INVESTIGATIONS

Amazon jungle: a large rain forest around the Amazon River in northern South America, covering more than 2.1 million square miles (5.5 million square kilometers).

breakthrough: a sudden and important discovery or understanding that allows new advances or progress.

coin, the other side of: the other side, aspect or point of view of a situation or problem, just like the other side or the back of a coin.

dabble: work at something in a casual way, not going deeply into the details, figuratively as if wetting oneʼs feet in shallow water rather than diving in completely.

Department of Disinformation: a department in the KGB (the intelligence and internal security agency of the former Soviet Union) created in the 1950s. Disinformation is false and deliberately misleading information about a country’s military strength or plans, etc., publicly announced or planted in the news media, etc.

departure: a change or difference from what is usual, expected or standard.

faulty: containing faults (mistakes and imperfections).

fixed: already firmly decided and unlikely to change.

grasp: understand something clearly.

lieutenant: an officer of fairly low rank in the armed forces, below the rank of captain.

mere: only as good or important as something that is mentioned and having no more value than that.

misplaced: directed toward something that is not appropriate for a particular purpose.

outness: a condition or instance of something being wrong, incorrect or missing.

port: an area of water by the shore where boats and ships stop.

prejudice: an unfavorable opinion, judgment or feeling formed without facts, knowledge, thought or reason.

Saigon: a city in the southern portion of Vietnam, whose official name is now Ho Chi Minh City. From 1954 to 1976, Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam.

scene: the circumstances, time, place, etc., for any area or sphere of activity.

school: a large group of fish that are the same type.

sea gull: a seabird with black, white and gray feathers.

sergeant: a junior level officer in the US Army, Air Force or Marine Corps and often in charge of training the troops.

Sparta: a city in ancient Greece famous for its military power.

steeply: in a way that increases or decreases very quickly.

trail: the series of clues, pieces of related data, etc., that must be followed in order to discover something, figuratively like a route or path that leads to a particular place.

visualize: form a picture of an object or process in one’s mind.