CHOOSE the idiom whose meaning is given in the brackets:

1. In the 1962 movie To Kill A Mockingbird, Gregory Peck plays a highly principled lawyer, Atticus Finch, who puts his career (at serious risk) when he agrees to defend a young black man falsely accused of raping an ignorant white woman.

Highly principled lawyer: Atticus Finch (played by Gregory Peck) in To Kill A Mockingbird.

(a) on the dot (b) on the line (c) on the breadline

2. The movie tells the story, set in a small town during the Depression, (from the point of view of) Atticus’ feisty six-year-old daughter Scout, with the trial of the rape accused interlacing with the education of Scout and her older brother, Jem, in the unsettling imperfections of the world.

(a) by virtue of (b) through the eyes of (c) on the point of

3. Atticus tells Scout that he cannot (keep his dignity) in the neighbourhood if he refuses to defend Tom Robinson.

(a) keep a straight face (b) stand his ground (c) hold his head high

4. Atticus tells his motherless children that it is a sin to kill a mockingbird as it never does anything bad; all it does is (sing with great feeling) to fill the garden with music.

(a) sing its heart out (b) sing for its supper (c) sing your praises

5. Jem and Scout are fearful when they pass the spooky ramshackle Radley house, for they suspect that a mysterious man who lives there, Boo, (is mentally disturbed). Later, their discovery of little presents in the knothole of a tree near the Radley house ameliorates their judgment of Boo.

(a) is all of a tremble (b) is at his wits’ end (c) has a screw loose

6. When the members of the lynch mob demand that Atticus hand over Robinson to them, he (remains calm).

(a) makes himself at home (b) keeps his cool (c) keeps his ear to the ground

7. The plaintiff, Mayella Ewell, and her bigoted father, Bob Ewell, do not hesitate to (tell lies shamelessly).

(a) lie through their teeth (b) live a lie (c) shoot their mouths off

8. The prejudiced courts in the all-white jury’s hearts find Robinson guilty of the rape charge. A short while later, he is shot to death when he (tries to escape).

(a) pulls a fast one (b) burns up the road (c) makes a break for it

9. As Jem and Scout are walking home from school one night, the sound of footsteps in the dark (frightens them). Boo saves them from an attack by Bob Ewell and stabs him fatally during the struggle. To protect Boo, Sheriff Tate intends to report that Ewell accidentally fell on his own knife. Scout agrees with the lawman, and tells her father that exposing Boo would be like shooting a mockingbird.

(a) leaves them cold (b) wipes the smile off their faces (c) makes their blood run cold

Answers

1. b 2. b 3. c 4. a 5. c 6. b 7. a 8. c 9. c

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