Would you mind keeping your voice down? Unit 7 Reading.

Would you mind keeping your voice

down?

Unit 7 Reading

Section 1 Before You Read

Look up the word “etiquette” in your

dictionary. What does it mean? Look at the

picture below. How many rules of etiquette can

you see being broken? Make a list with your

partner.

etiquette 礼节；礼仪


to embrace


make a bow


to shake hands


Reading strategy:

As we read, we need to find “topic sentence”.

These sentences usually give us a “summary”, or

overall meaning of each paragraph and help us

understand what the paragraph is about. After the

topic sentence comes more detail and explanation.


eat in public


smoke in public


spit everywhere


talk loudly in public

Section 2 While You Read

Would you mind keeping your voice down?

If you spend some time in an

English-speaking country, you

might hear the term “etiquette”. It

means normal and polite social

behavior. This may seem like a

difficult word at first, but it can be

very useful to understand.


Etiquette is not the same in every

culture, or in every situation. For

example, standing very close to the

person you are talking with is quite

common in some Asian countries.

However, if you do this in Europe,

some people might feel

uncomfortable. Even in China, we

all know that etiquette is not the

same in all situations.


Perhaps we think that talking loudly in

our own homes is fine, but there are

other places where talking loudly is not

allowed. For example, most people would

agree that talking loudly in a library, a

museum, or a movie theater is impolite.

Even if you are with your friends, it is

better to keep your voice down in public

places. In fact, we should also take care

not to cough or sneeze loudly in public if

possible.

Section 2 While You Read If we see someone breaking the rules of etiquette, we may give them some suggestions politely. Perhaps one of the most polite ways is to ask someone, Would you mind doing this or Would you mind not doing that. For example, if someone cuts in front of you in a line, you could ask them, sorry, would you mind joining the line? If someone is smoking on the bus, we could ask, Excuse me, could you please put out that cigarette? People don’t usually like to be criticized, so we have to be careful how we do this.


Although rules of etiquette can

often be different, some rules are

the same almost everywhere in the

world! For example, dropping litter

is almost never allowed. If you see

someone you know doing this, you

can ask them, Would you mind

picking it up?

Section 3 After You Read

Paragraph 1

Paragraph 3 Paragraph 4 Paragraph 2

a. We have to be very careful how we criticize people.b. The way people behave is different in different cultures

and situations.c. Sometimes, rules of etiquette are the same almost

everywhere.d. Etiquette is a very important idea to understand.e. We might want to ask someone to behave more politely

if we see them breaking a rule of etiquette.f. People in China and Europe have different ideas about

etiquette.

d be a

Homework:

Finish off the other exercises in “Reading”.

Would you mind keeping your voice down? Unit 7 Reading.

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