Mole Hills or Mountains?

Words relating to Problems, Puzzlements, and Disasters

ADVERSITYN. Great trouble or difficulty

ANIMAL ADVERSITY!

HUMAN ADVERSITY!HUMAN ADVERSITY!

PAST ADVERSITY:

FUTURE ADVERSITY!

ADVERSITYThe book tells how she overcame the

ADVERSITY of an impoverished childhood.

The hero faced four years of ADVERSITY trying to survive on a desert island.

CONFLAGRATION

N. a huge fire;

an inferno

Flames from the CONFLAGRATON lit up the sky for miles around.

CONFLAGRATIONThe burning of Atlanta

in Gone With the Wind

is one of the great

CONFLAGRATION

scenes in movie

history.

CONFOUNDING

Adj. puzzling, baffling

CONFOUNDING

The world was fascinated by the CONFOUNDING disappearance of

Amelia Earhart.

CONFOUNDED!

CRYPTICAdj. hidden, hard to understand, mysterious, obscure

THE ROSETTA STONE

CRYPTIC We found a CRYPTIC

message scrawled on the blackboard. No one could figure out its meaning.

The twins used a CRYPTIC, incomprehensible language to talk to each other.

DEBACLE

N. A failure or breakdown; a collapse that is often nonsensical

OBLIVIOUS PILOTS = IMMINENT DEBACLE…

VORACIOUS SHARK = IMMINENT DEBACLE!

DEFINITE DEBACLE!

DEBACLE For me, physics class was a DEBACLE. I

understood none of it, failed every test, and finally dropped the course.

The performance was a DEBACLE. Actors forgot their lines, the set fell down, and the lights blew halfway through the first act.

ENIGMAN. a riddle or mystery; a puzzling or baffling matter or person

EnigmaMachine

ENIGMAIsabelle is an ENIGMA. I can’t

figure her out. Her moods change with the wind.

The ENIGMATIC carvings on the ancient Egyptian tomb have never been fully interpreted.

ENIGMA or …DEBACLE …

or BOTH?

LABYRINTH

N. a maze from which it is very hard to extricate (free) oneself

LABYRINTHThe basement of our school is a

LABYRINTH of tunnels and passageways. It’s easy to get lost.

Applying to college often seems like trying to find your way through a complicated maze or LABYRINTH.

ART

Imitates life.

Cutting the GORDIAN KNOT!

Animal ingenuity triumphs!

PRECARIOUSAdj. dangerous or risky; uncertain

PRECARIOUS POSITION

POSITION IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWING

PRECARIOUS POSITION

PRECARIOUSBecause Finny’s foothold on the tree

limb was PRECARIOUS, he fell and broke his leg.

It’s PRECARIOUS to apply to only one college because you may not be accepted. Then what?

ELOQUENTQUANDARYN. A dilemma;

a confusing or puzzling situation

QUANDARY

QUANDARY Walter faced the enviable QUANDARY of

deciding which of three hot colleges he should attend.

Safe Rides has taken the QUANDARY out of whether to accept a ride with a driver who’s been drinking.

TURBULENCEN. Great unrest;

turmoil or disorder

TURBULENCE In September Mac and Meg were a happy

couple. But since Mary came along, their relationship has experienced some TURBULENCE.

“Buckle your seat belt,” said the flight attendant. “We are experiencing some TURBULENCE.”

TURMOIL

N. A very puzzling scenario or situation; tumult

TURMOILThere was TURMOIL in the

room because the teacher had lost control of the class.

Gretchen’s emotions were in TURMOIL after Jerry unexpectedly broke up with her.

CHRISTOPHER MORRIS dropped down in Yugoslavia as soon as he heard the news that Croatia had declared their independence. Even though he was experienced in frontline photography, he soon came to realize that "the situation in Yugoslavia was more dangerous than anything I had ever gotten myself into."

ONE NIGHT WHILE driving through Serbian territory after dark, Morris was shadowed by a black Mercedes: "When we got to a wooded area - where a camera crew had disappeared two weeks earlier - the Mercedes cut us off."

 

THREE MEN WITH AK-47s pulled Morris out of his car and threw him to the ground. "They cocked their guns, pointed them to our heads, and accused us of being Croatian spies." They ripped through his passport and bags for evidence.

"LUCKILY, we had rejected the Croation press cards that had been issued to many photojournalists," remembers Morris uneasily, "One wrong turn could put you where you did not want to be."