Proficiency 1 Flashcards

Question

spröde, zerbrechlich

Answer 1

brittle (I feel brittle)

Answer 2

inept (you're too inept to figure out)

Answer 3

inherently (advertising to this group is inherently unfair)

Answer 4

whim (at/on a whim)

Answer 5

obsolete / obsolescence (some new products have built-in obsolescence)

Answer 6

austere / austerity (it believes that its austerity programme will reduce inflation)

Answer 7

aspiration (Louise's aspirations to help others come from...)

Answer 8

to teem down

Answer 9

to embellish (a story, food, a dish)

Answer 10

condescending (talk in a condescending way)

Answer 11

to stump (it stumps whoever I'm talking to)

Answer 12

to thwart sb.'s plans

Answer 13

shrouded (her expression is shrouded by her hair)

Answer 14

conviction (I nod without conviction)

Answer 15

to recoil (her body recoils from him)

Answer 16

to skewer (...as if to skewer anyone who tries to climb over it)

Answer 17

dingy (the faculty is dingy)

Answer 18

to wage war

Answer 19

predecessor

Answer 20

to cleave to sth. (I didn't realize how much Cara already cleaved to the idea)

Answer 21

resurrection

Answer 22

abundant (trough the abundant windows I see...)

Answer 23

negligible

Answer 24

pliable (He was pliable and supportive)

Answer 25

adrift (I am adrift in calm waters)

Answer 26

fraught (fraught with... danger, difficulty, memories, etc.)

Answer 27

to deprive

Answer 28

off the beaten track / (to get off the beaten track)

Answer 29

shoestring budget

Answer 30

culture vulture

Answer 31

in the lap of luxury

Answer 32

to summon sb.

Answer 33

to pluck sth. out of the air

Answer 34

to maim / to maim sb. for life

Answer 35

expendable (Treat people as expendable)

Answer 36

subtlety (This will require subtlety)

Answer 37

oppressive (weight)

Answer 38

malice / malicious

Answer 39

to opt for sth. / opt to do sth.

Answer 40

prosperous (life)

Answer 41

to inoculate

Answer 42

by stealth / stealth / stealth... (airplane, boat, route,...)

Answer 43

ingrained (these codes need to be deeply ingrained)

Answer 44

under duress

Answer 45

strained (voice)

Answer 46

elaborate (violins are elaborately carved)

Answer 47

assertion (rest upon sb's assertion)

Answer 48

to peruse (he carefully perused the manuscript)

Answer 49

to inflict pain

Answer 50

reproachful

Answer 51

discursive

Answer 52

spiteful (he was a spiteful man)

Answer 53

sluggish (..., winding stream)

Answer 54

disposed (kindly-disposed man)

Answer 55

to endeavor

Answer 56

insufferably

Answer 57

to scorch (its hot rays scorched the ground)

Answer 58

collaborative

Answer 59

scope (...of the essay)

Answer 60

to exhort (he exhortet us to appear smart)

Answer 61

inducement (holding out various inducements)

Answer 62

to excel (I excel him in playing the violin)

Answer 63

outskirts (standing on the outskirts of the city)

Answer 64

to abide / abiding (I felt an abiding confidence that I would soon regin my liberty)

Answer 65

haggard (she had become haggard)

Answer 66

to ensue (the scene that ensued...)

Answer 67

to despise

Answer 68

to be deprived of sth. (of half its bitterness)

Answer 69

untamed (shape --\> cattle)

Answer 70

perpetual (in that region of almost perpetual warmth)

Answer 71

inquisitive (expression)

Answer 72

cunning (he was reserved and cunning)

Answer 73

to kindle (a fire)

Answer 74

to be struck by sth. (he was struck with the novelty of the idea)

Answer 75

to make havoc of sth. (I made havoc with the branches)

Answer 76

ruthless (like any ruthless businessman, he...)

Answer 77

amendment (because of the amendment of the Constitution...)

Answer 78

notorious (he was notorious as a killer)

Answer 79

extortion (he broke the law against extortion)

Answer 80

wicked (he was the wickedest man of his time)

Answer 81

to exploit (they were allowed to intimidate and exploit)

Answer 82

to enforce (the law)

Answer 83

to drum up business

Answer 84

condemn (violence)

Answer 85

to stamp out (violence)

Answer 86

sedentary (occupation, tribes)

Answer 87

defiant (the chief minister was defiant)

Answer 88

reign (confusion has reigned about its origin)

Answer 89

bleak (the bleak and dry Tibetan plateau)

Answer 90

to barter (tiger bones were bartered for shahtoosh)

Answer 91

YIELD / to yield sth. (profits, produce, interests)

Answer 92

courtesy (a society based on courtesy to others)

Answer 93

to arbitrate

Answer 94

arbitrator (arbitrators might be needed to intervene...)

Answer 95

reassurance (viewers need some reassurance)

Answer 96

to pose a challenge

Answer 97

to be resigned to sth.

Answer 98

to amend sth (a law/ a document)

Answer 99

to free up space

Answer 100

to have it in for sb.

Answer 101

to put a strain on sb./sth.

Answer 102

to take an instant dislike to sb./sth.

Answer 103

to take after sb.

Answer 104

to take to sb.

Answer 105

preceded by

Answer 106

in the proximity of

Answer 107

to prevail (...to convince himself he could prevail)

Answer 108

to keep sb. at bay

Answer 109

to confide in sb. (sons have confided in their mothers)

Answer 110

reluctance

Answer 111

frailty (human frailty)

Answer 112

to put off (the meeting has been put off until January)

Answer 113

to come out in a rash

Answer 114

to meet the demand

Answer 115

inconvenience

Answer 116

to fly into a rage

Answer 117

let off steam

Answer 118

throw a tantrum

Answer 119

to blow a fuse

Answer 120

to go berserk

Answer 121

to fend for oneself

Answer 122

to leave sb. to his own devices

Answer 123

to get worked up over sth.

Answer 124

to get cross with sb.

Answer 125

chores (eg. household chores)

Answer 126

eyesore (the office block is a major eyesore)

Answer 127

safety hazard (the cord represents a serious safety hazard)

Answer 128

avid (we are avid readers of the magazine)

Answer 129

prodigious (he was a writer of prodigious energy)

Answer 130

versatile (he began his versatile career as a teenager)

Answer 131

distinction (his style earned him the distinction of being runner-up in the prize)

Answer 132

eclectic (his output was eclectic)

Answer 133

unequalled

Answer 134

to crack down on sth. (Governmets are trying to crack down on the companies that carry out illegal logging.)

Answer 135

to wipe out (Cutting down areas of forest could effectively wipe out certain species.)

Answer 136

to come up against (It is often the case that local people come up against impossible odds when...)

Answer 137

against impossible odds

Answer 138

to amount to (Her reaction on hearing th news amounted to nothing less than disbelief.)

Answer 139

renewable (resources, energy) (...an integral part of the wider aim is the use of so-called renewable sources of energy.)

Answer 140

predictability

Answer 141

untapped (Tidal power has remained a largely untapped source of energy.)

Answer 142

inexhaustible (tidal power could represent an almost inexhaustible source of energy.)

Answer 143

to bring to an end (Jan brought the meeting to an end by handing out some seeds.)

Answer 144

in living memory (Areas of southern Italy are experiencing some of the worst storms in living memory.)

Answer 145

to discard (Our household rubbish, before being discarded, has to be filed and sorted.)

Answer 146

starry sky at night

Answer 147

at a moment's notice

Answer 148

at all costs

Answer 149

at the expense of

Answer 150

in agreement with

Answer 151

in answer to

Answer 152

in comparison with

Answer 153

in compensation for

Answer 154

in some/all respects

Answer 155

to be in the habit of doing sth.

Answer 156

out of date

Answer 157

out of stock

Answer 158

with difficulty

Answer 159

far too few

Answer 160

severity (...they fail to explain the severity of the decline.)

Answer 161

threshold (numbers drop below this threshold)

Answer 162

completeness

Answer 163

subordinate (Biographers have been obliged to subordinate their subjects to an increasingly detailed context.)

Answer 164

undiscriminating (...,which claimed to be definitive while actually being undiscriminating,...)

Answer 165

deterrent (to act as a deterrent)(The tunnel was a deterrent to foxes.)

Answer 166

manual labour (Being a farmer entails a lot of manual labour.)

Answer 167

exponent (of sth.) (of self-help)

Answer 168

straightforward (problems, issues)

Answer 169

fallacy (Fallacies like "be all that you can be" is just one of the silly fabrications that masquerade as legitimate advice.)

Answer 170

unassailable (Some remedies have gained the status of unassailable truth.)

Answer 171

surmountable (These difficulties are definitely surmountable.)

Answer 172

nervous system

Answer 173

to be taken to mean (Such findings should not be taken to mean that emotions are bes expressed in an uncontrolled manner.)

Answer 174

It's like water off a duck's back to him

Answer 175

presidency

Answer 176

to gain ground (Since then the movement has gained ground across the USA and beyond.)

Answer 177

akin to / to be akin (Critics of the movement say it is akin to the sort of frivolous self-help advice.)

Answer 178

coping strategy

Answer 179

ineffectual (...its concept is ineffectual)

Answer 180

downward spiral

Answer 181

dispel (doubts, fears, gloom)

Answer 182

blunt (I decided to be blunt about...)

Answer 183

testimony to / to bear testimony to sth. (It is testimony to her tireless dedication.)

Answer 184

drowsiness (Tea contains ... which evokes a sense of calm in the brain, yet without a feeling of drowsiness.)

Answer 185

to have kittens

Answer 186

persuation

Answer 187

to put down to sth. (Dan couldn't get a signal for his mobile, which he put down to the hight mountains blocking transmission.)

Answer 188

The onus is on sb. to do sth. (The onus is on Daniel to apologise for the mistake.)

Answer 189

to stifle (sth.) (Findings might have been stifled by the rivalries between scientists.)

Answer 190

feasibility (of the theory)

Answer 191

to be at one's wits' end

Answer 192

to go on record as saying... (The manager went on record as saying that his team had played very badly.)

Answer 193

to allow sth. to go to waste (Nothing we were given to eat was allowed to go to waste at my grandmother's house.)

Answer 194

to go off at a tangent (If he didn't always go off at a tangent I would know what he was talking about.)

Answer 195

in no uncertain terms (I told him in no uncertain terms that his music was too loud.)

Answer 196

to get nowhere fast (As I appeared to be getting nowhere fast,...)

Answer 197

stardom (But all this stardom was too much for him.)

Answer 198

to spare a thought for sb. / to not spare a thought about sth. (I think you should spare a thought for those whose lives are not as priviledged as yours.)

Answer 199

to admit defeat

Answer 200

positional change (It not only told the time of day but also the positional changes of the planets.)

Answer 201

to deluge sb. with sth. (The company was deluged with calls in response to the advert.)

Answer 202

thin on the ground (Actual criticism of the novel by its rejectors was very thin on the ground.)

Answer 203

to conceive of sth. (It is nearly impossible in our post-industrial society to conceive of a world without wheels.)

Answer 204

to evolve from sth. (The wheel evolved from the fact that...)

Answer 205

for the best part of... (an hour, the year)

Answer 206

with a view to doing sth.

Answer 207

consumerism (Built-in obsolescence is a classic feature of consumerism.)

Answer 208

limited lifespan (Products are designed to have a limited lifespan.)

Answer 209

thorny (The issue of beauty in art has always been a thorny problem.)

Answer 210

to go to great lengths to do sth.(There is no need to go to great lengths to choose wallpaper.)

Answer 211

there's no hope of sb. doing sth.

Answer 212

to have no objection to doing sth.

Answer 213

to be liable to do sth.

Answer 214

to be under no obligation to do sth.

Answer 215

to have (grave) repercussions on sth.

Answer 216

to keep one's options open

Answer 217

to stand in sb's way

Answer 218

to my mind (..., Henry should never have put...)

Answer 219

to pull one's weight (...his failure to pull his weight as a parent)

Answer 220

to have recourse to sth. (...those having recourse to an alternative solution.)

Answer 221

to enlighten sb.

Answer 222

to conceal sth. from sb.

Answer 223

to disquiet / disquieted (Who wouldn't be disquieted by this job description?)

Answer 224

inequity (inequities of the global labour market)

Answer 225

global labour market

Answer 226

ambassador

Answer 227

partisan (person, politics)

Answer 228

languid (day)

Answer 229

incongruous (Her religious views and her personal life were incongruous.)

Answer 230

perceptibly (The crowd showed perceptibly more interest when...) (--\> perceptible)

Answer 231

fortitude (Showing remarkable fortitude, he confronted the challenge of...)

Answer 232

ordeal (He had to endure a six day ordeal in this tiny raft.)

Answer 233

to get ahead (Raol is trying to get ahead in Formula 1.)

Answer 234

to get about (Keira gets about mainly by bycicle.)

Answer 235

to get a move on

Answer 236

to overtake sb./sth.

Answer 237

to raise an objection to sth. (Would you raise any objection to my asking you to sign this petition?)

Answer 238

footing (Language places the experience of the past on an equal footing with that of a present.)

Answer 239

(political) regime

Answer 240

child labour

Answer 241

conspiracy (theories)

Answer 242

to gain education

Answer 243

financial backing

Answer 244

learning curve (The last few months have been a steep learning curve for everyone.)

Answer 245

target market (What's the target market for your new clothing range?)

Answer 246

business acumen (A certain amount of business acumen will certainly help you make your way up the career ladder.)

Answer 247

consumer behaviour (When a new product is launched, consumer behaviour is quite difficult to predict accurately.)

Answer 248

to think outside the box (During the brainstorm session, we were told to think outside the box.)

Answer 249

to hit the ground running (Once this training course has finished, I'll be able to hit the ground running and really make an impact.)

Answer 250

costumer base (The company wanted to expand its customer base.)

Answer 251

bold move (Approaching the institution was quite a bold move for a small company.)

Answer 252

to raise capital (There was a need to raise investment capital by means of a bank loan.)

Answer 253

by means of (...to raise investment capital by means of a bank loan.)

Answer 254

to rest on one's laurels/oars (Since then, Gecko haven't rested on their laurels, as ...)

Answer 255

in line with (The helmet have been further refined in line with customer feedback.)

Answer 256

necessary evil

Answer 257

social standing (work is no longer destiny, determined at birth by the social standing of your parents.)

Answer 258

cornerstone

Answer 259

the be-all and end-all

Answer 260

perilous (We mustn't forget that making a close link between meaningful activity and paid employment can be perilous.)