Advanced English Conversations (2) - Robert Allans, Matt Edie, A. Mustafaoglu 2020

Set 33 - we still have a long way to go

George: I’m doing Mechanical engineering which is really interesting and covers a lot of areas. Currently, it’s nearly all theory, so it’s a bit heavy-going.

Martin: Typical. You need to get a grasp of the main concepts before you start putting it into practice.

George: Oh; I’m not sure I’m going to cope with the work. By the way, I observed that the students don’t appear to be very studious here, they seem to be at loose ends most of the time. But they’re friendly, approachable and out-going.

Martin: Well; that’s good to hear. The only person I’ve spoken to is my tutor. He’s very supportive. It’s good to have someone you talk to and he may help you meet other students.

George: Actually that doesn’t bother me. I’m bound to get to know some people sooner or later. It’s more a question of finding out what I need to do, where to go and so on. He would be of a great help for me to settle in.

Martin: Oh, I would have thought so. Certainly we still have a long way to go here. The whole thing seems like a surreal experience to me as this is the first time I stay away from home.

Vocabulary;

cover: to deal with or direct attention to something.

heavy-going: (adjective) difficult or boring to deal with.

get a grasp of: to attain a firm, clear understanding or determination of something.

cope with: to deal successfully with a difficult situation.

studious: (adjective) a studious person enjoys studying or spends a lot of time studying.

at loose ends: to have nothing to do.

approachable: (adjective) friendly and easy to talk to.

sooner or later: at some time in the future; eventually.

settle in: to become familiar with somewhere new, such as a new house, job, or school.

long way to go: a large amount of time and effort.

surreal: (adjective) strange; not seeming real; like a dream.

Exercise;

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate phrases or words;

1. My story starts when I was off from work and just not feeling myself at all, it was a .......... experience.

2. Richard had been killed in a hit-and-run accident a little over a year before, and his wife is still at .......... ends.

3. You've got a long .......... to go before you're ready to compete at the national level.

4. You might go on believing for a time, but .......... or later you would be bound to begin to doubt and worry and torment yourself.

5. We’ve moved in just two days before. Once we've .......... in, we'll have you over for dinner.

6. Graham's always very .......... - why don't you talk the problem over with him?

7. When she was young, she was described as intelligent, .........., and beautiful.

8. It would not be necessary for her to enter into the transaction at all, for she believed that Clayton was amply able to .......... with every emergency.

9. Only Friedmann, the physicist, spoke fluent French; with the others conversation was rather ..........-going.

10. You will need to get a solid .......... of the material, as you'll all be tested on it next week.

11. This leaflet .......... what we've just discussed in more detail.

1. surreal 2. loose 3. way 4. sooner 5. settled 6. approachable 7. studious 8. cope 9. heavy 10. grasp 11. covers