Unit 4

Task 1 Asking About the Meaning In conversations, your speaking partner sometimes uses a word or phrase whose meaning you do not know. Do not panic! Try to ask him/her to explain the meaning to you. Work with a classmate of yours. One of you tries to continue the conversations by asking about the meanings of the underlined expressions, and the other tries to explain the meanings with the help of the tips. 1) A: All right. You go ahead and sign this paper and I’ll do the dirty work.

B: ______________________________________________　 A: ______________________________________________ B: ______________________________________________

Dirty work 常用来指做得罪人的事或不好做的事，即表示扮演“白脸”角色之意。

2) A: I study hard and get good grades. I’m usually on the honor roll.

B: ______________________________________________ A: ______________________________________________ B: ______________________________________________

Honor roll 是“荣誉榜”的意思。

3) A: The new teacher is very tough and takes no prisoners. B: ______________________________________________ A: ______________________________________________ B: ______________________________________________

Take no prisoners 愿意是“战争时不收战俘，抓到全部杀死”。此处指教授很严，手下不留情。

4) A: Don’t go to that fancy new restaurant. The food isn’t very

good and they charge you an arm and a leg for it!

B: ______________________________________________

A: ______________________________________________

B: ______________________________________________

如果饭店要收你的 an arm and aleg，那就是很贵哟。

Listen to the four conversations in the recording and write down what the

second speaker says. Pay attention to the expressions used in asking about

the meanings of unknown expressions.

1) ____________________________________________

2) ____________________________________________

3) ____________________________________________

4) ____________________________________________

Check It Out

Task 2 Giving Definitions (1)

A definition is the explanation of the meaning of a term. While some terms have definite, concrete meanings, others have abstract and subjective connotations. It is always helpful if you can define a term by an example because it paints a picture in your listener’s mind. Examples often begin with:

●.For example…

●.For instance…

●.A good example is…

●.A good example is that…

●.Another way to say it is…

For Example:

A: Do you know what luxury means? B: Yes, luxury means very expensive and very good. A: Could you give me an example of what kind of thing is a luxury? B: Sure. A good example of a luxurious car is a Cadillac.

Work in pairs. Continue the conversations you started in Task 1 by asking your classmates for examples.

Do It Yourself

Cadillac 是美国产的豪华轿车。

一些专有词汇具有显著特征，可以通过介绍其所属类别

和特征进行定义解释。

Task 3 Giving Definitions (2) 1. Some terms are technical and have unique features. You can

try to give precise and objective definitions by telling the class they belong to and the unique features they have.

2. Read the paragraph and answer the questions that follow.

A weather forecast is a statement saying what the weather will be like the next day or for the next few days, often for a specific locality. A weather report is made up of many elements, including temperature, rainfall, wind speed and direction, air pressure, and humidity. You can watch weather forecasts on TV or hear them over the radio or read them in the newspaper every day. It is an important part of our daily lives.

What do you think? 1) What is a weather forecast?2) What features does it have?3) Where can you get information about the weather?

Do It Yourself

Packaging is part of the product. It helps buyers identify the product inside and protect the product outside. According to its function, packaging should be divided into outer packing which is used for shipment and inner packing which is helpful for marketing.

1. Work in groups of three or four. Read the passage below. Ask your

classmates at least five questions about packaging and have them answer

your questions based on this passage.

Packaging has several purposes. One of its basic purposes is to protect the product. This is important because the product may have to withstand a lot of handling during transportation from the producer to the consumer. So it must be strong enough to stand rough loading or unloading, resist crushing, etc. A second purpose is to make the product look more attractive to the buyers in order to push sales. Besides these reasons, the other common purposes of packaging are to provide information about the product inside, make it easy to carry the product, and provide convenience in using the product.

2. Work in groups of three or four. Look at the pictures on the next page and read the accompanying descriptions. Discuss with your classmates what over-packaging means. Think about the following questions.

● What is over-packaging? ● Why does over-packaging exist widely? ● What negative impact does it have on the earth? ● Who is supposed to be responsible for this problem? ● Can you think of any possible solutions?

A packet of Airwaves active compared to a normal packet of

Airwaves (both contain ten pieces).

A grand total of five biscuits, allIndividually wrapped, with a Plastic tray and large outer

Packaging.

Task 4 Talking about the Stock Market

Listen to the dialog between Julia and Mike about the stock market and fill in the missing parts. Julia: Would you tell me something about the

stock market? 1) ______________________________Mike: OK. A bull market is a situation in which share prices are rising. Julia: 2) _____________________________ Mike: A bear market is a situation in which share prices keep falling.Julia: Oh, I see. 3) _______________________

Mike: If there are more buyers, the price will rise. Otherwise, the price will drop lower and lower.Julia: 4) ________________________________ Mike: If you believe the market will go up, you can buy in and get new shares or hang on to what you already have. If it turns out to be true and prices rise, you can make a profit.Julia: I heard that some people can earn money out of a bear market. 5)_____________Mike: If you believe the market will fall, or crash, you can sell out your shares now and then buy back later at a lower price. The price difference is your profit.Julia: It sounds easy to make money from stock investment.

Mike: No, it’s not at all. When you really invest in the stock market, you'll get involved in a whole new world and there’s a lot to learn!Julia: 6) _______________________________ Mike: To decide which shares you’ll buy is quite hard sometimes. You have to consider the market tendency, the growth of the company and you’d better know something about financial analysis. Julia: It sounds so boring to me. Maybe I'd better invest in some fixed interest fields.Mike: You certainly can. You won’t suffer from the risks. But your wallet might know something about financial analysis. Julia: 7) _______________________________ Mike: If you really want to invest in stocks, perhaps you should find a broker.

What do you think?

1) How does Julia start the conversation?

2) What follow-up questions does she ask to keep the conversation

going on?

Do It Yourself

Change the dialog into a speech

entitled “How to make money from

the stock market”. The speech

should start with explanations of

the terms “a bear market” and “a

bull market”.

Task 5 Discussion

For some terms, their meanings are relative because people may have different understandings, based on their different social status or life experiences. Therefore, they give personal definitions of these terms. Examine the different definitions of the word “success” in the table on the next page and, then explain to a classmate of yours what “success” means to you.

Term People Meaning

Success Students Pass the tests with honor; get the degree upon graduation

Athletes Win the gold medals in games

Salesman Agree on a deal and make profits

Do It Yourself

Work in groups of four or five.

1) The term “Olympic spirit” is an often-referred to but perhaps vaguely- defined concept associated with the Olympic Games. Have a discussion with your classmates on the topic: What is the Olympic spirit?

2) What is ethical behavior or unethical behavior in business? Discuss the list of business activities below. In your opinion, which is ethical and which is unethical? Give your reasons.

a) Avoiding paying taxes b) Claiming extra expenses c) Selling a defective product d) Making claims/advertising about the benefits of a

product that is not true or exaggeratede) Giving good references to people you want to get rid of f) Using someone else’s ideas or work and accepting

praises for them

如何处理社会责任和企业利润之间的矛盾？如何处理道德和个人利益之间的问题？这是企业经营人员和员工不得不思考的问题。

Enjoy Yourself

You have a top-ten list for you this morning. You know it is almost the end of the year, so we will bring you the top-ten words of 2008. Can you guess what some of them might be?

NGUYEN: So, we’re bringing you the top-10 words of 2008. Can you guess what some of them might be?LUI: Yes. What would a year be without a top-10 list here? Our Josh Levs has that for us. Josh, do you speak Phelpsian Chinglish?JOSH : Guys, I need to say (ph)… NGUYEN: What the heck is that? Can you bail us out from that one? I know bailout is one of the words.LEVS: That was really good. Yes. Well, I’m going to try to do some Phelpsian bailout Chinglish for you now.NGUYEN: All right.

Top Words of 2008

LEVS: Let’s take a look. This is from Global Language Monitor. And it’s really interesting when they put this list every year. Let’s just go to the first graphic because I want you to see what it is that we are starting off with. One to five: change, and then, bailout, Betty, just like you were saying. Three, Obamania. Not much of a surprise since I think we’ve said that on the air a few hundred times. Green — well, I was not — were you guys familiar with greenwashing?NGUYEN: No.LUI: No.LEVS: I didn’t know greenwashing. Greenwashing is repositioning of products to stress its earth-friendly attributes. Basically trying to sell something claiming that it’s green, maybe greener than it is.NGUYEN: OK. Hold on. Let me ask you this.LEVS: Yes.NGUYEN: If these are the top-10 words, why aren’t these words that we’re like, yes, I’ve heard that several times?LEVS: I know. And I’ll tell you how they go about coming up with the list.NGUYEN: OK.

LEVS: I want to show you the other five. This is what they do. They look at—here I tell you exactly from here—basically, they look at words and phrases used in media on the Internet and they also look at how often they’re used in major news media. So, for example, I saw that there is greenwashing. So, I wonder, do we use greenwashing a lot? Check it out. I do a search for greenwashing on CNN.com. Apparently, we do. It’s one of our stories. LUI: Oh.NGUYEN: Really?LEVS: And over here is a video that we have all about greenwashing from our eco-solutions unit.LUI: Guilty as charged.LEVS: I guess I’m not watching enough of our stuff. Let’s check out six through 10.NGUYEN: OK.LEVS: I want to show you, guys, the rest of this, it’s great stuff. Derivative is at the top.LUI: Oh, no. Don’t use that one.NGUYEN: Oh, the dreaded subprime, foreclosure, yikes.

LEVS: and this is where we get the Phelpsian and Chinglish. Now, Phelpsian, we know Phelpsian is a huge feat that’s never been done before. But Chinglish is, I’ll tell you how they define it, the often amusing Chinese-English language hybrid that Beijing tried to stamp out before the Olympics began. Apparently, Beijing didn’t want people speaking a lot of Chinglish when the world arrived there.LUI: Yes.LEVS: So, apparently, they got rid of it. One more thing to show you, guys. Top phrases of the year.NGUYEN: OK.LEVS: I’ll show you this really quick then I’m going to go. All right. Number one: Financial tsunami. Two: Global warming. Three: Yes we can. No shocker. Four: Lame Duck. And five, working class whites. They say apparently that’s been used as a code word for whites who are working class. More information, language monitor…

NGUYEN: How is it a code word because it says working class

whites —

it’s right there?

LEVS: Exactly, not even a code word.

LUI: I’ve got one for you, Josh, that you should have put

on that

list — fact check.

LEVS: Fact check, reality check.

NGUYEN: Oh, yes. Or the truth squad. Any of those.

LEVS: You know, I should have thought of that. I’m

calling the

language monitor and as soon as we are off the

air. Watch

out for them, buddy.

NGUYEN: All right, get on it.

LUI: Get hopping, my friend.

NGUYEN: Thank you, Josh.