공통영어1 지학 신상근 2과 본문 빈칸 퀴즈

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here ____ four English idioms with Greek origins.

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

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

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

She dipped him in ____ magical River Styx.

Wherever the water touched, the part touched would become ____

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

This ____ his only weak spot.

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

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

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

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

____ day, the Greeks came up with an idea.

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

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

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

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

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

This ____ the Greeks to win the war.

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

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

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

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

For hundreds of years, people unsuccessfully tried to untie the ____

Then, Alexander the Great came ____

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

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

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

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

The ____ thing is that it’s undone.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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