Exercises

5. The text contains quite a few words whose pronunciation could pose difficulty. Transcribe the following words to avoid possible mispronunciation and miscommunication in future.

nurturing, iconoclast, rogue, archetypes, caricatures, scallywags, plausible, paradigm, slothful, quiescent, catatonic, belligerently, misanthropic

6. Explain the meanings and give examples of usage of the following words from the text above. Use the chart below.

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Word

Meaning(s)

Example of usage other than in the text

wimp, lout, lark-about, rogue, archetype, caricature, scallywag, plausible, incarnation, upbeat, sturdy, lassie, mainstream, paradigm, slothful, inert, credulous, wily, sly, boor, icon

7. The text contains a number of compound adjectives. Explain the meaning of those below:

cold-eyed, rock-jawed, lager-swigging, middle-class, having-it-all, well-intentioned, mainstream, five-star, iron-bodied, red-misted, straightforward

8. Match the words in the left and right columns to restore the collocations from the text. Give the context where they are used.

e.g. “shorthand male identities” – The researcher explained that all those shorthand male identities have become clichés, caricatures and jokes.

	shorthand	into instability				gender	jokes
	perspective	rosy				keep them	disorder
	come in	professional woman				made	fool
	slip	the wake of				accommodate	the notion
	acres	of media space				five-star	of icons
	having-it-all	this backdrop				popularity	explicit
	far less	male identities				camp	in line
	against	on the world

9. Now let's clarify some points regarding the text above.

1. How did the researcher explain his problem?

2. Why did the use of those male archetypes in advertising not necessarily bring companies profits?

3. How is the New Lad perceived nowadays?

4. What was it that the researcher wanted to know about Ideal Man?

5. What is the situation with "men, masculinity and what we think they ought to mean" nowadays?

6. What were the two shifts in the social order that produced the two latest varieties of male image?

7. How did the mentioned changes affect gender relations?

8. What kind of situation have modern women found themselves in?

9. What perspectives for future gender order are there for men and women?

10. How are young men reached by advertising nowadays?

11. How do you understand the sentence "Trying to find an Ideal Man these days is like searching for fool's gold"?

12. Does advertising catch the mood of the times and reflect life?

13. Why is it claimed that the whole of popular culture seems to have given up on Ideal Man?

14. What are Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger criticised for?

15. How are more balanced types of men being described?

16. What is the last question asked in the text?