Objective Proficiency p 36. Vocabulary

Ex 1

• Taste buds: the small structures on the tongue that allow you to recognize the flavours of food and drink. Papilas gustativas. E.g. Taste buds probably play the most important part in helping you enjoy the many flavors of food.
• Raspberry: a small dark red soft fruit that grows on bushes. Frambuesa. E.g. Raspberry jam.
• Tangerine: /ˌtændʒəˈriːn/ a type of small sweet orange with loose skin that comes off easily. Mandarina. 
• Kiwi fruit: Plural: kiwi fruit, also kiwi. A small fruit with thin brown skin covered with small hairs, soft green flesh and black seeds. 
• Ruby: /ˈruːbi/ a dark red colour. E.g. ruby lips.  Ruby grapefruit.
• Grapefruit: /ˈɡreɪpfruːt/ pl: grapefruit or grapefruits. A large round yellow citrus fruit with a lot of slightly sour juice. Pomelo.
• Blood orange: a type of orange with red flesh. Naranja de sangre.
• Star fruit: /ˈstɑːfruːt/ plural: star fruit. A green or yellow tropical fruit with a shape like a star. Carambola.

• Fleshy: (of plants, fruit) thick and soft. Carnoso. E.g. fleshy fruit/leaves.
• Fibrous: /ˈfaɪbrəs/ made of many fibres; looking like fibres. Fibroso. E.g. fibrous roots.
• Chewy: /ˈtʃuːi/ needing to be chewed a lot before it can be swallowed. E.g. Dried fruit can be a bit chewy.
• Pulpy: /ˈpʌlpɪ/ having a soft or soggy consistency. E.g. Pulpy fruit.
• Tart: /tɑːt/ acid or having an unpleasant sour taste. Ácido, agrio. E.g. lemons are tart. Tart apples.
• Sharp: strong and slightly bitter. Ácido. E.g. The cheese has a distinctively sharp taste.
• Watery: 1. containing a lot of water. E.g. Watermelons are watery. 2. (of food, drink, etc.) containing too much water; thin and having no taste. Aguado. E.g. The vegetables were watery and tasteless. Watery soup.
• Sugary: containing sugar; tasting of sugar. E.g. sugary snacks. Remember that banana is a sugary fruit.
• Overripe: too ripe. E.g. Overripe fruit.
• Luscious: /ˈlʌʃəs/ having a strong pleasant taste. Delicious. E.g. Luscious fruit.
• Sensuous: /ˈsents ju‿əs/ giving pleasure to your senses. E.g. Sensuous music. The avocado is a sensuous fruit: smooth and creamy as mousse.
• Heavenly: very pleasant. Divino. E.g. a heavenly morning/feeling. This place is heavenly. Grape is a heavenly fruit that contains A,B,C vitamins.
• Exquisite: /ɪkˈskwɪzɪt/ extremely beautiful. E.g. The watermelon is an exquisite fruit that probably comes from Tropical and Subtropical Africa, as it was farmed in the Nile Valley (present-day Egypt).
• Blissful: /ˈblɪsfl/ 1. Extremely happy; full of joy. E.g. We spent three blissful weeks away from work.2. Providing perfect happiness or great joy. On offer today was some blissful strawberries and cream.

Ex 2

• Soar: /sɔː(r)/ if the value, amount or level of something soars, it rises very quickly. Dispararse. E.g. soaring costs/prices/temperatures. Air pollution will soon soar above safety levels. Unemployment has soared to 18%. 
• Wilt: /wɪlt/ 1. If a plant or flower wilts, or something wilts it, it bends towards the ground because of the heat or a lack of water. Marchitarse. 2. To become weak or tired or less confident. E.g. The spectators were wilting visibly in the hot sun. He was wilting under the pressure of work. 
• Stack (something) (up): to arrange objects neatly in a pile; to be arranged in this way. E.g. To stack boxes. Logs stacked up against a wall. Do these chairs stack? Stacking chairs.
• Wicker: (U) thin sticks of wood twisted together to make baskets, furniture, etc. Mimbre. E.g. A wicker chair. Wicker baskets.
• Lay out: to plan how something should look and arrange it in this way. Trazar. E.g. The gardens were laid out with lawns and flower beds. 
• Indigo: /ˈɪndɪɡəʊ/ very dark blue in colour. E.g. An indigo sky.

 

• Gnarled: /nɑːld/ twisted and rough; covered with hard lumps. Retorcido. E.g. A gnarled oak/branch/trunk.
• Cross-pollinate: to move pollen from a flower or plant onto another flower or plant so that it produces seeds. E.g. They cross-pollinated the mango.

Ex 4

• Be locked in/into something:  to be involved in a difficult situation, an argument, a disagreement, etc. E.g. The two sides are locked into a bitter dispute. She felt locked in a loveless marriage.
• Freight: /freɪt/  goods that are transported by ships, planes, trains or lorries/trucks; the system of transporting goods in this way. Mercancías. E.g. To send goods by air freight.

Ex 5

• The icing on the cake: something extra and not essential that is added to an already good situation or experience and that makes it even better. E.g. It's an added bonus—the icing on the cake.
• The apple of somebody's eye: a person or thing that is loved more than any other. E.g. She is the apple of her father's eye.
• Put all your eggs in one basket: to rely on one particular course of action for success rather than giving yourself several different possibilities. E.g. I've applied for several jobs. I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.
• Have bigger/other fish to fry: to have more important or more interesting things to do. E.g. I won't waste time on your question. I have bigger fish to fry.
• A dog's breakfast/dinner: a thing that has been done badly. Mess. E:g. He's made a real dog's breakfast of these accounts. 
• Take something with a pinch of salt: to be careful about believing that something is completely true. E.g. If I were you, I'd take everything he says with a pinch of salt.
• Spill the beans: (informal) to tell somebody something that should be kept secret or private. E.g. My friend has spilt the beans and told everyone I have been made redundant. 
• Sell/go like hot cakes: to sell quickly or in great numbers. E.g. the tickets were sold like hot cakes. 
• Have/ get egg on/all over your face: (informal) to be made to look stupid. E.g. They were left with egg on their faces when only ten people showed up. By demonstrating his technical incompetence, sure he's got egg on his face now.
• Eat humble pie: to say and show that you are sorry for a mistake that you made. E.g. It's never fun to have to eat humble pie for something we've done wrong. 
• Forbidden fruit: a thing that is not allowed and that therefore seems very attractive. E.g. It was like forbidden fruit, the more you knew you shouldn't have it, the more you wanted it.
• More holes than Swiss cheese: If something has more holes than a Swiss cheese, it is incomplete,and lacks many parts. Something with a lot of problems. E.g. Your proposal has more holes in it than Swiss cheese.