10 Replace the underlined words and expressions with one of the fixed phrases below. Then, in pairs, use the fixed phrases to make up sentences of your own.

●at least ●at large ●at last ●at present ●at a loss

●at times ●at odds with ●at a standstill ●at a glance ●at a loose end

1. The trip wasn’t good. The good thing was that we got to visit plenty of interesting ruins. At least

2. I’m very busy at work right now, but when things relax a bit I’m going to go on a cruise.

3. Dave is quarrelling with John over that CDs to bring to the graduation party.

4. Although I love getting lost in a good novel, now and then I just like to sit and listen to classic music.

5. In the end, I found my passport tucked away in the zipped compartment of my suitcase.

6. From the sly look on the taxi driver’s face I knew immediately that he couldn’t be trusted.

7. The 5 o’clock news reported that the escaped prisoner was still on the loose.

8. Due to the bazaar in the city center, traffic was stopped for two hours.

9. I’m really not sure what to do with myself now that the Christmas holidays are here.

10. Steven invited some friends over and was totally confused as to what to offer them to eat.

11 Match the phrasal verbs in the sentences with their meanings from the list below. Make sentences of your own using any four of the given phrasals.

save bear construct, assemble embark replace

cause as an expense criticize cause somebody pain

postpone continue, develop

1. We put up our tent before it got too dark to see what we were doing.

2. We put off our picnic, hoping the next day would be less overcast.

3. After what you put her through, I’d be surprised if she ever went out with you again!

4. Stop putting the travel agent down, it wasn’t her fault we missed our flight.

5. I know you love cooking, but I don’t know how you put up with the mess afterwards.

6. He managed to put aside enough money to buy a car.

7. It’s great that I’ve got the Internet, but my computer set me back a month’s pay.

8. If drowsiness sets in, stop taking the medication immediately.

9. Could you please put the CDs back in the same order that you found them?

10. If we set off at dawn, we should arrive at the island by noon.

Part II READING, WRITING, SPEAKING

1 Read the text, paying attention to the words and word-combination underlined; use them in your own letter describing your holiday at the seaside.

Dear Aunt Helen!

We have been back from our holidays two weeks ago and we’ve finally sorted out our snapshots. The children have insisted on our sending you this snap, taken on our last day in Whiteland Bay.

I hope you got the postcard we sent and that you are now ready to read on account of our holiday. We decided on an “off-season” holiday at a south-coast resort because we could save money that way and yet be fairly sure of having good weather and it turned out marvellously. The snap will give you some idea of the fun we had on the beach every day.

First the weather was glorious: cloudless blue skies and hot sunshine every day. There was a light breeze that kept us from becoming too hot but it was strong enough to let the many yachting enthusiasts in the resort get in plenty of sport. We didn’t go sailing ourselves but every evening after dinner we used to stroll out to the light house to watch the yachts, their light winking in the darkness as they turned the headland and came under the light house before making for the open sea. The children were thrilled by it all.

We literally spent every day on the beach and what a beach! Over a mile of soft, clean, golden sand set in the curve of the bay and with spectacular cliffs on each side. As you’ll see in the snap there was a ruined castle on the cliffs: everyone said it was very interesting and well worth seeing. We promised ourselves that we’d visit it but, somehow, we never got around to it - we just couldn’t tear ourselves away from the beach. Of course, the children loved the sand, they dug holes, made elaborated sand-castles, made sand-pies, buried their father 3 or 4 times a day - they had a lot of fun. Jim and I just lazed about, soaking up the sun. We could really relax because the bathing there was absolutely safe, we could even allow Peter to paddle about in the bay in his dinghy. Although blowing it up for him every day did become a bit of a chore. As they behaved so well we allowed the children to have an ice-cream every day. They felt so grown up because we let them buy their own cornets and wafers and they become great favourities of the ice-cream sellers on the beach.

My one complaint is that the sea was rather cold but I suppose that is only to be expected in late September. Still I managed to get in about an hour swimming every day and as soon as I got out of the water children were ready for a game with the beach ball, so getting warm again was no problem. It was lovely to escape from the routine of washing and ironing and wondering what to put on every morning; we lived in our beachwear and after the first few days made no use of the beach-huts - we wore our swimming things on the street. I can hear you tut-tutting with disapproval! However, we spent a small fortune on sun-tan oil. I put it on twice a day, the others just once and we used up 3 large bottles. But we all came home with the most enviable, smooth, golden brown suntans, no bliskers or red, peeling noses for this family!

The people you see on the right in the snap were staying in the same boarding-house and we got to know them quite well; they baby-sat for us one evening while we went to the movies. The husband was photography-mad - we never saw him without his camera.

We bought you a small present and we’ll be bringing it with us when we come up next month. And there’ll be lots more snaps to show - we used up a whole roll of film in just one morning. I’ll not write any more but there’ll be another less holiday-centered letter in the post very soon. Look after yourself.

Love from all,

Elizabeth.

2 Each of the texts below deals with the same topic (and has the same title!) but this is expressed in two different styles. Read these texts and write a paragraph (about 100 words) summarising your observations on what makes these texts different. Think of a better headline to each. Translate the first text in a written form.