Exercises Market Leader book page 68

A.    Complete the idioms in the sentences below with the words In the box.

1. Small talk is one way to break the ice when meeting someone for the first time.

2. I was thrown in at the deep end when my company sent me to run the German
office. I was only given two days' notice to get everything ready.

3. We don't see eye to eye with our US parent company about punctuality. We have
very different ideas about what being 'on time' means. It's a question of culture.

4. I got into hot water with my boss for wearing casual clothes to the meeting with the
potential Japanese customers.

5. I really put my foot ln it when I met our Spanish partner. Because I was nervous,
I said ‘Who are you?’ rather than ‘How are you?'.

6. I get on like a house on fire with our Polish agent; we like the same things and
have the same sense of humor.

7.  When I visited China for the first time. I was like a fish out of water. Everything was
so different, and I couldn't read any of the signs!

8. My first meeting with our overseas clients was a real eye opener. I hadn't seen
that style of negotiation before.

B. Listen to eight people using the idioms from Exercise A and check your answers.

C. Consider the context of each idiom in Exercise A and decide which have:

a) a positive meaning                                  b) a negative meaning,

break the ice                                                    deep end

eye to eye                                                         into hot water

house on fire                                                   put my foot

real eye-opener                                             fish out of water

D. Match the idioms in Exercise A (1-8) to the correct meanings (a-h).

a) Given a difficult job to do without preparation. – thrown in at the deep end

b) Quickly have a friendly relationship with someone – house on fire

c) Feel uncomfortable in an unfamiliar situation – got into hot water

d) Say or do something without thinking carefully, so that you embarrass or upset someone – put my foot

e) Disagree with someone – see eye to eye

f) An experience where you learn something surprising or something you did not know before – eye opener experience

g) Make someone you have just met less nervous and more willing to talk – break the ice

h) get into trouble. Fish out of water