eyes; neck; foot; tongue; head and shoulders; heart; hand; mouth

1. I was rude to the boss's wife — I've really put my…….in it.(made a bad mistake)

2. I only play tennis about once a month, just to keep my………in.(to keep in practice)

3. Although he keeps doing the wrong thing, his………'s in the right place, (his intentions are good)

4. I hate getting up early in the morning. It's a pain in the……(something particularly nasty or annoying)

5. He's the best footballer in the school, he's ………above all the other players, (far superior to)

6. He's always making………at all the girls in the office. (looking in a suggestive way)

7. Don't believe a word he says. He's all………(exaggerates a lot)

8. Did I call you Ted? Sorry, Fred. It was a slip of the………(a verbal mistake)

(taken from “Understanding English; Practice in modern English usage” by Nick Mclver)

B). Read the text and try to figure out what the underlined expressions mean. Find Russian equivalents to them:

PARTS OF THE HUMAN BODY IN FIGURATIVE SPEECH

Do not rush for a cardiac surgeon if an Englishman exclaims that he has lost heart. Nothing more serious has happened than that he has become discouraged. And if he tells you that your heart is in the right place, he is making a moral rather than a medical judgment-he thinks you are really a kindly sort of person. For these are some of the figurative uses of parts of the human body which enliven the English language.

In popular sentiment hearts may be broken, as if they were egg­shell, by faithlessness or the loss of someone dear. But then the suf­ferer may be encouraged to take heart, or become more cheerful, or his problems might be solved by heart-to-heart, or intimate discus­sions .

The heart is the only organ of the body to figure so prominent­ly in our language, but our joints supply a rich variety of idioms. A slack worker has been sarcastically advised to apply more el­bow grease, and those who lack enough space to move around in demand elbow room. If you are elbowed aside you are pushed rudely out of the way and if you are given the elbow you are dismissed, also in no polite fashion. Worse still if you are said to lift the elbow-it suggests you are frequently drunk.

Travelling along the arm we reach the hand and the knuckle. A joke that is near the knuckle, though, is one that borders on indecen­cy, and the teller might be told to knuckle under, or keep quiet and do as he is told.

Meddlesome people are said to want a finger in every pie while the little finger is especially used. A practical woman will have more sense in her little finger than other people have in their whole bodies, and if you are able to twist someone round your little finger you can persuade them to do anything. Tight-fisted and open-handed are how the mean and the generous are graphically described.

"He hasn't a leg to stand on," is one way of saying a man has nothing to justify or support his opinion. If this is so the poor fellow could be brought to his knees, or forced to submit. But of all parts of the lower limbs it is the heel that has fired the imagination most.

A down-at-heel man is shabbily dressed, unlike the well-heeled who has plenty of money. A thief might take to his heels at the sight of a policeman, and should he run faster than the law he will show a clean pair of heels and escape. From classical literature comes the expression "Achilles' heel" to describe how someone is especially vulnerable on one point. And those that have to obey, like

well-trained dogs, are made to come to heel. Left to wait, are you are forced to cool your heels.

But beware most of falling head over heels into something-usually love. Then you are completely and headlessly in a situation over which you will have little control.

(taken from“Журнал о сегодняшней жизни в Великобритании”, «Англия») №

C). Look at these expressions dealing with “Body language”. What do they mean? Choose from the list of meanings on the right.

1 He's got no back-bone. a very drunk

2 She's completely legless. b exaggerates or lies in order to impress

3 He's very thick-skinned. cdoesn`t care what other people think

4 She gave him the elbow. d very cowardly

5 He can't keep his nose out of things. e ended a romantic relationship

6 She's got a finger in every pie. f always interfering

7 He's all mouth. g behaves in a mad way

8 She's off her head. h has an interest in many businesses

(taken from “Журнал о сегодняшней жизни в Великобритании”, «Англия» № 126 2/1993 стр. 105)

Date: 2015-12-24; view: 414