Vocabulary
The vocabulary below is meant to help you with the more difficult words. If the word isn’t on the list then you are either supposed to know it or it is too specific to be worth learning and you don’t have to know it to answer the question. Symbols in brackets mean part of speech (see bottom of the list). Sentences in italics give examples of usage for some more complex words and phrases.
And remember — you are not given a vocabulary list (or a dictionary) at your real exam.
Part 1
Man-made (adj) – created by humans (artificially) rather than by nature (naturally). Some scientists doubt that the Pyramids of Egypt are man-made.
Crew (n) – people who operate a complex machine such as a plane, a ship or, in this case, a space vehicle.
Tidy up (phr v) – to make something cleaner by removing unnecessary items.
Part 2
Evidence (n) – proof, supporting information. Evidence suggests that dolphins are the most intelligent animals found on our planet.
Flavour (n) – a particular taste added to food, usually done by chemicals. Note that while the word ‘taste’ is the natural way the food feels like, ‘flavour’ is artificial.
Regard (v) – to have an opinion about something, to know as having some quality. Students of Harvard are regarded as one of the most knowledgeable when it comes to liberal arts.
Part 3
Mental note – something that you force, or tell yourself, to remember without actually writing it down. I was making a mental note of the names of all the places we were visiting during our trip to Japan.
Forehead – the part of one’s face between the eyebrows and the beginning of hairline.
Part 4
Postpone (v) – to move something like an event or a meeting to a later date, to reschedule.
Intention (n) – a plan or an idea, something that you are going to do in the future.
Part 5
Sigh (n) – the act of letting air out through your mouth or nose when you feel upset or relieved. I could swear I could almost feel a sigh of relief from her as soon as she heard the good news.
Mull over (phr v) – to think about carefully before deciding what to do next.
Offspring (n) – a formal word meaning children. Can also be used to refer to animals.
Tantrum (n) – when a child loses their temper and protests in a noisy when, they are said to throw a tantrum. Same could be used to talk about an adult, not literary but as a form of criticism.
Rise to the bait – to let yourself be provoked by something intended as a provocation. The politician didn’t let himself rise to the bait of groundless accusations by the opposing party members.
Begrudge (v) – not to begrudge somebody something is to try and not say that somebody did something unfairly or didn’t deserve it. Note that this is mostly used with ‘not’. I never begrudge my dad his academic success, as he has dedicated his entire career to get where he is now.
Hold somebody back (phr v) – to prevent somebody from doing or achieving something.
Choke (v) – to have food stuck in your throat that prevents you from breathing. Here it is used figuratively to show shock or unpreparedness for something the author has just heard.
Gulp down (phr) – to swallow liquid or medicine with visible effort.
Petulant (adj) – (usually about children) upset or unhappy about something.
Part 6
Hemispherical (adj) – in the shape of half a sphere, like an orange sliced in half.
Enshrine (v) – to protect something valuable.
Extinction (n) – the situation when a species no longer exists because of being hunted or due to natural causes such as climate change. The reason for dodo extinction is that it had no natural predators and therefore was not afraid of humans, who took advantage of the situation to hunt the bird down.
Vast (adj) – extremely big. This politician’s influence in the region is vast.
Environmentalist (n) – a person who actively protects the environment by various means or advocates for the importance of such actions.
Shrink (v) – to reduce in size suddenly and considerably, like a balloon when all air escapes it.
Part 7
Fee (n) – a sum of money that you pay either for a service or for the right to access some place. The entrance fee is $5 during the week and $7 on the weekend.
Shallow (adj) – the opposite of deep. Shallow beaches of this region are very popular with kids of all ages.
Stunning (adj) – so amazing or impressive that it blows your mind; extremely beautiful.
Charge (n) – a synonym to fee in this context, it is an amount of money you have to pay to access some location, in this case the beach.
Patches (n) – small, isolated areas of something, usually some surface. The lawn was pretty far from perfect with patches of naked dirt here and there.
Click to download this FCE Reading and Use of English worksheet in PDF