vocabulary
[II
* Making an effort
[fil
Complete the text with the expressions
from Exercise 3a in the correct form.
Find the underlined expressions in the text in
Exercise 1 that mean:
to make a great deal of effort to do something
_g_o to great lengths_
2 to do something without enthusiasm or real interest
a bit half-hearted
struggling
3 to find something very difficult------------------------------------------4 (to get the right result) by experimenting _____________________
trial and error
_
5 (to do something) without having to make much
find it easy
effort ------------------------------------------get a lot out of it
6 to find all your effort very rewarding------------------------------------do it properly
7 to do something the right way-------------------------------------------
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Mum and Dad have always 1 __ gone to __
_great lengths_ to make sure I have a happy
family life, and I wanted to do something
for them. So I decided to become an expert
in washing up. And I mean an expert - this
wasn't something I was going to do in a
2 half-hearted
______________________ way. I was going to be the best!
didn't find it easy and I didn't always
At first I 3 _____________________
4 struggled
______________________ to get those knives and forks
as clean as I wanted. Occasionally a plate
would fall from my hands and break on the
floor but I wasn't going to give up.
I found the best washing-up liquid through
5 trial and error
______________________ • I must have experimented with
more than a dozen before I found one that
6
did
properly
the job ______________________
. After weeks
---------------------of practice I had finally become what I wanted
to be - the best washer-up in the world. And
get a lot out of looking at that
I admit I used to 7 ______________________
rack of shining plates, glasses and dishes. I felt
proud.
And then one day I came home from
school, all excited at the thought of washing
up after the evening meal, and there it was
standing right in the middle of the kitchen all sparkling and new.
My parents had bought a dishwasher.
What had I done wrong?
Work with a partner. Use the expressions
in Exercise 3a to talk about things you've
learned to do.
I learned to play the guitar through trial
and error.
At first (struggled to read the music.
Turn to page 114.
UNITS
61
Unit 8 Making an effort
to make an/no attempt= to (not) try to do something, especially
something difficult
I tried to talk to him, but he made no attempt to be friendly, so I left.
2 to bother= to make the effort to do something
He could have phoned me but he just didn't bother.
3 can't be bothered= to be too lazy or uninterested to do something
I know I should read this book for my project, but I can't be bothered,
so I'm going to watch TV.
4 to sweat (over something)= to work very hard
I've been sweating over this maths problem for an hour - but I can't
solve it!
5 no sweat [informal]= it isn't difficult / not a problem
'Can you show me how to use this program on my laptop?' 'Sure - no
sweat.'
6 to be worth the effort= to produce results which give value to the effort
This food is really difficult to make - but it's so delicious, it's worth the effort.
7 to put everything into (something)= to work as hard as possible, make as
much effort as possible
He was only in fifth place, but then he put everything into the last
100 metres and he won!
8 to endeavour [formal]= to try
Thank you for your letter. We will endeavour to reply before the end of
the week.
114
VOCABULARY BANK