Unit One
College English
Enhance Your Language Awareness
Words in Action
▆ Working with Words and Expressions
1. Listed in the boxes below are some of the words that you need to be very familiar with. Now work in
pairs and make sentences with each of them to see if you have really mastered their usages. You are encouraged to consult a dictionary if you are still not quite sure about their meanings and usages.
▆ Sample sentences for reference:
1) Do you think the government will deliver on their election promises?
2) I need to polish (up) my French now because I’m going to France next summer. 3) Details of the competition are available from our head office.
4) Many people choose to go by car rather than by bus, but I prefer the latter. 5) Please file this letter (away), Miss Smith.
6) Today his company continues to thrive in spite of severe competition. 7) She undertook responsibility for the changes he made in the article.
8) A career advisor can offer you sound and practical suggestions on how to make career decision. 9) A nurse has many duties to fulfill in caring for the sick.
10) He perceived a subtle (微妙的；细微的) change in her manner when he met her the second time. 11) Over the years, I have accumulated hundreds of books.
12) He has multiplied his fortune many times within a short period of two years.
2. In the box below are some of the words you have learned in this unit. Complete the following sentences
with them. Change the form where necessary.
▆ Answers:
1) compromise 2) self-induced 3) steered 4) frame
5) demonstrated 6) employ 7) promote 8) impressed 9) contribution 10) deliberately 11) financial 12) economic
3. In the boxes below are some of the expressions you have learned in this unit. Do you understand their
meanings? Do you know how to use them in the proper context? Now check for yourself by doing the blank-filling exercise. Change the form where necessary.
▆ Answers:
1) makes a point of
1
2) refresh my memory 3) lead to 4) at hand 5) working out 6) under pressure 7) Last but not least 8) took, down 9) In addition to 10) were involved in 11) in other words 12) pointed out 13) pay off
4. Fill in the blanks with words listed in the box below. Change the form where necessary. Then rearrange
the given letters to form two words related to college life and complete the final sentence with the two words.
▆ Answers: 1) scored 2) scheduled 3) assigned 4) motivate 5) crucial 6) promote 7) performed 8) debate 9) scanned 10) devised 11) advocated 12) clarify 13) priorities 14) compromised 15) context 16) undertook
17) academic excellence
▆ Increasing Your Word Power
1. The same word can perform different roles and functions as different parts of speech. Listed in the box
below are some of these words. Complete the following sentences with the words in the box. Make sure that your sentences are grammatically correct.
▆ Answers:
1) principal / major 2) top 3) major 4) top
5) principal 6) major 7) schedule
8) advocate / have advocated 9) top
2
10) approach 11) blame
12) major / principal 13) advocate 14) schedule 15) blame
16) approaching 17) pressure 18) pace
19) pressured 20) pace
2. In this unit there are many words and phrases that are similar in meaning. Find out those pairs of
words and phrases and put them down in the space provided.
▆ Answers: disclose reveal possible (questions) tentative (questions) attain achieve straight-A student super-achiever point toward steer toward be trapped be caught
3. In this unit the verb set is collocated with priorities, timetables, and standards. Try to fill in as many
nouns as possible that can go with set in the space provided. If you are not sure of some collocations, consult a dictionary. Then make sentences of your own using the collocations in the space provided.
▆ Answers for reference:
set priorities / timetables / standards / an exam / an alarm / an example / a price /a record / limits 1) Who is going to set (the questions for) the exam this time?
2) She forgot to set her alarm last night: that was why she overslept. 3) Her heroic behavior sets a good example for us to follow. 4) We had to compromise and finally the price was set at $1,000.
5) We were all pleased to know that Liu Xiang had set a world record in the 110-meter hurdles. 6) The government has set strict limits on pay increases.
4. Did you notice the suffixes -ion, -ation, -ly in words such as education, expectation, deliberately in
this unit? The suffixes -ion, -ation can be put after many verbs to form nouns, and -ly can be added to many adjectives to form adverbs. Listed in the box below are some nouns and adverbs with suffixes -ion, -ation, -ly you have come across in this unit. Write down their corresponding verb and adjective forms in the space provided.
▆ Answers: Nouns with –Verbs Adverbs with -Adjectives ion/ation ly anticipate concise anticipation concisely associate deliberate association deliberately contribute effective contribution effectively edit equal edition equally expect immediate expectation immediately frustrate presumable frustration presumably 3