2015.10.21 - Week 6

A. Vocabularies to Know
1) suitor:  a man who wants to marry a particular woman
2) Archery contest: 射箭比賽
3) -naut: 人
3-1) Astronaut: a person who has been trained for travelling in spacecraft
4) siren: a device for making a loud warning noise (原: 海神女妖的歌聲)
5) innovation: (the use of) a new idea or method
6) cunning: describes people who are clever at planning something so that they get what they want, especially by tricking other people, or things that are cleverly made for a particular purpose
7) Menelous: 斯巴達國王(老婆被搶走的)
8) Ithaca: Odyssey的國度
8-1) Ithaca, New York: Cornell大學的所在地
B. Penelope's weaving

Penelope is in a very dangerous situation when the suitors begin invading her house and asking — and then demanding — her hand in marriage. Although the suitors abuse an important social tradition of hospitality, Penelope lacks the natural, social, and familial protections that would enable her to remove them from her house. Her son, Telemachus, has neither the maturity nor the strength to expel the invaders. Although unassuming, Penelope has a cunning that indicates she is a good mate for her wily husband. He claims — rightly, by the way — that she has misguided the suitors for nearly four years, leading on each man with hints and promises but choosing no one.
The story of the loom symbolizes the queen's clever tactics. For three years, Penelope worked at weaving a shroud for the eventual funeral of her father-in-law, Laertes. She claimed that she would choose a husband as soon as the shroud was completed. By day, the queen, a renowned weaver, worked on a great loom in the royal halls. At night, she secretly unraveled what she had done, amazingly deceiving the young suitors. Her ploy failed only when one of her servants eventually betrayed her and told the suitors what was happening.
C. Search" Electra" on Wiki Pedia

In Greek mythology, Electra was the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus princess of Argos. She and her brother Orestes plotted revenge against their mother Clytemnestra and stepfather Aegisthus for the murder of their father, Agamemnon.Electra is one of the most popular mythological characters in tragedies. She is the main character in two Greek tragedies, Electra by Sophocles and Electra by Euripides. She is also the central figure in plays by Aeschylus, Alfieri, Voltaire, Hofmannsthal, and Eugene O'Neill.In psychology, the Electra complex is named after her.