1 Unit Lessons for life Opener 1

Vocabulary notes
1  In this context, vibrant means ‘lively and exciting, full of 
ideas and creativity’.
5 Succinctly and the adjective succinct 
/səkˈsɪŋkt/ are used 
to say that something is short, precise and to the point.
6 To coin a word/term/expression means to invent it.
4
• Ask students to look at the expressions in italics in
paragraph 4 of the reading text. Tell them to use those
expressions to replace the words in bold in sentences
1–8. Let students compare their answers in pairs before
discussing as a class. Encourage students to work out
meanings from the context.
ANSWERS
1 has seen better days
2 the world is my oyster
3 a wild goose chase
4 neither here nor there
5 a foregone conclusion
6 love is blind
7 break the ice
8 come full circle
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1c 
Immortal words
Unit 1 Lessons for life
9
• Ask students to work in pairs to look at the expressions
with life in bold. Encourage them to use the context
of the sentence to work out the meaning of each
expression. Let students compare their answers in pairs
before checking with the class.
ANSWERS
1 it always happens to me
2 a reality or something we must accept
3 every kind of social background
4 having a great time
5 something that got me out of a difficult situation or 
that I couldn’t have managed without or something 
that helped me greatly in that situation
10
• Ask students to work in groups of three or four. Each
student thinks of a personal example for two of the
expressions in Exercises 8 and 9 and then shares them
with the group.
EXAMPLE ANSWERS
Not performing well in exams has been the story of my life!
High prices are a fact of life.
At the international college there are people from all 
walks of life.
I went on a round-the-world trip last year – I had the time 
of my life!
My dad lent me £100 so I could get home – that was a 
life-saver.
Extra activity
Organize the class into pairs. Ask students to find five 
other common uses of life in a learner’s dictionary and to 
write personalized sentences showing their meaning. Ask 
pairs to share sentences with another pair. 
Possibilities: get a life = don’t be boring; life’s too short = 
don’t waste time doing uninteresting things; true to life = 
realistic; bring to life = to make interesting or real