I. LEARN THE NEW WORDS
Person - a person of strong character; personal opinion; personal responsibility. What kind
personal - of person is he? He has always been a person of strong character. That is my personal opinion.
personality - a strong personality; to respect the personality of a child. What makes a
personality? Nobody doubts that he is a personality
to characterize - the author characterizes the hero as a generous man. How would you characterize
the man from that picture? A strong need for change characterizes our time.
Stubbornness characterizes the donkey.
characteristic - a family characteristic; the characteristic smell of burning rubber. This landscape is so characteristic of England. Ambition is a characteristic of all successful businessmen. Each bird has its own characteristic song.
trait - personal traits; traits of character. Certain personal traits made her unpopular.
feature - characteristic features. He was taller than me, with very regular features. Which features a man’s character do you like most of all?
moral - moral values; a moral duty; to give moral support to someone; moral courage. He had that moral courage which helps a man to stand alone. It is our moral duty to take care of them. The moral support was given turned out to be very helpful and encouraging.
to mold - to mold a person’s character, to mold a personality. What helps us mold a person’s character?
conscience - a clear conscience, a good conscience, the voice of conscience; to act according to one’s conscience; to go against one’s conscience. Is your conscience clear?
conscientious - a conscientious worker, to be conscientious in one’s duty. He is a highly respected person: he always does his duty conscientiously.
indifferent - to be indifferent to something, to go indifferent to suffering (to danger):
not to be indifferent to art, music. How can you be so indifferent to the sufferings of these children? The explorers were indifferent to the discomforts and dangers of the expedition.
indifference - he treated my request with indifference. Success or failure cannot be a matter of indifference to you
firm - a firm character, a firm voice, a firm decision; to be firm with somebody; as firm as a rock; to take firm measure; to be firm in one’s beliefs. He spoke in a firm voice.
frank - a firm character, a firm voice, a firm decision; to be firm with somebody; as firm as a rock; to take firm measures; to be firm one’s beliefs. He spoke in a firm voice.
reserved - a reserved man, reserved behavior. He is too reserved to be popular. They say he is a reserved person.
to rely on - to rely on somebody, to rely on (upon) somebody’s word or promise; to rely fully. He can always be relied on for help. You may rely upon my early arrival.
reliable - a reliable person, reliable servants, reliable information. The work will be done properly and in time. You shouldn’t anxious about it. He is reliable person.
to trust - to have trust in somebody; don’t trust the chance. He is not the sort of man to be trusted. Can you trust his account of what happened? He may be trusted to do the work well. Should boys of sixteen be trusted with high powered motorcycles? Do you trust your young daughters to go to dance halls with any sort of men?
fierce - fierce dogs; to have a fierce look on one’s face; to look fierce; fierce hatred; to fight fiercely. He stood his ground fiercely.
indignity - the bandits subjected us to all sorts of indignities. He was treated with unbelievable cruelty and indignity.
steady - a steady young man, a steady faith (purpose); keep steady; make steady. Prices are steadying.
burden - to be a burden to one’s parents; a burden of sorrow (grief). To carry the burden of responsibility is very difficult.
to distinguish - to distinguish oneself. It was so dark that we could distinguish nothing. He distinguished himself by his courage. The child could not distinguish right from wrong.
distinguished - a distinguished writer. Franklin was a distinguished American thinker, scientist and public figure.
distinguishing - a distinguishing feature.
stubborn - a stubborn person; a stubborn struggle or fight; stubborn resistance. Don’t be stubborn! I don’t know who is more stubborn, you or your brother. She stubbornly refused to speak on that topic.
civic - civic duty, civic courage, civic pride. Do you have a feeling of responsibility and civic duty?
feat - brilliant feats of engineering. We’ve recently read a book about heroic feats of the people during the Second World War. His life was a feat.
quality - bad and good qualities of people. Ability to think is man’s remarkable quality.
just - a sense of justice. A believe that I have acted justly. Tom has a strong sense of
justice justice.
to recognize - to recognize somebody’s voice (face). He recognized his old friend’s voice. Susan didn’t recognize me at first. Do you recognize this song?
gloomy - the day was gloomy, with a grey sky and dark clouds that hid the sun. The girl looked gloomy again.
silence - to keep silent. Her silence on what had happened to her surprised everyone. Bill has always been a strong, silent man who says very little. How can you keep silent in this situation when much depends on your opinion?
charming - a charming smile; children’s charming faces. Joan is a charming girl. They lived in a small charming house.
fair - it’s not fair take everything to yourself. Why should I have to do all the washing up? It’s not fair. It’s not fair that Jane is allowed to go and I am not.
mean - a mean trick; to be mean to somebody. It was mean of him to say such an unpleasant thing. He is really a mean fellow, he never does a thing for other people. They were mean to laugh at his mistakes.
foolish - a foolish answer; a foolish mistake; to take foolish risks. How foolish of you! Don’t be foolish. It would be foolish of us to quarrel
envy - to feel envy; to show envy; full of envy. Envy is a most terrible thing, it can spoil anyone’s nature. He envies anyone who is happy.
envious - to be envious of something. He is envious of his friend’s boat. Judy is envious of other classmate’s success in study.
lie - to tell a lie. I was surprised to find out that Liza had told a lie. A good friend will not
to lie lie. “You are lying,” he said sharply.
II. DO SOME EXERCISES
Arrange the words in pairs of synonyms
fierce steady frank burden
reserved firm mold indignity
insult sincere uncommunicative solid
make load violent balanced
Match the following words and the suitable definitions
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1) burden
2) to rely on a) character
3) trust b) to give a shape or form to something
4) indignity c) having no interest in something
5) steady d) not yielding when pressed
6) firm e) something difficult to bear (to carry)
7) indifferent f) to depend upon with confidence
8) conscientious g) strong belief
9) to mold h) something said or done that insult a person
10) personality i) careful and honest
What were they indifferent to? Who was indifferent to something (somebody)?
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They hardships.
The student sufferings.
The explorers the state of health.
The cosmonauts was indifferent to his behavior.
The people were indifferent to success.
He conditions of life.
She dangers and discomforts.
His parents the news.
III. READ THE WORDS AND GUESS THE MEANING OF THEM
a) Read and guess the meanings of the words which help to characterise people in different ways of life. Use the dictionary and learn them.
Intellectual ability
Ability: intelligent, bright, clever, smart, able, gifted, talented, brainy (colloquial)
Lacking ability: stupid, foolish, half-witted, simple, silly, brainless
Clever, in a negative way, using brains to trick or deceive: cunning, crafty, sly
Attitudes towards life
Looking on either the bright or the black side of things: optimistic – pesimistic
b) Match these words with their opposites
