Reading and vocabulary

Reading-1 Scanning
Activity-2 Scan the passage and find the answers of the questions in the passage.
1.What did Esther often do when she spoke to others? She put her foot in her mouth. (she said something embarrassing).
3. Her motto was “ Every time I open my mouth, I put my foot in it. 她的座右铭是“每当我张口，就会讲错话”。 motto n. 座右铭 你的座右铭是什么？ What’s your motto? put one’s foot in one’s mouth 说错话 她又说错话了。 She put her foot in her mouth again.
5. What was wrong about Esther’s advice to the salesman? Her advice was very insensitive as she told him that his wife was a fool and no one liked her. 6. What did Esther think of the clerk’s haircut? She wanted to know how much it cost.
Find words for:
1. a place of work 2. people or jobs
firm
Acquaintance, clerk, customer, fool, hostess, human being, saleswoman, typist 3. things you say or write apology, motto 4. personal characteristics/appearance awkward, cautious, mature, messy, outspoken 5. a physical state pregnant 6. a meal brunch
After-Reading-2 Vocabulary
Activity-5. Look at the new words in the box.
absence acquaintance anniversary apology awkward brunch cautious clerk customer fax firm fool haircut hostess human being interrupt mature messy motto outspoken pregnant saleswoman shortcoming tease typist
She thought he was ugly.
Reading-2 Careful Reading
Activity-3. Read the passage again and find: 1.Three things you can say when you make small talk Nice to meet you. Nice haircut. I’d like you to meet my husband…
The Wrong Kind of Small Talk
Before-Reading
Activity-1. Discussion:
Work in pairs. You’re gong to read a story about a saleswoman. Discuss what kind of small talk you need as a salesperson.
3. Do you think small talk is more or less important in English than in your language?
Language Points
1. Esther Greenbaum was a saleswoman for a firm of fax machines and business supplies.
7. Why did the young man think the company gave him a new job miles away?
He thought the office would be quieter without him.
8. What did Esther think of her old school friend’s husband?
8. I guess they chose you to discourage you from spending your whole career with us. 我想她们之所以挑中你是因为不想让你一辈子 都跟着我们干。 discourage sb. from doing sth. 阻止某人做，使挫败，使沮丧 encourage sb. to do sth. 鼓励某人做 be encouraged to do sth. 某人受到鼓励做
7. The trouble with Esther was she said what she thought, and didn’t think about what she said. 埃斯特的过错在于她想到什么就说什么， 并且从不思考她说的内容。 此句中what引导的从句做宾语，它还可以 引导表语从句。 她不再是曾经的她了。 She is not what she was (used to be).
Module1 Small Talk
Reading and Vocabulary
Listen to the tape and pay more attention to the words you can’t pronounce correctly.
Look at the following picture to learn more about the following topic.
巩固练习： 1. Our English teacher often e ncourages to ________us practise our oral English. 2. The part she starred in i________ me a lot. mpressed 3. Don’t laugh. You should be ___________. serious (严肃)
2. What do you think are “ basic rules of social communication”? To be polite and not to embarrass people. 3. Why did the customer look awkward when she was asked how old she was? Because people don’t like to talk about their ages. 4. How did the typist contradict Esther? She said she wasn’在，我正在做她的工作。
I’m doing Julie’s job in her absence.
5. It was no coincidence either that she wasn’t a very good saleswoman. 她成不了以为优秀的推销员也就不是巧合了。 coincidence n. 巧合 我们碰巧上了同一列火车。 By a strange coincidence we were both on the same train.
6. Esther was never cautious about other people’s feelings.埃斯特从来不留意别人的感情。 cautious adj. 谨慎的，慎重的，小心的 be cautious about/of sb. doing sth. 提防某人，注意某人 每逢当众说话，我都慎于言辞。 I’m very cautious about expressing my opinions in public.
埃丝特.戈林鲍姆是一个传真机公司的 女销售员，负责业务供应。 saleswoman n. 女推销员，女销售员
firm n. 公司 adj. 坚固的，牢固的
我的公司快要搬到上海了。
My firm is moving to Shanghai soon.
2. But she was also the most outspoken human being in the world---well, Westchester County, at least. 但她也是世界上最口无遮拦的人，至少在韦切 斯特县是这样。 outspoken adj. 直言不讳的，坦率的，不客气的 outspeak v. 坦率地说 他是一个坦率的人。 He was an outspoken man. at least 至少 我们至少还有三天的时间来完成这项工作。 At least, we have three days to finish this work.
4. Esther Greenbaum’s major shortcoming was that she had a complete absence of small talk. shortcoming n. 缺点，短处
不守时间是他最大的缺点。
Not being punctual is his greatest shortcoming.
2. two things you should not say
How old are you? How much did your haircut cost? 3. one way of replying to questions which you don’t wish to answer I’d rather not say.