CAE. Idioms p.1. Learning

Дата публикации: Sep 13, 2016 6:1:45 PM

have a good command of something - to know something well.

Bill has a good command of French.

Jane has a good command of economic theory.

to be (a bit) rusty - to be out of practice; to be impaired in skill or knowledge due to inaction or the passage of time

a blind spot - something that you do not understand at all, often because you are not willing to try

He had a complete blind spot where public relations were concerned, so his political career was doomed from the start.

Languages are my blind spot - I was always terrible at French.

copycat noun BrE /ˈkɒpikæt/ ; NAmE /ˈkɑːpikæt/ - (informal, disapproving) used especially by children about and to a person who copies what somebody else does because they have no ideas of their own

hit the books and pound the books - Inf. Fig. to study hard. Study with concentrated effort

I spent the weekend pounding the books.

I gotta go home and hit the books. I have finals next week.

To learn English, she not only hit the books but also practiced conversing with others every day.

I can't go out tonight. I've got to hit the books.

At exam time we all hit the books.

I spent the weekend pounding the books. I gotta go home and hit the books.

pass with flying colors - succeed at easily

She sailed through her exams

You will pass with flying colors

She nailed her astrophysics course

skipping class - not going to class

skip the class ~ skip the rope

skip verb BrE /skɪp/ ; NAmE /skɪp/

1. move with jumps

[intransitive] (+ adv./prep.) to move forwards lightly and quickly making a little jump with each step

She skipped happily along beside me.

Lambs were skipping about in the fields.

2. jump over rope

[intransitive] (British English) (North American English jump rope, skip rope) [transitive] to jump over a rope which is held at both ends by yourself or by two other people and is passed again and again over your head and under your feet

He skips for about 20 minutes a day.

The girls were skipping in the playground.

She likes to skip rope as a warm-up.

drop out phrasal verb

drop out (of something)

1. to no longer take part in or be part of something

He has dropped out of active politics.

a word that has dropped out of the language

2. to leave school, college, etc. without finishing your studies

She started a degree but dropped out after only a year.

teacher's pet - the teacher's favorite student. (*Typically: be ~; become ~.)

Sally is the teacher's pet. She always gets special treatment.

The other students don't like the teacher's pet.

Al has managed to be teacher's pet in any job he has held.

put one's thinking cap on

Fig. to start thinking in a serious manner about how to solve a problem

It's time to put our thinking caps on, children.

All right now, let's put on our thinking caps and do some arithmetic.

Let me put my thinking cap on and see if I can come up with an answer.

saved by the bell

Cliché saved by the timely intervention of someone or something. (Alludes to a boxer who is saved from being counted out by the bell that ends a round.), something that you say when a difficult situation is ended suddenly before you have to do or say something that you do not want to

I was going to have to do my part, but someone knocked on the door and I didn't have to do it. I was saved by the bell.

I wish I had been saved by the bell.

Luckily, my bus arrived before I had time to reply. Saved by the bell.

Mind-wandering (sometimes referred to as task-unrelated thought) is the experience of thoughts not remaining on a single topic for a long period of time, particularly when people are engaged in an attention-demanding task