Allthecabbiehadwasaletter

Unit 2 Friendship
Language Study
1. be lost in/ lose oneself in: be absorbed in, be fully occupied with
Examples: He was lost in playing computer games so he was unaware of my entering the room.
She was lost in her novel. I had lost myself in thought.
2. available: able to be used, had, or reached
Examples: Since 1990, the amount of money available to buy books has fallen by 17%.
If you don't want to buy a kite, you can make your own using directions available in
the book.
We have already used up all the available space.
3. He sounded as if he had a cold or something.: This sentence implies the sad state of mind the
taxi driver was in.
or something: used when you are not very sure about what you have just said
Examples: The air fare was a hundred and ninety-nine pounds or something.
Here's some money. Get yourself a sandwich or something.
Similar phrase: or something like that
4. go ahead: continue, begin (sometimes followed by with +n.)
Examples: The board of directors will vote today on whether to go ahead with the plan.
Henry will be late but we will go ahead with the meeting anyway.
5. know/ learn by heart: memorize, remember exactly
Examples: You have to know all the music by heart if you want to be a concert pianist.
The pupils are required to learn a classic poem by heart every day.
6. At least they do with me because I'm on the road so much.: At least letters from home mean a
lot to me because I travel a lot in a car for long distances.
7. estimate: form a judgement about (a quantity or value)
Examples: I estimate that the total cost for the treatment of the disease will go from $5,000 to $8,000.
Bill's personal riches were estimated at $368 million.
8. This isn't family. : This isn't a letter from my family.
9. might/ may (just) as well:
If you say that you might/ may (just) as well do something, you mean that you will do it although you do not have a strong desire to do it and may even feel slightly reluctant about it.
Examples: Anyway, you're here; you might as well stay.
The post office is really busy — we'll have to queue for ages to get served. We
might as well go home.
10. I'm not much of a hand at writing.: I'm not good at writing.
not much of a : not a good
Examples: Some people may think that doing housework for others is not much of a career.
He is not much of a father, but he is an outstanding professor.
11. keep up: continue without stopping
Examples: They risk losing their homes because they can no longer keep up the repayments.
I was so hungry all the time that I could not keep the diet up for longer than a month.
12. correspondence: 1) the act of writing, receiving or sending letters (不可加s，但可加a , often
followed by with + n.)
Example: His interest in writing came from a long correspondence with a close college friend. 2) the letters that sb. receives or sends (used as an uncountable noun)
Examples: Mary really never mentions her step-mother in her correspondence.
Any further correspondence should be sent to my new address.
13. But I take it he's someone ... : But I expect that he is someone ...
The sentence pattern "I take it (that)" is used to say that you expect someone will do something, know something etc..
Example: I take it (that) you've heard that all the students in my class have done a very good job in CET Band 4.
14. practically: almost, but not completely or exactly
Examples: He'd known the old man for practically ten years.
I know people who find it practically impossible to give up smoking.
15. Went to school together? : The complete sentence is like this: You went w school together? (In
colloquial English a declarative sentence with a rising tone may serve as a question.)
16. neighborhood: one of the parts of a town where people live
Examples: It seemed like an ideal neighborhood to raise my children in.
Houses in a good neighborhood are likely to be sold at a high price.
17. kind of/ sort of:{infml; "kind of" is esp. AmE, "sort of" esp. BrE) a little bit, in some way or
degree (used before v. or after a link verb)
Examples: She wasn't beautiful. But she was kind of cute.
The boy's description kind of gives us an idea of what's happening.
18. lose touch (with sb.):meet and contact sb. less and less often, gradually stop writing, tele-
phoning, or visiting them
Examples: I lost touch with my former classmates after graduation.
In my job one tends to lose touch with friends.
19. a couple of:(infml) a few, more than one but not many
Examples: Do you have a moment? There are a couple of things I'd like to talk to you about.
They promised the students that they would find a substitute teacher in a couple of days.
20. But I realized that Old Ed was still on his mind when he spoke again, almost more to
himself than to me.: But I realized that the taxi driver was still thinking of Old Ed when he spoke again. It seemed that he spoke more to himself than to me.
on one's mind:in one's thoughts; of concern to one (If something is on your mind, you are worried or concerned about it and think about it a lot.)
Examples: Dealings on the stock market have been on his mind all the time. This travel plan has been on my mind all week.
21. keep in touch (with sb.):
If you keep in touch with someone, you write, phone, or visit each other regularly.
Examples: The old man kept in touch with his children while living in a nursing home.
While doing the research work in the Antarctic, the professor kept in touch with his
students via email.
22. come up: 1) happen, occur, esp. unexpectedly
Examples: "Sorry, I am late—something came up at home."
Other projects came up and the emphasis of my work changed.
2) be mentioned or discussed
Examples: The issue of safety came up twice during the meeting.
The term "Project Hope" has come up a lot recently in the newspapers.
23. urge: try very hard to persuade (often used in the pattern urge sb. to do sth. or followed by a
that-clause. In the that-clause, "should" or the base form of a verb is used.)
Examples: They urged the local government to approve plans for their reform programme.
I urged my cousin to take a year off to study drawing.
Sir Fred urged that Britain (should) join the European Monetary System.
24. postpone: delay (usu. followed by n. /gerund}
Examples: The Russian experts postponed dumping Mir (和平号Russia's space station) in the Pacific Ocean until March 23, 2001.
The couple had postponed having children to establish their careers.
25. It had references to things that... : The letter made mention of things that ...
reference:1) the act of talking about sb. / sth., or mentioning them (usu. followed by to} Examples: It was strange that he made no reference to any work experience in his resume.
His recent book makes references to the political events of those days.
2) sth. that shows you where else to look for information, for example the page number of
another place in a book
Example: Make a note of the reference number shown on the form.
3) the act of looking at sth. for information
Example: Use the dictionary for easy reference.
Keep their price list for further reference.
26. "Like it says there,"... "about all we had to spend in those days was time.": "As the letter
says there,"... "though we didn't have much money we had a lot of free time."
27. absolutely: totally and completely
Examples: Funding is absolutely necessary if research is to continue.
There is absolutely no difference between the two oil-paintings.
28. reunion: a party attended by members of the same family, school, or other group who have not
seen each other for a long time
Examples: The soccer club holds an annual/yearly reunion.
Before she went abroad for further study, the whole family had a big family reunion.
29. ... there are fewer and fewer still around.: ... fewer and fewer of us are left alive.
30. go by: (of time) pass
Examples: Her daughter was becoming more and more beautiful as the years went by.
As each month goes by, the economic situation gets better.
31. hang out: 1) (infml; used mainly in AmE) stay in or near a place, for no particular reason, not
doing very much
Examples: I often hung out in coffee bars while I was unemployed.
We can just hang out and have a good time.
That's the corner where all the kids hang out.
2) hang clothes on a piece of string outside in order to dry them
Examples: I was worried that I had no time to hang out my washing.
What a pain! – It's raining and I've just hung the washing out.
32. every now and then: sometimes, at times
Examples: Every now and then I have a desire to quit my tedious job.
I still see Jane for lunch every now and then, but not as often as I used to.
33. But for the last 20 or 30 years it's been mostly just Christmas cards.: But generally speaking
we have sent only Christmas cards to keep in touch with each other for the last 20 or 30 years.
mostly: almost all; generally
Examples: They have invested their money mostly in expensive real estate.
The guests at the wedding party are mostly friends of the bride.
34. Your friendship over the years has meant an awful lot to me, more than I can say because
I'm not good at saying things like that.:Your friendship over the years has been very important to me, more important than I can say because I'm not good at expressing my feelings.
awful: (infml; used to add force) very great; very bad or unpleasant
Examples: I have got an awful lot of work to do.
I can't bear the awful smell of cigarette smoke.
35. choke up: become too upset to speak
Examples: When he learned the news of his friend's sudden death, he was so choked up he couldn't say a thing.
Losing my job left me completely choked up; I was so upset that I didn't know what to say.
36. destination: the place to which sb. is going or being sent
Examples: Singapore is still our most popular holiday destination.
Only half of the emergency supplies have reached their destination because of the bad weather.
37. skip: pass from (one point, etc.) to another, disregarding or failing to act on what comes between
Examples: The teacher skipped chapter five and said it wouldn't be on the test.
"As time is limited, we will have to skip some of the exercises in Unit 10," said the teacher.
38. right away:(infml) at once
Examples: Tom has got a high fever; he should go and see a doctor right away.
I wrote him a letter and posted it right away.。