The chair was notsteady because one of its legs was broken. 2. The oak-tree stoodfirm in the earth. 3. Mr. Convoy was asteady customer at the bookshop. 4. His decision wasfirm.
crack - break
1. The cupwas/had cracked, but the pieces still held together. 2. The icecracked and thenbroke under his feet. 3- Brittle thingsbreak easily.
taste - flavour
1. The peach has a peculiarly fineflavour. 2. The fruit looked tempting, but it turned out to have an unpleasanttaste. 3-1 like the lemonflavour of the sweets.
Exercise 6, p. 20
заниматься сплетнями - to gossip; to talk gossip;
заводить часы - to wind (up) a watch (a clock);
сматывать шерсть в клубок - to wind wool;
задеть локтем за что-л. - to scrape one's elbow on/against smth.;
работать без передышки - to work steadily;
внести вклад во что-л. - to make a contribution to smth., to contribute to smth.;
дух времени - the spirit of the times (age);
работать с огоньком - to work with spirit;
быть горьким на вкус - to taste bitter, to have a bitter taste;
обвести кого-л. вокруг пальца - to lead smb. down the garden path, to take smb. for a ride, to lead smb. a (pretty) dance, to put/slip one over/on smb.
(of ladies only in the meaning of вить из кого-л. веревки - to wind/twist/wrap smb. round one's little finger)
Example: Террористы обвели власти вокруг пальца. - The terrorists put one over the authorities.
попасть в беду - to get into trouble(into a mess/a scrape);быть замешанным в каком-л. деле - to be mixed up in smth.;
о вкусах не спорят - tastes differ/there is no accounting for tastes;
в хорошем вкусе - in good taste, tastefully
Exercise 7, p. 20-22
A. 1. To be on the safe side don't talk about these affairs, some people are fond of gossiping about/over others' affairs. 2."I think/To my mind/In my opinion/I believe/It seems to me there aren't many gossips in our block of flats (Brit)/apartment house (us), we are lucky/we are in luck," said Anne. 3. "I would never have thought that Jane would circulate gossip/would gossip," Kate said. "Just don't listen to her," Dotty answered. 4. Let's go/climb up this winding staircase to the top of the tower. 5. What are you doing? It won't do. (It will never do.) How can one wind off wool like this/in this way? 6. No one could take a man for a ride/Nobody could lead a man down the garden path like little Polly. 7. Put all these odds and ends (all these little things) in a bag and wind a (piece of) rope/string round/around it several times. 8. Don't peel the bark off the birch-tree, you'll hurt it. 9. You shouldn't lie in the sun so long, your skin will peel (off), and anyway it does more harm than good. 10. Why are you peeling the potatoes? For salad it's better to boil them unpeeled/without peeling/in their jackets/skins. 11. Kate sometimes managed to find a temporary job but she still couldn't scrape a living. 12. Something has stuck to my sole and I can't scrape it off, it must be tar. 13- Look out! Don't scrape your arm against/on the nail. 14. Don't scrape your fork on your plate, please, I hate this sound. 15. He just scraped through the examinations but I think he has realized that one shouldn't waste so much time. 16. It's quite a decent holiday centre but we had very bad luck with the weather (but the weather was really nasty): it rained steadily from morning till night. 17. At that moment I couldn't help admiring/couldn't help but admire/couldn't resist admiring/couldn't keep from admiring her self-control. With a steady hand she threaded the needle and went on sewing as though nothing had happened. 18. He seemed quite a steady young man. 19. Let's put something under the leg of the table to steady it.
В. 1. John's room was in a dreadful/terrible/horrible mess but when his sister took advantage of his absence to tidy it up a bit he got very angry and said that he couldn't find anything there anymore/any longer. 2. You havemade a mess of the whole job/messed up the whole job/blown the whole job again. Aren't you ashamed of not caring at all/being indifferent to everything? 3. Shemade a mess of my plans/upset/frustrated/foiled my plans by keeping me waiting for four hours. 4. We heard a twig crack. Someone was approaching (us)/was coming. 5. How careless you are! Mother's favorite vase has/is cracked: how could you wash it with/in boiling water? 6. Now it is dangerous/unsafe to cross the river because of the cracks in the ice. 7. The paint on the window-sill has/is cracked. We will have to scrape it off before repainting. 8. Regular training contributed to his success in the competition. 9. He refused to contribute his poems to our wall-newspaper and now there is no time to ask somebody else to do it. 10. The American painter/artist Rockwell Kent has contributed some of his works to the Pushkin Museum/ Museum's collection of pictures. 11. He spoke with such spirit that he left nobody cold/nobody remained indifferent. 12. As soon as you tell him about it his spirits will rise. 13- You have taken the criticism in the right spirit, just as I expected. 14.1 remember that there is half a bottle of strawberry juice left somewhere. It tastes like nothing else on earth. (Its taste is beyond compare/is incomparable.) 15. At first/ Initially/In the beginning the taste of this unfamiliar fruit seemed unpleasant to us, but then/later we got used to slaking/quenching our thirst with it. 16. All of us/We all knew her to be a woman of taste. 17.1 don't like the taste of carrots. Don't put them into the salad, please. 18. This shop has such a choice of goods that you are sure to find something to your taste. 19. He likes tocrack/makejokes/to joke, but many of his jokes are in bad taste. 20. What a nuisance/How annoying! The cucumbers taste bitter/have a bitter taste.
Exercise 8, p. 22
1. Gossip. 2. Peel. 3. Contribution. 4. Taste. 5. A gossip. 6. We call such a person steady 7. He/She canwind/wrap/ twist anyone round his/her little finger. 8. It is in a mess. 9.1 would try to steady it. 10. I taste it. 11. I have to scrape it out/to scrape the burnt porridge off its bottom/to scrape it clean. 12. One must scrape up/together enough money to pay the tuition. 13. It is sure to crack. 14. If all goes well, my spirits rise/ are high, and if things go from bad to worse they sink/fall (they are low).
Exercise 9, p. 22
1. What are you talking about? I'm not a gossip. (I'm no gossip.) 2. I know that it's in a mess but how could I help it? I've slipped and fallen right into the mud. 3. You couldn't be more wrong. He made a big contribution. (He contributed a lot to our success.) 4. Yes, I know I should have worked with more spirit, but honest to goodness I just couldn't: I was feeling dog- tired. 5. I'm out of spirits. 6.1 guess that's because I was in very low spirits. My girlfriend had just dumped me. (I know I made a mess of my answer but it was because my next door neighbour's horrid music had kept me awake all night.) 7. Oh, dear God! It looks a mess! You must demand compensation. 8. We'd better add some water to it and stir it all up. 9- Don't you know her? She's the kind of woman to wind any man round her little finger. 10. It's rotten. It tastes bitter. 11. Oh no, not he. He only just scraped through them. 12. The one whose shirt is in a mess. See that large gravy stain? And lipstick all over the collar? 13. Oh yes, he was though he just scraped through the entrance exams. 14. That's metal scraping on glass. Disgusting, isn't it?
Exercise 13, p. 23
1. Standin front of me, you'll see better then, there will be nothingin the wayof you view.2. Frankly speaking,1 don't see anythingin that idea. 3. She is alwaysin troublebecause of/on account of her son. He can't resist bad influence. 4.1 can never talk easilyto/with him, we have nothingin common. 5. A stitch in time saves nine. (Proverb) 6. A birdin the hand is worth two in the bush (Proverb). 7. There were not many people at the meeting, about10 or12 in number,I should think. 8. Our preparation had to be madein secret, which required caution. 9. We arein sightof land now and will soon bein port.10. The matter in itself is not important,in factI was going to take no noticeofit, but he had actedin such a way thatI must take it into consideration. In any case it can't affect you. 11.1 shall take these plates away now and bring the puddingin. 12. Come to our villageina month or so. You'll see then how beautiful it isin early June, all the houses smotheredin roses and not a cloudin the sky.
Exercise 14, pp. 23-24
1. Such a teacher is hard to find, he is one in a thousand. 2.1 was in the very midst of the crowd and couldn't come up to you. 3. If I were you/In your place I would wait a little, it's in your interest (s). 4. "Who has taken (got/picked) out the mail/the post today? One newspaper is missing," the father said in indignation/indignantly. 5. The bus conductor helped the/an old woman to get on. 6. Jim opened the door and let in the dog wet with rain. 7. "You are in low spirits today, aren't you?" - "Yes, I'm feeling somewhat depressed/blue, I'd rather stay at home and read." 8. John helped his wife off with her coat and into the armchair by the fireplace. 9- Don't you know that one should not write a test in pencil? 10. We got off the train and set out in search of a hotel. 11. Speak in a whisper. Anne seems to have fallen asleep. 12. George cut off a slice of bread, buttered it and started eating. 13. This student is sure of his knowledge and is showing off a little. 14. The paint won't come off the coat, I can't scrape it off. 15. "Do you know how he is getting on with the book he is writing?" - "I haven't seen him for a long time, we don't get along." - "But why?I believe you are finding fault with him. For all his shortcomings/drawbacks/faults he is a very decent man."