Advanced English Conversations (2) - Robert Allans, Matt Edie, A. Mustafaoglu 2020
Set 74 - rewind the tape of your memory
Emily: I’m finding it hard to deal with my kids. They are lazy, entitled, and they act in self-serving ways. The kids today are without doubt worse than kids in the past.
Mary: Are they? No offense, Emily; but the apple doesn’t fall from the tree. Why don’t you rewind the tape of your memory? Or it might have got rusty over time.
Emily: Don’t be sully! I do remember that I was a bit idle like I couldn’t be bothered walking to the TV to change the channel if the remote control was lost or out of my reach. But, I’m nowhere near my kids. At least I was intelligent and I loved to read books.
Mary: Come on! You’re using your current self to make judgments and evaluations of kids. You don’t really have objective knowledge for how well-read kids were when you were a child. Your memory is messing with you.
Emily: Not at all! I’ve a memory like an elephant.
Mary: You mean you’ve a memory like a sieve.
Vocabulary;
entitled: (adjective) feeling that you have the right to do or have what you want without having to work for it or deserve it, just because of who you are.
self-serving: (adjective) working or acting for your own advantage.
no offense: do not be offended.
the apple doesn’t fall from the tree: a person is not far off from how their parents are.
rewind: to go back, or to make something go back, to an earlier time.
rusty: (adjective) impaired by lack of recent practice.
idle: (adjective) lazy and not willing to work.
can’t be bothered (doing/to do): to be too lazy or tired to do something.
out of one’s reach: at a distance at which someone or something cannot be touched or grasped.
nowhere near: completely unlike; not at all similar.
well-read: (adjective) having a lot of knowledge from reading widely; knowledgeable.
mess with: to bother or interfere with someone or something; to confuse.
to have a memory like an elephant: to have a very good memory.
to have a memory like a sieve: to forget things easily or quickly.
Exercise;
Fill in the gaps with the appropriate phrases or words;
1. No .........., but this cheese tastes like rubber.
2. Mom has a memory like an .........., so ask her what Joe's phone number is.
3. He was .......... with his bike and then he couldn't fit the parts back together.
4. Although Jack stopped his studies at 19, he was very well-.........., especially in the classics.
5. This design is .......... near what I had in mind. You'll have to just start the whole thing again!
6. Be sure to keep the medication behind a locked door that is out of .......... of any children.
7. Why are you running the kitchen if you can’t be .......... cooking.
8. He's a very able student, he's just bone ..........
9. I'm terribly sorry I didn't remember your birthday — I've got a memory like a ..........
10. My soccer skills are getting .......... I haven’t played it for ages.
11. Entering the baths is like .......... eight centuries to Moorish days of old.
12. Did you hear that Dr. Klein's daughter Molly is majoring in Biology? I guess the .......... does not fall far from the tree.
13. Michael’s parents has clearly spoiled him. He’s .............................. , self absorbed, and apathetic.
14. Berlusconi's television empire pumps out nothing but self-............................... propaganda.
1. offense 2. elephant 3. messing 4. read 5. nowhere 6. reach 7. bothered 8. idle 9. sieve 10. rusty 11. rewinding 12. apple 13. entitled 14. serving