Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 TOP 30 USEFUL IDIOMS AND EXERCISES Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 chuyên Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Contents PART ONE: MULTIPLE CHOICE EXERCISE ABOUT IDIOMS. ............................................................................ 2 PART TWO: ANSWER KEYS. ........................................................................................................................... 7 PART THREE: IMPORTANT NOTES. ................................................................................................................ 7 1 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 PART ONE: MULTIPLE CHOICE EXERCISE ABOUT IDIOMS. Choose the correct words or phrases for the blanks. 1. The teacher asked us to talk about the _____ of industrial development. A. ups and downs B. pros and cons C. odds and ends D. a piece of cake 2. Police found nothing special in the house of the criminal as he had taken all the important documents with him, leaving just _____ A. ups and downs B. pros and cons C. odds and ends D. a piece of cake 3. Don’t worry about the problems you have in your business. You know there are always _____ in business. A. ups and downs B. pros and cons C. odds and ends D. a piece of cake 4. If you think that doing this maths problem is _____, just try this. A. ups and downs B. pros and cons C. odds and ends D. a piece of cake 5. All these promises these politicians make are just _____ in the sky. A. use B. ocean C. music D. rags E. shoulder F. pie 6. The small amount of money donated is just a drop in the _____ compared to the large sum of money needed. A. use B. ocean C. music D. rags E. shoulder F. pie 7. I had to face the ______ all by myself although I was not the only responsible for the problem. A. use B. ocean C. music D. rags E. shoulder F. pie 8. They had had a dispute yesterday. That's why she gave him the cold _____. A. use B. ocean C. music D. rags E. shoulder F. pie 9. He has been successful in his life. He went from _____ to riches. A. use B. ocean C. music 2 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha D. rags E. shoulder Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com F. pie Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 10. He spends his time drinking and watching TV. He's no _____ to man and beast. A. use B. ocean C. music D. rags E. shoulder F. pie 11. Losing that job was a blessing in disguise because it meant I _____ A. got a much better job B. lost my house C. was unemployed for years 12. After saying Beverly made too many mistakes, Bob added insult to injury by saying _____ A. they were small mistakes B. she worked very slowly C. her work was excellent 13. The school thought their new teacher's record was as clean as a whistle because he hadn't told them about _____ A. his arrest for drunk driving B. his dirty bathroom C. his cheating at cards 14. My friends all called and told me to hang in there after I'd _____ A. left for my honeymoon B. decided to go sky-diving C. broken my leg in an accident 15. Some staff think we need new packaging for our products, and others think we should leave well enough alone and _____ A. change to new packaging B. go back to older packaging C. keep the same packaging 16. People who keep loaded guns in the house are playing with fire because the guns _____ 3 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 A. might be too heavy B. could go off accidentally and kill someone C. would go rusty 17. In business, it's often necessary to be quick on the draw, but sometimes it's better to _____ A. think carefully before doing something B. do something faster than others C. be slow to understand what's happening 18. If you read between the lines, you will A. know what the writer really thinks B. be able to read a lot quicker C. make up the story for yourself 19. The best way to keep something under wraps is to A. put it into the refrigerator B. stop thinking about it C. let as few people as possible know about it 20. If someone says "You can say that again!", it means they A. want you to repeat what you said B. didn't understand what you said C. agree with what you said 21. For which job would a jack of all trades be best suited? A. a dealer in a casino B. a caretaker in a school C. a teller in a bank 22. We started an online business, but after a while it was back to the drawing board because 4 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 A. we couldn't make a profit B. we made a lot of money C. we wanted to improve our drawing 23. A journalist is digging up dirt on a politician in order to A. help the politician's campaign B. damage the politician's image C. increase the politician's popularity 24. We were having dinner in a restaurant last night when this guy at the next table flew off the handle because A. the food was so delicious B. the waiter was so handsome C. the waiter brought the wrong thing 25. You can see that Mike's got a soft spot for dogs. Whenever he sees one, he A. kicks it B. pats it on the head C. keeps away from it 26. Henry said he'd leave no stone unturned in his search for a woman to marry. He will A. look for women under stones B. try everything to find a wife C. marry any woman who accepts him 27. When I heard the poem, some of the lines rang a bell and A. some of them beat a drum B. sounded very beautiful C. I thought I'd heard it somewhere before 28. Monique has decided to take the plunge and A. keep her job for a while 5 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 B. start up her own business C. put all her money in the bank 29. We'll have to leave the list of guests we're inviting to our wedding up in the air until we know A. how many we can invite B. what the weather will be like C. if any are of them are afraid of heights. 30. You could have knocked me over with a feather when I heard that A. we were having sandwiches for lunch B. the electricity bill had arrived C. I had won a million dollars in the lottery 6 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 PART TWO: ANSWER KEYS. 1. B 2. C 3. A 4. D 5. F 6. B 7. C 8. E 9. D 10. A 11. A 12. B 13. A 14. C 15. C 16. B 17. B 18. A 19. C 20. C 21. B 22. A 23. B 24. C 25. B 26. B 27. C 28. B 29. A 30. C PART THREE: IMPORTANT NOTES. 1. the pros and cons: the advantages and disadvantages of something, especially something that you are considering doing 2. odds and ends: various things of different types, usually small and not important, or of little value 3. ups and downs: If someone or something experiences ups and downs, a mixture of good and bad things happens to him, her, or it 4. a piece of cake: something that is easy to do 5. pie in the sky: something that you hope will happen but is very unlikely to happen 6. a drop in the ocean = a drop in the bucket: a very small amount compared to the amount needed 7. face the music: to accept criticism or punishment for something you have done 7 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 8. give somebody the cold shoulder = cold-shoulder (verb): to deliberately ignore someone in an unfriendly way 9. go from rags to riches: used to describe what happens to a person who was poorbut becomes rich 10. have no use to man or beast = be useless 11. a blessing in disguise: something that seems bad or unlucky at first, but results in something good happening later 12. add insult to injury = add fuel to the fire = add fuel to the flames: to make an argument or badsituation worse 13. clean as a whistle: extremely clean 14. hang in there = hang on in there: said as a way of telling someone to not give up, despitedifficulties 15. leave well enough alone = let well enough alone: to allow something to stay as it is because doing more might make things worse 16. play with fire: to act in a way that is very dangerous and to take risks 17. quick on the trigger = quick on the draw = be faster than others 18. read between the lines: to try to understand someone's real feelings or intentionsfrom what they say or write 19. be under wraps: secret 20. You can say that again!: used to show that you completely agree with what someone has said 21. a jack of all trades: someone who can do many different jobs  a jack of all trades, master of none. 22. back to the drawing board: back to the beginning of a process to start it again, because it is not working 8 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 23. dig up dirt: to look for and find unpleasant or embarrassing information about someone 24. fly off the handle: to react in a very angry way to something that someone says or does 25. have a soft spot for: to feel that you like someone or something very much 26. leave no stone unturned: to do everything you can to achieve a good result, especially when looking for something 27. ring a bell: to sound familiar 28. take the plunge: to make a decision to do something, especially after thinkingabout it for a long time 29. up in the air: If a matter is up in the air, it is uncertain, often because other matters have to be decided first 30. You could have knocked me over/down with a feather: said when you are extremely surprised 9 Compiled by: Miss Vu Thi Hong Ha Student | Hanoi National University of Education Teacher & Administrator | Page: Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@gmail.com  .. .Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 PART ONE: MULTIPLE CHOICE EXERCISE ABOUT IDIOMS Choose the correct words or phrases for the blanks... thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@ gmail.com F pie Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 10 He spends his time drinking and watching TV He's... Ôn thi tiếng Anh vào lớp 10 trường chuyên Email: vhh0102@gmail.com - onthitienganhvao10@ gmail.com Top 30 Useful Idioms & Exercises 2015 A might be too heavy B could go off accidentally and kill