Vocabulary 1
"Cathy had no trouble learning to ride a motorcycle — you can see she is _______"
a. a pupil
b.an original
c. a natural
d. a pioneer
C. a natural
A person with an innate skill or talent for an activity.
"In _______ with our country's constitution, all people who are 18 or older are allowed to vote."
a. agreement
b. accordance
c. compliance
d. tandem
B. accordance
Conformity or rule-following ("in accordance with").
"Get on like a house on fire" means
If two people get on like a house on fire, they like each other very much and become friends very quickly:
"Mark couldn't keep up with the fast _______ of the other runners."
a. count
b.pace
c. rate
d. measure
B. pace
Speed or rate of movement/progress in walking or running.
"The car's engine is very _______ and uses little fuel."
a. limited
b. energetic
c. efficient
d.engaged
C. efficient
Achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted energy/fuel.
"Take something with a pinch / grain of salt" means
to not completely believe something that you are told, because you think it is unlikely to be true
"It's hard to _______ about what the government will do to create more jobs."
a.discuss
b.speculate
c.concern
d.decide
B. speculate
Form a theory or conjecture without firm evidence (pairs with
"about").
"He had to apologize after he made some _______ remarks."
a.bellow-the-belt
b.out of bounds
c. over the hill
d.off the cuff
A. below-the-belt
Cruel, unfair, or inappropriate (derived from illegal low hits in combat sports).
"To be at sixes and sevens", means:
To be in a confused, badly organized, or difficult situation
"They were involved in an illegal gambling _______"
a. ring
b. system
c. gang
d. crime
A. ring
An informal, illegal organization/network (e.g., a gambling/spy ring).
"Our plans to open our own restaurant _______, unfortunately."
a.fell through
b. passed by
c. went under
d. sank below
A. fell through
Failed to happen, collapsed, or failed to reach completion
(used for plans/agreements).
"To bend over backwards ", means
to try very hard to do something good or helpful
"No business can expand without there being some growing _______"
a. failures
b. obstacles
c. problems
d. pains
D. pains
Fixed idiom "growing pains": difficulties faced during early growth/development.
"I felt so _______ after studying for so many hours that I couldn't even watch TV."
a.disrupted
b. detained
c.drained
d. resolved
C. drained
Completely exhausted physically or mentally, having no energy left.
" Flog a dead horse " means
Wasting your time and energy on a situation or effort that cannot change or succeed.