Vocabulary and listening activity
How to Be a Good Egg and the Salt of the Earth
1.Match the idioms and
their meanings in the chart below. Then, listen to the audio ”Words and
their Stories from VOA” and check your work.
|
IDIOM
|
MEANING
|
|
1)There
is no use crying over spilled milk
|
A)someone
good and honest
|
|
2)To
be a good
egg
|
B)do
not believe everything you hear
|
|
3)To
walk on eggshells
|
C)a
good diet is important for good health
|
|
4)You
have to break some eggs to make an omelet
|
D)to
make someone feel worse about something that was already a painful experience
|
|
5)You
are what you eat
|
E)to
be careful about what we say or do
|
|
6)Meat
and potatoes
|
F)to
do what is necessary to move forward.
|
|
7)One
man’s meat is another man’s poison
|
G)to
be out of touch and usually not know what is going on in the office.
|
|
8)The
salt of the earth
|
H)you
should not get angry when something bad happens and cannot be changed
|
|
9)To
pour salt on a wound
|
I)I
don’t like it
|
|
10)To
take it with a grain of salt
|
J)to
do what is expected of you
|
|
11)To
bring home the bacon
|
K)something
that may appear to be free of charge, but may be a hidden cost.
|
|
12)To
cut the mustard
|
L)one
person might like something very much while another person might hate the
same thing
|
|
13)A
tall drink of water
|
M)to
pay more attention and fix a problem
|
|
14)To
be packed like sardines
|
N)someone
tall
|
|
15)To
be out to lunch
|
O)something
to think about
|
|
16)There
is no such thing as a free lunch
|
P)to
help anyone in need
|
|
17)To
wake up and smell the coffee
|
Q)to
make enough money to support a family
|
|
18)To
have egg on your face
|
R)to
be in a very crowded place
|
|
19)It
is not my cup of tea
|
S)the
most important part of something
|
|
20)Food
for thought
|
T)to
make a big mistake and feel foolish
|
1: 2: 3: 4: 5: 6: 7: 8: 9: 10:
11: 12: 13: 14: 15: 16: 17: 18: 19: 20:
More Edible Language:
Edible (adj) : food that one can eat.
Something fit to be eaten.
2.Here are more
idiomatic expressions related to food and eating. Go over the list and do the
exercise that follows.
Big cheese : an important person, a leader
Bite off more than one can
chew : to
try to do or eat more than you can.
Bite the hand that
feeds you
: to harm someone who is good to you.
My bread and butter : income or livelihood.
Butter (someone) up : to flatter someone in
order to get his or her favor.
Chew the fat : to chat.
Cool as a cucumber : calm
Couch potato : someone who spends a lot of time on a couch
watching TV.
Drop
(someone/something) like a hot potato: to stop being involved with
someone or something.
Eat humble pie : to admit your mistake
and apologize for it.
Eat like a bird : to eat only a small
amount of food
Eat like a horse : to eat a large amount
of food
Eat (someone) for
breakfast
: to defeat someone easily
Go bananas : to become or behave crazy.
Hard nut to crack : a difficult person or
thing.
Have a lot on one's
plate : to
be busy with many different activities.
Have a sweet tooth : to have a preference for
sweet foods
Have bigger fish to
fry : to
have more important things to do
Have your cake and eat it
too : to
be lucky, to have something both ways.
Icing on the cake : something that makes a good situation even
better.
In a nutshell : briefly, in a few
words.
In a pickle : in trouble, in a messy
situation.
Lemon : something defective or
unsatisfactory.
Out of the frying pan
into the fire : from a bad situation to a
worse one.
Piece of cake: something easy
Rotten apple : a bad person
Sugarcoat (something) : to make something
unpleasant seem ok, to coat something with sugar.
That's the way the cookie
crumbles
: that's life, these kinds of things happen.
Too many cooks spoil
the soup/ stew : a proverb meaning that too many people can spoil something
Wine and dine
(someone)
: to treat someone to an expensive meal.
EXERCISE: Complete the following sentences with an idiom from the list above.
1.The car I got was not a bargain. In fact, it turned out to be a ....
2.I
took an extra class this semester and now realize I am .... It’s just too much.
3.I
.... this weekend and I don’t have time to meet.
4.We
met with my friends for coffee to .... about our lives.
5.I
saw John the other day. He’s so changed now. Remember he used to be a bit
bohemian? Well now he is a .... in a global corporation.
6.I
.... and I do not want to waste time with insignificant matters.
7.My
friend is such a ....; he never wants to leave his house.
8.The
movie producer ... the star .... when she became involved in a scandal.
9.I
had to .... after I made a mess with the
project.
10.I
really wanted to get the scholarship but well, ....
11.She’s
not very sociable and seems always so very serious. I think she must be a .....
12.Model
girls .... and are very slim.
13.He
doesn’t want to give up hanging out with
friends and his wife is furious. He ....
14.This
is my year and the new job seems like the ....
15.Did
you .... when your best friend forgot your birthday?
16.On
weekends I usually .... after eating and run all week.
17.I
can’t help my boss right now. I do not want to .... me but I’m super busy.
18.The
lawyers tried to .... the incident but nobody was happy with it.
19.I
have .... for chocolate.
20.That's
..... I can do it without even trying.
21.I think your boss can tell when you are trying to .... so that you don’t have to work this weekend.
21.I think your boss can tell when you are trying to .... so that you don’t have to work this weekend.
22.At
the meeting they told us .... about the plans for the new department.
23.Several
people tried to manage the project, and it didn't turned out well. ....
24.MaryAnne was .... when she left the car keys inside the car.
24.MaryAnne was .... when she left the car keys inside the car.
25.My
uncle often has to .... his important business clients.
26.I
don't especially like driving a taxi, but it's ....
27.His situation is bad enough, but if he quits he'll ....
27.His situation is bad enough, but if he quits he'll ....
28.Even
in the pressure of the competition, he remained ....
29.The
team could .... their rivals .... last Friday. It was an easy victory.
30.Some
people think that Alice is .... in her group but she’s not so bad.
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