words we're interested in today, Let's hear
a little story about the space, race, the space race. Have you ever heard of
the cold war? If so, then you are familiar with one of the greatest paradoxes
of the 20th century from 1948 to 1989, a war without warfare existed between
the United States and the Soviet union.
[00:01:10] A notable feature of the cold war was the race to
explore space. On October the fourth, 1957, the Soviets launched the space race
by putting the world's first satellite Sputnik into orbit around the earth. Not
to be outdone. The United States retaliated by sending into space, a satellite
of its own. Also in 1958, Congress established the national aeronautics and
space administration or NASA.
[00:01:43] The main task of the fledgling agency was to keep
up with the Soviets in the space race. NASA faced its first great challenge in
1961 in April, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to
orbit the earth, giving the space, race, new momentum, less than a month after Gagarin's
flight. Alan Shepard became the first American to make a space flight nine
months after John Glenn made three orbits of the earth.
[00:02:19] During this time, president John F. Kennedy
proclaimed that the four most goal of the nation's space program was to land a
man on the moon. Before the end of the decade, the question in the minds of
Americans was good. The nation meet the president's challenge. Americans also
wondered if NASA could land an astronaut on the moon before the Soviet.
[00:02:43] Then just as the decade was ending, NASA achieved
its greatest triumph on July the 20th, 1969. The spacecraft Eagle landed on the
surface of the moon with millions watching around the world. Neil Armstrong
took his famous moonwalk with Armstrong's first step. The Americans had won the
space race. So that was our story about the space race.
[00:03:12] I hope you found the story itself. Interesting,
but now what's even more interesting than the story itself are the words we're
going to focus on. We have our first word and it comes from the very first
paragraph of the story and it is paradox. Paradox is spelled P a R a D O X.
Paradox. And in the story we said, have you ever heard of the cold war?
[00:03:39] If so, then you are familiar with one of the
greatest paradoxes of the 20th century. Now, what is the meaning of paradox? If
you think about it in this context, do you think paradox is similar to
statements to lies, to contradictions or to mysteries. Which word or words out
of these four words are similar in meaning to paradox.
[00:04:07] Think about it. Well, you describe a situation as
a paradox when it involves two or more facts or qualities, which seem to
contradict each other. So, obviously we're not talking about a clear situation.
We're not talking about a situation that is easy to understand. So back to
these four words, I gave you the words that are similar to paradox are the
words contradictions or even mysteries.
[00:04:37] So that was our first word paradox. Let's jump in
to the second word. And that is notable. In the text, we said a notable feature
of the cold war was the race to explore space. And notable is spelled N O T a B
L E. Now what is the meaning of notable? Let's have four words and you get to
think and decide if one or more of these words are similar in meaning to the
word.
[00:05:09] Notable is notable similar to trifling.
Noteworthy petty or remarkable one or more words can have a similar meaning to
notable. What do you think? Well, someone or some thing that is notable is
important or interesting. So back to our words, it's definitely not trifling or
petty, which is just the opposite.
[00:05:37] It can mean noteworthy or remarkable. Someone or
something that is notable is important or interesting. So that is our second
word for this text. Now what about our third word fledgling? Now in our text,
we said the main task of the fledgling agency was to keep up with the Soviets
in the space race. And here we were talking about the newly established NASA.
[00:06:05] So the newly established NASA, we said fledgling.
So what do you think fledgling means? Which word or words out of these four I'm
going to tell you about is close in, meaning to the word fledgling. Is it
emerging, developing, like, or experience. Well, remember we said fledgling, and
we talked about NASA, which is a new agency, so it might not be experienced and
wild fledgling refers to young birds.
[00:06:39] Definitely. In this context, we're not talking
about birds. So what is the meaning of fledgling? And by the way, fledgling is spelled
F L E D G L I N G fledgling. Use fledgling to describe a person, organization
or system that is new or without experience. So back to our words, we have the
word emerging as a word that is close to fledgling.
[00:07:09] Emerging is new without experience doesn't mean
that it is bad. And obviously we know by now that NASA is not bad. It's one of
the most technologically advanced organizations in the world. Maybe it was not
back then, but even back then, it was not a bad agency, but it was fledgling. It
was emerging. Or maybe there's another word.
[00:07:32] That is developing, but it's definitely not
bird-like or experienced because experience is just the opposite of fledgling
and bird. Like, as we said, even fledgling as a word in its purest sense means
a young bird, newly hatched. But in this context, we're not talking about
birds. We're talking about people.
[00:07:52] We're talking about organizations. I can keep it
in mind that you can use this word for young birds. If you want. So that was
our third word. Fledgling. Let's find out about momentum. Now in the text we
said in April, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to
orbit the earth, giving the space, race.
[00:08:14] New momentum. Now momentum is spelled M O M E N T
U M. Momentum. Now, when we talk about momentum, if we try to think about words
that are close in, meaning I'm going to give you four words and you think which
word or words out of these four is close in, meaning to momentum. Before I
explain it myself now is momentum close in meaning to perfection, to drive
importance or impetus.
[00:08:47] Think about it. Well, if a process or movement
gains momentum, it keeps developing or happening more quickly and keeps
becoming less likely to stop. And that is what we meant by when we said giving
the space, race, new momentum, this space race kept developing and it started
happening more quickly and it was not likely to stop.
[00:09:16] And that is the momentum. So back to the words I
just gave you, it's definitely not perfection drive. It is close. We can say it
gave it a new drive. Or impetus, which is the same meaning as momentum, but not
important. Not exactly important momentum is sometimes important. And sometimes
it's not, we're just describing this drive, this thing that started developing
and happening more quickly, and it's not likely to stop momentum.
[00:09:47] And now for our last word for today's episode.
And that is for most foremost dispelled, F O R E M O S C foremost in the text.
We said during this time, president John F. Kennedy proclaimed that the
foremost goal of the nation's space program was to land a man on the moon
before the end of the decade. So when we talk about foremost, what are we
talking about?
[00:10:16] Are we talking about the top? Are we talking
about the last, the paramount or the secondary? So if we want to maybe try and
replace this word here instead of the foremost goal, should we say the top
goal? Cool. The last goal, the paramount goal or the secondary goal. What do
you think, which word or words are similar in meaning to foremost let's find
out?
[00:10:42] Well, the foremost thing or person in a group is
the most important or best. So obviously out of these four words I gave you top
or paramount are close in meaning to foremost. Definitely not last and not
secondary. Secondary is just the opposite of important. Or primary paramount,
Tom. And it's not the less, it doesn't have to be the last, maybe the last, but
that's not related directly to the meaning of the word foremost.
[00:11:14] So these were our five words. We talked about
paradox, notable, fledgling, momentum and foremost. So remember, these are the
five new words that you learned from this episode, but that's not everything.
If you use the link you find in the description of the episode, you will go to
my website where you are going to find the transcript of the episode.
[00:11:38] You're going to find. Other words you can learn.
And we're talking about 20 words like we're used to every week, we learn 20 new
words. As I said, in the link, you will find the transcript. You will find the
quizzes, fled interactive activities and quizzes, and you will find the
downloadable PDF specially made for this episode for the 20 words.
[00:12:04] And I added something special and I'm going to add
this from now on. At the end of every PDF, you're going to have crossword
puzzles, spelling challenges, multiple choice questions, et cetera, to test
your knowledge of those 20 new words. But every week I'm going to add apart. At
the end of the PDF, where you can remember the words that we talked about in
earlier vocabulary, builder episodes, or what we call now, word power episodes.
[00:12:36] And that is very useful. Even if you haven't
listened to all the word power or vocabulary builder episodes that we created
here in this podcast, you can still listen to them anytime you like, but these
words are going to be a good challenge for you. And you're going to learn a
lot. But obviously if you're a fan of this podcast and you've been following us
for a while, you'll find that very useful to remind you of these words that we
learned about a while ago.
[00:13:06] And with that being said, that'll be all for
today's episode. Remember, we are now in the insatiable rider podcast. We have
a totally new new program. So wait and see, great things are coming your way.
And at any time, please reach out and let me know what you think about the new
program. This is your host, Danny.
Quizlet Interactive Activities
Word Power 23 | The Space Race PDF Worksheet
Word Power 23 the Space Race by Danny Ballan
Word Power 23 | The Space Race PDF Worksheet Answer Key
Word Power 23 the Space Rac... by Danny Ballan
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