Set 1

Question 1

I was testing students all day where I work, which really took it out of me.
I’m feeling pretty drained!

Answer 1

took it out of me,
drained

Question 2

Teaching can be emotionally draining sometimes.

Answer 2

draining

Question 3

I can more or less get by in Spanish, but I wouldn’t say I’m fluent.
It comes back when I use it.

Answer 3

get by

Question 4

Quite a few of my friends have been furloughed and they’re getting 80% of their normal wages paid while they’re on furlough.

Answer 4

furloughed,
be on furlough

Question 5

I was forced to take unpaid leave. It was either that or I’d lose my job.

Answer 5

take unpaid leave

Question 6

After the ______ topic last week, it’s back ________________________ today!

Answer 6

upbeat topic,
back to earth with a bang

Question 7

I did feel really ____ at the end of last year, but I didn’t get tested, so I’ve no idea if it was Covid or not.

Answer 7

feel rough

Question 8

My dad had it very mildly. Apart from losing his sense of smell, which is a sure-fire sign, he didn’t have any real symptoms, while younger friends of mine have had it really badly. There doesn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to it. It seems pretty random.

Answer 8

a sure-fire sign,
any rhyme or reason

Question 9

There are all these scammers preying on the elderly and the vulnerable. It’s despicable!

Answer 9

scammers preying

Question 10

I think I had a particularly ____________________. It really knocked me out.

Answer 10

virulent /ˈvɪrələnt/ strain of the virus

Question 11

She’s 97 and she breezed through it!
She’s tough as old boots. It’s like she’s indestructible.

Answer 11

breezed through

Question 12

The new strains basically emerge in environments where the disease has been allowed to run riot.

Answer 12

to run riot - разбушевался, буйствовать

Question 13

If you’re in a public-facing profession like teaching, you are, by definition, in a high-risk group. All the teaching unions here have been up in arms about the fact the lockdown didn’t happen sooner.

Answer 13

a public-facing profession,
by definition,
be up in arms

Question 14

The way they’ve been ___ it ___ there has been _______.

Answer 14

handling it over
exemplary

Question 15

diseases like this have been around since the dawn of time.

Answer 15

since the dawn of time

Question 16

We’ve just been getting such mixed messages. The advice seems to change from day to day . . . and they tell you do one thing and then do another themselves, which undermines faith in the system.

Answer 16

mixed messages,
undermines faith in the system.

Question 17

They’re basically using it as a way of screwing money out of people.

Answer 17

screwing money out of people

Question 18

I do think the idea has legs. I’m just not sure if it’ll gain traction here.

Answer 18

the idea has legs,
gain traction

Question 19

I think all these ideas seem like pie in the sky when they’re first suggested.
It takes for them to take root and start to grow / spread.

Answer 19

like pie in the sky,
to take root and start to grow / spread.