mindmap root((DEC)) decalogue 1、（capitalized） The Ten Commandments.
2、 Any basic set of rules that must be obeyed.
🌱At 15 she posted a decalogue of life rules on her bedroom door, starting with "1. Be respectful to teachers." 🌳In decalogue the root deca- is combined with logos, Greek for "word." In the Biblical book of Exodus, the original Decalogue, or Ten Commandments, was handed to Moses by God atop Mount Sinai. In Jewish and Christian tradition, the Ten Commandments are regarded as laws handed down from the highest authority and as the foundation of morality. They include commands to honor God, the Sabbath day, and one's parents, and bans on worshiping images, swearing, murder, adultery, theft, lying about others, and envying what others have. Individuals have often had their own personal decalogues; Thomas Jefferson's "ten commandments" started off with "Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today." decathlon An athletic contest made up of ten parts.
🌱Though the U.S. has dominated the Olympic decathlon for its whole modern history, the 1948 victory by the 17-year-old Bob Mathias still astonished the world. 🌳Decathlon from deca- and athlon,"contest," means "ten contests." The ancient Greek Olympics held five-contest competitions, or pentathlons, that were based on the skills needed in battle. The modern Olympic decathlon, which was born in 1912, consists of the 100-meter run, 400-meter run, 1500-meter run, 110-meter high hurdles, javelin throw, discus throw, shot put, pole vault, high jump, and long jump. The original winner was the legendary Jim Thorpe, who would later be judged the greatest American athlete of the 20th century. And ever since, the Olympic decathlon winner has been called the finest all-around athlete in the world. decibel A unit based on a scale ranging from 0 to about 130 used to measure the loudness of sound, with 0 indicating the least sound that can be heard and 130 the average level that causes pain.
🌱She worries about the damage that high decibel levels can cause, and always wears ear protection when mowing the lawn. 🌳The bel in decibel honors the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell. Decibels work on a logarithmic scale （you may need to look up logarithm）, so 20 decibels is 10 times as strong as 10 decibels, and 50 decibels is 1,000 times as strong as 20 decibels. The decibel readings of some everyday sounds make for interesting comparisons. Whispers and rustling leaves usually register under 20 decibels, the average level of conversation is about 50 decibels, and noisy factories or office machinery may have decibel levels of 90 to 100. In the category of sounds between 100 and 120 decibels, which can eventually cause deafness, we find elevated trains, artillery—and rock concerts. decimate To reduce drastically or destroy most of.
🌱Before the developments of modern medicine, diphtheria and typhoid could decimate the populations of entire towns and cities. 🌳Commanders in the Roman army took discipline seriously. Mutiny in the ranks was dealt with by selecting, through drawing lots, one soldier in every ten and making the other nine club or stone the unfortunate winner of this gruesome lottery to death. The dec- in decimate thus reflects this Roman practice, which was ordered by such well-known leaders as Crassus, Mark Antony, and Augustus. But over time, the word's meaning has shifted, and today it almost always describes great destruction or loss of life. So, for example, we can say that a wave of layoffs has decimated a company's workforce, the populations of some of Africa's greatest wild animals have been decimated by poaching, or aerial bombardment has decimated whole sections of a city.