Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Unit 11 - FUNNY OLD WORLD (Countdown to First Certificate)

a cockpit of an aiplane
UP AND AWAY VOCABULARY:


- burst: 1 [I or T] to break open or apart suddenly, or to make something do this: Balloons make me nervous - I hate it when they burst. The river was threatening to burst its banks.Suddenly the door burst open (= opened suddenly and forcefully) and police officers carrying guns rushed in. FIGURATIVE HUMOROUS If I eat any more cake I'll burst (= I cannot eat anything else)!2 [I] to feel a strong emotion, or strong desire to do something: I knew they were bursting with curiosity but I said nothing. [+ to infinitive] INFORMAL I'm bursting to go to the loo!Tom was bursting to tell everyone the news.

- call out: to shout.

- cockpit: noun [C] the small enclosed space where the pilot sits in an aircraft, or where the driver sits in a racing car.

- come across: 1- to find something by chance: He came across some of his old love letters in his wife's drawer. 2- to behave in a way which makes people believe that you have a particular characteristic: She comes across really well (= creates a positive image) on television.He comes across as a bit of a bore in interview. 3- If an idea or emotion comes across in writing, film, music or when someone is speaking, it is expressed clearly and people notice it: What comes across in his later poetry is a great sense of sadness.

- come up with: to think of (an idea)

- criss-cross: to move or exist in a pattern of lines crossing something or each other: This area of the city is criss-crossed by railway lines.

- drift: [I usually + adverb or preposition] to move slowly, especially as a result of outside forces, with no control over direction: No one noticed that the boat had begun to drift out to sea. A mist drifted in from the marshes. After the band stopped playing, people drifted away in twos and threes. FIGURATIVE The talk drifted aimlessly from one subject to another.

- hover: 1 [I usually + adverb or preposition] to stay in one place in the air, usually by moving the wings quickly: A hawk hovered in the sky, waiting to swoop down on its prey. I heard the noise of a helicopter hovering overhead. 2 [I usually + adverb or preposition] to stand somewhere, especially near another person, eagerly or nervously waiting for their attention: A waiter hovered at the table, ready to take our order. I could sense him behind me, hovering and building up the courage to ask me a question. 3 [I + adverb or preposition] to stay at or near a particular level: Inflation is hovering at 3%.

- offshore (AT SEA) adjective, adverb away from or at a distance from the coast: offshore engineering ;an offshore breeze. The wind was blowing offshore.

- sun yourself: to lie or sit somewhere where there is a lot of sun, especially in order to make your skin darker: I sat on the balcony sunning myself.

- turn sth/sb down: to refuse an offer or request: He offered her a trip to Australia but she turned it/him down. He turned down the job because it involved too much travelling.

- turn out: 1- to happen in a particular way or to have a particular result, especially an unexpected one: As events turned out, we were right to have decided to leave early.How did the recipe turn out? 2- to be known or discovered finally and surprisingly: [+ to infinitive] The truth turned out to be stranger than we had expected.[+ that] It turns out that she had known him when they were children


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