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新标准大学英语综合教程4-unit5

Unit5

Active reading (1)

1 Work in pairs and decide who is gossiping. In fact, anybody could be saying these things. As sterotypes, the first is said by a male football fan, the second is a women gossiping about the weather as part of small talk, the third is a young man / women gossiping to

another man about other people‘s personal relationships.

2 Check (?) the statements about gossip which you think are true. 1 Men gossip just as much as women. No, men seem to gossip less than women. √ 2 Men talk more about politics than women. Yes, this seems to be true.

√ 3 Men talk more about football than women. Yes, surely this is the case.

√ 4 Women talk more about themselves than men.

No, I am not sure. Maybe men talk about themselves as much. √ 5 Men don‘t admit they gossip. Yes, I think this is true.

6 Women don‘t admit they gossip.

No, I don‘t agree, I think they like gossiping and do admit it. Sex differences in English gossip rules Reading and understanding

3 Choose the best answer to the questions.

1 What does the research quoted in the passage show? (a) Men talk more about politics than about football.

(b) Women don‘t like speaking about politics and art. (c) Men gossip just as much as women. (d) Men and women gossip in exactly the same way. 2 What do men do when women are present? (a) They tend to talk about themselves.

(b) They change their tone of voice. (c) They speak more about politics and art than usual. (d) They let women do most of the speaking.

3 What is the main difference between male and female gossip? (a) Women don‘t realize they are gossiping. (b) Men only gossip outdoors.

(c) Women speak more about themselves than men do. (d) Men speak more about themselves than women do. 4 What is ―the tone rule‖ in women‘s gossip? (a) Use a special tone of voice to show that you are gossiping. (b) It is important to keep a flat unemotional tone.

(c) Don‘t change your tone of voice when you start gossiping. (d) Always start gossiping by using a low whisper. 5 What is ―the detail rule‖?

(a) You should avoid boring details when you gossip.

(b) When gossiping about people it‘s important to quote what they actually said.

(c) You should avoid talking about why people did something. (d) It doesn‘t matter if your gossip is vague. 6 What does ―the feedback rule‖ say about listeners? (a) They should keep quiet while someone is gossiping. (b) They shouldn‘t show surprise.

(c) They should believe everything they hear. (d) They should show interest and enthusiasm. 4 Number the different parts of the passage in the order in which they occur. 1 Refer to recent research to dispel the myth about male gossip.

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2 Reveal that men change topic of conversation when women are present. 3 Focus on the difference of content between male and female gossip. 4 Suggest that the myth about male gossip is really a problem of terminology.

5 Present a detailed, technical account of how women gossip.

6 Conclude that the vital difference between male and female gossip lies in the positive response of the audience. Dealing with unfamiliar words

5 Match the words in the box with their definitions.

1 in a way that is impossible to doubt and easy to see (decidedly) 2 the reason that you do something (motive) 3 main, or most important (principal)

4 with qualities thought to be typical of men (masculine)

5 to criticize something, or to suggest it is not good enough for you (sniff) 6 lively or active (animated)

6 Complete the paragraph with the correct form of the words in Activity 5.

When Simona Ventura became the host of the Italian TV soccer programme, a lot of people (1) sniffed at the decision. What could a woman do in such a (2) decidedly male-dominated world? They argued. But the (3) motive behind the choice of Simona as the new presenter soon became apparent. Rather than change to fit the programme – there is nothing (4) masculine about her – she created a new, more modern show, the (5) principal aim of which is to entertain the whole family. The old style, lengthy and rather technical analyses of football matches, has been replaced by a lively TV programme, which is (6) animated by guest celebrities, dancers and singers, as well as extracts from the day‘s top matches. 7 Replace the underlined words with the correct form of the following words. You may need to make other changes.

1 Cultural and intellectual programmes tend to be broadcast very late in the evening. (highbrow) 2 At the beginning I was very shy, but I soon got to know everyone and made friends. (initially) 3 The course I enjoyed most when I was studying linguistics was the one on the relationship between words and meanings. (semantics)

4 To find out more about English as a world language, we need reliable people who are able to give information. (informants)

5 She sent me a bunch of roses when I got the job, and I did the same when she got promoted. (reciprocated) 6 For some men there is still a feeling of embarrassment and unease about taking orders from a female superior. (stigma)

7 After the goal was disallowed, most of the words I could hear were swear words. (expletives)

8 You can‘t speak like that to someone you don‘t know. It‘s a matter of rules of social behaviour. (etiquette) 9 Only after a very careful and time-consuming editing will this book be ready for publication. (exhaustive) 8 Answer the questions about the words and expressions.

1 Does scandalous behaviour (a) make you feel uncomfortable, or (b) leave you indifferent? 2 If you bemoan something, do you (a) express pleasure, or (b) complain about it? 3 If you rake over something, do you (a) want to forget it, or (b) keep talking about it?

4 If you are appreciative of something someone has done for you, do you (a) thank them, or (b) criticize them?

5 If a man has an effeminate manner, does he make you think of (a) a child, or (b) a woman?

6 Is camp behaviour (a) typical of, or (b) different from established norms about the traditional male way of doing things? Reading and interpreting

9 Check (?) the writer‘s main purposes in writing the passage. √ 1 to summarize findings from recent research Most of the passage is taken up with research findings from both the writer and others. If you are

not sure about this, look at how many times words like study, research, paragraph five and see how verbs in the past tense in the second part are all reporting research findings!

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2 to present the writer‘s own research findings

These are clearly included and they are most of the second part, but this is the main purpose is not

to present them – they illustrate how gossip works. 3 to dispel a myth about males and gossip

The first part of the text does this, but the second part reports research only about women‘s gossip, so No 1 is a better answer.

4 to show that women are superior to men

No, the writer does not intend to show this and doesn‘t do so. 5 to encourage people to learn to gossip properly No, the passage is about rules, but these are not the kind that people are supposed to learn but the

descriptive rules that describe common behaviour. There is nothing about encouraging people to behave like this. 6 to draw attention to the different ways in which men and women gossip This is a reasonable answer but the passage is really reporting research (see No 1)

7 to analyze the way in which women gossip This is the point of the second part, but not the main idea of the whole passage.

Active reading (2)

Marked: women in the workplace Reading and understanding

3 Choose the best summary of the passage.

1 The English language reflects and reinforces the sexist attitudes of society, whether we consider words such as actress, which is a less serious equivalent of the word actor, or titles we give women, such as Mrs, Miss and Ms.

This only summarizes the first section, but the title should indicate that a summary would say more than this, including the points about hairstyle or clothes.

2 Women find it much harder to get on in the workplace because they have to spend too much time

thinking about what clothes to wear, or what hairstyle they should have. This is only one point. It doesn‘t summaraize the main idea and examples of language use.

3 Women constantly have to make choices about dress and appearance, and even the way they sign their names, which lead people to make judgments about them; men do not have to make the same choices.

Although this doesn‘t emphasize language, it summarizes the main idea of choice (marked / unmarked). 4 Choose the best answer to the questions. 1 Which of the following words is marked? (a) Doctor. (b) Actor. (c) Actress. (d) Poet.

2 What does a marked female ending to a word usually convey? (a) Physical attractiveness. (b) A lack of authority. (c) A lack of seriousness. (d) Greater professional competence. 3 What did the writer notice at a conference?

(a) All the women were dressed in the same way. (b) All the men were dressed in the same way. (c) One of the men wore a cowboy shirt and jeans. (d) None of the women wore sensible shoes.

4 What did a woman with high heels do at the conference? (a) She was isolated by her female colleagues. (b) She was the first to complete a group task.

(c) She broke one of the heels when she had to make a trek. (d) She took off her shoes and attracted a group of men.

5 What did a male colleague tell a female lawyer to do before she went to court?

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