Task Set 2 (Chapters 4-6)

I. Study the active vocabulary:

• hunt smth. down (p. 17)

• work out (p. 19)

• turning point in smth. (career, life etc.) (p. 19)

• affinity (p. 20)

• plot smth. (p. 20)

• hands down (p. 21)

• have a flair for smth. (p. 22)

• grasp the bull by the horns (p. 22)

• go out with smb. (p. 22)

• get in smb’s way (p. 22)

• piss smb. off/ to be pissed off (p. 22)

• launch into smth. (p. 23)

• keep a clean sheet in smth. (relationships etc.) (p. 23)

• cock smth. up (p. 24)

• clincher noun (p. 24)

• go round the bend (p. 27)

• be sunk (p. 29)

• take an interest in smth. (p. 30)

• run out of smth. (p. 31)

II. Paraphrase the following sentences:

1. We've been searching for a good cheap house all over the city.

2. I can’t tackle the issue. Can you provide a better explanation?

3. He always felt a close kinship with the poor.

4. The strategy should be worked up in advance.

5. She’s always managed to avoid trouble easily.

6. They say that Barbara has a talent for acting. She’s got curious about it when she was a small child.

7) Whenever he started some new relationship he always promised himself to be honest and faithful.

8) If you get into a difficult situation there’s no need to go crazy – ask me for help and we’ll settle everything.

9) This situation infuriates me! In order to find the way out we need to be resolute and firm.

10) This is a very important meeting. I hope you won’t spoil everything this time.

III. Translate the following sentences:

1. Когда Мэри решила встречаться с Джоном, никто не мог встать у нее на пути.

2. – Это твой решающий довод? – Да, уверен, что этот план сработает.

3. – Ты все напечатал? – Боюсь, что испортил этот лист. Тогда мы в затруднительном положении – у нас кончилась бумага.

4. – Что ты замышляешь? У тебя не получится осуществить все это с легкостью.

5. Если он не прекратит выискивать этот альбом по всем музыкальным магазинам, я просто свихнусь!

IV. Read the following passage, in which the author vividly discloses the issue of bullying at English schools and express your opinion on the problem:

Marcus could see that. He could imagine that if they had never met him, Nicky and Mark would have had as much contact with Lee Hartley and the rest of them as koala bears have with piranha fish. But now, because of him, the koala bears had fallen into the sea and the piranhas were taking an interest in them. Nobody had hurt them, not yet, and Marcus knew all the stuff about sticks and stones and names. But insults were hurled in just the same way as missiles, if you thought about it, and if people happened to be standing in the line of fire they got hit too (p. 30).

V. Read the passage and express your viewpoint in connection with Will’s plot:

The point was that if you had a history of pretending, then joining a single parent group when you were not a single parent was neither problematic nor particularly scary. If it didn’t work out, then he’d just have to try something else. It was no big deal (p. 32).