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

Set 71 - you don’t have a care in the world

John: I don’t believe I’m in my seventies. I don’t really feel my age except for the occasional twinge. But I admit that I can sometimes be a bit of a grumpy old man.

Bill: No wonder! You lead quite a comfortable life. You didn’t have to toil and moil to support a family. Apparently; you don’t have a care in the world. Do you?

John: Seriously! I’d already had my share of hard work. Looking back I was completely penniless but those days are only a hazy memory now. You’re a lifetime friend and you know very well that I went through thick and thin to make my fortune. Anyway; How are you doing these days?

Bill: Right now; I’m looking after my grandchildren because their parents are out most of the time. They always have my undivided attention. In fact, I can’t let them out of my sight.

John: Oh! Since my grandchildren left to Spain, I have been going over the photo albums which are full of pictures that rekindle memories. They are of great sentimental value to me.

Vocabulary;

twinge: a sudden, sharp localized pain.

grumpy: (adjective) bad-tempered and irritable.

toil and moil: to work hard; to drudge

have one’s share of: to have a sufficient amount of something.

penniless: (adjective) having no money; very poor.

hazy memory: a hazy memory is one that you cannot remember well.

a lifetime friend: a person you feel so close to that you think you'll be friends forever.

go through thick and thin: through good times and bad times.

undivided attention: to be the sole thing that one is focused on.

out of sight: too far away to be seen.

go over: to examine or look at something in a careful or detailed way.

rekindle: to make someone have a feeling that they had in the past.

sentimental value: the value of an object deriving from personal or emotional associations rather than material worth.

Exercise;

Fill in the gaps with the appropriate phrases or words;

1. But I can imagine that a .......... co-worker would have an outsize impact on my mood.

2. Everybody is looking for you. Try to keep out of .......... time being.

3. The drastic cuts come a week after Aldershot were wound up and .......... fears for several Fourth Division clubs facing closure.

4. It's a cheap ring but it has great .......... value for me.

5. Forensic scientists are going .......... the victim's flat in a search for clues about the murderer.

6. He was broke, stranded, and .........., and pleaded with Mum to send him his return fare money.

7. OK, now that your sister's asleep, you have my .......... attention — tell me what happened earlier.

8. Our company has survived through thick and .........., and we'll be able to get through this ordeal as well.

9. A beautiful friendship was found and nurtured developing into a .......... friend that I wouldn't give up on no matter what difficulties or disturbances came up between us.

10. Helen had a .......... memory of Lucie being in the emergency room with her, but she couldn't quite piece it together.

11. That little girl is just eight years old, and she's already had her .......... of hardship.

12. I shall have to toil and .......... all my days, with only little bits of fun now and then, and get old and ugly and sour, because I'm poor and can't enjoy my life as other girls do.

13. George felt a .......... of pain in his ankle from when he had slipped on the ice.

1. grumpy 2. sight 3. rekindle 4. sentimental 5. over 6. penniless 7. undivided 8. thin 9. lifetime 10. hazy 11. share 12. moil 13. twinge