Cambridge Advanced English

Exam preparation

Chapter one | Vocabulary

aberration

(n.) something that differs from

the norm (In 1974, Poland won

the World Cup, but the success

turned out to be
an aberration, and Poland have
not won a World Cup since).
abhor
(v.) to hate, detest (Because he
always wound up getting hit in
the head when he tried to play
cricket, Marcin began
to abhor the sport).
acquiesce
(v.) to agree without protesting
(Though Mr. Pospieszny wanted
to stay outside and work in his
garage, when his wife told him
that he had better come in to
dinner, he acquiesced to her
demands.)
alacrity
(n.) eagerness, speed (For some
reason, Simon loved to help his
girlfriend whenever he could, so
when his girlfriend asked him to
set the table he did so
with alacrity.)
amiable
(adj.) friendly
(An amiable fellow, Neil got
along with just about everyone.)
appease
(v.) to calm, satisfy (When Jerry
cries, his mother gives him
chocolate to appease him.)
arcane
(adj.) obscure, secret, known
only by a few (The professor is
an expert in arcane Kashubian
literature.)
avarice
(n.) excessive greed (The
bankers avarice led him to
amass an enormous personal
fortune.)
brazen
(adj.) excessively bold, brash,
clear and obvious (Critics
condemned the writers
brazen attempt to plagiarise
Frankow-Czerwonkos work.)
brusque
(adj.) short, abrupt, dismissive
(Simons brusque manner
sometimes offends his
colleagues.)

cajole
(v.) to urge, coax (Magda's
friends cajoled her into drinking
too much.)
callous
(adj.) harsh, cold, unfeeling (The
murderers callous lack of
remorse shocked the jury.)
candour
(n.) honesty, frankness (We were
surprised by the candour of the
politicians speech because she
is usually rather evasive.)
chide
(v.) to voice disapproval
(Hania chided Gregory for his
vulgar habits and sloppy
appearance.)
circumspect
(adj.) cautious (Though I
promised Martas father I would
bring her home promptly by
midnight, it would have been
more circumspect not to have
specified a time.)
clandestine
(adj.) secret (Announcing to her
boyfriend that she was going to
the library, Maria actually went
to meet George for
a clandestine liaison.)
coerce
(v.) to make somebody do
something by force or threat
(The court decided that David
Beckham did not have to honour
the contract because he had
been coerced into signing it.)
coherent
(adj.) logically consistent,
intelligible (William could not
figure out what Harold had seen
because he was too distraught
to deliver
a coherent statement.)
complacency
(n.) self-satisfied ignorance of
danger (Simon tried to shock his
friends out of their
complacency by painting a
frightening picture of what
might happen to them.)

confidant
(n.) a person entrusted with
secrets (Shortly after we met, he
became my chief confidant.)
connive
(v.) to plot, scheme
(She connived to get me to give
up my plans to start up a new
business.)
cumulative
(adj.) increasing, building upon
itself (The cumulative effect of
hours spent using the World
English website was a vast
improvement in his vocabulary
and general level of English.)
debase
(v.) to lower the quality or
esteem of something (The large
raise that he gave
himself debased his motives for
running the charity.)
decry
(v.) to criticize openly (Andrzej
Lepper, the leader of the Polish
Self Defence party decried the
appalling state of Polish roads.)
deferential
(adj.) showing respect for
anothers authority (Donata is
always excessively deferential to
any kind of authority figure.)
demure
(adj.) quiet, modest, reserved
(Though everyone else at the
party was dancing and going
crazy, she remained demure.)
deride
(v.) to laugh at mockingly, scorn
(The native speaker
often derided the other
teachers accent.)
despot
(n.) one who has total power
and rules brutally
(The despot issued a death
sentence for anyone who
disobeyed his laws.)
diligent
(adj.) showing care in doing
ones work
(The diligent researcher made

sure to double check her

measurements.)
elated
(adj.) overjoyed, thrilled (When
he found out he had won the
lottery, the postman
was elated.)
eloquent
(adj.) expressive, articulate,
moving (The best man gave
such an eloquent speech that
most guests were crying.)

embezzle
(v.) to steal money by falsifying
records (The accountant was
fired for embezzling10,000 of
the companys funds.)
empathy
(n.) sensitivity to anothers
feelings as if they were ones
own (I feel such empathy for my
dog when shes upset so am I!)
enmity
(n.) ill will, hatred, hostility (John
and Scott have clearly not
forgiven each other, because
the enmity between them is
obvious to anyone in their
presence.)
erudite
(adj.) learned (My English
teacher is such
an erudite scholar that he has
translated some of the most
difficult and abstruse Old English
poetry.)
extol
(v.) to praise, revere
(Kamila extolled the virtues of a
vegetarian diet to her meatloving boyfriend.)
fabricate
(v.) to make up, invent (When I
arrived an hour late to class,
I fabricated some excuse about
my car breaking down on the
way to work.)
feral
(adj.) wild, savage (That beast
looks so feral that I would fear
being alone with it.)

flabbergasted
(adj.) astounded (Whenever I
read an Agatha Christie mystery
novel, I am always
flabbergasted when I learn the
identity of the murderer.)
forsake
(v.) to give up, renounce (I
won't forsake my conservative
principles.)
fractious
(adj.) troublesome or irritable
(Although the child insisted he
wasnt tired, his
fractious behaviour - especially
his decision to crush his jam
sandwiches all over the floor convinced everyone present
that it was time to put him to
bed.)

furtive
(adj.) secretive, sly (Claudias
placement of her drugs in her
sock drawer was not as
furtive as she thought, as the
sock drawer is the first place
most parents look.)
gluttony
(n.) overindulgence in food or
drink (Helens fried chicken
tastes so divine, I dont know
how anyone can call gluttony a
sin.)
gratuitous
(adj.) uncalled for, unwarranted
(Every evening the guy at the
fish and chip shop gives me
a gratuitous helping of vinegar.)
haughty
(adj.) disdainfully proud (The
superstars haughty dismissal of
her co-stars will backfire on her
someday.)
hypocrisy
(n.) pretending to believe what
one does not (Once the
politician began passing
legislation that contradicted his
campaign promises,
his hypocrisy became apparent.)

impeccable
(adj.) exemplary, flawless (If
your grades were
as impeccable as your brothers,
then you too would receive a car
for a graduation present.)
impertinent
(adj.) rude, insolent (Most of
your comments are
so impertinent that I dont wish
to dignify them with an answer.)
implacable
(adj.) incapable of being
appeased or mitigated (Watch
out: once you shun
Grandmothers cooking, she is
totally implacable.)
impudent
(adj.) casually rude, insolent,
impertinent
(The impudent young woman
looked her teacher up and down
and told him he was hot.)
incisive
(adj.) clear, sharp, direct (The
discussion wasnt going
anywhere until her incisive
comment allowed everyone to
see what the true issues were.)

indolent
(adj.) lazy (Why should
my indolent children, who cant
even pick themselves up off the
sofa to pour their own juice, be
rewarded with a trip to Burger
King?)
inept
(adj.) not suitable or capable,
unqualified (She proved
how inept she was when she
forgot two orders and spilled a
pint of cider in a customers
lap.)
infamy
(n.) notoriety, extreme ill repute
(The infamy of his crime will not
lessen as time passes.)
inhibit
(v.) to prevent, restrain, stop
(When I told you I needed the
car last night, I certainly never

meant to inhibit you from going

out.)
innate
(adj.) inborn, native, inherent
(His incredible athletic talent
is innate, he never trains, lifts
weights, or practices.)
insatiable
(adj.) incapable of being
satisfied (My insatiable appetite
for blondes was a real problem
on my recent holiday in Japan!)
insular
(adj.) separated and narrowminded; tight-knit, closed off
(Because of the sensitive nature
of their jobs, those who work for
MI5 must remain insular and
generally only spend time with
each other.)
intrepid
(adj.) brave in the face of
danger (After scaling a live
volcano prior to its eruption, the
explorer was praised for
his intrepid attitude.)
inveterate
(adj.) stubbornly established by
habit (Im the first to admit that
Im an inveterate cider drinker
I drink four pints a day.)
jubilant
(adj.) extremely joyful, happy
(The crowd was jubilant when
the firefighter carried the
woman from the flaming
building.)

knell
(n.) the solemn sound of a bell,
often indicating a death
(Echoing throughout our village,
the funeral knell made the grey
day even more grim.)
lithe
(adj.) graceful, flexible, supple
(Although the dancers were all
outstanding, Joannas control of
her lithe body was particularly
impressive.)
lurid

(adj.) ghastly, sensational

(Barrys story, in which he
described a character torturing
his neighbour's tortoise, was
judged too lurid to be published
on the English Library's
website.)
maverick
(n.) an independent,
nonconformist person (John is a
real maverick and always does
things his own way.)
maxim
(n.) a common saying
expressing a principle of
conduct (Ms. Stones etiquette
maxims are both entertaining
and instructional.)
meticulous
(adj.) extremely careful with
details (The ornate needlework
in the brides gown was a
product
of meticulous handiwork.)
modicum
(n.) a small amount of
something (Refusing to display
even a modicum of sensitivity,
Magda announced her bosss
affair to the entire office.)
morose
(adj.) gloomy or sullen
(Davids morose nature made
him very unpleasant to talk to.)
myriad
(adj.) consisting of a very great
number (It was difficult to
decide what to do on Saturday
night because the city presented
us with myriad possibilities for
fun.)
nadir
(n.) the lowest point of
something (My day was boring,
but the nadir came when my
new car was stolen.)

nominal
(adj.) trifling, insignificant
(Because he was moving the
following week and needed to

get rid of his furniture more than

he needed money, Kim sold
everything for a nominal price.)
novice
(n.) a beginner, someone
without training or experience
(Because we were all novices at
archery, our instructor decided
to begin with the basics
nuance
(n.) a slight variation in
meaning, tone, expression
(The nuances of the poem were
not obvious to the casual reader,
but the teacher was able to
point them out.)
oblivious
(adj.) lacking consciousness or
awareness of something
(Oblivious to the burning smell
emanating from the kitchen, my
father did not notice that the
rolls in the oven were burned
until much too late.)
obsequious
(adj.) excessively compliant or
submissive (Donald acted like
Susans servant, obeying her
every request in
an obsequious manner.)
obtuse
(adj.) lacking quickness of
sensibility or intellect (Political
opponents warned that the
prime
ministers obtuse approach to
foreign policy would embroil the
nation in mindless war.)
panacea
(n.) a remedy for all ills or
difficulties (Doctors wish there
was a single panacea for every
disease, but sadly there is not.)
parody
(n.) a satirical imitation (A hush
fell over the classroom when the
teacher returned to find
Magdalena acting out
a parody of his teaching style.)
penchant
(n.) a tendency, partiality,
preference (Fionas dinner
parties quickly became

monotonous on account of
her penchant for Indian dishes.)
perusal
(n.) a careful examination,
review (The actor agreed to
accept the role after a threemonth perusal of the movie
script.)
plethora
(n.) an abundance, excess (The
wedding banquet included
a plethora of oysters piled
almost three feet high.)
predilection
(n.) a preference or inclination
for something (James has
a predilection for eating toad in
the whole with tomato ketchup.)
quaint
(adj.) charmingly old-fashioned
(Mary was delighted by
the quaint bonnets she saw in
Romania.)
rash
(adj.) hasty, incautious (Its best
to think things over calmly and
thoroughly, rather than
make rash decisions.)
refurbish
(v.) to restore, clean up (After
being refurbished the old
Triumph motorcycle commanded
the handsome price of $6000.)
repudiate
(v.) to reject, refuse to accept
(Tom made a strong case for an
extension of his curfew, but his
mother repudiated it with a few
biting words.)
rife
(adj.) abundant (Surprisingly,
the teachers writing
was rife with spelling errors.)
salient
(adj.) significant, conspicuous
(One of the salient differences
between Alison and Helen is that
Alison is a couple of kilos
heavier.)
serendipity
(n.) luck, finding good things
without looking for them (In an
amazing bit of serendipity,

penniless Mark found a $50 bill

on the back seat of the bus.)
staid
(adj.) sedate, serious, selfrestrained (The staid butler
never changed his expression no
matter what happened.)
superfluous
(adj.) exceeding what is
necessary (Samantha had
already won the campaign so
her constant flattery of others
was superfluous.)
sycophant
(n.) one who flatters for self-gain
(Some see the people in the
cabinet as the Prime Ministers
closest advisors, but others see
them as sycophants.)
taciturn
(adj.) not inclined to talk
(Though Magda never seems to
stop talking, her brother is
quite taciturn.)
truculent
(adj.) ready to fight, cruel (This
club doesnt really attract the
dangerous types, so why was
that bouncer being
so truculent?)
umbrage
(n.) resentment, offence (He
called me a lily-livered coward,
and I took umbrage at the
insult.)
venerable

(adj.) deserving of respect

because of age or achievement
(The venerable High Court judge
had made several key rulings in
landmark cases throughout the
years.)
vex
(v.) to confuse or annoy (My
boyfriend vexes me by pinching
my bottom for hours on end.)
vociferous
(adj.) loud, boisterous (Im tired
of his vociferous whining so Im
breaking up with him.)
wanton
(adj.) undisciplined, lewd, lustful
(Joannas wanton demeanour
often made the frat guys next
door very excited.)
zenith
(n.) the highest point,
culminating point (I was too nice
to tell Emily that she had
reached the absolute zenith of
her career with that one top 10
hit of hers.)

Chapter two | Writing

Types of document
Essay

Purpose: To persuade or convince the reader.

Style: formal.
Ideas: Be clear and try to convince the reader that your opinion is the right
one, make sure to divide your work into paragraphs.

Letter

Purpose: to persuade or inform the reader.

Reader:
Informal = mostly a friend or an acquaintance.
Formal = someone you do not know personally.
Style: informal/formal.

Article & review

Purpose: to interest and engage the reader.
Style: include comments and opinions, may be relatively informal.
Ideas: you may include some anecdotes, opinions, descriptions, statistics,
suggestions and in some cases humour.

Reports & proposals

Purpose: written to a boss, teacher, club members, colleagues or students.
Style: formal, make sure to use headings. You may use bullets
Ideas: recommendations, statistics, information to backup claims and
possible consequences of inaction for proposals.

Examples
Essay: which facilities are needed most in your area?
Undoubtedly, both a sport centre and a car park would be of substantial
importance to our area. They would both contribute immensely to
respectively the health of the residents and alleviating the situation with
parking. But the question is which one is needed more.
To begin with, a sport centre would make happy the youngsters in our
neighbourhood. They are the ones who are mainly attracted to such
places. However, it would be of use not only to them. The new facilities
could bring about improving the health of children and adults, as well, and
keeping them fit and in good shape. Also, elderly people could benefit from
a sport centre by joining clubs and activities appropriate for their age.
On the other hand, a car park is badly needed by people doing their
shopping in the area, especially at the market place. It is true they are
having a problem finding a lot to park near it. The situation is particularly
unpleasant at weekends when all the nearby streets are crammed with
parked cars. This causes considerable inconvenience to the local people.

In conclusion, if we compare the pluses for our community from both

facilities, the advantages of a sport centre would outweigh, in my opinion,
those of a car park. Although the latter is a necessity to be dealt with in
the near future, the former is indeed needed more at the moment. The
health of the community should be number one priority of the local
authorities.

Informal letter: writing a letter to a friend giving him advice

on how to spend money
Dear Sam,
Im so happy that Im finally hearing from you. Its so nice to understand
that youve managed to save some money I envy you. But I also realise
how confused you must feel in front of this dilemma.
Firstly, Im not sure that spending the money on an expensive holiday is
the best decision you can make. Of course, everybody needs to have a
rest; so do you. I know pretty well that you had a busy year at school and
you were under stress. It will be great if you can relax from all this.
On the other hand, personally, I think its not better to put the money aside
to buy a car. Isnt there a good bus or train service where you live? If you
have a car at college, your friends will take advantage of you while you will
be giving them lifts.
In my opinion, its a good idea to spend part of the money on a cheap
holiday, for example, somewhere in the countryside, and to put the other
part aside for a used car. I dont think that youll need a flashy new car as
you wont be driving long distances.
Ill be happy if my suggestions appeal to you. Write to me and let me know
what you have decided to do.
Best wishes,
Sara

Report: exchange programme, staying in Italy

Introduction
The aims of this report are to provide an overview of my participation in
the exchange programme Italy and my exchange partners previous stay
in my home country.
About my visit
Everything was perfectly organized. I stayed at the place of Jean Luca, who
was in charge of the exchange program. I was invited to take part in a lot
of events, which were held especially for the occasion for example, fancy
dress parties and cocktail parties. I was given the change to visit a lot of
interesting historic spots and do some sightseeing all around Italy. The
programme involved a few theatre visits to plays, I had never seen.
The comparison
Both visits (to my home country and Italy) have their advantages and

drawbacks. I tried to mark off the main ones and here they are.
1. More social events were offered in Italy. That is why their part of the
programme was better developed than in my country.
2. On the other hand, all the points included in the exchange plan didnt
have the intention to make me acquainted with the local culture, which can
be regarded as a big disadvantage.
3. I wasnt given the change to socialise with new people as the
programme was intense. Taking this fact into consideration, we should
reckon that the pauses between events we contemplated were actually a
great idea.
Conclusion
To recapitulate, I will draw attention to the fact that the exchange
programme I participated in was very beneficial and expanded my
knowledge about the county and the local traditions and customs.

Proposal: organisation of the 20th anniversary of a company

The aim of this proposal is to provide suitable recommendations
concerning the organisation of the 20th anniversary of our company. We
were asked to write it, so we undertook research through a survey.
Additional Information
As the company will celebrate its anniversary next year, we reckon that the
event we plan should be impressive in order never to be forgotten.
Therefore, our final suggestion is to organise a luxurious cocktail party
combined with a fancy dress party. Thus the event will appeal to
everybodys taste no matter whether the guests prefer formal and smart
or casual and spontaneous social evenings. Furthermore, every single
detail of the organisation should be carefully scrutinised if we dont want to
create a negative impression.
Suggestions
The ideal event we could arrange should have three main features.

1. We should make sure that everybody, who is in charge of the

company or of great importance to it, has been invited. That way we
will avoid eventual troubles that may appear afterwards.
2. Special dress code should be required for example, all the guests
will be asked beforehand to wear costumes only in black and white.
Thus, the event will attract everybodys attention.
3. Representatives of the media should be invited to participate. This
way we could raise public awareness of the event.
Conclusion
A 20th anniversary is a day that should remain memorable for everybody.
If you take my suggestions into consideration, I assure you that this party
could set its mark on the companys history.