Reading and vocabularyReading and vocabulary

Look at the new words in the box.

Revise the words

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

1. a place of work

2. thing you say or write

3. a physical state

4. people or jobs

firm

apology motto

pregnant

acquaintance clerk customer fool

hostess human being saleswoman

typist

Find words for:

5. personal characteristics/appearance

awkward cautious mature messy

outspoken

brunch

6. meal

Brainstorm

Groups work:

Talk about the wrong kinds of small talk

you have experienced.

Work in pairs. You’re going to read

a story about a sales woman. Discuss

what kind of small talk you need as a

statesperson.

Read the passage and answer the questions.

1. What did Esther often do when she

spoke to others?

2. What do you think are “the basic

rules of social communication”?

She put her foot in it (she said something

embarrassing).

To be polite and not to embarrass

people.

Because she didn’t want to say

her age.

She said she wasn’t pregnant.

3. Why did the customer look awkward

when she was asked how old she

was?

4. How did the typist contradict Esther?

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.

She wanted to know how much it cost.

6. What did Esther think of the clerk’s

haircut?

He thought the office would be quieter

without him.

She thought he was ugly.

8. What did Esther think of her old school

friend’s husband?

7. Why did the young man think the

company gave him a new job miles away?

put my foot in it

have a complete absence of small talk

as a consequence

It is no coincidence that---

on another occasion

be cautious about

Read again and pay attention to these

Phrases.

be modest about

discourage you from doing sth

on the anniversary of their

graduation

Read carefully and find:

I’d rather not say.

one way of replying to questions which

you don’t wish to answer

Small talk

Things you can say Things you should

not say

Nice to meet you. How old are you?

Nice haircut. How much did your

haircut cost?

I’d like you to meet

my husband.

Pair work:

Introduce to your partner Esther’s two

wrong kinds of small talk. (follow the model)

Esther Greenbaum was a saleswoman.

Unfortunately she was not very cautious

about what she said.

Once she met an important customer…

Another time…

From all this we can see Esther was

really an outspoken person, which made

other people annoyed.

Practice

Translate the following sentences.1. 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”。

2. It was no coincidence either that she

wasn’t a very good saleswoman.

她成不了一位优秀的推销员也就不是巧合了。

3. On another occasion, Esther teased a

typist, “ Hey! When’s your baby due?”

还有一次，埃斯特打趣一位打字员说“嗨！你什么时候生宝宝啊”。

4. One of her acquaintances, a salesman in

the firm, was going through a very

messy divorce and was very depressed.和她在同一家公司做推销员的一位熟人正陷入离婚窘境，他为此非常沮丧。

Language points of the textLanguage points of the text

1. As a consequence, she made systematic

mistakes every time she opened her

mouth.

非常点拨be ready to take / suffer/bear the cons

equences of one’s actions

准备承担自己行动的后果

have far-reaching consequences for the c

ountry’s economy

对…产生深远的影响in consequence of 由于，因而in consequence 因此，由此as a consequence 因此，结果

词汇扩展： ① adj. consequent (on/upon sth)

由……引起的，随之发生的 the rise in prices consequent on the

failure of the crops

由于农作物歉收而引起的物价上涨 ② adv. consequently=as a result/ therefore

所以，因而 My car broke down and consequently

I was late.

翻译句子：1) She was found guilty and lost her job i

n consequence of it.

她被判有罪，因而失去了工作。

2) 对你重要吗？Is it of any consequence to you?

由于在医院的缘故，谢莉决定当一名护士。

3) As a consequence of being in hospital,

Shelly decided that she wanted to

become a nurse.

2. One of her acquaintances, a salesman

in the firm, was going through a very

messy divorce and was very depressed.

cn. 相识而非密友，泛泛之交He has a wide circle of acquaintances.

他交友甚广。She’s an old acquaintance.

她是个老相识（我早就认识她）。

un 对……略微的了解 (with)

He has little ~ with the Japanese language.

他不太懂日语。The guide has some acquaintance with

Italian.

导游懂得一点意大利语。

固定短语：have a passing/nodding ~ with sth

与…有点头之交make sb’s acquaintance/make the acquai

ntance of sb

结识某人 ; 与某人相见on (further) acquaintance

认识了一段（较长）时间以後

词汇扩展：1) acquaint v. 使熟知 , 通知 ~ sb/oneself with sth =make sb/oneself

familiar with or aware of sth

使某人 [ 自己 ] 熟悉或了解某事物2). acquainted adj. 有知识的 , 知晓的 ~ with sth familiar with sth

对某事物熟悉 ~ (with sb) 对某人认识的

The lawyer acquainted himself with the

details of his client’s business affairs.

那位律师了解委托人生意上的详情。Are you acquainted with the works of

Shakespeare?

你对莎士比亚的作品熟悉吗 ?

1) I have some acquaintance with the

Russian. 我懂一点儿俄语。

2) You will soon become fully acquainted

with the procedures.

你很快就会对这些程序完全熟悉了。

翻译句子：

3) Please acquaint me with the facts of

the case.

4) I made his acquaintance at a party.

请把这事的情况告诉我。

我是在一个聚会上认识他的。

根据句意及首字母提示完成下列句子。1. In the a_______ of the manager, I shall

be in charge of the company.

2. The new store across from the street ha

s taken away most of my c________, an

d it is a great loss to my store.

3. The Finance Director was unable to att

end the meeting and sent her a_______.

bsence

ustomers

pologies

4. He was not my close friend; I made

his a__________ at a party last

weekend.

5. She is very m_______ about her

success though she had a drawer of

medals.

6. Next Monday is my parents’ 31st

wedding a___________.

cquaintance

odest

nniversary

用适当的介词或副词填空。1. He has little acquaintance _______

Japanese, but he speaks English fluently.

2. Some of the players may, _______ occas

ion, break the rules.

3. Employers may become overly cautious

_______ taking on new staff.

with

on

about

4. May I ask a favor _______ you?

5. Just think about what you went

_______ last time you gave up

smoking.

6. The rain discouraged us _______ going

out.

of

through

from

根据括号内的汉语提示完成下列句子，每空一词。1. He didn’t realize that he had ______________________ ( 说错话 ).2. ____________ ( 缺少 ) sunlight made it d

ifficult to take good pictures.3. _________________ ( 由于 ) smoking, m

y father coughs frequently.4. _____________________ ( 真巧 ) he was

born on his mother’s birthday.

put his foot in his mouthThe absence of

In consequence of

It was a coincidence that

5. I only ever use that machine

__________________( 在特殊的场合 ) so

it’s as good as new to me.

6. She ________ ( 漏掉 ) the date on the

cheque when she filled in the form.

7. The dog may bite you if you __________

( 一直挑逗 ) it.

8. Jim got an ___________________

( 热情接待 ) when he returned home.

on special occasions

left out

keep teasing

enthusiastic reception

9. At the formal party John

________________ ( 看起来不自在 ) and

out of place.

10. The job __________________________

( 包括国外旅行 ) for three months each

year.

looks awkward

involves traveling abroad