Advanced everyday english: Advanced vocabulary, phrasal verbs, idioms and expressions - Collins Steven 2011
Listen to the CD track 4
Chapter Three in Use
Magazine article by a parent of teenagers
A Trip to London
If you haven’t experienced the joys of bringing up teenagers, take my word for it, it brings out the worst in you. By and large, I would say I’m quite an easy-going person by nature, but a lively, disruptive child can make me feel uneasy. I once read a book about bringing up boys and I must say I found it most enlightening. It says that the vast majority of kids grow out of their annoying habits and that their periods of awkwardness come in phases. The outlook, apparently, is positive for caring, worried parents. It is clear that what you can teach children early on in life will stand them in good stead for the future.
However, you have to be tactful when giving advice to teenagers, and in particular be careful not to waffle on about the dangers of sex. They would just think you were being prudish.
Many times you think your son is not going to budge over a certain issue, but if you play down the matter, he will think you are just being complacent. The thing to do is stick it out. You’ll get your own way in the end. I always say I wouldn’t put it past my son to leave home and never speak to me again...but he’d soon come back after finding he couldn’t make ends meet.
Interview with classical musician
INTERVIEWER: Is it true you’ve changed the direction of your music because you felt that you stuck, out like a sore thumb in the classical musical world?
MUSICIAN: In part, yes because I found out that...
INTERVIEWER: Sorry to butt in, but you are on record as saying that the people you were working with were often stuck-up, and that you were also getting fed up having to carry around a huge cumbersome double bass.
MUSICIAN: Zes all very true. ..although a lot of what you say is taken out of context. But apart from that, I felt there were other musicians who had cornered the classical market, and so I was persuaded by my producer to bring out something more down-to-earth.
INTERVIEWER: If you don’t mind me saying, people have said it’s bland and that you have become the laughing stock of the classical world.
MUSICIAN:That’s their opinion. What is definitely true is that I’ve become more streetwise. You have to bear in mind that most people from my musical background haven’t got a clue about what’s going on in the world. They turn off the news when anything political comes up. Their lives are far too comfortable. I don’t want to be lulled into the same false sense of security. I hope you get the gist of what I’m saying. ..but I don’t want to come over as being pretentious.
INTERVIEWER: Not at all, and thank you. I wish you all the best with your new CD.
Chapter Three: Exercise
Choose the correct word from those in red
Answers on page 133
1. Please feel free to a(budge up/disrupt/stick out/butt in) if you think I’m b(waffling on/playing down/cornering the market/touching on) for too long.
2. When he lost his job two years ago, he found it hard to a(be disruptive/make ends meet/ clutch at straws/bear it in mind), but, b(by and large/complacently/uneasily/playing it down), that difficult period has c(turned him off/come in phases/stood him in good stead/grown out of him)in recent times.
3. The new teacher felt a bit a(bland/uneasy/prudish/streetwise) about taking over such a b(complacent/turned off/disruptive/cumbersome) class, but by the end of term, she felt she had managed to c(budge/bring out the best/enlighten/butt) in them.
4. A: I told Maria that I thought her cooking was a bit a(uneasy/complacent/cumbersome/ bland).
B: That wasn’t very b(tactful/uneasy/disruptive/prudish) of you, was it?
5. I don’t know how you think you’re going to a(stand in good stead/corner the market/ stick out like a sore thumb/clutch at straws)with such an expensive produc. You have to b(bear in mind/enlighten/budge up/play down) that the economic c(unease/prude/outlook/ market) is not very positive at the moment, and people aren’t splashing out.
6. We mustn’t let our recent success a(touch on us/lull us into a false sense of security/budge us up/disrupt us). I’m sure you are all aware how dangerous b(clutching at straws/sticking out like a sore thumb/streetwise/complacency) can be.
7. He likes to a(play down/stick out/butt in/turn off) his celebrity status as a TV historian, but we have all found his documentaries most b(streetwise/bland/complacent/enlightening).
8. A: Do you think he realises that at the age of 52 he a(goes in phases/sticks out like a sore thumb/is lulled into a false sense of security/looks cumbersome) at the university bar?
В: I don’t think he does. He’s trying to find himself a beautiful young wife. It’s so sad to see him b(taking my word for it/putting it past him/clutching at straws/turning them off).
9. A: I have failed to convince your father that you are now old enough to wear a bikini on the beach. He won’t a(budge/disrupt/turn off/bear it in mind)on this matter, I’m afraid.
B: Why am I the only one of my friends with such a b(disruptive/streetwise/prudish/waffling) dad?
10. a(Be enlightened/Take my word for it/Bear it in mind/Grow out of it): if we don’t toughen up and get more b(prudish/disruptive/cumbersome/streetwise), we’ll be the ploughing stock/ outlook/complacency/enlightened) of the business community in this city.
A: Do you think she’s likely to tell him that she finds his physical appearance to be one big a(complacency/turn-off/uneasiness/prude)?
B: / wouldn’t b(touch on it/bring it out/put it past her/take her word for it)!
12. Doctor, I know it’s a matter you have a(stuck outlbrought out/waffled on/touched on) previously, but do you really believe that David will ever b(come in phases/grow out of/bear in mind/make ends meet) his aggressive behaviour towards his younger brother?
13. My interest in the self-study French course I’m doing in my spare time a(comes in phases/makes ends meet/enlightens те/brings out the best in me). But I’m going to b(disrupt itl stick it out/touch on it/bear it in mind) until the end, whatever happens.