In today’s Business English Pod lesson, we continue our look at English idioms related to luck and opportunity.
What do you say to a friend who is on his way to an important job interview? If you’re like most people, you’ll say “good luck.” But does your friend really need luck to succeed? Well, it’s clear that luck is not the only factor in success, but it does seem important in some cases. It might have been good luck that your friend saw the job posting online one day. But then again, it might be bad luck that your friend trips on his way into the interview.
In any case, making the most of a good opportunity like a job interview certainly seems to involve some luck. Think back on your own career. You can probably think of your own examples of good and bad luck, and how that affected your success with certain opportunities.
In English, we have many common expressions related to luck and opportunity. In our last lesson, we learned some great idioms such as “lucky break,” “tough luck,” and “opportunity knocks.” In this lesson, we’ll learn many more.
In the dialog, we will rejoin Jim and Oscar, two colleagues riding the bus home after work. They are talking about their own opportunities and luck, and they use many useful idioms.
Listening Questions
1. What does Jim think of his chances of getting the job?
2. What does Jim think would be difficult?
3. What does Oscar say about moving into management?
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