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English Vocabulary in Use Advanced
92.4
1 a powerful car
2 strong tea
3 auburn hair
4 a doleful expression
5
a lengthy meeting
Unit 93
93.1
1 eye
2 hands
3 heart
4 jungle
5 thumb
6 ball
7 mouth
8 head
9 rein
10 light
93.2
1 holding the reins = in charge; idiom taken from horse riding
2 moving the goalposts = changing the rules; idiom from football
3 a half-baked idea = an idea that is not fully
thought through or developed; idiom from cookery
4 to tighten our belts = to reduce our spending; idiom from dressing
5 to take (something) on board = to understand and accept;
idiom from loading a ship
6 on track = likely to complete a planned course of action; idiom from travel (e.g. along railway
tracks)
7 around the clock = day and night; idiom based on the movement of the hands of a clock
8 take something/someone at face value = to accept something/someone as how they appear at
first, without thinking they could be something else; idiom based on the
image of a coin or stamp
where the value is stated on its ‘face’
93.3
1 This book throws a great deal of fresh light on the history of the period. = This books tells us a
great deal that is new about the history …; from the concept of intelligence as light
2 We could save half an hour at least if we went through the wood. = We could gain half an hour …;
from the concept of time as money
3 Try to keep cool even if he argues with you. = Try to keep calm …; from the concept of intense
feeling
as temperature
4 We spent months trying to achieve our sales targets. = (two metaphors) We devoted a long time
to trying hard to sell as many of our products as we were aiming for; from the concepts of time as
money and business as a military operation
5 Police tried to control the flow of the fans as they left the concert. =
Police tried to control the
movement of the fans …; from the concept of movement of people as water
93.4
1 All the world’s a stage and all the men and women merely players.
The line suggests that life is like a theatre and that possibly the roles are written in advance, with
people being like actors in that they all have different parts to play. (from
As You Like It
)
2 We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep.
The line suggests that people’s lives have as little substance as a dream.
Death is likened to sleep
at the end of the short day that is all that life is. (from
The Tempest
)
3 There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.
The line suggests that our lives have tides like the sea and we must take advantage of lucky
opportunities, metaphorical flood tides, in order to be transported to good times. (from
Julius Caesar
)