The Jeaning of America

The Jeaning of America

Unit 14Text 1

Teaching Objectives Practice using the past perfect tense, and dif

ferentiate it from the simple past; Discuss what makes one succeed; Learn to use the following structures:

…have sth done use…as… It seems likely that… …so much so that…

Before Reading Global Reading Detailed Reading After Reading

Before Reading Background Information

Top 5 American Icons

A national icon is someone who, by the mere mention of their name, will remind people of their country. Whether they like it or not, they are representatives of their nation to the rest of the world.

Top 5 : Ronald Reagan Best known for his role as the 40th Presiden

t of the United States, Reagan started out as a radio announcer and Hollywood actor, having made over 50 films. He realized politics was his calling and in 1947 became President of the Screen Actors Guild.

He changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican and was elected Governor of California in 1966. After taking over the White House in 1981, he served in this capacity for two terms. During those years, he showed the world what America is all about.

Best quote: "America is too great to dream small dreams."

Top 4: Ernest Hemingway Hemingway is considered the greatest American fict

ion writer of the 20th century. He was an ambulance driver during World War I and a war correspondent during World War II. He wrote about his experiences as an American expatriate in Paris during the 1920s, hunting in Africa, and fishing off Cuba.

His direct and sparse way of writing became his trademark, which has often been imitated and parodied. His works have earned him both the Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize. He supposedly committed suicide while struggling with a bout of depression, but he still remains one of the most prominent literary ambassadors America has ever had.

Best quote: "All things truly wicked start from an innocence."

Top 3: Michael Jordan Here's a man who lives the American Drea

m. Originally from Brooklyn, Michael Jordan attended the University of North Carolina and proved that he truly was the best basketball player that ever lived by taking his team to the NCAA championship. He was soon drafted into the NBA as a guard for the Chicago Bulls. He led his team to six league championships and won the MVP award five times.

Also a savvy businessman, Air Jordan's fortune was estimated at $408 million in 2003.

Best quote: "I can accept failure, but I can't accept not trying."

Top 2: Martin Luther King, Jr. He had a dream. When he heard about a pa

cifist in India named Mahatma Gandhi, and became enamored with Gandhi's methods of peaceful protest.

Openly supporting Rosa Parks and her refusal to relinquish her seat to a white bus passenger made him a target for his opponents and his house was bombed. But that just served to fuel his desire to see segregation terminated. He became a national advocate for civil liberties and inspired a nation to change its ways. His assassination in 1968 only proved that he was on the right track.

Best quote: "If a man hasn't found something he will die for, he isn't fit to live."

Top1: John Fitzgerald Kennedy The Kennedy clan is often considered the only Roy

al family the United States has ever had. What makes it so is not their wealth or political role, but rather the aura of nobility surrounding them. JFK was the embodiment of this. A Navy officer during World War II, he became a senator in 1952. Nine years later, he became the 35th American president.

His term in office was often dubbed the New Frontier since it was an era of change. He put an end to segregation, established the Peace Corps, and masterminded the resolution of the Cuban Missile Crisis.Unfortunately, he is often best remembered for his assassination in 1963. For all his youthful energy and magnetism, he represented the quintessence of America.

Best quote: "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country."

Before Reading

Warm-up Questions: What style of clothes do you prefer?

Do you like jeans? Why or why not?

What famous brand of jeans do you know? And why do you think the brand become popular?

Global Reading

Is this a piece of narration, description or argumentation?

What do you think jeaning represent in American culture?

How many parts can this passage be divided into?

Structural Analysis

Detailed Reading

Introduction Paragraph 1 Paragraphs 2-3 Paragraph 4 Paragraph 5 Paragraph 6 Paragraph 7

Introduction

Question:

What do you know about the author?

Who was the first blue jean invented for?

IntroductionLanguage workToday, there are tough double-kneed jeans for kids, acid-washed jeans for teens, designer jeans for the fashion set, and boot-cut jeans for outdoor workers. But all began in 1850 when Levis Strauss, a German immigrant who had gone West to seek his fortune, sewed up some sturdy canvas pants for a miner.

The story of levis Strauss’s career, and the parallel career of his proletarian pants, is part true grit, part luck, and part legend. The bottom line, Quinn reports, is 83 million pairs of Levis riveted blue jeans sold every year.

Paragraphs 1

Question: How does author prove that the blue jeans

stand for “a passion for equality”?

Language work

This is the story of a sturdy American symbol which has now spread throughout most of the world.

It is a simple pair of 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 bureaucrats and cowboys, bankers and deadbeats, fashion designers and beer drinkers. They draw no distinctions and recognize no classes: they are merely American. Yet 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 for two hundred dollars a pair.

And it seems likely that they will outlive even the necktie.

Paragraphs 2-3

Question: What kind of life did Levis Strauss expect in

New York?

Why did Strauss decide to leave New York for the West?

Language work

This ubiquitous American symbol was the invention of a Bavarian-born Jew.

He was born in Bad Ocheim, Germany, in 1829, and during the European political turmoil of 1848 decided to take his chances in New York, to which his two brothers already had emigrated.

Upon arrival, Levis soon found that his two brothers had exaggerated their tales of an easy life in the land the main chance.

For two years he was a lowly peddler, hauling some 180 pounds of sundries door to door to eke out a marginal living. 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.

Paragraph 4Question:

Was there any use of the canvas that Strauss brought to the West?

What do you think led to Strauss’s successful invention of the jeans?

Language work

It was the wrong kind of canvas for that purpose, but while talking with a miner down from the mother lode, he learned that pants – sturdy pants that would stand up to the rigors of the digging – were almost impossible to find. Opportunity beckoned.

Opportunity presented itself.

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. Word got around about “those pants of Levis’s”, and Strauss was in business.

Paragraph 5

Question? Did the miner, Alkali, demand copper rivets

to be added to his pants?

What was the intended purpose of the tailor who added copper rivets to the pants?

Language work

When Strauss ran out of canvas, he wrote his two brothers to say more.

Almost from the first, Strauss had his clothdyed the distinctive indigo that gave blue jeans their name.

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 demand

that Davis do something about it.

In 1873 Strauss appropriated and patented

the gimmick – and hired Davis as a regional

manager.

Paragraph 6

Question: When and how were Levis’s jeans

introduced to the East?

Language work

Over the ensuing years the company prospered locally, and by the time of his death in 1902, Strauss had become a man of prominence in California. For three decades thereafter the business remained profitable though small. With sales largely confined to the working people of the West ---- cowboys, lumberjacks, railroad workers, and the like.

Levis’s jeans were first introduced to the East, apparently, during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned and spread word about the wonderful pants with rivets. Another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in defense work.

They have become, through marketing, word of mouth, and demonstrable reliability, the common pants of America. They can be purchased pre-washed, pre-faded, and pre-shrunk for the suitably proletarian look. They adapt themselves to any sort of idiosyncratic use; women slit them at the inseams and convert them into long skirts, men chop them off above the knees and turn them into something to be worn while challenging the surf. Decorations and ornamentations abound.

Paragraph 7

Questions:

What does the author intend to prove with the three anecdotes?

Language work:

The pants have become a tradition, and along the way have acquired a history of their own ---- so much so that the company has opened a museum in San Francisco. There was, for example, the turn-of-the-country trainman who replaced a faulty coupling with a pair of jeans; the Wyoming man who used his jeans as a towrope to haul his car out of a ditch;

the California who found several pairs in an abandoned mine, wore them, then discovered they were sixty-three years old and still as good as new and turned them over to the Smithsonian as a tribute to their roughness.

And then there is the particularly terrifying story of the careless construction worker who dangled fifty-two stories above the street until rescued, his sole support the Levis belt loop through which his rope was hooked. To After Reading

tough not easily cut, broken, or worn out

Tough glass is needed for windscreens. severe; harsh:

Many homeless people are facing a tough winter.

demanding or troubling; difficult: The process of adjusting to life with a baby can be pretty

tough.

Strong-minded; resolute You need to be tough to survive in the jungle.

designer jeans

Jeans that are named after their designers

boot-cut jeans Jeans that are specially tailored for people

wearing boots

immigrant A person who leaves one country to settle

permanently in another New York has a large immigrant population.

Word derivation: immigration

Immigration officers would not allow us to take fruit into the country.

immigrate He immigrated with his parents in 1895 and grew up in Long

Island.

sew up join or mend something by sewing :

Mother sewed up the hole in socks for me. The suit was sewn up along the seams by hand.

(infml) arrange sth; settle sth By the end of the meeting everything should be nicely

sewn up.

sturdy

strong and solid a sturdy chair, structure, car a sturdy child

resolute, determined, firm The sturdy resistance to the plan from Tony

worked.

parallel relating to two or more straight coplanar line

s that do not intersect 平行线的； Hills roRad is parallel to Mill Road.

exactly corresponding; similar Parallel experiments are being conducted in Ro

me, Paris and Londong. These beautiful African churches have no parall

el in Europe.

proletarian

Of, relating to, or characteristic of the proletariat 无产阶级的

Word derivation Proletariat 无产阶级

The dictatorship of the proletariat is one of the aims of Communism

　 grit

minute rough granules, as of sand or stone: Several workers are busy spreading grit on icy roads.

quality of courage and endurance Mountaineering in a blizzard needs a lot of grit.

bottom line

The main or essential point A lot can happen between now and December,

but the bottom line—for now—is that the city is still heading toward default.

The final result or statement The bottom line, however, is that he has

escaped.

symbol Something that represents something else b

y association, resemblance, or convention, especially a material object used to represent something invisible The cross is the symbol of Christianity. The lion is the symbol of courage.

mark or sign with a particular meaning, eg plus and minus signs in mathematics, punctuation marks, musical notation, etc Au is the chemical symbol for gold.

word derivation• Symbolism

Poetry is full of religious symbolism.

• Symbolic The power of the monarchy in Britain today is more

symbolical than real.

symbolize

to serve as a symbol of The picture of a red disc with rays coming from

it symbolizes the sun.

represent sth/sb by means of a symbol. The poet has symbolized his lover with a flower.

Alexis de Tocqueville

The name of a French historian, known for his studies of the nature and operation of democracy, with the view of advancing the rule of the people and at the same time controlling its undesirable tendencies.

manly (approv ) (of things) suitable for a man

manly clothes a manly pose

(approv) having the qualities or appearance expected of a man I've always thought he looked very manly in his uniform.

(derog) (of a woman) having the qualities or appearance more appropriate to a man; mannish The struggle between the good and the evil is eternal. Tobacco is considered to be an evil. The greed for money is the root of all evils.

legitimate

being in compliance with the law; lawful: I'm not sure that his business is strictly

legitimate, i.e., is legal. based on logical reasoning; reasonable

A legitimate solution to the problem must be found soon.

bureaucrats

An official who is rigidly devoted to the details of administrative procedure These insensitive bureaucrats will not have

sympathy for such an old lady. Word derivation bureaucratic

bureaucratic government

deadbeat

One who does not pay one's debts. A lazy aimless person;

Come off it, deadbeat, you’re never going to get anywhere.

seek after

To try to get We’re earnestly seeking after the truth.

break up

To separate into pieces; divide: I broke up the chocolate bar and gave my sister

a half. To scatter; disperse:

The crowd broke up after the game To bring or come to an end:

Guards broke up the fight.

outlive

To live longer than: She outlived her son.

To continue in use or existence long enough to survive (something else): When he retired he felt that he had outlived his

usefulness, i.e. was no longer useful. a regulation that has outlived its usefulness

outlive, outlast, survive

These verbs all mean to live or exist longer than another person or thing.

Outlive frequently implies the capacity for enduring after the death of another or after a particular time The old John outlived all his friends.

Outlast often interchangeable without live, more commonly stresses longer duration in time: anxiety that outlasted its cause没有理由却继续存有的焦虑

survive is to remain alive following something potentially destructive to life She survived the plane crash.

ubiquitous

Being or seeming to be everywhere at the same time; omnipresent Is there no escape from the ubiquitous

cigarette smoke in restaurants?

emigrate leave one's own country to go and live in another

The Kelvins emigrate from Britain to Australia. Word derivation emigrant

The number of emigrants from the UK to other EU countries is set to rise dramatically over the next few years.

emigration The mass emigration of refugees comes into America in

wartime

emigrant, immigrant

Emigrant is used with reference to the country from which migration is made.

Immigrant is used with reference to the country into which migration is made

exaggerate

To represent as greater than is actually the case; overstate: He always exaggerates to make his

stories more amusing. Word derivation exaggeration

Apparently, this is a story full of exaggerations.

peddler

One who travels about selling wares for a living

haul

To pull or drag forcibly; They hauled the boat up the beach.

Idiom haul sb over the coals: (infml ) reprimand sb

severely I was hauled over the coals for being late.

sundries

Articles too small or numerous to be specified In the drawer, you find pens, books, and other

sundries.

eke out

To try to make a small supply of sth enough for your needs He managed to eke out a living one summer by

selling drinks on a beach. There wasn’t much food left but we just manage

d to eke it out over four people.

marginal

relating to a margin, a border, or an edge Don’t report these marginal issues that had no

bearing on the election results. written or printed in the margin of a book

The novel borrowed from library is full of marginal notes.

barely adequate His marginal writing ability spoils the book.

jump at

To accept something eagerly She jumped at the chance of a trip to Paris. Everyone expected them to jump at the offer.

lode

The metalliferous ore 金属矿脉Mother lode The main vein of ore in a region.母脉：某一地区的主要矿脉

stand up to

To remain valid, sound, or durable Our old car has stood up to time. Their argument won’t stand up to detailed

criticism. To confront fearlessly; face up to

She stood up to the objection in the conference.

beckon

To signal or summon, as by nodding or waving She beckons to me to follow.

To attract City life beckons (attracts) many a country boy.

girth

distance round sth of approximately cylindrical shape 围长 The tree is one metre in girth.

inseam

The inside seam of a pant leg.裤褪内缝

stiff Difficult to bend; rigid and firm.

a stiff pair of shoes a sheet of stiff cardboard

Lacking ease or comfort of movement have a stiff neck, i.e., painful and difficult to move

Difficult, laborious, or arduous a stiff climb a stiff exam

get around

To become known; circulate News of Jenny’s pregnancy soon gets around in

a small neighbourhood. To evade or avoid

Jay managed to get around the picky questions raised by the reporters.

To travel from place to place It’s hard to get around without a car.

run out of

To become used up; be exhausted We run out of fuel.

To put out by force; compel to leave: We ran him out of town.

dye

To color (a material), especially by soaking in a coloring solution dye one’s hair

indigo

A blue dye obtained from these plants or produced synthetically.靛蓝

pacify

to ease the anger or agitation of. He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part

of the money. establish peace in (an area, a country, etc

where there is war) To pacify the rebel states is the priority now.

mean-tempered

bad-tempered

the story goes

as the story goes. It is a common way of saying “according to a story” or “according to what people say”. Note the similar expressions in the following sentences: Just as the Chinese saying goes, “Three clumsy

cobblers can equal Zhuge Liang the master mind”.

tear

To pull apart or into pieces by force She tore the letter in shreds

To separate forcefully Joanna can’t wait to tear the wrappings off the

presents.

stuff

To fill His head is stuffed with silly notions. Father stuffed Betty’s Christmas stocking while

she is out.

appropriate

To take possession of or make use of exclusively for oneself Lee appropriated my unread newspaper and

never returned it. To set apart for a specific use

My parents have to appropriate money for my future education.

patent The official legal right to make or sell an inve

ntion 专利权 Earlier this year, the company took out a patent

on a genetically engineered tomato that remains firm longer than untreated tomatoes.

To obtain a patent on or for (an invention) If you don’t patent your invention, other people

may make all the profit out of it.

gimmick

unusual, amusing, etc thing whose only purpose is to attract attention, and which has little or no value or importance of its own a promotional/publicity/sales gimmick The flashy expensive car is equipped with all

sorts of gimmicks like self-winding windows etc..

ensuing

Subsequent, following The judges cannot make a consensus in the

ensuing competition. Word derivation Ensue: follow as a consequence or result

Bitter arguments ensued from this misunderstanding.

prosper

To be fortunate or successful; thrive A lot of microchip manufacturing companies

prospered at that time.

thereafter

from then on You will be accompanied as far as the border;

thereafter you must find your own way.

confine To keep within bounds; restrict

Please confine your remarks to the issues at hand. To shut or keep in, especially to imprison

Is it cruel to confine a bird in a cage? To restrict in movement:

The sick child was confined to bed. Word derivation confinement

The prisoner was sentenced to three months' solitary confinement, ie kept apart from other prisoners.

lumberjack

One who fells trees and transports the timber to a mill 伐木工

dude ranch

A resort patterned after a Western ranch, featuring camping, horseback riding, and other outdoor activities.度假牧场

craze

A short-lived popular fashion; a fad Skateboards are the latest craze.

boost

An increase A promotion also mean a big boost in salary.

To increase; raise: The unexpected win boosted the team's morale.

commodity

something useful that can be turned to commercial or other advantage. household commodities 家庭日用品 I lead a very busy life, so spare time is a very p

recious commodity to me. article, product or material that is exchange

d in Trading in commodities was brisk

engage in

take part in or do something In his spare time, he engages I voluntary work. Once Mrs Kirkpatrick engages you in conversati

on, you’re stuck with her for at least half an hour.

word of mouth

It means oral communication. It is normally used with the preposition “by”. The rumor spread rapidly by word of mouth.

demonstrable

Obvious or apparent That’s a demonstrable lie.

Capable of being demonstrated or proved Our argument is based on the demonstrable

truth.

reliability

state or quality of being reliable There is some uncertainty about the reliability of

the data used in the research. Word derivation reliable

My memory's not very reliable these days. The secretary becomes our reliable source of i

nformation about the boss.

purchase

To buy or the act of buying MBI has agreed to purchase additional 7 million shares

of Boxon stock. They began to regret the purchase of such a large hous

e. (fml) firm hold or grip for pulling or raising sth, prev

enting it from slipping, etc; The climbers had difficulty getting a purchase on the roc

k face.

adapt…to…

Change to suit different uses or conditions Many software companies have adapted

popular programs to the new operating system. We had to adapt our plan to fit Jack’s timetable.

idiosyncratic

particular strange or unusual The film, 5 hours long, is directed in his usual

idiosyncratic style.Word derivationIdiosyncrasy It’s an idiosyncrasy of hers that she always

smells a book before opening it.

slit

To make a slit, cut Angrily slitting the cloth into strips, she ran out

of the house. As soon as he got the letter, he slit the

envelope open.

convert…into

Also “convert…to”, change from one form or use to another convert rags into paper, a house into flats,

pounds into francs The room was converted from a kitchen to a

lavatory.

chop…off

To cut something off by hitting it with repeated stroke, using a sharp tool We had to chop off the legs of the table to get it

through the door.

abound

To be great in number or amount Oranges abound here all the year round.

abound in/with sth: have sth in great numbers or quantities The river abounds in/with fish.

faulty Containing a fault or defect; imperfect or def

ective I think it’s the ignition that is faulty.

Word derivation Faultless

His faultless performance won him a large audience.

coupling

A device that links or connects. Here refers the connects between two carriages. 火车的挂钩

towrope

A rope or chain which a vehicle uses to pull another vehicle 拖绳

ditch

A long narrow trench or furrow dug in the ground, as for irrigation, drainage, or a boundary line

Smithsonian

Smithsonian Institution and Museum was founded in 1846 in Washington D.C. by a bequest of James Smithson, an English scientist. Branches of the Institution cover a wide range of fields in arts and sciences.

tribute Evidence attesting to some praiseworthy quality or

characteristic: Her home is a tribute to her good taste

A gift, payment, declaration, or other acknowledgment of gratitude, respect, or admiration Tributes to the dead leader have been received from all

around the world. Pay tribute to: praise

The minister paid tribute to the men who had fought the blaze, saying their bravery had saved countless lives.

dangle

to hang loosely and swing or sway to and fro A bunch of keys dangles at the end of a chain.

dangle sth before/in front of sb: offer sth; temptingly to sb The prospect of promotion was dangled before

him.

sole

Being the only one: He is shocked to learn that he is the sole

survivor of the crash.

loop

length of string, wire, etc in such a shape, usually fastened at the crossing 环，绳圈

hook

A curved or sharply bent device, usually of metal, used to catch, drag, suspend, or fasten something else.钩子 Hang your towel on the hook. He left the phone off the hook so that he would

n't be disturbed. To catch, suspend, or connect with a hook

He hooked the trailer to the car.

After Reading

Structural Analysis Summary Sentence combination Collocation of words Oral Work Writing

Summary

A. The text could be divided into five parts according to the history of blue jeans. Please write a summary for each part.

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 2-3

Paragraph 4-5

Paragraph 6

Paragraph 7

Structural Analysis

Parts Paragraphs Main Ideas

1 Paragraphs 1 The present status of the blue jeans in America and in the world

2 Paragraphs 2-3

The introduction of Levis Strauss, the inventor of the blue jeans

3 Paragraphs 4-5

The detailed description of how Strauss made his first blue jeans

4 Paragraphs 6 The growing business and popularity of the blue jeans

5 Paragraphs 7 The peculiar merits of the blue jeans

B. Please use one sentence to summarize the main idea of the text.

Check the grammar exercises in the student book

Additional exercises:Sentence combination

Group 1 (paragraph 1) The blue jeans are sought after almost everywhere in the

world. They are sought after in lots of places including Russia. Russian authorities recently broke up a teenaged gang. The gang was selling jeans on the black market for two

hundred dollars a pair.

Please combine the following sentences in the group into one sentence. And then make a comparison with the original sentence in the text.

Group 2 (paragraph 3)1. A married sister in San Francisco offered to

pay his way West in 1850.2. He jumped at the opportunity.3. He took with him bolts of canvas he hoped to

sell for tenting.

Group 3 (paragraph 7)1. The pants have become a tradition.2. They have acquired a history of their own

along the way.3. The company has opened a museum in San

Francisco.

Group 4 (paragraph 7)1. There is the particularly terrifying story.2. The careless construction worker dangled fifty-

two stories above the street.3. His sole support was the Levis belt loop until

rescued.4. His rope was hooked through the loop.

There are various ways to combine these sentences, but some may be more effective in expressing the writer’s feelings and more suitable for the tone of the text. And this helps us decide the best way. When we are writing, we should always be conscious of the available choices in expression and the difference between each other.

Check the vocabulary exercises in the student book

Additional exercise:Collocation of words

Please fill in the blank with appropriate words with the hint given in the parentheses.

1. The _____ is 83 million pairs of Levis riveted blue jeans sold every year. (the essential point)

2. It seems likely that they will ____ even the necktie. (live longer than)

3. For two years he was a lowly peddler, hauling some 180 pounds of sundries door to door to eke out a ____ living. (barely adequate)

4. Decorations and ornamentations ____. (be great in number)

In English as it is in every language there is no definite rules for collocation of words. But there is still some effective way by which we can learn and remember how to put words together properly and use them in an authentically. It is a good idea to keep a vocabulary notebook. Besides pronunciation and definition, it is also necessary to write down some sample sentences which demonstrate how the word is used. With these sample sentences, we say understand with which words is this new word often used together.

Oral Work

A. Have a discussion on the following questions.

Are you successful in your high school? Who in your eyes is a successful people? Why? What makes one succeed?

B. Interview one of your classmates about the successful person in his/her eyes

Collect information for writing a profile of a successful person. Name vocation characteristics achievements Anecdotes Special events

WritingA. Write a profile of a successful person

according to your classmates’ description. The information in your writing should be authentic and your writing should be interesting. Read aloud your profile in your group.

B. Recall the properties the successful person has, and write a short message about what you have learned from it or what influence it has on you.