RELATIONSHIPS

1. Do you and your parents get on like a house on fire? Do you get on like a house on fire with anybody?

2. Which of your acquaintances gets on your nerves? Why?

3. What kind of problems can put a great strain on a relationship?

4. Do you know anyone who is always trying to put people down?

5. Did any of your teachers ever have it in for you? Why? What was the cause of this feeling?

6. Can you talk about a couple whose relationship could be described as rocky?

7. Think about someone who got divorced or split up. What turned their relationship sour?

8. Have you ever turned your back on anyone? Do you know anyone who has?

9. Think about someone you have never actually taken to.

10. Have you ever taken an instant dislike to anyone? Were you proved right or did you have to change your mind later on?

11. Do you know any teachers who look down on their pupils?

12. Talk about someone you know that keeps himself / herself to himself / herself.

1. Do you think people still marry in church and brides in white because It’s always been done this way?
2. Are there any laws in Spain about marriage? Where do people have to marry? Do you have to get married in an authorised place, are you allowed to marry anywhere you want?
3. To get married in Spain, do you have to have a religious ceremony and a civic ceremony?
4. What do you call the party the groom’s friends throw for him before the night before the wedding?
5. And the bride’s?
6. What kind of presents do the guests to the wedding offer the newly-wed couple?
7. Does anybody in particular pay for the wedding reception?
8. Is getting married costly or extravagant?
9. What are the Spanish traditions in relation with the dowry?

10. What superstitions related to weddings in Spain can you think of

11.  What do you think of pre-nuptial agreements?

12. What are the differences between Spanish and English weddings? Are any special people who take part in one and not in the other?

13. What is the right age to get married?

14. Decide what are the most important qualities for a partner to have?

Straightforward Advanced Unit Test 7

Answer key

Vocabulary

A

1 sentenced

2 charged

3 denied

4 entered

5 acquitted

6 returned

7 imposed

8 appeal

9 dropped

10 fined

B

11 evasion

12 allegation

13 suspicion

14 convicted

15 guilty

16 appealing

C

17 parties

18 manners

19 language

20 behaviour

21 queues

Grammar

D

22 But unfortunately, many people’s manners leave a lot to be desired.

23 B: There are 32 children. or There are 32 children

24 … and decided we would join the queue.

25 B: Yes, we do need to.

26 … but nobody is sure why the crime rate increased.

27 I’ll be arriving at six.

28 … are less likely to enjoy noisy parties as they get older.

E

29 He pleaded guilty to the charges, surprising everyone.

30 Having thought about it for some time, he decided to appeal against the sentence.

31 Not having any money, he robbed the old lady.

32 He spoke to his lawyer telling him he was innocent.

33 He was attached (while) walking down the street.

34 Being found guilty he’d be sentenced to prison.

35 He sat there for ages waiting to be questioned.

(2 points for each sentence)

Speech feature

F

36 Would you like some / Do you want some

37 I

38 Do you

39 I’m

40 Is

41 I

42 It

43 Is

PERSONALITY INVENTORIES

1. What have personality inventories become?

2. What did phrenologists use to do?

3. What did the real beginning of personality assessment with actual inventories grow out of?

4. When was the Minnesota Multiphasic  personality Inventory developed?

5. What kind of questions did Harrison G. Gough ask?

6. What does knowing what our natural tendencies, gifts and abilities are enable us to do?

7. What did Joyce Bishop realize when she was told about the way she skied?

8. What is important to do when we take the personality inventories and assessments?

9. What do these dimensions tell us?

10. Can we put these characteristics together and say what a person is like?

11. What is the difference between ‘persona’ and ‘persönlichkeit’?

GLOSSARY

Inventory: questionnaire.

Phrenology is a hypothesis stating that the personality traits of a person can be derived from the shape of the skull.

To grow out of: If an idea grows out of another one, it develops from it:

Assessment: judgement, evaluation.

Bump: something that bulges out or is protuberant or projects from a form. Bulto, protuberancia.

Ridge: a long narrow natural elevation or striation. Cresta, protuberancia

To piggyback: bring into alignment with.

Alignment: proper or desirable coordination or relation of components.

Dimension: a part or feature or way of considering something.

MOTHERHOOD’S BEST-KEPT SECRET

To drift off to sleep: to fall asleep.

To wander: to walk slowly around or to a place, often without any particular sense of purpose or direction.

Wreck: a person who is in a bad physical or mental condition.

Old self: the type of person you are, especially the way you normally behave, look or fee

To downsize: to reduce the number of people who work in a company, business, etc. in order to reduce costs.

Siege: a military operation in which an army tries to capture a town by surrounding it and stopping the supply of food, etc. to the people inside.

Ambush: the act of hiding and waiting for sby and then making a surprise attack on them.

To prevail: to exist or be very common at a particular time or in a particular place.

At bay: to prevent an enemy from coming close or a problem from having a bad effect.

To drop sby off: to stop so that sby can get out of a car, etc.; to deliver sthg on the way to somewhere else.

To back up: to support sby/sthg; to say that what sby says, etc. is true.

Manageable: possible to deal with or control.

To stumble: to discover sthg/sby unexpectedly.

To rely on: to trust or have faith in sby/sthg.

To empathise: to understand another person’s feelings and experiences, especially because you have been in a similar situation.

Whereas: used to compare or contrast two facts.

Reluctant: hesitating before doing sthg because you do not want to do it or because you are not sure that it is the right thing to do.

To break away: to move away from a crowd or group.

Cuddly: if a person is cuddly, they make you want to cuddle them. To cuddle: to hold sby/sthg close in your arms to show love or affection.

Accepting: approving.

Frailty: weakness in a person’s character or moral standards.

Whilst: during the time that sthg is happening.

Bond: strong connection.

To edit: to prepare a piece of writing, a book, etc. to be published by correcting the mistakes, making improvements to it, etc.

To confide IN: to tell sby secrets and personal information because you feel you can trust them.

To put up: to build sthg or place sthg somewhere.

Rough: not gentle or careful; violent.

ADJECTIVES OF PERSONALITY

Fill in the gaps with a word from the box. Only use each word once.

selfish                  bad-tempered                  tough                                    crafty                      sensitive

sensible                strict                                    trustworthy                       dull                          shy

mean                     reliable                                 stubborn                             silly                          nice

cheerful              sympathetic                      clumsy                                  loyal                         gentle

1.  Janet is incredibly_____________ . She always arrives on time and does

her job well.

2.  It’s impossible to say anything to his grandmother. One word and she starts crying. She is so     ________________.

3.  I wonder why he is so ________________ . He has got lots of money but he

hates spending it.

4.  When she was a child, her parents were incredibly _____________ .

Whenever she did the smallest thing wrong, they would send her to bed.

5.  Ann is such a_________________ girl. She is always laughing and smiling.

6.  I’ll give you a lift home if you are______________________ to me.

7.  She was so _______________  and understanding. When I told her about my

problems, I immediately felt better afterwards.

8.  In westerns, the hero is always __________________ . He always beat his

enemies and can put up with any hardship.

9. That’s the second plate you’ve broken this week. Why do you have to be so ________________?

10. I think he is an extremely ______________  boy. He laughs at stupid

things and never concentrates in class.

11.  Children are often really _____________ . They hide behind their

mothers  when  guests come.

12. Don’t be __________________  Cathy. You’ve got to learn to share things

with other children.

13.  She is 100% ___________________ . I’d leave my money, car, anything, for her

to look after.

14.  When I broke my leg, the nurse was so_________________ that she hardly

hurt me at all.

15.  Why do you get angry all the time? You are so_______________ .

16. Bob is my best friend. He remained ___________________  through all my problems.

17. He is such a ______________  person with his boring little job and his

boring little wife.

18. He is terribly _______________ . Once he has made up his mind, it’s

impossible to get him to change it even if it’s obvious that he is wrong.

19. The general was really ______________ . Just when the enemy thought it had won the battle, he played his best card.

20. Come on, Maria! You can’t go on a country walk wearing high heels. Do be ________________ for once.

PERSONALITY

1. What is personality?
2. What adjectives to describe people’s personality can you think of?
3. Does our personality change throughout our lives? Do you think there may be key aspects of our personality which were already in us when we were very young?
4. Does the personality we are born with determine our lives, or do the things that happen to us shape our personality as we grow older?
5. Is there also a relationship between our personality traits and how successful we are in education or at work?
6. Are doing well at school and getting ahead in our career linked to our socio-economic status when we are growing up or to our personality?
7. How do other people annoy you most? What irritates you most about other people?
8. Do you have more good qualities than bad ones?
9. What five traits characterise you? What are your main qualities? What are your main defects?
10. How do your friends “see” you?
11. Are you easy or uneasy opening up to other people? Do you try to avoid other people getting personally too close to you or not?
12. Are you easily upset by things?
13. Do you commit yourself fully to things you take on?
14. Do you feel confident in your ability to size up and deal with any situation?

Fill in the gaps with the infinitive (Without “to” ) or the -ing form of the verbs in brackets.

1. Did you hear those dogs __________ (bark) most of the night?
2. I noticed him __________ (throw) a sweet wrapper on the floor, so I asked him it pick it up.
3. I was able to watch them __________ (build) the new car park from my office window.
4. I watched him __________  (climb) through the window, and then I called the police.
5. I heard the baby __________ (cry) for most of the night.
6. I felt the snake __________ (bite) me and saw it slither off into the bushes.
7. When you came out of the station, did you notice the children __________ (play) musical instruments across the street?
8. I noticed her quickly __________ (slip) the necklace inside her coat and leave the shop.
9. Vicky heard someone __________ (close) the door.
10. We found Matthew __________ (exercise) in the gym.
11. I watched Nick __________ (light) a cigarette.
12. She saw a man __________ (lie) in the street.
13. He heard the bomb __________ (explode).
14. I saw a woman __________ (cry). She was in a terrible state.

Put the correct form of the verb in brackets, either gerund or infinitive, in each of the spaces in these sentences.

1. I couldn’t resist _______________ (go) to see that new exhibition at the National Gallery.
2. Please forgive my _______________ (mention) it, but I think you are sitting on my hat.
3. I refuse _______________ (accept) the idea of selling that painting, it’s been in my family for generations.
4. I’ve heard that Tom intends _______________ (invest) in 1980s furniture which is becoming very collectable.
5. I  was completely  shocked  _______________ (learn) that my old vase was quite valuable.
6. Do you think it’s worth _______________ (travel) all the way to Paris to see the Cézanne exhibition?
7. What the designer forgot _______________ (mention) was the price she wants for the commission.
8. I have arranged for you _______________ (borrow) that art book rather than have the expense of _______________ (buy) it.
9. Would you mind _______________ (tidy) up your room a bit before you go out, please?

10.  I can’t face _______________ (listen) to another hour of this concert, I’m going home!

11.  I can’t be bothered _______________ (catch) the bus, let’s take a taxi.

12.  Should you happen _______________ (see) Phil, could you tell him I’m looking for him?

13.  I’m inclined _______________ (agree) with my father, who has no time for Picasso.

14.  I resent your _______________ (suggest) that my work is not original.

15.  Has Molly considered  _______________ (visit) the Prado while she’s in Madrid?

16.  Like many artists, Joshua cannot tolerate people _______________ (criticise) his work.

17.  Is Gail counting on _______________ (get) a grant when she goes to art school?

18.  Jason often pretends _______________ (be) unemployed, but actually he’s a graphic designer.

19.  Don’t attempt _______________ (take) that picture out of its frame, you might damage it.

20. Alison generally appreciates _______________ (be) told when her work is not up to standard.

1. What kind of household chores don’t you mind doing?
2. Do you enjoy speaking English? Why / Why not?
3. Do you spend a lot of time reading in English? What do you read?
4. What kinds of music do you hate listening to?
5. Do you prefer going to the cinema or watching DVDs? Why / Why not?
6. What kind of house do you hope to live in when you are 60?
7. Are there any sports you hate playing?
8. What kind of job do you hope to have in five years’ time?
9. Have you planned to go on holiday at Christmas?
10. Do you mind people smoking next to you at bus stops, etc…?

11. What age were you when you started going to school? Talk about either your first teacher or the first one you can remember.

12. What do you love doing on Friday evenings?

13. Do you generally feel like going out on a wintery day? Why / Why not?

14. Do you mind going to the dentist? Why / Why not?

15. What do men waste time doing in Spain? What about women?

16. What do you think you should stop doing and what could you start doing instead?

17. Talk about things you sometimes forget to do, and why you should remember to do them.

18. Talk about difficult things you’ve tried to do, but didn’t succeed in doing.

19. Talk about interesting things you remember doing as a child, and why you liked doing them.

20. Speak about rock bands you have watched perform live or on TV, and what you heard them play.

21. What are you looking forward to doing shortly?

22. What do you hate doing / watching / listening to / etc?