C1 _ Unit 2: Topic Vocabulary & Phrases

Destination C1 C2 _ Unit 2: Thinking & Learning

assess

verb / to calculate what something costs or is worth / Our agent will a_____ the value of your property.

assume

verb / to believe that something is true, even though no one has told you or even though you have no proof / Everyone accepted she was telling the truth, although in fact this was quite a lot to a_____.

baffle

verb / if a problem, someone’s behaviour, etc b_____s you, you cannot understand it or solve it / Detectives remain b_____d by these murders.

biased

adjective / preferring one person, thing or idea to another in a way that is unfair / It was a b_____ report.

concentrate

verb / to give all your attention to the thing you are doing / I was sleeping badly and finding it hard to c__________.

consider

verb / to think about something carefully before making a decision or developing an opinion / She paused and c_______ed for a moment.

consider

verb / to have a particular opinion about someone or something / They c_______ it inevitable that some jobs will be lost.

contemplate

verb / to consider doing something in the future / I'm … retirement next year.

contemplate

verb / to think very carefully about something for a long time / I haven’t got time to sit around …the meaning of life.

cynical

adjective / someone who is c______ believes that people care only about themselves and are not sincere or honest, or expects things not to be successful or useful / I know that some of you are very c______ about the proposals.

deduce

verb / to know something as a result of considering the information or evidence that you have / Finding fossils far inland, he d_____d that the area had once been covered by water.

deliberate

verb / to think about or discuss something very carefully, especially before you make an important decision / The judges d_________d for an hour before choosing the winner.

dilemma

noun / a situation in which you have to make a difficult decision / I'm in a d______ over whether to tell him or not.

discriminate

verb / to treat someone unfairly because of their religion, race or other personal features / Employers are not allowed to d___________ on the basis of gender.

discriminate

verb / to recognise the difference between things / Long-range missile attacks simply cannot d___________ between military and civilian targets.

dubious

adjective / not completely good, safe or honest / The story seemed a bit d______ to me.

dubious

adjective / not sure about the truth or quality of something, or whether you should do something / I'm very d______ about his ability to do the job.

estimate

noun / an amount that you guess or calculate using the information available / According to official e_______s, over 25% of carbon emissions come from the United States.

estimate

noun / a statement telling a customer how much money you will charge if they employ you to do a particular piece of work / The committee are currently getting e_______s for repairs to the stonework.

estimate

verb / to say what you think an amount or value will be, either by guessing or by using available information to calculate it / It's difficult to e_______ the cost of making your house safe.

faith

noun / strong belief in or trust of someone or something / I'm delighted to know you have such f____ in me.

gather

verb / to believe that something is true, although no one has directly told you about it / You're new here, I g_____.

genius

noun / someone who is much more intelligent or skillful than other people / She was a mathematical g_____.

genius

noun / a very high level of skill or ability / Baking allows you to show your creative g_____.

grasp

verb / to understand something / He was finding it difficult to g____ the rules of the game.

guesswork

noun / the process of trying to find the answer to something by guessing, or the answer found by using this method / It was a theory based on pure g________.

hunch

noun / a feeling that something is true or will happen, although you do not know any definite facts about it / I’ve got a h____ there’ll be an election soon.

ideology

noun / a system of ideas and principles on which a political or economic theory is based / State control is a fundamental aspect of Marxist i_______.

ingenious

adjective / an i________ plan, piece of equipment, etc uses new and clever ideas / This is an i________ device for opening bottles.

inspiration

noun / a sudden feeling of enthusiasm or a new idea that helps you to do or create something / Dreams are a rich source of i__________ for some writers.

intuition

noun / an ability to know or understand something through your feelings, rather than by considering facts or evidence / Archaeologists often use their i________ to decide where to dig.

justify

verb / to show that there is a good reason for something, especially something that other people think is wrong / You’ll be expected to j______ your actions.

naive

adjective / a n____ person lacks experience of life and tends to trust other people and believe things too easily / I was a n____ 17-year-old at the time.

notion

noun / an idea or understanding of something / I haven’t the faintest n_____ what you’re talking about.

optimistic

adjective / someone who is o_________ is hopeful about the future and tends to expect that good things will happen / She said that she was o_________ about the future of the company.

optimistic

adjective / based on beliefs that are too confident / That's a very o_________ assessment of the overall situation.

paradox

noun / a person, thing or situation that is strange because they have features or qualities that do not normally exist together / We get this apparent p______ of people migrating to an area that has very high unemployment.

pessimistic

adjective / someone who is p__________ is not hopeful about the future and tends to expect that bad things will happen / She said that she was p__________ about the future of the company.

pessimistic

adjective / thinking that the worst thing will happen in every situation / That’s a very p__________ assessment of the overall situation.

plausible

adjective / likely to be true, honest or suitable / A bomb was the only p________ explanation for the crash.

ponder

verb / to think carefully about something for a long time before reaching a decision / I'm still p_____ing whether to tell Janine or not.

prejudiced

adjective / someone who is p_________ has an unreasonable opinion or feeling about someone or something, especially hatred or fear of a particular group of people / Rafferty’s reporting was clearly biased and p_________ against the homeless.

presume

verb / to think something is true because it is likely, although you cannot be certain / I p______ you’ve already ordered lunch.

query

noun / a question that you ask because you want information or because you are not certain about something / We have a number of …regarding delivery.

query

verb / to ask a question about something because you have doubts about it / It is not for us to q____ his decisions.

query

verb / to ask something / Who would do such a thing?’ he ….

reckon

verb / to believe that something is true / I r_____ there’s something wrong with him.

reflect

verb / to think about something carefully and seriously / Josie r______ed on how easily she could have been killed.

sceptical/skeptical

adjective / having doubts about something that other people think is true or right / Harrison approved the plan, but Riley remained ….

speculate

verb / to consider or discuss why something has happened / We can only s________ on the reasons for his sudden resignation.

suppose

verb / to believe that something is probably true, based on your experience, your knowledge and any other information that you have / She was about 35, Dexter s______d.

academic

adjective / relating to education, especially education in colleges and universities / The book brings together several a_______ subjects.

academic

adjective / good at learning things by studying / She's certainly bright, but she’s not very a_______.

academic

adjective / not relating to a real situation, and therefore not relevant / Given the lack of funding, any discussion of future plans was somewhat a_______.

academic

noun / someone who teaches or does research at a college or university / The meeting was chaired by a leading Japanese a_______.

conscientious

adjective / working hard and being careful to do things well / Simon is a very c____________ worker.

cram

verb / to study hard in order to learn a lot in a short time, especially for an examination / My exams are in two weeks, so I’m c___ming at the moment.

curriculum

noun / the subjects that students study at a particular school or college / Our mathematics c_________ is much broader now.

distance learning

noun phrase / a system in which students work at home with the help of television and radio broadcasts and send work to their teachers by post or e-mail / Are you doing the course by d________________?

graduate

noun / someone who has a degree from a university / There aren’t many careers for history g_______s.

graduate

verb / to complete your studies at a university or college, usually by getting a degree / He g_______d from Yale University in 1936.

ignorant

adjective / not knowing something that you should know or need to know / I was i_______ of the terms used in business.

inattentive

adjective / not giving much attention to someone or something / I hate speaking in front of an i__________ audience.

intellectual

adjective / relating to the ability to think in an intelligent way and to understand things, especially difficult or complicated ideas and subjects / Students were asked which task represented the greatest i___________ challenge.

intellectual

adjective / well educated and interested in art, science, literature, etc at an advanced level / Though not i___________, my mother was highly intelligent.

intellectual

noun / someone who is well educated and interested in art, science, literature, etc at an advanced level / Though not an i___________, my mother was highly intelligent.

intelligent

adjective / good at thinking clearly and quickly, at understanding difficult ideas and subjects, and at gaining and using knowledge / Surely an i__________ person like you can deal with this?

intensive

adjective / involving a lot of teaching or training in a short time / It’s an i________ language course for beginners.

knowledgeable

adjective / knowing a lot about many different subjects or about one particular subject / He’s extremely k____________ about business and finance.

lecture

noun / a talk to a group of people about a particular subject, especially at a college or university / The course will be taught through a series of l______s and seminars.

lecture

verb / to give a l______ or a series of l______s / She l______s on Greek Literature at the Sorbonne.

mock exam

noun phrase / an examination you take for practice before an important examination / We’ve got our mock GCSE exams next month.

plagiarise

verb / to take someone else’s work, ideas or words, and use them as if they were your own / They accused her of plagiarising her speech.

self-study

noun / work that you do without the help of a teacher / I have to do a lot of s_________ on this course.

seminar

noun / a class at a college or university in which a small group of students discusses a subject with a teacher / We had a very interesting s______ on climate change.

special needs

noun phrase / the particular needs of people who are physically or mentally disabled / If a student has s____________, he or she will be offered additional classes.

tuition

noun / the work that a teacher does when they teach a particular subject, especially to one person or a small group / He’s been getting private t______ in French.

tutorial

noun / a lesson in which a small group of students discuss a subject with a tutor, especially at a university or college / We had a very interesting t_______ on climate change.

brush up (on)

phrasal verb / practise and improve your skills or knowledge of something / I took a class to b____________ my German before the trip.

come (a)round (to)

phrasal verb / change your opinion or decision because someone has persuaded you to agree with them / I didn’t agree at first but I’ve come (a)round to the idea now.

come up with

phrasal verb / think of something such as an idea or a plan / Is that the best you can c___________?

face up to

phrasal verb / accept something and try to deal with it / He was the only one who faced up to the problem.

figure out

phrasal verb / be able to understand something or solve a problem or understand what someone is like and why they behave in the way they do / We had to f_________ the connection between the two events.

hit upon

phrasal verb / discover something by chance / She was scared he might h_______ the truth.

hit upon

phrasal verb / suddenly have an idea / They h_______ the idea of celebrating the occasion with a concert.

make out

phrasal verb / see, hear or understand someone or something with difficulty / Can you m_______ a face here in the photograph?

make out

phrasal verb / suggest, imply / It’s not as simple as some people m_______.

mull over

phrasal verb / think carefully about something over a period of time / They'll need time to m________ the proposals.

piece together

phrasal verb / learn the truth about something by considering all the separate bits of information you have / Detectives are still piecing together the circumstances surrounding the incident.

puzzle out

phrasal verb / solve a confusing or complicated problem by thinking carefully about it / She seemed to be trying to p_________ who the caller might be.

read up (on/about)

phrasal verb / get information on a particular subject by reading a lot about it / I need to ______ on my British history.

swot up (on)

phrasal verb / study something very hard, especially for an examination / I've got to ______ the French Revolution for tomorrow’s test.

take in

phrasal verb / accept something as real or true / He still hasn’t really t______ his father’s death.

take in

phrasal verb / trick someone into believing something that is not true / Don’t be ____ by their promises.

take in

phrasal verb / understand and remember something that you hear or read / I’m not sure how much of his explanation she _____ in.

think over

phrasal verb / consider a problem or decision carefully / Let's t_________ his proposal before we see him again.

think through

phrasal verb / consider the facts about something in an organised and thorough way / Have you had time to think things through?

think up

phrasal verb / invent or imagine something, especially an excuse / She’d have to t_______ a good reason for being late.

go to your head

phrase / if success goes to your head, it makes you think that you are better or more important than you really are / I hope getting that scholarship doesn't _____ Carol's _____.

have your wits about you

phrase / be able to think quickly and make sensible decisions / You've got to ____ ____ ____ _____ ___ when dealing with pushy salespeople.