CHAPTER TWO Reading Page 19.
Right,Debbie,it's your turn.
Please come out and tell us your topic and then show us your objects.
My topic is'Fashion'and to illustrate my talk,
I have brought along five objects.
Fashion is important to almost all of us.
Now we are all wearing school uniform.
When we go home,what do we do?We change into other clothes.
If we are going out,we like to wear fashionable clothes.
So my first object is this blouse.
It looks beautiful,doesn't it?
It is my most expensive piece of clothing,and I love it!It cost 360 yuan.
You may say that is very extravagant.
but luckily I could afford it with my own savings.
It was not easy for me to earn some money in the summer vacation.
but when you are buying clothes.
I think the more you spend,the better the quality.
So you see,fashion is quite important to me.
However,I am not as keen on fashion as my elder brother Gary.
Last summer,he won a free trip to London in a contest.
The organizers wanted to show him some famous sights.
But he did not appreciate the old buildings.
He just wanted to spend all his time in the big shopping arcades.
searching for the coolest pair of trainers!
For him,fashion was more important than culture.
These are the trainers he bought.
Was it worth a trip to London to buy these?
I don't think so.
I think it was a waste of time and money.
We must,however,remember that fashion is very big business.
Changes in fashion can create or ruin jobs.
As an example,I have brought this blonde wig to show you.
Do you like it?It belongs to one of my mother's friends.
She told me that in the 1960s.
it was fashionable for western women to wear wigs.
and our city became the world centre of the wig0making industry.
But a few years later fashions changed.
and women wore wigs much less often.
Then the wig factors closed down.
and hundreds of workers lost their jobs.
Next,I have something unusual,I'm holding a real top hat in my hands.
I borrowed it from a drama company.
Yes,you can pass it around.
Oh,please handle it more carefully!
I brought this to remind us about the effects of fashion on the natural world.
I'm reading a book on fashion at the moment,and it says in the book that Europeans started to wear top hats.
made from the skin of beavers,in the early 1800s.
These hats became very fashionable,and as a result .
thousands of poor beavers in Canada and North America were killed.
Another example of this,of course,is fur coats.
Finally,we should remember the saying.
'never judge a book by its cover'.
Clothes will not make us more or less clever better or worse.
more or less honest.
I once saw a film on television about Mother Teresa.
She spent all her life helping poor people in Calcutta.
In 1979 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
When she flew to Sweden to collect it.
she wore the same old clothes as usual.
and carried all her possessions in one little bag like this one.
which I bought in a market.
It reminds us that fashion is not the most important thing in life.
That's all.Thank you for listening to me.
INTEGRATED SKILLSpage 23.
Selecting relevant information(1).
Exercise A,
Listen to the speakers.
Use information from the conversation to complete the table on page 23.Right,we've finished all the tests on these jeans.
So let's complete the table of information.
We've done the Daisy jeans results already.
now here is the information about Rose's jeans.
Man:How much do they cost?Woman:They're 280.
Man:Right.How strong are they?
Woman:They performed well in the tests.Give them three stars.
And they didn't shrink very much,so give them three stars for that,too.
Man:Are they colourfast?
Woman:Yes,very good.Give them four stars for that.
Man:Right.Now,what about a comment?
Woman:Well,they are attractive and not too expensive.
Man:All right.I'll put,attractive and inexpensive.
So that's Rose jeans finished.Now,tell me about Lily jeansWoman:Let me see.Lily jeans,well,they cost 440.
But they are not really very strong.
We'll just give them two stars for that.
Man:Did they shrink at all,in the water?
Woman:No,not at all,and the colour doesn't run off either.
So,give them four stars for both of these columns.
Man:Right,and what about a comment to some of them?
Man:Oh,I should say,quite good quality but expensive.
Woman:Quite good quality,but expensive.
Man:Ok,now the last pair,Iris jeans.
Woman:Well,Iris jeans cost 360,and they are very strong.
give them four stars for that.
but shrank a lot when they were washed,they became much smaller.
So,just give them two stars for that,and the same for the next column.
The purple colour came out in the water.
so they are not very colourfast,just two stars.
Man:And a comment?
Woman:I think we'll say strong but poor test results.
Man:Strong,but poor test results.Good,that's all finis now.
SPEAKING page 31,
A The intonation of lists.
When you read a list,your voice should go up at the end of each phrase.
and down at the end of the list.
There should be a short pause after each comma,and before the last'and'.
Exercise A1,
1 I like grapes,pears,melons and mangoes.
2 My friend Mike collects stamps.
coins,tickets,matchboxes,comics and hundred dollar notes.
3 Please buy me six cans of Coke,
two bottles of lemonade,four packets of gum.
ten bags of peanuts and twenty bars of chocolate.
4 My grandma went shopping and she bought a long white car.
a house with a swimming pool.
a small jet aeroplane and three Pacific islands.
5 Michelle is wearing a short sleeved white blouse.
a long blue skirt,black high heeled shoes and a silk scarf.
MORE LANGUAGE INPUT,
Reading page 34.
Uniform fashion good for young students.
In a recent speech,Mr Clinton praised student uniforms as a way to promote safety and discipline in public schools.
Ms Linda Moore,the principal of Rogers Middle School in California.
felt most pleased with the President's comment.
'Everybody is looking for answers.
and here is a district that is doing something that is working,'she said.
The 83,0000student Long Beach district .
requires its elementary and middle school students to dress in uniform fashion.
Nearly 60,000 students are affected by the policy.
It is the first public school district in America to do so.
Since students at Rogers Middle School started wearing black bottoms.
white tops,and red jackets or sweaters.
the number of fights has dropped by 40%.
and academic performance has improved.
A recent survey shows that in the district's 56 elementary and 14 middle schools.
violence and discipline problems have decreased dramatically
since the policy was introduced.Although some students complain that the uniform dress is monotonous.
many see a positive side.
'The good thing is people judge you on your inner characteristics rather than what you wear'.
said Nick Duran,an 8th grader at Rogers Middle School.
'Plus,'he said,'it's easier to choose what to put on in the morning.
Listening page 35,
Listen and match the column of fashion items.
with the column of their first appearing time.
1 In 1470,to hide a pregnancy.
queen Juana of Portugal wore the first hoop skirt.
2 Sneakers were first made in America in 1916.
3 Nylon stockings were invented in 1938.
4 Shoulder0bags for woman first appeared as part of service uniforms in 1940.
During the world war two.
5 In the 1960s,paper clothes were made for the public.
they were disposable and used for underwear as children's clothing.
6 The wrinkled look was introduced in the 1980s.
Wrinkles are permanently pressed into material of clothing items.
such as shirts,skirts vests,blouses,jackets,and pants.