Unit3-4

Unit3Listening Task 1:When she has young children, a stay-at-home mom has two jobs. Her house and her kids. A stay-at-home mom is expected to do all the house cleaning. She is expected to always be the one to get up in the middle of the night, do the school things —room-mother, baker, coordinator, chauffeur and carpooler, etc. Often, a stay –at-home mom is expected to take over “daddy-type”chores such as lawn-mowing and taking cars for repair. Imagine sitting in a repair shop with two squirmy toddlers(蹒跚学步的小孩)!The worse thing is that the stay-at-home mom is made to feel guilty for saying “no”. The reason the stay –at-home mom does not get her hails done or have a spa day is she feels guilty for spending family money on herself.Gosh, you all have such hectic lives. I’m dizzy just hearing your daily activities. I guess I have it nice. I have no schedule at all! I get up when I want. I work my business when I want. I shop when I want to. I wash my hair when I bathe or I don’t wash my hair. When I go to work all I have to do is open up my office door in my house and I’m at work already. NO traffic to deal with and there can be 10 feet of snow on the ground and I wouldn’t walk an inch of it because my house connects directly to my warehouse! If I get up and don’t feel like working I don’t. Answers:stay-at-home mom; house cleaning; in the middle of the night; room-mother, baker, coordinator, chauffeur, and carpooler; lawn-mowing; fro repair; guilty for saying “no”; her nails done; have a spa day; spending family money on herself.Nice life; no schedule; gets up; when she wants; opens up her office door; deal with traffic; feel like working.Listening Task 2:I took my first drink and smoked my first marijuana cigarette when I was 12 years old. In high school, I used all kinds of drugs. After high school until I was 21, I did a lot of binge drinking. When I was 31, I started using crack cocaine. That’s when the real problems began.I was addicted to alcohol and cocaine, and my life was a wreck. I tried to quit a number of times. I moved to Mexico and gave up cocaine. I still drank and smoked marijuana, but for the time I lived there, I was off cocaine. I though that that time off cocaine would completely cure me of any desire for it ,but when I got back in town two years later, I started using it again only five days later. Every part of my life was messed up. I remember my oldest son being embarrassed to be seen with me. He would pass me on the street with his friends but he wouldn’t even speak to me. The bottom came for me when I was finally evicted from my apartment. I lost my car, my home and my sons. I looked in the mirror that day, and I couldn’t look myself in the eyes. The next morning, Ishowed up at the treatment were hared, but I was convinced that I needed help, so I stayed. I’ve been clean now for five years, and I have a new life.Self-Studybecoming a blonde/ use to your advantage/ broke through the glass ceiling/ get comfortable with/ how to deal with society/ what makeup works well/ someone from the NBA/ wearing pantyhose/ the dust settled/ well behind usUnit 4Listening Task 1:The traditional American family is a “nuclear family”. A nuclear family refers to a husband and wife and their children. The average American family today has two or three children. In some cultures, people live close to their extended family. Several generations may even live together. In American, only in a few cases does more than one household live under one roof.American values are valued in the home. Many homes are run like a democracy. Each family member can have a say. A sense of equality often exists in American homes. Husbands and wives often share household chores. Often parents give children freedom to make their own decisions. Preschoolers choose what clothes to wear or which toys to buy. Youngadults generally make their own choices about what career to pursue and whom to marry.Families in America, like those in every culture, face many problems. Social pressures are breaking apart more and more American homes. Over half of US marriages now end in divorce. More than one in four American children are growing up in single-parent homes. As a result, many people believe the American family is in trouble.Even so, there is still reason for hope. Many organizations are working hard to strengthen families. Americans almost unanimously believe that the family is one of the most important parts of life. They realize that problems in family life in recent years have brought serious consequences. As a result, more and more people are making their family a priority. Many women are quitting their jobs to stay home with their children. Families are going on vacations and outings together. Husbands and wives are making a concentrated effort to keep their marriages solid.The United Nations has declared 1994 the “International Year of Family”. Not just in America, but all over the world, people recognize the importance of a strong family bond.Listening Task 2:Women are beginning to rise steadily to the top in the workplace all over the developed world, but in the US they are forging ahead. New figures show that in almost a third of American households with aworking wife, the woman brings home more money than her husband. They are gaining more college degrees and Masters of Business Administration qualifications than men and now occupy half the country’s high–paying, executive administrative and managerial occupations, compared with 34 per cent 20 years ago.The trend is caused by two main factors, experts say ——a growing acceptance of men as househusbands and mass redundancy of male white-collar workers form the technology, finance and media industries in the last three years.The University of Maryland has produced a report that shows women to be the family’s bread-earner-in-chief I 11 per cent of all US marriages. And where both spouses work, she now brings in 60 per cent or more of the family income in30.4 per cent of the households.An economist at the University of Wisconsin said that ambitious women are increasingly looking fro househusbands and leave men at the kitchen sink.Self-StudyCombine/ enormous/ competitive/ capable/ increasingly/ dropping out/ identity/ careers/ balance。