Vocabulary

1. childcare, n. the care of children, esp. when parents are at work,

e.g. childcare facilities for working parents

childcarer, n

childminder, n. (BrE) a person, usu. a woman, who is paid to care for

children while their parents are at work. A childminder usu. does this in his

or her own home.

Cf: babysitter, n. (esp. AmE also sitter) a person who takes care of babies

or children while their parents are away from home and is usu. paid to do

this.

e.g. I can’t find a babysitter for tonight.

2. climb the ladder make progress in a career or an organization,

e.g. to move up/climb the social ladder, the career ladder

3. cram (in) (smth) into/onto smth, v. to push or force smb/smth into a small space;

move into a small space with the result that is full.

e.g. I could never cram in what she does in a day. We all crammed into his car. Three

meetings crammed into one morning.

4. environment, n. 1. the conditions that affect the behaviour and development of

smb/smth; the physical conditions that smb/smth exists in,

e.g. a pleasant working/learning environment. An unhappy home environment can

affect a child’s behaviour.

2. (the) the natural world in which people, animals and plants live.

e.g. pollution of the environment

environmental, adj. e.g. environmental issue/group

environmentalist, n. environmentalism, n.

environmentally, adv.

5. focus (on smth) v. 1. to give attention, effort, etc. to one particular subject,

situation, or person rather than another,

e.g. The discussion focused on three main problems. The visit helped focus world

attention on the plight of the refugees.

2. (of eyes, a camera, etc.) to adapt or be adjusted so that things

can be seen clearly.

e.g. In this scene, the camera focuses on the actor’s face. He focused his eyes on her.

focused, adj. with your attention directed to what you want to do; with very

clear aims

unfocused, adj. 1. (esp. of eyes) not looking at a particular thing or person; not

having been focused.

2. (of plans, work, etc.) not having a clear aim or purpose; not

well organized or clear, e.g. unfocused questions

6. formidable, adj. 1. very great and frightening; causing anxiety, fearful respect, etc.,

e.g. His mother is a formidable lady.

2. difficult to defeat or deal with; needing much effort to succeed

against,

e.g. a formidable enemy. The examination paper contained several formidable

questions

formidably, adj.

7. further, v. to help (smth) advance or succeed,

e.g. This success should further your chances of promotion.

furtherance, n. (of) (fml) development; continuation,

e.g. In furtherance of their aim of improving the school, they are building a new set of

science classrooms.

8. high-flying, adj. 1. very successful,

e.g. a high-flying career woman.

2. that flies very high in the air

high-flyer,-flier, n. a person who has the desire and ability to be very

successful in their job or their studies,

e.g. academic high-flyers

9. lead, n. 1. a guiding suggestion or example,

e.g. I’ll follow your lead. We’re waiting for the conductor to give us a lead.

2. (the) the position ahead of all others,

e.g. The English team was in the lead (= winning the game). Japan has taken the lead

in car production (= is producing more than others). It’s up to someone to take

the lead in condemning these injustices (= to do so first, and set a good

example to smb.)

lead, adj. being most important or a leader,

e.g. a lead part in a play, a lead singer in a pop group

10. live up (to), v. to keep to the high standards of,

e.g. Did the film live up to your expectations? (=was it as good as you expected?) Do

you always live up to your principles?

11. long-term, adj, n. (concerning) a long period of time; (for or in) the distant future,

e.g. a long-term plan, the long-term effects of the new drug. In the long term we aim

to train hundreds of medical workers.

Opp: short-term, adj. lasting a short time; designed only for a short period of

time in the future.

12. make it 1. to be successful in your career,

e.g. He never really made it as an actor.

2. to succeed in reaching a place in time, esp. when this is difficult.

3. to be able to be present at a place.

4. to survive after a serious accident or illness; to deal successfully with a

difficult experience,

e.g. The doctors think he’s going to make it.

13. parity, n (with) the state or quality of being equal, e.g. in level, position, amount,

etc,

e.g. We have achieved parity with our competitors.

Opp: disparity, n (fml) (between)

14. promote, v 1. (to) to give smb a higher position or rank,

e.g. The young officer was promoted to captain.

Opp: demote 2. to help actively in forming or arranging (a business, concert, play,

etc. ),

e.g. to promote a boxing match/a bill in Parliament.

3. to bring (goods) to public notice in order to encourage people to

buy,

e.g. a big advertising campaign to promote our new toothpaste.

4. (fml) to help in the growth or development of,

e.g. Milk promotes health. New efforts to promote world peace.

promoter, n. a person whose job is to promote events, activities, goods, etc.

promotion, n 1. (an) advancement in rank or position,

e.g. There are good chances of promotion in this firm.

2. (an) activity intended to help the development or success of

smth, esp. of a product for sale,

e.g. a video promotion of a pop group.

3. a product that is being promoted,

e.g. our latest promotions.

promotional, adj

15. put in, v to do (work) or spend (time) esp. for a purpose,

e.g. She put in an hour’s work on her project.

16. revert (to), v 1. to go back to (a former, usu. undesirable condition or habit),

e.g. He’s stopped taking drugs now, but he may revert to taking them again;

2. go back to (a former subject of conversation),

e.g. I’d like to revert to our earlier point about our export trade.

reversion, n (to) (fml) a return to a former (usu. undesirable) condition or habit, e.g. the danger of a reversion to anarchy in the region.

17. split, v 1. to (cause to) divide along a length, esp. with force or by a blow or tear.

2. (up, into) to divide into separate parts,

e.g. to split up the article into several sections.

3. (between) to divide among people; share,

e.g. Let’s split the cost three ways/between the three of us.

4. (up, into) to separate into opposing groups or parties,

e.g. Now, children, you must split up into two groups for this game. The government

is deeply split up on this issue.

5. (up, with) to end a friendship, marriage, etc.

e.g. Have you heard that John and Ann split up?

split, n 1. (in) a cut or break made by splitting.

2. (in) a division or separation, esp. within a usually undivided group,

e.g. Arguments over policy led to a split in the party.

3. a division and sharing out, e.g. a three-way split (= between 3

people)

splitting, adj (of a headache) very severe.

18. swap, v (also swop) (round, over, for, with) (infml) to exchange (goods or

position), usu. so that each person gets what they want,

e.g. I swapped coats with her. Shall we swap round/over places? I swapped three of

my stamps for three of hers.

swap, n (infml) 1. an exchange,

e.g. Let’s do a swap.

2. a thing that has been or may be exchanged.

19. undervalue, v to have too low an opinion of the value or importance of,

e.g. She felt that the company undervalued her/her work.

Remember the pattern: under-+V=>V in which under- means “insufficiently,

ncompletely”: undercooked, underdeveloped, underfeed, underpay, underuse,

etc.

Syn.: underrate, v, underestimate, v

Opp.: overrate, v have too high an opinion of

overestimate, v e.g. I think you’re overestimating his abilities.

NOTES

1. boardroom, n a room in which the meetings of the board of a company (= the

group of people who control it) are held

2. executive, n 1. a person who has an important job as a manager of a company or

an organization,

e.g. advertising/business/sale, etc. executives; a chief/senior/top executive in a

computer firm.

2. a group of people who run a company or an organization,

e.g. The union executive has/have get to reach a decision.

3. CEO (abbr) chief executive officer (the person with the highest rank in a business

company)

4. househusband, n a man who stays at home to cook, clean, take care of the

children, etc. while his wife or partner goes out to work

Cf.: housewife, n

Syn.: Mr. Mom (derog AmE)

5. management, n the people who run and control a business or similar organization, e.g. junior/middle/senior management; a management decision/job