Mar 12, 2009 Volume 5 -- Daily Life in China, #15(42)

lintelleUID: 2297267

1. The ______ of the past, the way that history is mobilized in contemporary political, social, and cultural life is ubiquitous.
2. An _____ of the 11th century will illustrate the extend to which this could be of benefit.
3. It has as hear a certain adventurer called Fan Wei, who _______ himself on being the near relation of a defunct celebrity and who in order to give more weight to his claim, had his grandmother buried in the tomb of the illustrious defunct.
4. To this political influence must be added the power ______ by wealth, and the wear relations of the Emperor disposed of very high incomes.

A) anecdote
B) rhetoric
C) procured
D) plumed

answer
B) rhetoric
A) anecdote
D) plumed
C) procured

anecdote:
a short and amusing or interesting story about a real incident or person
• an account regarded as unreliable or hearsay
• the depiction of a minor narrative incident in a painting.

rhetoric:
the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, esp. the use of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.
• language designed to have a persuasive or impressive effect on its audience, but is often regarded as lacking in sincerity or meaningful content

procure:
1 obtain (something), esp. with care or effort
• obtain (someone) as a prostitute for another person
2 [ trans. ] Law persuade or cause (someone) to do something

plume:
noun
a long, soft feather or arrangement of feathers used by a bird for display or worn by a person for ornament
• Zoology a part of an animal's body that resembles a feather
• a long cloud of smoke or vapor resembling a feather as it spreads from its point of origin
• a mass of material, typically a pollutant, spreading from a source
• (also mantle plume) Geology a localized column of hot magma rising by convection in the mantle, believed to cause volcanic activity in hot spots, such as the Hawaiian Islands, away from plate margins.
verb
1 [ intrans. ] spread out in a shape resembling a feather
• [ trans. ] decorate with or as if with feathers
2 ( plume oneself) chiefly archaic (of a bird) preen itself.
• figurative feel a great sense of self-satisfaction about something