C2 9/10/19

Personality tests (reading activity) see Aula Virtual

Trustworthy

nur‧ture1 /ˈnɜːtʃə $ ˈnɜːrtʃər/ verb [transitive] formal   

1 to help a plan, idea, feeling etc to develop

 European union is an ideal that has been nurtured since the post-war years.

 a hatred of foreigners nurtured by the media

2 to feed and take care of a child or a plant while it is growing

 plants nurtured in the greenhouse

a‧gree‧a‧ble /əˈɡriːəbəl/ adjective   

1 written or old-fashioned pleasant OPP disagreeable

con‧sci‧en‧tious /ˌkɒnʃiˈenʃəs◂ $ ˌkɑːn-/ ●○○ adjective   

careful to do everything that it is your job or duty to do

 A conscientious teacher may feel inclined to take work home.

 a conscientious and hard-working student

neu‧rot‧ic /njʊˈrɒtɪk $ nʊˈrɑː-/ adjective   

1 unreasonably anxious or afraid

 He seemed a neurotic, self-obsessed man.

stim‧u‧lus /ˈstɪmjələs/ ●○○ noun (plural stimuli /-laɪ/)

thought‧ful /ˈθɔːtfəl $ ˈθɒːt-/ ●○○ adjective   

1 always thinking of the things you can do to make people happy or comfortable OPP thoughtless

 Paul is very thoughtful.

de‧pend‧a‧ble /dɪˈpendəbəl/ ●○○ adjective   

able to be trusted to do what you need or expect

sym‧pa‧thet‧ic /ˌsɪmpəˈθetɪk◂/ ●●○ adjective   

1 caring and feeling sorry about someone’s problems

 a sympathetic friend

with‧er /ˈwɪðə $ -ər/ (also wither away) verb   

1 [intransitive, transitive] if plants wither, or if something withers them, they become drier and smaller and start to die

2 [intransitive] to gradually become weaker or less successful and then end

Homework

For the speaking initial evaluation test send me to gmail a 1 minute recording with personal info (name, occupation, hobbies, rutines…)

Listening activity: personality traits

leave somebody cold

to not feel interested in or affected by something in any way

 Opera left him cold.

→ cold

Examples from the Corpus

leave somebody cold

• All this talk about counselling and therapy left me cold.

• Ballet just leaves me cold.

• Opera leaves me cold.

• Why are people so crazy about opera? It leaves me completely cold.

a bum/bad rap

especially American English informal unfair treatment or punishment

 Cleveland always gets a bum rap in the press.

→ rap

Examples from the Corpus

a bum/bad rap

• She said social programs of the 1960s have gotten a bad rap in the 1990s.

• They got me on a bum rap.

• Yalta's bad name was in some ways a bum rap.

be/live in cloud-cuckoo-land

British English to think that a situation is much better than it really is, in a way that is slightly stupid

ˌmiddle-of-the-ˈroad adjective   

1 middle-of-the-road ideas or opinions are not extreme, and so most people are likely to agree with them

 a party offering safe, middle-of-the-road policies

2 middle-of-the-road voters or politicians have ideas that are not extreme

3 informal ordinary and not new, different, or exciting

 Their first album was quite good, but the second was very middle-of-the-road stuff.

Moaning Minnie /ˌməʊnɪŋ ˈmɪni/ noun   

1 infml someone who is never satisfied and is always complaining

armchair critic

someone who criticizes other people but who does not have any proper experience of the activity the other people are doing

→ critic

Examples from the Corpus

armchair critic

• And it has a billion armchair critics, so clothes do count.

• I did not intend to foster more armchair critics of the public schools either.

ˌdark ˈhorse noun [countable]   

1 someone who is not well known, and who surprises people by winning a competition

 In the 1955 golf championship, dark horse Jack Fleck defeated Ben Hogan.

2 British English someone who does not tell people much about themselves, but who has surprising qualities or abilities

 She’s a dark horse. I didn’t know she’d written a novel.

good egg

old-fashioned someone who you can depend on to be honest, kind etc

→ egg

Examples from the Corpus

good egg

• What a good egg she was!