Vocabulary

• in touch: Having contact or communication with someone.
• some time ago: At a point in the past; not recently.
• at school: Present and attending school.
• used to: Did regularly before, but don't do now
• of ours: Belonging to us; associated with us.
• catch up: To become equal with another person
• take stock: To review or assess a situation.
• pass through: To experience something, often unpleasant or difficult.
• at home: In one's own residence or country.
• on to: Toward something; forward
• hand on: To pass or transfer something physically to someone else.
• to hand: To give or pass something to someone using your hand.
• know about: To have information or understanding of a subject or situation.
• talk over: To discuss something thoroughly in order to reach a decision or agreement.
• for fear of: Because of anxiety or apprehension that something undesirable might happen.
• at risk: In danger; likely to be harmed
• look at: To use your eyes to focus on something
• have to: Must do
• crucial: Extremely important or necessary
• present: Being in attendance; being there; having turned up
• vital: Needed to support life; essential
• empathy: Understanding how other people feel/suffer
• journey: Act of traveling from one place to another; trip
• fascinating: To attract or interest greatly
• matter: To be of great importance; to count
• experience: Thing a person has done or that happened to them
• integrity: Quality of being honest, fair and honorable
• tend: To move or act in a certain manner
• character: Person in a story, movie or play
• evolve: To develop certain features
• bizarre: Odd or strange
• develop: To explain something in steps and in detail
• fancy: To want to have or do something; feel like
• curious: Wanting to know more about something
• atmosphere: Air around us
• gratitude: Warm friendly feelings of thanks
• previous: Existing or happening before the present time
• firm: Company that sells goods or services
• casual: Being careless or having little thought or effort
• lack: To not have, or not have enough, of something
• function: Social event, or party such as a wedding
• pleasant: Causing a good feeling
• absurd: So foolish as to be difficult to believe
• remain: To be left behind; to continue to exist
• valuable: Being useful or important
• superior: Better; higher quality
• stock: Animals such as cattle kept for breeding
• wisdom: Knowledge gained from experience in life
• introduce: To open an essay to set the scene
• loyalty: Complete and sustained support for person, thing
• contain: To keep something from spreading
• persuade: To try to make someone to do, believe something
• radically: Completely or extremely
• hostile: Unwelcoming; showing ill will, as to an enemy
• formulate: To make and develop a set of rules or ideas
• lot: What happens to a person in life from chance; fate
• single: One run in cricket or a hit baseball
• manage: To survive hardships and difficulties; to cope
• complexity: State of having many parts and not being simple
• catch: Amount of something that has been caught
• provoke: To deliberately annoy to make someone aggressive
• vantage: (usually vantage point) A place or position affording a good view of something
• hook: Bent tool used to catch fish or to hang things on
• fail: To be unsuccessful in passing a class or exam
• daily: Happening every day
• alien: Foreigner; a person not from this place
• remember: To give someone a gift, e.g. birthday, wedding
• injustice: Unjust act; the practice of being unjust or unfair
• succession: Act of officially taking over someone's position
• think: To have an idea about something without certainty
• impart: To give a certain quality to something or someone
• life: All the living things e.g. animals, plants, humans
• knowledge: Information, understanding, or skill
• politic: Careful what you say; diplomatic
• preoccupy: To cause to be absorbed in thinking about a thing
• vista: View as seen between rows of trees, buildings, etc.