completely ignore {told you not to interfere but you didn't take a blind bit of notice of what | said and went ahead anyway. a @ breach of contract: an action which breaks agreements you have made in a contract 1 you teach any of the school's students privately, you will be in breach of contract. clean bill of health: a formal ‘statement that you are 100% fit and healthy Having recovered from his injury, the sprinter was given a clean bill ‘of health by his doctor. the crack of dawn: very early in the moming, at sunrise Catching the six o'clock ferry will ‘mean getting up at the crack of dawn. the cradle of sth: the place where ‘sth (e.g. civilisation, democracy, etc) started Greece is the cradle of Westem civilisation. that you think is real but which in fact is not What he thought he saw was a figment of his imagination. He's been watching too much TV. (lo point) the finger of suspicion: to suspect sb of sth Since the door was not forced, the finger of suspicion points at the cleaning lady. to dissolve Into a flood of tears: ta suddenly start crying a lot On hearing dissolved into a flood of tears. i i | i i | ‘8 figment of sb’s Imagination: sth | the news, she | hope/a faint hope “There was stil a faint glimmer of ‘hope that some kind of agreement would be reached belore the call Came tor an all-out ste, heat of the moment: if you do sth ‘in the heat of the moment, you do it without thinking (because you are very angry or very excited) ‘She only said those hurtful things Inthe heat of the moment. to live In the fep of luxury: to have lots of money, lots of possessions and lead a very comfortable life ‘Many people say that thelr dream 1s to win the pools and live in the {ap of luxury. ‘a means of Identification: sth that shows your name and address {an identity document, a passport, a diving licence, etc) The only means of identitication 1 i camy with me is my driving licence. ‘a miscarriage of justice: a situation | ‘where the law (through decisions made in a court) treats a person unfairly That our legal system permits such an obvious miscarriage of justice isa cause for grave concem. the nick of time: if sth happens in the nick of time, it happens justin time to prevent sth bad from happening The firemen arrived in the nick of time to save our house from being ‘burned to the ground. 8 ring of truth: if you think a story! excuse/alibi has a ring of truth about it, you think that it could possibly be true Normally, when he was late, he gave a pathetic excuse, but not this time; what he said had a ring of truth about it. fot to take a biind bit of notice: to {a glimmer of hope: a litle bit of j not a shadow of (a) doubt: no 4 doubt at all that sth is true There is not a shadow of doubt in my mind that Healey commitied this crime. not a shred of truth in sth: sth completely untrue [Note: not a shred of evidence: no evidence at all) Mr Trematis claims that there is not a shred of truth in the allegations that have been made against him. There is not a shred of evidence to suggest that my client is guilty. smattering of sth: a very small ‘amount of sth, especially used for knowledge of foreign languages 1 speak Spanish, Htalian and a ‘smattering of Polish. ‘standard of Siving: the level of ‘comfort and wealth a person has 1 moved to Australia because | knew | would enjoy a higher ‘standard of living than | did in England. touch of sth: ()a litle of sth (i) a hint of sth As a student, he did a touch of creative writing but soon gave up | and turned to accountancy. | She congratulated him, of course, | but her words conveyed a touch of bitterness. a trall of destruction: if sth (such as a storm, hurricane, tornado, etc) leaves behind it a trail of destruction, it passes through a large area of land and destroys everything as it passes The tornado hit the south of Miami ‘early on Monday morning and left behind it a trail of destruction. 100C Pract e 1. Complete the of combinations in Section A with an { appropriate wordipbrase from the box below. Completing the situations in Section B with the correct word(s) in bold from Section 4 will belp. touch ~ finger ~ nick ~ ring ~ clean bill ~ standard - figment ~ shred ~ smattering - flood lap - trail ~ breach ~ blind bit — . of truth, of one’s imagination i .» of arthritis, of human evolution Re 1 The ambulance arrived in the nick of . minutes later and he probably would have died. 2 To her surprise, the doctor gave Sue a clean bill of soneunes + He even suggested she was a hypochondriac and that her shooting pains, dizzy spells and raging fevers were nothing but a figment of her Ten 13 14 15 16 He tells her he no longer loves her. She is devastated and she dissolves into a flood of The fact that Rita passed gave me a glimmer of . If Rita can pass, anyone can! I regret saying those things to him. | was angry and they were said in the heat of the YYou don’t want much, do you? All you wants 1 win the lottery so that you can give up working and live in the ap Of ennneunen fOr the rest of your lfel He doesn't have a national identity document. His only means of. is his passport. How will you survive in Amsterdam? You only speak a smattering of .. They are positive that she's guilty. There’s not a shadow of . in thelr mind, Was she lying? We had to admit that her story had a ting ot .. about it. Maybe we are gullible, who knows? He's only got himself to blame. | warmed him that if the police stopped him for speeding he'd be in trouble but he didn’t take a blind bit of ‘Simon works downtown and lives in the suburbs. He thas to get up at the crack of .. to get towork on time! ‘The red-faced man in front of him was pointing at his signature, shouting that he was going to sue him for breach of . é A miscarriage of 2 You bet it was! She went to prison for a crime she didn't commit. The forest fire raged on for days, leaving a trail of sone if its Wake Human lle fist appeared in Attica, which is the cradle of ... I get these twinges every now and again; its just a touch of From the beginning of the story the . suspicion was pointed at the butler. He's got lots of money and he can alford to do whatever he wants. His standard of ‘couldn't be better. we Of 7