difficult to understand; unintelligible; abstruse
vocabulary; lexicon; lexis; terminology
writing; composition; essay; sentence
exchange; reciprocation; give-and-take; reply; riposte
pure literature; belles-lettres
patching (clothing); darning; cobbling together (other people's writings, thoughts, etc.); gathering
upper reaches (of a river); upper stream; top; upper part; long ago; beginning; first
to make matters worse; besides; what's more; in addition; on top of that
poem; poetry; verse; Chinese poem
supreme; sublime; highest
uncool; unsophisticated; unfashionable; out of fashion; tacky
one's cherished opinion; pet theory
axis; shaft; center; centre; stalk; stem
that is to say; so that means
to view in a favourable light; to look favourably on
suspicious; dubious; doubtful; unsure; untrustworthy; unreliable; strange
sensitive (person, heart, etc.); delicate (issue, problem, etc.); sensitive; fragile; delicate; delicate (fabric, shade, flavour, etc.)
hard; solid; stiff; tight; strong; firm (not viscous or easily moved); safe
to convey; to report; to transmit; to communicate; to tell; to impart
to step into (e.g. someone else's territory); to break into; to raid; to come to grips with; to get to the core of
to speak ill of; to disparage
heavy; weighty; heavy (feeling); depressed; slow; sluggish; important (position, responsibility, etc.)
to prick; to stab; to poke; to prod; to use (a cane); to prop oneself up with
to bother; to meddle; to poke one's nose (into another's business); to be too helpful
to reserve (for exclusive use); to charter; to book; to lend out completely; to lend out all of (something)
deep in the mountains; mountain recesses
isolated island; outlying island; leaving an island
mountain; hill; mine (e.g. coal mine); heap; pile; crown (of a hat); thread (of a screw)
to have a talk; to tell a story
immediately; right away; on the spot
to talk back; to answer back; to retort; to say over; to repeat (what one has said)
to pretend to be tough; to put on a brave front; to whistle in the dark; to bluff
group; party; team; squad; section
independent action; acting alone
treating (someone) with great caution (so as not to anger or upset them); handling with kid gloves; treating gingerly
to create (an atmosphere, feeling, etc.); to produce; to engender
now (while the time is ripe); while one still can
shock (psychological); crisis (esp. financial); event that rattles the markets; shock (physical, mechanical); shock (e.g. due to lack of blood flow); trauma