Reading task-Unit 4

1、Reading task-Unit 4Dear all,When you read this passage for the first time, try not to use any help. Focus on understanding the main ideas.When you read it the second time, look up the words that hinder your understanding, especially the underlined ones. I may check next time.How we used to beBy Raym

2、ond Zhou (China Daily) Introduction: “The times they are changin,” sang Bob Dylan back in the 1960s. But in china they seem to have changed more quickly than anywhere else, at least in the opinion of Raymond Zhou, the well-known columnist and film critic for China Daily.How we dressedThe Chinese wor

3、d for fashion was in limbo 30 years ago, but the idea was being awakened. Bell-bottomed pants became a badge of youthful rebellion. In 1979, fashion designer Pierre Cardin brought over a dozen models from Paris and staged a show in Beijing. The 1980s was marked by a sudden blossoming of bright color

4、s, though people back then had no sense of how to match them. People just no longer wanted to live in a sea of dark colors.Surprisingly, jeans did not encounter the same popularity as bell-bottoms. My parents thou ght they were the same as Chinas work cl oth.The re-emergence of the Western suit in 1

5、980s was another milestone. People, usually those taking official trips abroad, were given a special allowance to have suits tailor-made. When I spotted them in a crowd of hundreds in San Francisco, I could tell instantly which suit was made in China.In the late 1980s, there was a burst of culture s

6、hirts - T-shirts with funny or sarcastic slogans printed on them.Fashion trends usually start in metropolises like Shanghai and Guangzhou and then spread inland.What we ateFood rationing was still in place in 1978. One would get up in the early hours and stand in line for a thin slice of pork. Even

7、if you had tons of money, you still ate a mostly vegetarian diet because most food items, except vegetables, required coupons. In the countryside, meat was available only on rare occasions, such as the Chinese New Year, when households would slaughter a pig they had raised and feast for a week.Super

8、markets did not exist back then. Instead, we had farmers markets. I remember when I was in my early teens, an egg cost 7 fen (Chinese cents) or could be exchanged for a small bag of salt. You could not find beef or bananas in my hometown in Zhejiang before I left it in 1978.In northern China, the ma

9、in diet was the so-called coarse food, meaning anything except fine-grade rice and wheat. Steamed buns made from high-quality flour were available only on special holidays. In cities, they were still rationed but available more frequently.Dining out was often a nightmare. The wait for a table was so

10、 long even the worst food would whet your appetite. You had to pay for the meal beforehand, so you could not back out.The emergence of supermarkets in the mid-1980s was something of a black comedy. Although customers were allowed to touch the merchandise before purchasing, there would be shop clerks

11、 guarding every aisle to in case you ran away without paying. By the 1990s, the age of scarcity had given way to the age of abundance. Ration coupons had been phased out completely. The big irony is, what used to be considered poor mans food is now considered a healthy diet, and being fat is no long

12、er a sign of wealth, but rather, of a lack of exercise.How we datedThirty years ago, a good-looking guy would most likely wear army jacket, sunglasses with the label still on them, and a Sanyo cassette tape recorder playing Hong Kong pop songs.To meet a girl, however, he would need a matchmaker. If

13、he simply walked up to a girl and asked for her name - few homes had phones then - he would probably be considered a hooligan.Matchmakers - usually middle-aged women often devoted themselves to bringing their single relatives or colleagues together.A recent graduate assigned to a workplace would soo

14、n be visited by such a colleague. Typically, she would ask what qualities you were looking for in a spouse, and would then go through her mental databas e. Often, she would share that database withlike-minded, female friends. Soon a candidate would pop up and a meeting would be arranged.The most lik

15、ely place for a first date would be a park, a movie theater, or a public library. After the date, you w ould be expected to report the result to her. The most baffli ng answer for a matchmaker was Shes very nice, but I dont want to go out with her again. That made her job difficult. If you gave this

16、 explanation a couple of times, you would be blacklisted and would not be given any more dates.The matchmakers were not in it for the money - a happy couple might give her a gift, but this was hardly compensation for all her effort and anxiety. Matchmakers were like Disney; they wanted to ensure hap

17、pily ever after for everyone they knew.In those days, there were few chances to meet new people. Many people dated colleagues from work. Long-distance relationships were common, because it was hard to relocate or change jobs.Today, all that is ancient history. With the Internet and vastly increased

18、mobility, dating has grown much more spontaneous and efficient in just one generation.Hi again! The following news articles are very recent from Chinadaily. You dont have to read them as carefully as the above passage, but make sure you learn something from them, either some new words or the informa

19、tion. Better be both:)! I may discuss them with you.News Articles 1Think twice before buying a new phoneFans are desperate to lay their hands on the larger-screen iPhone 6, thanks to Apples hunger marketing. Analysts are busy debating which of the phones giants Apple, Samsung or Xiaomi leads the Chi

20、nese market. But too few people spare a thought to environmental damage caused by cell phones.Indeed, smartphones are great innovative gadgets, but they also lure people to change phones that are as good as new, and thus worsen the already serious environmental pollution. Theoretically, a cell phone

21、 can be used for eight years, but in practice one lasts 15 months on average in China.From production to disposal, cell phones, even those made by big brands like Apple and Samsung, pollute the environment. A study by the Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and /doc/70c8d64bbd6

22、4783e09122bc9.html showed that each of the 36 dissected phone models contained at least one of the following toxic elements: lead, bromine, chlorine, mercury and cadmium. And these toxic elements are linked to birth defects, impaired learning and other serious health problems.China, the largest phon

23、e-making country and smartphone market, should be alarmed by the environment damage caused by cell phones. So there is no reason to celebrate the good news that last year China produced about 1.46 billion cell phones, about 81.1 percent of the total global output, and 340 million smartphones were so

24、ld in the country a figure that is expected to cross 400 million this year.In fact, Apples production chain best illustrates the urgency for Chinas manufacturing sector to climb up the global value chain. Apple products are designed in the US, assembled in China and sold across the world. And while

25、Apple takes away the lions share of the profits, Chinese workers can barely manage to keep their pots boiling and the environment ends up paying the heaviest price.News Articles 2Is foreign language learning mandatory?Editors note: English is taught as compulsory course from primary school in China.

26、 But should students be required to learn a foreign language? What foreign languages are taught in other countries? Students from different countries share their experiences.Morgan Lundblad (US)I remember the sixth grade, where we took our first foreign language, French. While in High School, we wer

27、e offered Russian, Spanish, and French, so I took up Spanish. The reason for Spanish was that many living in the States are Hispanic. I feel that if you want to learn another language, start as early as possible. Learning a language in schools just isnt enough. You need to practice it daily.Magpieme

28、 (UK)I started learning French when I was five. It wasnt mandatory. If learning any specific language was mandatory from an early age, kids would be fluent by 16. Its not, so were not.Paul (Netherlands)I live in the Netherlands and:1) 75% of the TV is English.2) Food in the stores is written in Engl

29、ish.3) Schools are now conducting entire lessons in English4) Many Dutch companies insist on the working language being English Misterpanda (France)In France we had to choose between English and German as a second language when we were 11 (first year of middle school). If we chose German, then we had to choose English as a third language when we are 13 (third year of middle school). If we c