英语口语教程(高级) UNIT 23

[00:01.00]Lesson 23 II. Read It is not unusual for some people;

[00:02.87]to try to return to their original work units;

[00:06.33]because they fail to find suitable new jobs.;

[00:10.33]Some who quit enjoy new success in their career.;

[00:15.54]A street pedlar said,"I just regret I left the factory too late...";

[00:21.78]The pedlar wore a suit of Western-style clothes;

[00:25.56]and apparently is well-off now.;

[00:28.97]But another pedlar said that they earn money only through hardship.;

[00:34.63]"We suffer coldness in winter and heat in summer,;

[00:38.99]spending all day in open air.";

[00:42.18]And he told a reporter that a pedlar who worked near him;

[00:46.90]had returned to his original work unit;

[00:50.04]because he found it too hard to he a self-employed worker.;

[00:55.39]The frequent change of jobs among employees;

[00:59.57]represents a challenge;

[01:01.27]to the years-old job allocation system in China,;

[01:05.32]revealing the fact that people have begun to pay attention;

[01:10.30]to their personal values and have a sense of competition.;

[01:15.60]The flow of personnel;

[01:18.12]in the form of quitting old jobs to find new ones;

[01:22.07]cannot be stopped by mere administrative means.;

[01:26.43]Such a flow is inevitable in the development of a commodity economy.;

[01:33.08]The problem can only be solved by further reform.;

[01:39.10]4. A Traveling Man's Labour of Love;

[01:45.48]Born in the Year of the Monkey according to the Chinese calender,;

[01:50.74]Wang Haihe,22,is considered by some people;

[01:56.40]as having some of the characteristics of monkeys,;

[02:00.12]such as being lively,nimble and good at climbing.;

[02:05.43]Wang himself doesn't deny this,;

[02:08.84]since he really can't stand a tranquil and unchanging life.;

[02:13.87]He has been busy moving about since his childhood.;

[02:18.45]Now,only a few years later,;

[02:22.32]he has parlayed his energy and interests;

[02:25.51]into a thriving travel business.;

[02:28.79]As early as when he was in primary school,;

[02:32.79]he and his family spent most of their holidays;

[02:36.47]travelling to nearby mountain areas;

[02:39.39]or to scenic spots in Jiangxian County,Shanxi Province.;

[02:45.23]"Travelling has sometimes meant risk to me,;

[02:48.96]and several times I was on the verge of death;

[02:52.78]when I climbed onto overhanging cliffs,"said Wang.;

[02:56.87]"But this never stops me;in fact, it excites me.";

[03:02.71]By the time when Wang graduated from high school,;

[03:07.11]he had set foot on such famous mountains around the country;

[03:11.69]as Taishan in Shandong Province, Huashan in Shaanxi,;

[03:16.95]Hengshan in Hebei and Songshan in Henan.;

[03:21.89]Of all the places he has been,he likes Mr.Huashan best.;

[03:28.00]It is considered one of the most precipitous;

[03:31.50]and dramatic mountains in the country.;

[03:35.05]"I was there nine times," he said.;

[03:38.47]"Each time I reached the summit, I shouted with excitement.;

[03:44.04]But things went contrary to Wang's interests.;

[03:48.62]He got a job in the local Finance Bureau;

[03:51.95]and worked as a clerk after he graduated from high school.;

[03:56.75]"From some people's point of view it is a good job,;

[04:00.80]since it is easy, comfortable and safe,;

[04:04.66]but for me it is intolerable," said Wang.;

[04:09.20]After a few months, Wang quit his job,;

[04:13.46]giving up the "iron rice bowl" of security,;

[04:17.19]and on October 1 last year;

[04:20.38]he opened a privately owned travel service,;

[04:23.93]the first one in the province.;

[04:26.99]It aims at arousing people's interest in travel;

[04:31.35]and helps them arrange tours, lodging, transportation,;

[04:36.69]photo-taking, entrance tickets and so on.;

[04:41.77]From information he had collected from newspapers and magazines,;

[04:47.97]he learned that about 100,000 people in the country every year;

[04:53.45]come to visit the Guandi Temple,;

[04:56.14]the most convenient scenic spot from Jiangxian County.;

[05:01.85]"But very few people from the county came to the place,;

[05:06.30]not because they had been there,;

[05:08.86]but because most people here;

[05:11.24]had no idea about travelling," said Wang.;

[05:15.10]"Most of the youngsters here;

[05:17.62]would think it is a waste of money to travel;

[05:20.72]and they spend most of their money on food and clothes.";

[05:25.39]Wang put advertisements along streets;

[05:28.80]to draw the interest of young people.;

[05:32.04]"From the time I was very young,;

[05:34.91]I dreamed of touring the country's beautiful rivers and mountains,"he said,;

[05:40.17]"When I am out in nature,I always feel relaxed and become open-minded.;

[05:47.36]Now that I have benefited a lot from travelling,;

[05:51.36]I want more people to share my feeling,;

[05:54.68]and do my best to help them;

[05:57.11]and make their travel easier and more interesting.";

[06:01.51]After being in business only a week,;

[06:05.24]Wang organized his first group of youths-- 17 of them.;

[06:11.30]"The trip is exciting and really economical,";

[06:15.53]said one of the youngsters in the group.;

[06:18.54]"We traveled to Mt. Huashan and Xi'an in Shaanxi Province for three days,;

[06:24.92]and each of us only spent 65 yuan altogether.";

[06:30.44]With good knowledge about the legends;

[06:34.04]and historieal information about various sites,;

[06:38.08]and having rich experience in arranging trips,;

[06:42.44]Wang soon won the trust of the local people.;

[06:46.53]To his great satisfaction,more and more people in the county;

[06:52.10]have begun to show an interest in travelling,;

[06:55.33]and Wang's travel service has become very popular among young people there.;

[07:01.80]"I am very happy with my work now.;

[07:05.35]To me,the 'iron rice bowl' is actually an iron lock.;

[07:11.19]I would rather live according to my own desires;

[07:15.10]and realize my full potential," he said.;

[07:20.53]Lesson 24 Does Fashion Contribute Anything to Society?;

[07:29.12]Text Make up,Dress up, Warm up,Brighten up;

[07:37.07]When 43-year-old Wang Longzhu;

[07:40.84]stepped out of a beauty parlour in Nanjing,;

[07:44.16]capital of Jiangsu Province in East China,;

[07:47.89]she felt all the people around were staring at her with admiration.;

[07:53.87]She said,"Years ago, it would be unusual;

[07:58.00]for a middle-aged woman like me to make up;

[08:01.55]because Chinese women who have married and raised children;

[08:06.04]usually do not care much about their appearance.";

[08:10.27]"When I came home and looked in the mirror,;

[08:13.73]I found myself younger and I felt relaxed and confident,"she added;

[08:20.37]Wang,an official of a pharmaceutical factory in Nanjing,;

[08:25.59]believes a good appearance;

[08:27.79]may leave people with a better impression in social contaets.;

[08:32.55]She goes to the Nanjing Dongfang beauty parlour centre;

[08:37.40]to have face massotherapy once a week.;

[08:41.18]Founded three months ago,;

[08:43.69]the centre has helped more than 100 middle-aged and older people;

[08:48.50]to improve their appearance.;

[08:51.33]Zhang Yahui,director of the centre,said, "Everyone gets old.;

[08:58.29]But we can keep our youthful appearance longer through daily care.";

[09:05.08]Middle-aged and older people in China;

[09:09.17]are now breaking with the conventional idea;

[09:12.44]and paying more attention to keeping fit;

[09:15.63]and caring about their appearance.;

[09:18.78]According to a shop assistant of the Taiping Department Store,;

[09:24.08]who looks after a counter selling clothes;

[09:27.27]specially for middle-aged and older people,;

[09:30.77]more and more of her senior customers;

[09:33.56]like to buy fashionable and bright-coloured clothes.;

[09:38.05]The dark and grey uniforms;

[09:40.93]which used to be popular among old people are now unsellable.;

[09:46.99]He Minsheng, director of a city committee;

[09:51.44]looking after affairs concerning the aged,;

[09:54.94]said that when people are getting old,;

[09:57.82]they often begin to feel useless and lose interest in lifes.;

[10:03.66]The purpose of-the committee is to help them overcome these troubles.;

[10:09.95]He said the city;

[10:11.97]has set up more than 400 recreational and sports organizations;

[10:17.63]to promote various activities for older people.;

[10:22.35]Early in the morning,old people canbe found performing disco,;

[10:28.37]qigong (a system of deep breathing exercises);

[10:32.46]and other exercises in gardens and parks.;

[10:36.77]However,not all middle-aged and older people in China;

[10:42.25]openly express their views;

[10:44.63]about their wish to remain in good physical condition.;

[10:49.26]A reporter from a local weekly aimed at senior citizens;

[10:54.87]complained that about 1,000 people signed;

[10:58.74]for a recent health -care exercise training course,;

[11:02.38]but few of them are willing to be interviewed.;

[11:05.97]The reporter said, "Maybe these people are still afraid of being laughed at.";

[11:13.61]II. Read Read the following passages.;

[11:20.57]Underline the important viewpoints while reading.;

[11:25.20]1."New Fashions in Clothing;

[11:29.96]Are Created Solely for the Commercial Exploitation of Women";

[11:35.94]Whenever you see an old film,even one made as little as ten years ago,;

[11:43.39]you cannot help being struck by the appearance of the women taking part.;

[11:49.06]Their hair-styles and make-up look dated;;

[11:53.05]their skirts look either too long or too short;;

[11:57.77]their general appearance is, in fact,slightly ludicrous.;

[12:03.83]The men taking part in the film,on the other hand,;

[12:07.70]are clearly recognizable.;

[12:10.35]There is nothing about their appearance;

[12:13.36]to suggest that they belong to an entirely different age.;

[12:18.57]This illusion is created by changing fashions.;

[12:23.78]Over the years, the great majority of men;

[12:28.41]have successfully resisted all attempts;

[12:31.69]to make them change their style of dress.;

[12:34.92]The same cannot be said for women.;

[12:38.25]Each year a few so-called "top designers";

[12:43.01]in Paris or London lay down the law;

[12:47.01]and women the whole world over rush to obey.;

[12:51.46]The decrees of the designers are unpredictable and dictatorial.;

[12:57.25]This year,they decide in their arbitrary fashion,;

[13:02.15]skirts will be short and waists will be high;;

[13:06.91]zips are in and buttons are out.;

[13:11.40]Next year the law is reversed and far from taking exception,;

[13:17.87]no one is even mildly surprised.;

[13:21.87]If women are mercilessly exploited year after year,;

[13:27.35]they have only themselves to blame.;

[13:30.59]Because they shudder at the thought of being seen in public;

[13:35.35]in clothes that are out of fashion,;

[13:38.63]they are annually blackmailed by the designers and the big stores.;

[13:44.33]Clothes which have been worn only a few times;

[13:48.56]have to be discarded because of the dictates of fashion.;

[13:53.45]When you come to think of it,;

[13:56.06]only a woman is capable of standing in front of a wardrobe;

[14:00.82]packed full of clothes;

[14:02.93]and announcing sadly that she has nothing to wear.;

[14:07.69]Changing fashions are nothing more than the deliberate creation of waste.;

[14:14.79]Many women squander vast sums of money each year;

[14:20.05]to replace clothes that have hardly been worn.;

[14:24.27]Women who cannot afford to discard clothing in this way,;

[14:29.44]waste hours of their time altering the dresses they have.;

[14:34.74]Hem-lines are taken up or let down;;

[14:38.65]waist-lines are taken in or let out;;

[14:42.74]neck-lines are lowered or raised, and so on.;

[14:48.22]No one can claim that the fashion industry;

[14:52.17]contributes anything really important to society.;

[14:56.98]Fashion designers are rarely concerned with vital things;

[15:02.19]like warmth,comfort and durability.;

[15:06.73]They are only interested in outward appearance;

[15:11.31]and they take advantage of the fact;

[15:14.01]that women will put up with any amount of discomfort,;

[15:18.18]providing they look right.;

[15:21.10]There can hardly be a man who hasn't at some time in his life;

[15:26.31]smiled at the sight of a woman shivering in a flimsy dress on a wintry day,;

[15:32.83]or delicately picking her way through deep snow in dainty shoes.;

[15:39.30]When comparing men and women in the matter of fashion,;

[15:44.15]the conclusions to be drawn are obvious.;

[15:48.33]Do the constantly changing fashions of women's clothes, one wonders,;

[15:54.03]reflect basic qualities of fickleness and instability?;

[15:59.56]Men are too sensible to let themselves be bullied by fashion designers.;

[16:05.76]Do their unchanging styles of dress;

[16:09.17]reflect basic qualities of stability and reliability?;

[16:14.83]That is for you to decide.;

[16:18.79]2. For Fashion-mad Youth Money Is No Object;

[16:27.10]Young women in Beijing are showing a new look in fashions this year.;

[16:33.52]They are wearing elegant long trouser-like skirts;

[16:37.84]and loose pantalets with a connected top,;

[16:41.61]both made of colourful satin, silk and polyester.;

[16:47.14]As a popular saying among young people in the capital nowadays goes --;

[16:52.93]"Fashion for women and labels for men.";

[16:57.06]Fashion had been long neglected in Beijing.;

[17:01.51]During the "cultural revolution" (1966 - 1976),;

[17:07.67]the city was filled with people clad in blue,grey, black and green.;

[17:14.99]Army uniforms were the norm.;

[17:17.87]Green caps,suits and coats were in vogue.;

[17:22.67]But no longer.The drab look is no more.;

[17:27.70]Wherever there are shops,;

[17:29.90]there are some that sell the latest fashions in garments and shoes.;

[17:35.25]Street pedlars and private clothing store owners;

[17:39.52]have been trying to collect new designs from all over the country;

[17:44.19]and to put them on display in the markets as soon as possible.;

[17:49.90]Prominent Beijing garment companies such as Blue Sky,;

[17:55.06]Leimeng and Zaocun have been replaced in popularity by Smart Garments Ltd,;

[18:02.70]Wacoal Co Ltd. and De-Carty,all of which are joint ventures.;

[18:09.75]Although their clothes are much more expensive;

[18:13.39]than those in Ordinary shops, they are selling very well.;

[18:18.11]In the bustling night market of Xidan,;

[18:21.57]one of the busisat shopping centres in Beijing,;

[18:24.98]a young woman was heard commenting on a dress marked at 319 yuan.;

[18:32.13]"It would cost three months of my salary,;

[18:35.86]but it's really beautiful," she said.;

[18:38.82]"It's very difficult for people like me;

[18:42.10]who are living on fixed salaries to find something satisfactory.;

[18:47.13]What we like is extremely expensive,;

[18:50.37]and what'we can afford we dislike.";

[18:53.87]A young woman shop assistant said she was attracted;

[18:58.23]to a beautiful skirt one days,;

[19:00.83]but gave up buying it because one of her colleagues had one just like it.;

[19:06.22]"I want to be different," she said.;

[19:09.68]Nike,Adidas and other world-famous sportswear and shoes;

[19:15.43]have become fashionable among young men;

[19:18.49]who are eager to be with the incrowd.;

[19:22.13]A pair of shoes can set them back 160 yuan,;

[19:27.38]more than a month's salary.;

[19:29.86]"Young people nowadays spend money like they had a hole in their pocket,";

[19:35.43]said an elderly shop assistant.;

[19:37.94]"They buy whatever they like regardless of the price.;

[19:42.93]I m not against dressing well,but you have to survive.";

[19:48.99]On the fourth floor of the Wangfujing Department Store,;

[19:53.53]a young man chose a 398-yuan dress for his girlfriend.;

[20:00.09]"Since I run a beauty salon,;

[20:03.01]I have no problem affording a coat like this,"the man said casually.;

[20:08.49]"Nowadays people like to start new things;

[20:12.58]to distinguish themselves," a sociologist commented.;

[20:17.16]"It is a psychological breakthrough.;

[20:19.86]People try to preserve their own value and their personality.";

[20:25.70]3. Hong Devoted to Fashion Career;

[20:32.03]Fashion designer Hong Xia is a woman with a mission in life:;

[20:38.05]she hopes to turn Guangzhou into a fashion centre rivalling Paris,;

[20:44.12]Milan,Tokyo, New York and Hong Kong.;

[20:49.69]Hong,now a designer at Guangzhou University,;

[20:54.77]staged a solo fashion show in 1986,;

[20:59.48]held fashion lectures and night-schools;

[21:03.03]and published articles on fashion.;

[21:06.36]She then went on to teach at Guangzhou University in 1988;

[21:12.64]and is now writing a book describing the Guangzhou fashion world.;

[21:18.31]Her career in fashion;

[21:21.27]started when she was enrolled in the Central Academy of Arts and Designs;

[21:26.53]in Beijing in 1981.;

[21:29.58]Before that,she had been a mechanical worker for eight years;

[21:34.57]after graduating from middle school in 1973 in Guangzhou.;

[21:40.23]"Fashion design had just started its rise in popularity;

[21:45.31]at the time I was studying in Beijing," she said.;

[21:48.95]"It was fascinating because it was new.";

[21:52.72]She was attracted to the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone two years later;

[21:58.65]when she graduated and went to an area;

[22:01.79]where large-scale construction was underway;

[22:05.21]and the pace of everyday life was quickening.;

[22:09.03]One year later,after gaining experience in all aspects of clothes production,;

[22:16.44]she received her first designing assignment:;

[22:20.08]for a batch of summer clothes.;

[22:23.18]"I don't know how to describe my feelings;

[22:26.82]for my first independent designs,"she said.;

[22:30.64]"A lot of questions came to mind which I never thought of at school:;

[22:36.52]What should I design? What materials should I use?;

[22:42.00]What colours should I choose? What styles will be popular?;

[22:48.20]All this forced me to begin a market survey.";

[22:53.23]It came as a bit of a surprise;

[22:56.56]when she saw her summer fashions welcomed by customers.;

[23:01.05]For the first time, she blended the needs of the market with her own designs;

[23:08.55]In Shenzhen,Hong benefited from watching Hong Kong TV;

[23:14.57]and reading the latest fashion magazines from all over the world;

[23:19.43]to keep pace with international trends.;

[23:23.29]Her big chance came when she joined the national;

[23:27.47]"Adult Spring-Autumn Fashion Designs Competition";

[23:31.91]sponsored by China Fashions Magazine and Central Television in 1985.;

[23:39.46]Hong was one of the five major winners;

[23:43.15]thanks to her unconventional women's fashion designs.;

[23:48.54]But the private fashion market in Guangzhou is to date;

[23:53.52]only a duplication and sales centre of new overseas fashions,;

[23:59.14]according to Hong Xia.;

[24:01.52]"It is active in buying and selling the latest styles form Hong Kong,;

[24:07.23]Japan and Taiwan but weak in designing its own styles," she said.;

[24:14.77]The potential for the sale of fashion goods throughout China;

[24:19.89]has stimulated the development of the city's fashion market.;

[24:24.79]Hundreds of stores selling world-brand clothes have sprung up.;

[24:30.36]Customers to these stores,she said,;

[24:33.87]are mainly people from art circles,;

[24:37.01]management personnel and young women working in hotels and offices.;

[24:43.39]Prices range from 100 to 4,000 yuan.;

[24:48.51]People involved in the fashion business in Shanghai,;

[24:53.00]Beijing,Dalian and Qingdao are also frequent customers.;

[24:59.92]"Although at present;

[25:01.99]you seldom see styles designed by the city's own designers,;

[25:06.93]Guangzhou is gradually becoming a Hong Kong-style fashion market;

[25:12.23]with the appearance of these fashion stores,"she said.;

[25:16.95]An obvious disadvantage for Guangzhou;

[25:20.57]to develop into a fashion centre;

[25:23.36]is the lack of its own fashion designers,;

[25:26.86]and people in the city;

[25:29.25]do not have the dress sense to appreciate fashion designs.;

[25:34.05]Realizing this,Hong decided to teach.;

[25:38.95]"I thought I should do my best;

[25:41.69]to let more people know something about fashion designing;

[25:45.78]by holding fashion shows,lectures and night schools," Hong said.;

[25:52.20]"That was a turning point in my career,"she said.;

[25:56.20]"It paved my way towards success.";

[26:00.06]Hong Xia now has 25 students;

[26:03.75]in her class in Guangzhou University for a two-year course.;

[26:09.50]She teaches them not only the fashion theories;

[26:13.68]but tells them about her own experiences as a designer;

[26:18.30]and as a private business person.;

[26:21.40]Hong has already seen the achievements of her teaching.;

[26:26.48]In a national Youth Fashion Designs Competition;

[26:30.52]nine of her students were chosen as excellent winners;

[26:35.24]and one of her students received the first award.;

[26:39.91]As a fashion designer and a business woman,;

[26:43.73]Hong Xia has sold her works to fashion businesses;

[26:47.64]in the United States,Japan, Australia and Hong Kong.;

[26:53.79]"Now I am looking forward to setting up a private fashion company;

[26:59.28]to design fashions for foreign people staying in Guangzhou,"she said.;

[27:04.37]"I'm working hard on it.";