Body image survey results

BBC Learning EnglishWeekenderBody image survey results
Amber 1: Hello, I'm Amber, and you’re listening tobbclearningenglish.com.
　　In Weekender today, we listen to a report about a BBCsurvey of 25,000 young British people, asking about theirbody image. In other words, the survey asked them what theythought about their bodies.
　　The results? Well, as we’ll hear, more than half of theyoung women takingpart said they’d have surgery to improve ‘their looks’
　　– the way they look. And the survey showed that most womenbelieved they were not thin enough.
　　Now here’s a reading of a report by the BBC BritishAffairs Correspondent, Stephen Evans. He says that ‘thefashion press’ - the fashion articles in newspapers andmagazines - ‘the fashion press’ is giving specialimportance, or‘emphasis’, to extremely thin models, models who are‘size zero’ – which is anAmerican size of clothing, which is so small it would fit agirl.
　　As you listen, try to catch the expression used to describewhat ‘size zero’
　　looks like.
　　Reading of a report by Stephen Evans‘There's now an emphasis in the fashion press on what'scalled "size zero" - a hyper thin-ness that people inmalnourished parts of the world might find bizarre. Thesurvey indicated, perhaps paradoxically given the obsessionwith thin-ness, that many young women wouldhave surgery to make their breasts bigger or to remove fatfrom other parts of their body. Thesurvey resonates with research in America which indicatesthat girls' obsessions 2 with their images is causing eatingdisorders and depression.’
　　Amber: Did you catch it? ‘A hyper-thin-ness’ – hyper ininformal English means ‘very’ or ‘extremely’. ‘Ahyper-thin-ness’. Another example of hyper in informalEnglish is ‘hyper-sensitive’ – you might say this aboutsomeone who is feeling extremely sensitive or ‘touchy’.
　　The reporter comments that people in ‘malnourished’ partsof the world might find idealising thin-ness ‘bizarre’ orstrange. And he says that ‘paradoxically’, to contradict,the results that women want to be thinner – many womensaid they would like to make some parts of their bodybigger.
　　Finally, we heard that the results of the survey ‘resonate’, they are similar to, research results in America whichshow that girls’ ‘obsessions’ with their images is‘causing eating disorders 3 and depression’. An obsessionis a feeling or idea that completely occupies your mind.
　　Listen again.
　　Reading of a report by Stephen Evans‘There's now an emphasis in the fashion press on what'scalled "size zero" - a hyper thin-ness that people inmalnourished parts of the world might find bizarre. Thesurvey indicated, perhaps paradoxically given the obsessionwith thin-ness, that many young women would have surgery tomake their breasts bigger or to remove fat from other partsof their body. The survey resonates with research inAmerica which indicates that girls' obsessions with theirimages is causing eating disorders and depression.’
　　Amber: Now we do some research of our own. You Ling saysshe thinks young girls in Britain are more confident abouttheir body images than Chinese girls.  But she says Chinesegirls still like to be sexy, of course, they just don’twear revealing clothes! ‘Revealing’ clothes show parts ofthe body which would normally be covered.
　　You Ling BiAs 4 I come from China, I definitely notice the differencesbetween the Chinese young girls andthe young girls in the UK. Generally speaking, I think theyoung girls in the UK are far more confident about theirbody images. They therefore tend to wear more revealingdresses or clothes to be sexy, whereas the Chinese girls –even though they still prefer to be sexy – but they do itin a very secretive way.
　　Amber:  Now Finn ends the programme with a commentthat if he sees a young woman enjoying a meal it indicatesto him that she feels happy and good about herself– and if you ‘feel good’ about yourself, he says, you’
　　ll look good too!
　　Finn AberdeinWell, when I see a young woman eating a meal and reallyenjoying it and not worrying somuch if it's got a little bit of fat in there or otherthings, then I think that's a really good indication thatshe has a good sense of self and a good attitude towardsherself in terms of her body image. And that comes throughin personality and I think if they feel good aboutthemselves, then they'll look good as well.
　　Amber:  Now here’s a list of the language wefocussed on in the programme today. the fashion presssize zerohyper-thin-ness hyper-sensitive touchybizarre resonatesobsessions revealingto feel good about yourselfMore topical stories and language explanations next time atbbclearningenglish.com