공통영어1 지학 신상근 2과 본문 빈칸 퀴즈

Have you heard the expression, “It’s Greek ____ me”?

____ means “I can’t understand what you are saying because it sounds like a foreign language to me.”

You may wonder why it is not French ____ Italian but Greek.

The ____ is that the Ancient Greeks had an enormous influence on Western culture.

Greece was the birthplace ____ Classical Western civilization, and therefore, also left us with some pretty great idioms.

Idioms pose a special challenge in language learning ____ their meanings are different from the words that make them up.

Learning their origins will make it easier to understand what they mean and to figure out how to use ____

Here are four English idioms ____ Greek origins.

According to Homer, the Ancient Greek poet, the Greeks and ____ had a war that lasted ten years.

This war eventually became known as ____ Trojan War, where Achilles became the most famous hero.

When Achilles was ____ his mother, a goddess of water, attempted to make him immortal.

She dipped him in the ____ River Styx.

Wherever the water touched, the part touched would ____ indestructible.

However, because she held him upside down by one of his heels, Achilles’ ____ remained dry.

This became his only ____ spot.

Achilles grew ____ to be a great warrior and survived many great battles.

However, during the Trojan War, Paris, a prince of Troy, shot a poisoned arrow ____ struck Achilles’ heel, which led to his death.

This is why the idiom ____ heel” refers to a fatal weakness, especially in a situation where all other parts are strong.

Even after the death of Achilles, the Trojan War ____ a point where no one could win.

One day, ____ Greeks came up with an idea.

They built a ____ wooden horse and left it outside the city of Troy.

They pretended to leave the horse behind ____ a gift for the Trojans.

The Trojans thought they had won, ____ they pulled the horse inside their city gates.

However, the Greeks had hidden ____ soldiers inside the horse.

That night, the ____ came out of the horse and opened the gates to let in the Greek army waiting outside.

This allowed the ____ to win the war.

Nowadays, people use the idiom “Trojan horse” to describe a trick or scheme that is used ____ hide someone’s true purpose or intention.

Greek legend tells of the Gordian Knot, which was tied ____ a king named Gordius.

The knot was so complex that no ____ was able to untie it.

A prophet said whoever could untie the knot would become the ruler of ____

For hundreds of years, people unsuccessfully tried to ____ the knot.

Then, Alexander ____ Great came along.

He tried to untie it, and it ____ got tighter.

After thinking for ____ while, he drew his sword and cut the knot in half!

Everyone was shocked because that was not ____ they had expected.

He explained, ____ doesn’t matter how the knot was untied.

The important ____ is that it’s undone.”

From that day on, the idiom “cutting the Gordian knot” has been commonly used to describe a simple solution to a complex ____

In ancient ____ people often discussed important matters and made decisions through voting.

They cast votes by dropping a white or black bean into ____ clay jar.

White ____ were used for positive votes, and black beans for negative votes.

These votes were cast in secret, so if someone knocked over the jar, whether by accident or on purpose, ____ spilled the beans and revealed the results of the vote prematurely.

Because of this origin, the phrase “spill the beans” came to mean “reveal information that was meant ____ be kept secret.”

Idioms are an important part ____ everyday English, and they make the language rich and colorful.

When you ____ into idioms that are “Greek to you,” take the time to study their origins.

It is a fun way to increase your ____ of English, and it can also help you to remember them and use them in the appropriate situations going forward.