1 Cover the glossary. Then form complete idioms from the key words.
Put eggs basket
Keep feet ground
Make name
pin I hopes pin your hopes on sth/smb
take | stride
get | foot | door
keep| ear | ground
2 Complete the text.
Sandra got her (I) ……………. in the door when she was young and once she started at Berwick’s, she took everything in her (2)…………….. and quickly made (3) …………… for herself. She was offered jobs in other cities, but wanted to keep her (4) ……………………open by staying in London where she could keep her ear to the (5)………………and wait for something really exciting to come up. She was (6) …………….. her hopes on getting a top job with C&M, and when she heard on the (7) ……………. that they wanted someone run the Singapore office, she applied for it and got it. In a couple more years, she'll have enough experience to go it (8) ……………… if she wants to, but I know she has continued to (9) ……………….. in with her old colleagues at Berwick's, so who knows where shell end up.
B ABOUT YOU Which is the best single piece of advice in the text at the top? Do you disagree with any of it? Write your answers or talk to another student.
The production line
I’ve been at Benhams close on for twenty years. People now just think of me as part of the furniture
. I got the push from my first job in the solocitor's office - my face didn't fit. 'Then I came here, and was to meet Cynthia, who tookk me under her wing and showed tricks of the trade - things 1 now pass on to the younger girls. Some would sav it's a dead-end job, and it's true that it's not a career but standing at a machine eight hours a day still takes some doing. The bosses don't throw their weight around with me, they know I always do a good day's work, and that's enough for me.
Glossary
close on
part of the furniture
sb's face doesn't fit
take sb under your wing
the tricks of the trade
pass sth on (to sb)
dead-end job
take some doing
throw your weight around/about
(used with time, age, distance, etc.) almost; very nearly
(He's close on 60).
A person who is part of the furniture is so familiar to you that you no longer notice them.
used to say that sb won't get or keep a job because they are not the kind of person that the employer wants.
look after sb who has less experience than you.
the clever ways of doing things in a particular job.
give sth to sb else (in this case, knowledge of the job), especially after receiving it yourself.
a boring job with no hope of promotion.
(inf) be difficult to do, or involve a lot of effort or time.
(inf) tell people what to do in a bossy way.
Spotlight Being dismissed
There are several informal idioms that mean to be dismissed from a job.
I got the push/boot/elbow. OR They gave me the push/boot/elbow.
4 Correct the mistake in each sentence.
1 You need someone to show you the tricks of the usiness,
2 I’ve been there all my life, so I'm some of the furniture.
3 It's a hard job and it'll make some doing.
4 The boss tells me what to do, and I pass it through to the others.
5 It was lucky for me that Mary took me under her arm and helped me.
6 Simone has worked here close by ten years.
7 He was lazy, so he got the pull.
8 He's very bossy and likes to throw his size about.