4 Is a backlash a (a) strong, or (b) weak reaction to something? 5 Does a glamorous person looks (a) attractive, or (b) unattractive?
6 If you are lavish with your money, do you (a) spend money with care, or (b) spend money very generously?
7 If you bleach a pair of jeans, do you (a) add, or (b) remove its colour?
8 Is a woman who is prim and proper is more likely to wear (a) a micro miniskirt, or (b) a knee-length skirt?
9 If a model is skinny, is she (a) very thin, or (b) overweight?
Reading and interpreting
8 Look at the passage and find the formal equivalents of the following sentences. Identify the formal features in the original versions. 1 Historians writing about fashion between 1960 and 2010 always refer to two constant factors. No history of fashion in the years 1960 to 2010 can overlook or underestimate two constant factors. 2 ... young people bought them and wore them enthusiastically as they recognized them as a symbol of the young, informal American way of life.
... they were bought and worn with huge enthusiasm by young people and recognized as a symbol of the young, informal American way of life.
3 Many people have noticed the close correlation between the length of women‘s skirts and the economy.
It has often been noted that there is a precise correlation, with only a few exceptions, between the length of women‘s skirts and the economy. 4 Hemlines rise and fall with the stock market.
As the stock market rises, so do hemlines, and when it falls, so do they.
5 Nobody really knows why women want to show more or less of their legs during periods of economic boom and bust.
Exactly why women should want to expose more or less of their legs during periods of economic boom and bust remains a mystery.
6 The development of tights, instead of stockings, contributed to the international success of the miniskirt.
But it would not have achieved such international currency without the development of tights, instead of stockings, because the rise in hemlines meant the stocking tops would be visible.
Active reading (2)
Eco-jewellery: sea glass Background information
This is an article from Times Online of 27th September, 2008, by Anna Shepard, a journalist who writes a column called ―Eco-worrier‖. She speaks on the radio and TV about green issues and has published a book, How Green Are My Wellies: Small Steps and Giant Leaps to Green Living with Style. She likes the idea of recycling glass from the sea to make jewellery. Culture points
Liberty has been a well-known department store in central London since 1875, selling fashions, cosmetics, luxury brand accessories and gifts.
Cape Town is the city with the second largest population in South Africa. It has a famous harbour and
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notable landmarks like the Table Mountain ad Cape Point.
Seaham Beach is near Sunderland and Durham, in the north of England. It has a centuries-old
tradition of glass-making, notably in the 19th-century Victorian era when workers dumped left-over glass into the sea. Multi-coloured sea glass can be found there.
Language points
1 ... sidling up and down in the surf ... (para 1)
To sidle means to move slowly in a particular direction, usually because you are nervous or do not want to be noticed. Cowen moves slowly on the beach, looking for sea glass, going up and down in the waves of the sea as they move and fall onto the beach. 2 ... I’ve burnt my shoulders ... (para 1)
She has been walking on the beach for hours in the sun, so her shoulders are red and sore from too much sun (sunburnt).
3 There is no hard and fast rule ... (para 3) There is no fixed rule. The process can change.
4 ... but she works mostly to commission ... (para 5)
People ask her to produce specific work (pieces of sea glass jewelry), for which they will pay. She is commissioned to do this.
5 ... a huge glass cabinet that preside over her studio. (para 5)
To preside over something means to be in a position of power while important events or changes are taking place. Here, this is a metaphor to show the central position of the cabinet in the studio.
6 The creation of sea glass is a form of recycling, but more than that, it is an example of nature compensating for man’s folly. (para 8)
People were foolish – they behave in a stupid and careless way to throw glass rubbish into the sea. But nature has compensated for this by slowly making the glass into beautiful pieces.
7 Although no one considered the consequences of hurling glass into the sea … (para 10)
To hurl means to throw something using a lot of force; to chuck means to throw something, but not necessarily with force (to chuck something away or to chuck something out usually refers to through away unwanted objects or rubbish); to dump means to get rid of something or place it somewhere carelessly, not necessarily throwing it – but dumping rubbish can be the same as throwing it away, probably in the wrong place.
8 Today’s responsible attitude to its disposal, revolving around recycling where possible, is vastly superior, but it signals the end of the sea-glass era. (para 10)
Today, people have a more responsible attitude to waste disposal and glass is usually recycled – this is very much better than throwing glass into the sea. However, this responsible attitude sends a message that there will be no sea glass in the future.
9 Its eco-credentials lend sea glass further appeal … (para 12)
Its eco-credentials refers to the ecological background of the sea glass. That because sea glass was thrown away as rubbish, but it is now being recycled as jewellery it is qualified to have a good environmental reputation.
10 Gold’s murky reputation for damaging the environment in the extraction process and the diamond industry’s poor human rights record play into the hands of designers who have chosen to work with a material that puts a waste product to use. (para 12)
Getting gold from the earth and separating it from other metals often damages the environment. And it
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also involves dishonest activities, so gold extraction has a ―murky‘ reputation‖. The diamond industry also has a poor reputation because many workers are treated very badly. What people believe about these processes are exactly what designers of sea glass jewellery want to avoid, so that they gain an advantage in the jewellery market because they recycle materials.
Reading and understanding
2 Choose the best answer to the questions. 1 What happens when Gina Cowen goes looking for glass on a beach? (a) She gets bitten by crabs. (b) She gets burnt.
(Yes, she says she burns her shoulders.)
(c) She always finds a better piece than the last time. (d) She finds time passes slowly.
(No, ―she loses her sense of time‖ means that time passes very quickly so she is not conscious of how it passes.)
2 Why is red glass special compared to other types of glass? (a) It‘s smoother.
(No, sea glass of any colour can be smooth over the years.) (b) It‘s probably older.
(Yes, Cowen says there is a strong chance that it could be centuries old.) (c) It‘s more beautiful. (d) It‘s harder to find.
3 What does Cowen do with most of the jewellery she makes? (a) She sells it to private customers.
(Yes, the passage says ―she works mostly to commission‖.) (b) She exhibits it in galleries. (c) She keeps it in her room. (d) She sells it in a London shop.
(Well, some of her designs were sold in London Liberty, but she sells most of her designs privately.) 4 When did Cowen get interested in sea glass?
(a) When she wrote an article about it for a newspaper. (b) When she saw a collection in a glass cabinet. (c) While walking along a beach in South Africa.
(Yes, she found some glass there and started a collection.) (d) When she found out about the Victorian glass industry. (No, she found out about this later in Britain.) 5 Where does the best sea glass come from? (a) South Africa.
(b) Liberty in London. (c) Fiji and Majorca.
(Cowen has good sea glass from these islands, but it seems that the best is from British beaches.) (d) Beaches in England.
(Yes, Seaham Beach in Britain is her ―favourite hunting ground‖ and her Victorian sea-glass collection from British beaches is ―most stunning‖, so the implication is that, for Cowen, British
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beaches are where the best sea glass comes from.) 6 Why will sea glass become rarer than diamonds? (a) People will stop making glass.
(b) It will eventually be transformed into sand. (c) More and more glass is being recycled.
(Yes, this means that old glass is made into new glass instead of being dumped in the sea. As a result, sea glass will become rare.)
(d) People will be prepared to pay a lot of money for it. 7 What did a 15-year-old girl manage to do? (a) She sold her collection of sea glass on eBay.
(b) She sold photographs of her collection of sea glass.
(No, she took photos in order to illustrate the collection to help to sell the sea glass – she didn‘t sell the photos.)
(c) She sold Cowen some sea glass for more than it was worth.
(Yes, the girl sold it on eBay and Cowen says she paid too much for it.) (d) She collected a lot of sea glass on a school trip.
8 Why is sea glass more ecological than diamonds and gold? (a) Getting it doesn‘t damage the environment.
(Yes, the passage refers to serious ecological problems with extracting gold and mining diamonds, whereas because sea glass is waste material collecting and using it is actually clearing up the beach environment.)
(b) It can be used for a variety of purposes. (c) It is a naturally occurring product.
(No, sea glass does not occur naturally. it is glass that has been dumped into the sea by people as rubbish.)
(d) It can be recycled more easily.
Dealing with unfamiliar words
3 Match the words in the box with their definitions. 1 to become or to make something become active, successful, or popular again (revive) 2 very impressive or beautiful (stunning)
3 to hang something from something else (suspend) 4 a formal agreement to get married (engagement)
5 the way that the level of the sea regularly rises and falls during the day (tide) 6 to be in charge of something or to be in a position of power (preside) 7 the process of getting rid of something (disposal) 8 very bright (luminous)
4 Complete the sentences with the correct form of the words in Activity 3. 1 To celebrate our engagement we had dinner in the best restaurant in Paris. 2 The lamp was suspended from an iron hook in the middle of the ceiling. 3 Someone needs to think about the disposal of all these waste products.
4 I‘ve been asked to preside at next week‘s meeting of the recycling committee. 5 The luminous object on the table turned out to be made of diamond.
6 I could spend hours here, just watching the seagulls flying past and the tides coming in and going
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