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TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Welcome to the fourth installment of the TOEIC vocabulary practice.
Please feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Part 1

Story

Frank was searching on-line for some affordable places to live in Osaka. Last week he was told that he was being transferred to the Osaka branch.

Vocabulary

Affordable (adjective); inexpensive; reasonably priced.

Examples

  1. That is an affordable ticket to Bangkok I think I’ll go.
  2. Toronto is looking at building some affordable housing next year.
  3. Q. Have you ever found affordable hotels in Kyoto?

Transfer (verb); a person who transfers or is transferred from one school, post, position, etc. to another.

Examples

  1.  I was transferred to the Tokyo branch a few years ago.
  2.  I think we have a few transfers coming in from Sapporo this April.
  3. Q. Have you ever been transferred overseas for work?

Nik

Reddit: My favorite website

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Hey everyone, I wanted to share my favorite website with you. It’s called reddit. It’s a website where people cast make posts about any kind of subject in different subcategories which they call “subreddits.” Reddit is basically a big internet content feed.

The most common subreddits are for things like videos, news, music, and cute animals. But there are also tons of subreddits for very specific interests, like specific bands, TV shows, languages, health advice, objects that look like people, and thousands of others.

One of my favorite subreddits is called “mildlyinteresting.” It’s a subreddit where people post pictures of things that they found mildly interesting. Not boring, and not too interesting, just mildly interesting. Here is a link to some of the best posts on /r/mildly interesting: https://www.reddit.com/r/mildlyinteresting/top/?sort=top&t=all

As with all reddit posts, it’s important to understand the title before clicking the link, so make sure you read it if you check this out!

Seth

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Part 10

Story

Samantha unlocked the door to the shop as Kathy counted the cash for the register.

The neighborhood was starting to become active and it looked as though it would be a nice day.

The End

Vocabulary

Cash (noun) ; money in coins or notes/bills.

Examples

  1. I need to get some cash from the ATM.
  2. I wonder how much cash I should bring to Rome.
  3. Q. How much cash is in the register?

Neighborhood (noun); a district or community within a town or city.

Examples

  1. My neighborhood is a very quiet place.
  2. There are a lot of small summer festivals in neighborhoods’ around Japan.
  3. Q. Have you even had a neighborhood garage sale?

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Part 9

Story

Kathy met Samantha at a seminar on how to start a small business. They sat next to each other filling out a questionnaire. While they were filling out the papers they started talking about the seminar and found out that they were both interested in starting a dessert shop.

Vocabulary

Seminar (noun); a conference or other meeting for discussion or training.

Examples

  1. The seminar on ‘how to best market your company’ was very useful.
  2. I want to go to a seminar in January about how to best protect yourself from hackers.
  3. Q. Have you ever seen one of seminars on TED talks? They are very informative and interesting.

Questionnaire (noun); a set of printed or written questions with a choice of answers, devised for the purposes of a survey or statistical study.

Examples

  1.  Please fill out the questionnaire on about your daily habits.
  2.  I filled out a questionnaire on finances and I learned a lot from the results.
  3.  Q. Have you completed the questionnaire about environment issues? It’s kind of hard.

Nik

ためになる英語93

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今回のためになる英語は、It’s  surprising ～（～の部分はhow ＋形容詞＋主語＋動詞になります。）　“～（Surprising以下）には驚く。”という意味になります。

 

A: Hey, Tom, how are you? How’s Paul and Chris ?

（やぁトム、元気？ポールとクリスはどうしてる？）

B: Hi, I’m good and they are turning 12 this month. It’s surprising how fast kids grow up.

（元気だよ。彼らも今月で12才になるんだよ。子供の成長の早さには驚くよ。）

A: That’s true. How’s their school going?

（本当だよな。学校の方はどう？）

A: It’s good. It’s surprising  how easy kids can remember new things.

（順調だよ。子供たちが簡単に新しいことを習得するのには驚くよ。）

 

下記の例も音読してみてくださいね。It’s ～の～部分を変えて、Surprising 以外でも同じように使えますので、応用してみてください。

 

It’s surprising how fast the weather changes in Guam.

（グアムの天気が変わる速さには驚くよ。）

It’s amazing  how fast houses are built in Japan.

（日本の家が建つ早さには驚くよ。）

It’s annoying how slow this computer works.

（このコンピューターの遅さにはイライラしちゃう。）

 

Yuki
Jabble 英会話スクール新橋校
(c)2017 Jabble Inc.

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Part 8

Story

After returning from her trip Kathy successfully applied for and entered The Le Cordon Bleu Pâtisserie and Baking Program to become certified. She studied for almost two years in Seattle, Washington.

Vocabulary

Apply (verb); make a formal application or request.

Examples

  1. I applied for that banking job at SMBC. I hope I get it.
  2. I need to apply to the Universities this weekend.
  3. Q. Have you applied for that research position yet?

Certified (adjective); officially recognize as possessing certain qualifications or meeting certain standards.

Examples

  1. I’m a certified barista.
  2. You need to be certified to teach English overseas.
  3. Q. Are you certified to use that machinery?

Nik

Golden week in Kansai

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I spent 4 days travelling around Kansai in Golden week.

I went to one of my favorite places to take pictures: Fushimi Inari.

I love all the red gates (torii)  lined up the path. There are so many they just keep going.

Near the entrance of the area they always cook sparrow (Suzume 雀 ) on a barbecue. It’s interesting but I don’t think I’ll try it. Anyhow, it was a great trip.

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Part 7

Story

Kathy had wanted to start her own dessert shop ever since she visited one in Paris a few years ago. Since that trip she’s been practicing making all kinds of desserts. She’s tried making everything from Italian Tiramisu to Guava ice cream from South Africa. Now, she’s very confident in her ability to make great desserts.

Vocabulary

Practice (verb); the customary, habitual, or expected procedure or way of doing of something.

Examples

  1. I practice the piano every day.
  2. I really need to practice my English pronunciation.
  3. Q. Have you been practicing parking? Your driver’s test is coming up.

Confident (adjective); feeling or showing certainty about something.

Examples

  1. I’m not so confident in my public speaking abilities.
  2. I’m confident the party will go well.
  3. Q. Are you confident that the experiment will work?

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Part 6

Story

Kathy and Samantha have been talking about expanding their chocolate cake selection for some time now.

They were looking for a part timer to help out around the store. They were also hoping to find someone with some knowledge of cake baking that could contribute by adding to their dessert line up.

Vocabulary

Expand (verb); become or make larger or more extensive.

Examples

  1. We are hoping to expand our stores into Asia by next year.
  2. That shopping mall is expanding and adding apartments.
  3. Did you know that a lot of English Premiership football clubs are expanding their stadiums?

Contribute (verb); give (something, especially money) in order to help achieve or provide something.

Examples

  1. I want to help contribute something to the project.
  2. Let’s all contribute ten dollars to the bosses gift.
  3. Did you contribute to the design of the web page yet?

Nik

TOEIC Vocabulary practice

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Part 5

Story

As Kathy finished up on the phone her associate Samantha walked into the shop.

“Morning Kathy! How’s everything? I hope you don’t mind but I took the initiative and scheduled the interview with that new girl for tomorrow.”

“Morning Sam. Yeah everything is good. Okay that’s great. What time is she going to come by?”

“I told her to come here at 2 pm. I hope she’s good. Her knowledge of baking seems good and her recommendations are of the highest quality.”

Vocabulary

Initiative (noun); the ability to start things on your own.

  1. I took the initiative and ordered next week’s supplies.
  2. Please take the initiative and get the project started.
  3. Q. Are you good at taking initiative when things need to be done?

Quality (noun); the standard of something as measured against other things of a similar kind.

  1. That Whiskey is of the highest quality.
  2. Honesty is a desirable quality.
  3. Q. Do you think Louis Vuitton bags are good quality?

Nik