À. 1. The Browns were glad to drop of an evening for a cocktail
and some gossip. 2. He chuckled at the thought of how successfully
they had deceived the gossips. 3. Ann wound Tom
round her little finger. 4. It’s time he wound up his speech. 5. She
hates peeling potatoes. 6. Put the towel round your shoulders or
you’ll burn and your skin will peel (off). 7. The silly boy is always
getting into a mess/into scrapes. 8. Scrape the soles of your shoes
thoroughly/Scrape the mud off the soles of your shoes before
you go into the cottage. 9. It took the boys much time and effort
to scrape up/scrape together the money they needed. 10. He is
a steady young man. 11. He turned out to be a steady worker.
I 2. He was not bad-looking and had a good steady job. 13. The
table was unsteady, as one of its legs was broken. 14. The rain is
pouring down steadily.
B. 1. After he had finished packing, the room was in a mess.
2. But for your carelessness you wouldn’t have got into
a mess/scrape. 3. But even he must have known that he had
made a mess of the job. 4. There is a crack in the vase. 5. He’s
fond of cracking jokes. 6. Poor as they were, the workers were
ready to contribute to their common cause. 7. He regularly contributes
poems to our newspaper. 8. He came to lunch in particularly
high spirits. 9. He did the job with such spirit that he
accomplished a shining success. 10. After supper everyone was
in high spirits/Supper raised everyone’s spirits. 11. When he is ill
he does not taste food for days. 12. The soup tastes of onions.
13. There is no accounting for tastes. 14. What do you know of
his tastes? 15. After our quarrel even my favourite dish seemed
tasteless/tasted awful.