1. At ease
Definition: Feeling relaxed and comfortable, without worry or stress.
Example 1: I never feel completely at ease when driving on a busy motorway in heavy rain.
Example 2: After a few hours on the long-distance coach, the passengers finally felt at ease.
2. Pull up (car)
Definition: To slow down and stop a vehicle.
Example 1: The taxi had to pull up at the traffic lights just as they turned red.
Example 2: If you pull up outside the station, I can get out quickly and catch my train.
3. Virtually (nearly all)
Definition: Almost entirely or nearly all of a group or thing.
Example 1: Virtually all the flights from London were delayed because of the thick fog.
Example 2: We spent virtually the whole journey looking out of the window at the countryside.
4. Make out (a sound)
Definition: To manage to hear or understand a noise that is faint or unclear.
Example 1: The engine was so loud that I could not make out the driving instructor's directions.
Example 2: I could just make out the sound of a police siren approaching us from behind.
5. Tone of voice
Definition: The way someone speaks that expresses their mood or feelings.
Example 1: The ticket inspector had a very polite tone of voice when checking our rail passes.
Example 2: I could tell from her tone of voice that she was stressed about missing her connection.
6. Drives one mad
Definition: To make someone feel extremely annoyed or frustrated.
Example 1: Sitting in long traffic jams every morning on the way to work drives me mad.
Example 2: It drives him mad when other drivers do not use their indicators before turning.
7. Make a fool of
Definition: To do something that makes someone look silly or stupid in public.
Example 1: I made a fool of myself by getting on the wrong bus and travelling the wrong way.
Example 2: The angry passenger tried to make a fool of the flight attendant, but she stayed calm.
Eventually, she spoke to me. When she said her first words to me, I was in such confusion that I did not know how to respond. She asked me if I was going to Araby. I forgot whether I answered yes or no. It would be a superb bazaar*, she said; she would love to go.
“And why can’t you?” I asked. While she spoke she turned a silver bracelet round and round her wrist. She could not go, she said, because there would be a special religious event that week in her school. She held one of the metal bars, bending her head towards me. The light from the lamp opposite our door caught the white curve of her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the barrier. It fell over one side of her dress and caught the white edge of her underwear, just visible as she stood there, apparently at ease.
“It’s well for you,” she said.
“If I go,” I said, “I will bring you something.”
(music)
In a few minutes the train pulled up beside a wooden platform. I passed out on to the road and saw by the lighted clock that it was ten minutes to ten. It was late. In front of me was a large building which displayed the magical name - Araby.
I could not find any cheap entrance and, fearing that the bazaar* would be closed, I passed in rapidly through a gate, handing a coin to a tired-looking man. I found myself in a vast hall surrounded at half its height by a balcony. Virtually all the stalls were closed and the greater part of the hall was in darkness. I recognised a silence like that which fills a church after a service. I walked into the centre of the bazaar nervously.
A few people were gathered about the stalls which were still open. Before a curtain, over which the word café was written in coloured lamps, two men were counting money on a tray. I listened to the fall of the coins. Remembering with difficulty why I had come, I went over to one of the stalls and examined pottery vases and decorative tea-sets. At the door of the stall I spotted a young lady who was talking and laughing with two young gentlemen. I could make out their English accents though barely understood most of their conversation.
“Oh, I never said such a thing!”
“Oh, but you did!”
“Oh, but I didn’t!”
“Didn’t she say that?”
“Yes. I heard her.”
“O, there’s a fib!”
Seeing me, the young lady came over and asked me If I wished to buy anything. The tone of voice was not encouraging ; she seemed to have spoken to me out of a sense of duty. I looked shyly at the massive vases that stood like Asian guards at either side of the dark entrance to the stall and muttered:
“No, thank you.”
The young lady rearranged one of the vases and went back to the two young men. They began to talk of the same subject. Once or twice the young lady glanced at me over her shoulder. I waited before her stall, though I knew my stay was useless, to make my interest in her products seem more genuine. Then, I turned away slowly and walked down the middle of the hall.
I heard a voice call from one end of the balcony that the light was out. The upper part of the hall was now completely dark. Gazing up into the darkness, I saw myself as a creature driven mad by pride and made a fool of ; and my eyes burned with misery and rage.
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