综合教程II之第十单元Unit 10 The Jeaning of America课文课件

pants called blue jeans, and what the pants symbolize is
what Alexis de Tocqueville called “a manly and legitimate
passion for equality …” Blue jeans are favored equally by
they are sought after almost everywhere in the world —
including Russia, where authorities recently broke up a
teenaged gang that was selling them on the black market
Carin Quinn
1 This is the story of a sturdy American symbol which has
now spread throughout most of the world. The symbol is not
the dollar. It is not even Coca-Cola. It is a simple pair of
Unit 10 The Jeaning of America
Do you know any American icon?
Coca Cola
McDonald’s
Kentucky Fried Chicken
White House
US dollar
Statue of Liberty
Levi’s Levi Strauss & Co. (LS & CO) is a privately held clothing
company known worldwide for its Levi’s brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia (Kingdom of Bavaria) to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers’ New York dry goods business. Although the company began producing denim overalls in the 1870s, modern jeans were not produced until the 1920s. The company briefly experimented (in the 1970s) with employee ownership and a public stock listing, but remains owned and controlled by descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss’ four nephews.
Structural Analysis
1. Based on the time phrases found above, divide the text into parts by completing the table. Para. I (1) The author presents the status of blue jeans in America
Different types of writing
Expository 说明文 Argumentative writing 议论文 Narrative writing 记叙文 Descriptive writing 描写文
Detailed reading
The Jeaning of America
Detailed reading
4 It was the wrong kind of canvas for that purpose, but while talking with a miner, he learned that pants — sturdy pants that would stand up to the rigors of the digging — were almost impossible to find. Opportunity beckoned. On the spot, Strauss measured the man’s girth and inseam with a piece of string and, for six dollars in gold dust, had the canvas tailored into a pair of stiff but rugged pants. The miner was delighted with the result. Word got around about “those pants of Levi’s,” and Strauss was in business. The company has been in business ever since. 5 When Strauss ran out of canvas, he wrote his two brothers to send more. He received instead a tough, brown cotton cloth made in Nimes, France — called serge de Nimes and swiftly shortened to “denim”(the word “jeans” derives
Fashion Brands
Watch a video.
1. From what perspective does the text tell the story of blue jeans?
The text tells the story of blue jeans mainly from two perspectives: how blue jeans came into being and why they are favored by Americans and have become a symbol of American popular culture.
When a married sister in San Francisco offered to pay his way West in 1850, he jumped at the opportunity, taking with him bolts of canvas he hoped to sell for tenting.
2. What type of writing is the text? And how is the text structured?
This is a piece of expository writing. The author recounts some key facts related to the invention and popularization of blue jeans by following the chronological order.
2. Why are jeans favored by Americans and have them become an American symbol?
Blue jeans were favored first of all by the American working class in the early days for its durability and toughness; then they became favored by Americans in general, because they embody the American ideal of equality. They are favored by bureaucrats and cowboys, bankers and deadbeats alike. They draw no distinction and recognize no classes.
Detailed reading
from Genes, the French word for Genoa, where a similar cloth was produced). Almost from the first, Strauss had his cloth dyed the distinctive indigo that gave blue jeans their name. But it was not until the 1870s that he added the copper rivets which have long since become a company trademark. The rivets were the idea of a Virginia City, Nevada, tailor, Jacob W. Davis, who added them to pacify a mean-tempered miner called Alkali Ike. Alkali, the story goes, complained that the pockets of his jeans always tore when he stuffed them with ore samples and demanded that Davis do something about it. As a kind of joke, Davis took the pants to a blacksmith and had the pockets riveted; once again, the idea worked so well that word got around. In 1873 Strauss appropriated and patented the gimmick — and hired Davis as a regional manager.