English_books / Adv_eng

1Half the pairs should look at Activity 6 (how a MOVIE SOUNDTRACK works), the other half at 25 (how a MOVIE PROJECTOR works).

2Work with a pair who were studying different information and share your knowledge.

Imagine that a friend is coming to stay in your home while you and your family are away for a week. Your friend will need to know how to operate everything. Write instructions for your friend explaining how to operate TWO pieces of equipment in the kitchen and/or the living room (about 250 words).

If instructions are numbered or laid out clearly they're easier to understand. Using headings can help your reader to see at a glance what you're referring to.

1 He glanced at. . .

2 She stared at. . .

3 He gazed at. . .

4 She peered at. . .

5 He noticed . . .

6 She watched . . .

7 He glared at. . .

. . . television all evening.

. . . the painting for a long time.

. . . her with admiration.

. . . the person sitting opposite on the bus.

. . . the small print in the brochure.

. . . the view of the mountains.

. . . the people who were making a noise.

. . . the football match until the end.

New Cambridge Advanced English

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A gesture is any action that sends a visual signal to an onlooker. To become a gesture, an act has to be seen by someone else and has to communicate some piece of information to them. It can do this either because the gesturer deliberately sets out to send a signal - as when he waves his hand - or it can do it only incidentally - as when he sneezes. The hand-wave is a Primary Gesture, because it has no other existence or function. It is a piece of communication from start to finish. The sneeze, by contrast, is a secondary, or Incidental Gesture. Its primary function is mechanical and is concerned with the sneezer's personal breathing problem. In its secondary role, however, it cannot help but transmit a message to his companions, warning them that he may have caught a cold.

Most people tend to limit their use of the term 'gesture' to the primary form - the hand-wave type - but this misses an

important point. What matters with gesturing is not what signals we think we are sending out, but what signals are being received. The observers of our acts will make no distinction between our intentional Primary Gestures and our unintentional, incidental ones. In some ways, our Incidental Gestures are the more illuminating of the two, if only for the very fact that we do not think of them as gestures, and therefore do not censor and manipulate them so strictly. This is why it is preferable to use the term 'gesture' in its wider meaning as an 'observed action'.

A convenient way to distinguish between Incidental and Primary Gestures is to ask the question: Would I do it if I were completely alone? If the answer is No, then it is a Primary Gesture. We do not wave, wink or point when we are by ourselves; not, that is, unless we have reached the unusual condition of talking animatedly to ourselves.

SYMBOLIC GESTURES

A Symbolic Gesture indicates an abstract quality that has no simple equivalent in the world of objects and movements. How, for instance, would you make a silent sign for stupidity? You might launch into a full-blooded Theatrical Mime of a drooling village idiot. But total idiocy is not a precise way of indicating the momentary stupidity of a healthy adult. Instead, you might tap your forefinger against your temple, but this also lacks accuracy, since you might do precisely the same thing when indicating that someone is brainy. All the tap does is to point to the brain. To make the meaning more clear, you might instead twist your forefinger against your temple, indicating 'a screw loose'. Alternatively, you might rotate your forefinger close to your temple, signalling that the brain is going round and round and is not stable.

Many people would understand these temple-forefinger actions, but others would not. They would have their own local stupidity gestures, which we in our turn would find confusing, such as tapping the elbow of the raised forearm, flapping the hand up and down in front of half-closed eyes, rotating a raised hand, or laying one forefinger flat across the forehead.

New Cambridge Advanced English

The situation is further complicated by the fact that some stupidity signals mean totally different things in different countries. To take one example, in Saudi Arabia stupidity can be signalled by touching the lower eyelid with the tip of the forefinger. But this same action, in various other countries, can mean disbelief, approval, agreement, mistrust, scepticism, alertness, secrecy, craftiness, danger or criminality. The reason for this apparent chaos of meanings is simple enough. By pointing to the eye, the gesturer is doing no more than stress the symbolic importance of the eye as a seeing organ. Beyond that, the action says nothing, so that the message can become either: 'Yes, I see', or 'I can't believe my eyes', or 'Keep a sharp look­ out', or 'I like what I see', or almost any other seeing signal you care to imagine. In such a case it is essential to know the precise 'seeing' property being represented by the symbolism of the gesture in any particular culture.

So we are faced with two basic problems where Symbolic Gestures are concerned: either one meaning may be signalled by different actions, or several meanings may be signalled by the same action, as we move from culture to culture. The only solution is to approach each culture with an open mind and learn their Symbolic Gestures as one would their vocabulary.

Many experts tell us we are doing things wrong and should change our behavior - which usually sounds easier than it turns out to be. Sensitivity training judges men by women's standards, trying to get them to talk more like women.

Assertiveness training judges women by men's standards and tries to get them to talk more like men. No doubt, many people can be helped by learning to be more sensitive or more assertive. But few people are helped by being told they are doing everything all wrong. And there may be little wrong with what people are doing, even if they are winding up in arguments. The problem may be that each partner is

operating within a different system, speaking a different genderlect [i.e. a male 'dialect' and a female 'dialect'].

An obvious question is, Can genderlect be taught? Can people change their conversational styles? If they want to, yes, they can - to an extent. But those who ask this question rarely want to change their own styles. Usually, what they have in mind is sending their partners for repair: They'd like to get him or her to change. Changing one's own style is far less appealing, because it is not just how you act but who you feel yourself to be. Therefore a more realistic approach is to learn how to interpret each other's

messages and explain your own in a way your partner can understand and accept.

Understanding genderlects makes it possible to change - to try speaking differently - when you want to. But even if no one changes, understanding genderlect improves relationships. Once people realize that their partners have different conversational styles, they are inclined to accept differences without blaming themselves, their partners, or their relationships. The biggest mistake is believing there is one right way to listen, to talk, to have a conversation - or a relationship. Nothing hurts more than being told your intentions are bad when you know they are good, or being told you are doing something wrong when you know you're just doing it your way.

Not seeing style differences for what they are, people draw conclusions about personality ("you're illogical", "you're insecure", "you're self-centered") or intentions ("you don't listen", "you put me down"). Understanding style

differences for what they are takes the sting out of them. Believing that "you're not interested in me", "you don't care about me as much as I care about you", or "you want to take away my freedom" feels awful. Believing that "you have a different way of showing you're listening" or "showing you care" allows for no-fault negotiation: you can ask for or make adjustments without casting or taking blame.

If you understand gender differences in what I call conversational style, you may not be able to prevent disagreements from arising, but you stand a better chance of preventing them from spiraling out of control. When sincere attempts to communicate end in stalemate, and a beloved partner seems irrational and obstinate, the different languages men and women speak can shake the foundation of our lives. Understanding the other's ways of talking is a giant leap across the communication gap between women and men, and a giant step toward opening lines of com­ munication.

America is hooked on foreign oil. Today we import almost 40 per cent of the oil we use - even more than in 1973, when the Arab embargo plunged us into gas lines, rationing, and recession.

The more we can use nuclear energy, instead of imported oil, to generate electricity, the less we have to depend on foreign nations.

The 110 nuclear plants in the US have cut our foreign oil

dependence by over three billion barrels since 1973. And they have cut foreign oil payments by over one hundred billion dollars.

But 110 nuclear plants will not be enough to meet our growing electricity demand. More plants are needed.

To help kick the foreign oil habit, we need to rely more on our own energy sources, like nuclear energy.

For a free booklet on nuclear energy write to the US Council for Energy Awareness, P.O. Box 66103, Dept. SN01, Washington, D.C. 20035.

US COUNCIL FOR ENERGY AWARENESS

Write a report describing the ads in the magazine. Recommend what kinds of ads the editor should encourage - and what kinds of ads he or she should try to discourage.

Before you start writing, make notes and decide:

-how you will begin (your opening paragraph)

-what your main points will be

-how you will end (your conclusions or recommendations)

Show your work to a partner and ask for feedback.

A report is usually a fairly objective account plus your personal recommendations or conclusions. The purpose of a report is to give your readers information as well as giving them your views. A report can end with a paragraph headed 'Conclusions' or 'Recommendations'.