Mock Exams

Vocabulary Reading Advanced

PART ONE (Ready for CAE p 78)
Baffled: confused. Perplejo
Inebriated: drunk
Coupled with: unido con
Arousal: excitement
Buckle: to crush or bend. When your knees or legs buckle or when you buckle at the knees, your knees become weak and you start to fall. e.g. His legs buckled and he fell. Le fallaron las piernas y se cayó.
To be taken aback: to be shocked or surprised
Snap: move quickly
To crack a joke: to tell a joke
Set off: to start a process

PART TWO
High street: the main street of a town, where most shops/stores, banks, etc. are. Calle mayor. E.g. Peckham High Street. 106 High Street, Peckham. High-street banks/shops.

Spree: a short period of time that you spend doing one particular activity that you enjoy, but often too much of it. Juerga. Hacer algo desenfrenadamente. E.g. a shopping/spending spree. He's out on a spree. They went on a spending spree (salieron a gastarse lo que no está escrito).

Fall apart: to be in very bad condition so that parts are breaking off. Caerse a pedazos. E.g. my car is falling apart.

Clear-out: a process of getting rid of things or people that you no longer want. Limpieza a fondo. E.g. have a clear-out. A staff clear-out is being planned at party headquarters (= people are going to lose their jobs).

Heap: an untidy pile of something. Montón. E.g. the building was reduced to a heap of rubble. Worn-out car tyres were stacked in heaps.

Pull: Attraction. The fact of something attracting you or having a strong effect on you. Atracción, fuerza. E.g. the magnetic pull of the city was hard to resist. He felt the pull of paternal love.

Voracious: /vəˈreɪʃəs/ Having an insatiable appetite for an activity; greedy. Insaciable. E.g. a voracious reader.

Frugality: /fruˈɡæləti/ the fact of using only as much money or food as is necessary. Austeridad. E.g When I was growing up, frugality was a way of life.


Source: to get something from a particular place. Obtener. E.g. we source all the meat sold in our stores from British farms.

Sweatshop: a place where people work for low wages in poor conditions. Fábrica donde se explota a los obreros.


Sound: sensible; that you can rely on and that will probably give good results. Sensato. E.g. a person of sound judgement He gave me some very sound advice.

Code: a set of moral principles or rules of behaviour that are generally accepted by society or a social group. E.g. a strict code of conduct.

Patch sth up:to repair sth especially in a temporary way by adding a new piece of material or a patch: E.g.Just to patch the boat up will cost £10 000.

Odd: occasional

Vintage: /ˈvɪntɪdʒ/ typical of a period in the past and of high quality. De época

Chuck sth away/Chuck sth out: to throw something away. Tirar. E.g. those old clothes can be chucked out.