Unit Two

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Unit Two

• All the Cabbie Had Was a Letter

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Culture Note Halloween One story says that, on
that day, the disembodied(?????) spirits of all
those who had died throughout the preceding year
would come back in search of living bodies to
possess for the next year. It was believed to be
their only hope for the afterlife. The
Celts(????) believed all laws of space and time
were suspended(??) during this time, allowing the
spirit world to intermingle(??) with the living.
Naturally, the still-living did not want to be
possessed(??,??). So on the night of October 31,
villagers would extinguish(??) the fires in their
homes, to make them cold and undesirable(????).
They would then dress up(??) in all manner of
ghoulish(???) costumes and noisily paraded around
the neighborhood, being as destructive as
possible in order to frighten away spirits
looking for bodies to possess. Some accounts(??,
??) tell of how the Celts would burn someone at
the stake who was thought to have already been
possessed, as sort of a lesson to the spirits.
Other accounts of Celtic history debunk(??)these
stories as myth The custom of trick-or-treating
is thought to have originated not with the Irish
Celts, but with a ninth-century European custom
called souling. On November 2, All Souls Day,
early Christians would walk from village to
village begging for "soul cakes," made out of
square pieces of bread with currants. The more
soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more
prayers they would promise to say on behalf of
the dead relatives of the donors. At the time, it
was believed that the dead remained in
limbo(????) for a time after death, and that
prayer, even by strangers, could expedite(??, ??)
a soul's passage to heaven.
3

• He must have been completely lost in something he
  was reading
• -- He must have been absorbed in his reading.
• must have been/done
• --To indicate a definite presumption about the
  things happened
• be lost in sth. thinking so hard about
  something, or being so interested in something,
  that you do not notice what is happening around
  you
• Harry just stood there, lost in thought .
• Amy lay on her bed, totally lost in her book.

4

• Is your cab available? Is your car ready to go?
• 1. something that is available is able to be used
  or can easily be bought or found
• Tickets are available from the box office.
• available to do something
• Funds are available to assist teachers who want
  to attend the conference.
• available for
• No figures are available for the number of goods
  sold.
• 2. not busy and has enough time
• Collins was not available for comment on Thursday
  night.

5

• then said apologetically as I settled into the
  back seat..
• -- He said with regret as I got into the back
  seat.
• settle--to put yourself or someone else in a
  comfortable position
• settle yourself in/on etc something
• Donna did not dare settle herself too comfortably
  into her seat, in case she fell asleep.
• The dog settled on the grass to enjoy its bone.
• --to end an argument or solve a disagreement
• settle a dispute/lawsuit/conflict/argument etc
• settle with
• She finally settled with her former employers for
  an undisclosed sum.

6

• come to think of it /come to that (spoken)
• --used to mention something you have just
  realized or remembered
• 'Were there any letters for me?' 'Yes there were,
  come to think of it.'
• Come to think of it, George did seem a bit
  depressed yesterday.
• He had never expected to have a wife, or even a
  girlfriend come to that.

7

• It might just as well have been a family.
• -- it might be regarded as a letter from a family
  member.
• may/might/could (just) as well
• a) used to mean that another course of action
  would have an equally good result
• The taxi was so slow we might just as well have
  gone on the bus.
• b) informal used when you do not particularly
  want to do something but you decide you should do
  it
• I suppose we may as well get started.

8

• Im not much of a hand at writing.
• --Im not very good at writing letters.
• not be much of a something
• to not be a good example of something or not
  be very good at something
• I'm not much of a dancer, I'm afraid.
• It wasn't really much of a storm.

9

• correspondence 1. the letters that someone sends
  and receives, especially official or business
  letters
• A secretary came in twice a week to deal with his
  correspondence.
• 2. the process of sending and receiving letters
• The magazine is unable to enter into any
  correspondence on medical matters.
• (be in) correspondence with somebody
• He had been in correspondence with her for
  several years before they finally met.
• All correspondence between us must cease.
• 3. a relationship or connection between two or
  more ideas or facts
• correspondence between
• There was no correspondence between the
  historical facts and Johnson's account of them.

10

• I take it hes someone youve known quite a
  while.
• --I guess hes someone youve long known.
• take somebody/something for something assume
• Of course I won't tell anyone! What do you take
  me for? (what sort of person do you think I am?)
• I take it (I assume) you've heard that Rick's
  resigned.

11

• So we go way back.
• -- so we were together for a long time.
• way back --a long time ago
• We first met way back in the 70s.

12

• You kind of lose touch--you are just like out of
  touch with each other.
• kind of sort of (spoken)
• a) used to say that something is partly true but
  does not describe the exact situation
• I sort of like him, but I don't know why.
• 'Do you know what I mean?' 'Sort of.'
• b) used when you are trying to describe something
  but it is difficult to find the right word or to
  be exact
• Then they started sort of chanting.
• It was sort of like really strange and
  mysterious, walking round this empty building.
• c) used to make what you are saying sound less
  strong or direct
• Well, I sort of thought we could go out together
  sometime.
• It was sort of a shock when I found out.

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• But things come up
• --But things appear
• come upto appear or start to affect
• ?synonym? arise
• I'm afraid I'll have to cancel our date --
  something's come up .
• The same problems come up every time.

14

• shrug--to raise and then lower your shoulders in
  order to show that you do not know something or
  do not care about something
• I just shrugged my shoulders and ignored him.
• Melanie shrugged and walked away.
• shrug something off
• --to treat something as unimportant and not worry
  about it
• We can't just shrug these objections off.

15

• mean--to intend to do something or intend that
  someone else should do something
• mean to do something
• I've been meaning to ask you if you want to come
  for a meal next week.
• I didn't mean to upset you.
• mean somebody/something to do something
• I didn't mean this to happen at all.I never meant
  you to find out.
• mean for somebody to do something
• I didn't mean for her to get hurt.
• I'm sure she didn't mean it
• He may sound a bit rude at times, but he means
  well (intends to be helpful or kind, even if it
  does not seem like that) .

16

• It had references to things that probably meant
  something to the driver--It referred to things
  that probably were important to the driver.
• meanused to indicate how important
  somebody/something is
• not in progressive
• mean something to somebody
• I know how much your work means to you.
• The medal meant a lot to him.
• mean the world to somebody/mean everything to
  somebody (be very important to someone)
• He meant the world to her.
• Time meant nothing to me while I was travelling.
• Of course the relationship meant something to me.

17

• there are fewer and fewer still around
• --there are less and less people coming.
• around--existing
• British Equivalent about
• That joke's been around for years.
• Manson has a reputation as one of the most
  stylish designers around.

18

• awful
• 1.very bad or unpleasant ?synonym? terrible
• The weather was awful.
• He is a pretty awful driver.
• That fridge smells awful.
• The last six months have been awful for her.
• 2. only before noun spoken used to emphasize
  how much or how good, bad etc something is
• An awful lot of people (a large number of people)
  died in the war.
• He made me feel an awful fool.
• 3. Adverb. (American spoken English) --very
• That kid's awful cute, with her red curls.

19

• he seemed to be all choked up
• -- he seemed to be so sad that he couldnt go on
  talking.
• choke --to be unable to breathe properly because
  something is in your throat or there is not
  enough air
• 1.choke somebody up--to make someone feel very
  upset and unable to talk
• This song really chokes me up.
• I was really choked up when I saw her again.
• 2.choke something up --to fill a place so that
  things cannot move through it
• be choked up with something
• The stream was choked up with weeds.

20

• then the entire class was laughing, and not in
  contempt and ridicule
• --the entire class was laughing but with
  respect.
• 1. a feeling that someone or something is not
  important and deserves no respect
• The contempt he felt for his fellow students was
  obvious.
• How could she have loved a man who so clearly
  held her in contempt ?
• 2. law disobedience or disrespect towards a court
  of law
• He was jailed for 7 days for contempt of court .
• He was found in contempt of the order.