Unit 5 The real truth about lies Words and Expressions综合教程三.docVIP

Unit 5 The Real Truth about Lies Words and Expressions 1. profess v. e.g. James professed to know everything about sculpture. He professed the greatest respect for the law. 2. earth-shattering a. e.g. After years of hard work, they finally made an earth-shattering discovery. The new invention is of earth-shattering importance. 3. feign v. pretend to have or be, put on a false air of e.g. She feigned to be ill in order not to do the exercises. He feigned surprise and they all believed him. Collocations: feign interest / surprise / ignorance / illness (formal) pretend that you are interested, surprised, etc. e.g. “Oh really!” he said, trying to feign interest. Sometimes it’s best just to feign ignorance (=pretend that you do not know anything). Synonym: pretend v. deliberately behave as though something is true when you know it is not, either for fun or to deceive people e.g. Mark closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep. She shouted but he pretended that he hadn’t heard her. 4. spare one’s feelings avoid doing sth. that would upset sb. e.g. He simply wished to minimize the fuss and to spare her feelings. We carefully avoided mentioning the news to spare his feelings. 5. preoccupation n. a strong interest in sth., usually because you are worried about it, with the result that you do not pay attention to other things e.g. Because of his preoccupation with his books, he didn’t realize we were already back. Such preoccupation with your work isn’t healthy. 6. prevarication n. the state of avoiding giving a direct answer or making a firm decision e.g. After months of prevarication, a decision was finally made. When we questioned the authorities on the subject, we were met by prevarication. 7. devote … to give all or a large part of one’s time or resources to (a person, activity, or cause) e.g. I want to devote more time to my family. He devotes himself to philanthropy. 8. profession n. a form of employment, esp. one that is possible only for an educated p