The London Eye Mystery has a plethora
(overabundance) of words that a reader might not be familiar with. There are many in the
first two chapters that are critical in establishing the setting and in developing the
character of the narrator. For instance, the first and most critical part of the initial
setting is the London Eye. It is called an observation
wheel. This is term that is newly added to the English lexicon
(vocabulary). This is a upgraded term for an elaborate Ferris Wheel that is built on a
larger scale and has large capacity observation capsules for many people to ride in all
at once instead of the the standard suspended bucket seats of an "old fashioned" Ferris
Wheel. Observation: to notice or to perceive. Capsule: small compact
enclosure.
The London Eye observation wheel
is constructed with metallic hawsers. "Metallic" means that these "hawsers" are made of
metal (a class of crystalline elementary substance). But what are "hawsers"?
Hawser: heavy rope of cable for mooring or towing. The
hawsers are metallic rope-like cables that facilitate the operation of the observation
wheel. Another part of the observation wheel are the cantilevered
structures: a rigid part of the structure horizontal to a vertical
support that has tension on top and compression on bottom and is used for extended
support.
From the second chapter, American
readers learn of the English thing called "post" that comes
to homes. Of course, the UK's post is the USA's mail.
American English still has a vestige of the original noun for letters sent from person
or entity to another in the terms post office, postman (not gender
neutral), post box, postage stamp, and in expressions like "take it
the the post" and "did you post that."
This gets you started on your way, and here
are more words from chapters 1 and 2 that you can look up. Dictionary.com is a
convenient and reliable online dictionary to
use.
massive
queue
devastation
souvenir
clumsy
emblem
catalogue
demolition
expert
borough
anticyclone
meteorologist
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