Group Class Notes (Vocabulary( Raph)

Reading

Original:

The Assistant

John is a business assistant at a major multinational company. His boss, Anna, is a very competent and ambitious woman and he admires her a lot. She always treats him politely and is very understanding when he goes through some difficulty or needs help understanding a task. John feels very lucky to have such an amazing superior.

Upgraded:

The Assistant

John is a business assistant at a major multinational company. His boss, Anna, is a very competent and ambitious woman and he admires her a lot. She always treats him politely and is very understanding when he goes through some difficulty or needs help understanding a task. John feels very lucky to have such an amazing superior.

Vocabulary

Autonomy (n): 1- the ability to make your own decisions without being controlled by anyone else.
E.g.: Five provinces in China have some autonomy to make their own policies.
E.g.: In my new job, I have much more decision-making autonomy.
E.g.: The president is the person with the most autonomy to make decisions in the country.

Pay off (v): If something you have done pays off, it is successful:
E.g.: All her hard work paid off in the end, and she finally passed the exam.
E.g.: Although it was difficult, her efforts paid off and she got what she wanted.
E.g.: Preparing a lot for the interview paid off, and she got the offer.

Near (adj): 1-  not far away in distance.
E.g.: Is there a restaurant near here?
E.g.: I’d like to sit near a window, please.
E.g.: Don’t come too near me – you might catch my cold.

Nearly (adv): 1- almost, or not completely:
E.g.: It’s been nearly three months since my last haircut.
E.g.: I’ve nearly finished that book you lent me.
E.g.: She’s nearly as tall as her father now.
E.g.: They’d eaten nearly everything.
E.g.: It was so funny – we nearly died laughing.
E.g.: She got up late and nearly missed the meeting.

Marvelous (adj): 1- extremely good.
E.g.: This marvelous invention will help many disabled people.
E.g.: We’ve had some marvelous results with this drug.
E.g.: Coco is a marvelous animated film.
E.g.: Stephen Hawking has had some marvelous achievements in the field of Physics.

Labor (n): 1- practical work, especially when it involves hard physical effort. 2- workers, especially people who do practical work with their hands:
E.g.: The car parts themselves are not expensive, it’s the labor that costs the money.
E.g.: Companies come to China in search of cheap labor.

Labor (v): 1- to do hard physical work.
E.g.: He travelled around Europe laboring to pay his way.
E.g.: Three hours after the explosion, rescue teams were still laboring to free those trapped.
E.g.: My boss wants me to labor all the time.
E.g.: He labored in a factory his whole life.

Extra (adj): 1- more.
E.g.: They pay her extra to work nights.
E.g.: We agreed on a price but afterwards they wanted $10 extra.
E.g.: I worked extra hard (= more than usual) on that essay.
E.g.: If you work overtime, you should be paid extra.

Exquisite (adj): 1- used to describe feelings such as pleasure or pain that are extremely strong, or qualities that are extremely good; great.
E.g.: The pain was quite exquisite.
E.g.: A good comedian needs to have an exquisite sense of timing.
E.g.: It was a place of exquisite beauty
E.g.: He has an exquisite sense of fashion

At last (adv): 1- finally
E.g.: I’ve finished my essay at last!
E.g.: At long last the government is starting to listen to our problems.

Sovereignty (n): 1- the power of a country to control its own government.
E.g.: Talks are being held about who should have sovereignty over the island.
E.g.: The country wants to have sovereignty over the territory.
E.g.: The two countries are fighting for the sovereignty over the area.

Opt (v): 1- to make a choice, especially of one thing or possibility instead of others:
E.g.: Mike opted for early retirement.
E.g.: Most people opt to have the operation.
E.g.: Many students opt for business studies simply because it sounds like a passport to a good job.
E.g.: We opted to study at SE

Subdivision (n): 1- any of the parts into which something is divided, or the act of creating these.
E.g.: Each category has several subdivisions.
E.g.: They agreed that subdivision of the house into apartments would be a good idea.
E.g.: China has several subdivisions named provinces.
E.g.: My department is actually a subdivision of a larger department