Anna Mills, Instructor
English 96
Homework for Thursday, March 20

Study for Thursday’s  vocabulary quiz on the following words from “Doomsday Fears and Modern Life.”  For the quiz, I will pick five of the words listed below and retype the sentence from the essay in which they appear.  You will have to write a new version of the sentence without the vocabulary word which makes the meaning of the vocabulary word clear, just as you have been doing in your explanations on vocabulary assignments.  

You will not be able to look at your copy of the essay or any notes.  Make sure you understand the meaning of the word as it is used in the essay.   You will not need to turn in a vocabulary list.

Paragraph 1
•	apocalyptic
•	contemporary
•	perverse
•	stimulus
Paragraph 2
•	virtual
•	plausible
Paragraph 3
•	catastrophist
Paragraph 4
•	crackpot
•	thermal

Paragraph 5
•	rational
•	exhortations
Paragraph 6
•	gimmick
•	coercion
Paragraph 7
•	noxious
Paragraph 8
•	alarmist
•	exorbitant
Paragraph 9
•	imperatives
•	viable

Reread the essay and answer the following discussion questions (at least one sentence per answer):
1.	 What kinds of people is Podhoretz criticizing in this essay?  Give a quotation and explain it what it means to you.
2.	Why does he criticize them?  What complain does he have about “doomsday fears”?
3.	Why does Podhoretz bring up the fear of nuclear war?  What can the history of this fear teach us about contemporary fears about the environment, according to him?
4.	What is Podhoretz’s attitude to technology?
5.	What is his philosophy of how humans should live on earth?
6.	How does Podhoretz get us to trust him (ethos)?
7.	How does he try to affect our emotions (pathos)?
8.	How does he appeal to evidence and logic (logos)?
9.	Podhoretz makes fun of the idea of global warming.  What do you think Podhoretz would say about it if he could evaluate the scientific evidence now?
10.	What might Podhoretz’s opinion be about An Inconvenient Truth?
11.	What might Podhoretz’s opinion be about The Rough Guide to Climate Change?