Step by Step2000 第四册 Unit 3 The Changing Women

Unit 3 The Changing Women

Part I Warming up

A.

Tapescript:

1. Organized activity on behalf of women's rights began in the mid 1 1800s, when both by law and by custom, women were considered "non-persons."

2. In the early tg00s, important changes occurred in the social and political climate in America as a result of World War I.

3. In 1920 after World War t, American women gained the right to vote.

4. During World War II, large numbers of women entered the job market to do the jobs of the men who had been drafted into military service.

5. Today, women make up 1.5% of the 200,000 professional firefighters in the U. S., and they make up 4% of airline pilots and navigators.

6. The Small Business Administration predicts that women will own nearly 40% (others Say half) of all small businesses in the U.S. by the year 2000.

7. From 1980 to 1988, the number of business men and women-- entrepreneurs -- increased 56% overall, but during that period, the number of female entrepreneurs grew 82%.

8. In 1969 in the U. S., only 4% of the state lawmakers were women. By 1993, this number had grown by 500%, and 20.4% of state legislators were women.

9. Today, only 10% of American families have the traditional working father and the mother who stays home to take care of the children.

10. The rate of women's participation 2 in the workforce 3 rose from 27% in 1940' to 44% in 1985.

B.

Speakers Key words

Lynne friends / child-free / respect for their choice / not my

opinion / had to have children / don't know why

Irene daughter the same / eager / get married / have children

/ thinking about / 8 or 9 years old / observe me as a

mother / other mothers

Barbara Yes, that's how I was.

Tapescript.

L-- Lynne I-- Irene B--Barbara

L.. I have many, many friends who have opted 4 for a child-free life. I have a great deal of respect for their choice. But therein lies the key. It was their choice. Infertility 5 was not my choice. Is a woman less of a woman without children? Absolutely not in my opinion, but I had to have children. I don't know why. People have asked us, y’know, "Well what was that just made you so obsessed 6 and compelled and driven?" I don't know. I don't... I don't know that I'll ever know. All I know is I had to have children.

I. Well, my daughter, interestingly enough, is the same way. She's very eager as soon as she finishes law school to get married and have children. And we talked about this and she said, "Mom, you don't understand. I've been thinking about having children since I was eight or nine years old."

B. Yes, that's how I was.

I. Whereas I didn't, but she's been thinking about it for so long in her life, and I was really surprised when we had this conversation to learn that, that she's been observing me as a mother, observing other mothers, trying to decide what kind of a mother she was going to be when motherhood came her way.

L. Well, that's ... that's exactly how I have always felt. But I have to say that I certainly respect people who don't choose motherhood.

C Read the following difficult sentences and listen.

1. It's a big challenge for mothers today, because oftentimes mothers feel like it's an either / or proposition that they have to work or have a child.

2. But there's definite research that's coming out saying that, y'know, a mother's role is more important in some regards than we had thought, and that the bonding process lasts quite a bit longer.

3. An unscientific survey of teens, mostly girls attending Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California, shows teens are using the World Wide Web for many reasons.

4. The Internet study conducted by Media Matricks and Jupiter Communications shows that many women use the web differently.

Part II Working mothers

1. According to Beth, which do more and more women choose, to work or to have a child? both / not be superwoman

2. According to some research, how important is a mother's role?

more important in some regards than we had thought / bonding process / lasts longer

3. What happens to children if they are separated too early from their parents? often go into shock

4. Why do people need concrete support of community? parents not close by / brothers and sisters in another state or country

5. Does Beth think it's necessary for a mother to stay home full time to be together with her children? important but not necessary / if not inclined

6. What is the wonderful trait that some working mothers have?

a. the ability to be attentive 7 to multiple demands

b. the ability to think about more than one thing at a time

Tapescript:

B -- Beth I -- Irene

B. It's a big challenge for mothers today, because oftentimes mothers feel like it's an either / or proposition that they have to work or have a child. And the reality is more and more women are choosing to do both, and also not be superwomen, so it's a tricky 8.., it's a tricky line to balance. But I do have a quote that says, "To choose to have a child is to choose forever to have your heart walk outside of your body," which means, just as we've been talking about, that you are constantly attached to your child, no matter how old they get, but you will learn to walk those lines. And you will learn to create balance and harmony in your life, and you'll realize that not everything you do is going to send your child to a therapist. And that's wonderful.

I. Yes, yes. I've just always felt that if you loved them hard enough, and that you had ... your heart kind of in the right place, which obviously is outside your own body, that there was very little that ... that you could do wrong. I mean you ...

B. Yes. I think that's true. I think if you build a solid foundation with your child, especially in the early years, and...

I. How early are we talking "early years"? I mean, by what point is the child's personality formed already?

B. Well, you know there's a lot of information on that that definitely is conflicting. But there are new studies coming out that are just fascinating about how important, extremely important it is for a child to be with his / her mother until they're close to four years old. Now, that doesn't mean consistently. I'm not advocating that a mother stay home full time if she's not so inclined. But there's definite research that's coming out saying that, y'know, a mother's role is more important in some regards than we had thought, and that the bonding process lasts quite a bit longer. In fact, children go into shock oftentimes if they are separated too early. And that's why I think a lot of us are fighting for parental 9 leave and family leave, that allows both mother and father to have time with their children hopefully within the first two years, not just the first few months.

People need concrete support, and especially nowadays, I did write another meditation 10 about people needing the support of community because nowadays we oftentimes don't have our parents close by, or brothers and sisters live in another state or even in another country. And so especially when you come home for the first few months or the first few years, you may feel extremely isolated 11 if you can't hook up with a co-op, a babysitting co-op, or a mother's group ... And this is just a wonderful way to remind mothers that we have what Mary Catherine Bateson calls peripheral 12 vision: the ability to be attentive to multiple demands and to think about more than one thing at a time. And I think that's a very valuable trait that mothers do have. And sometimes we think of ourselves as being scattered 13 and airheads because of it, and that's been oftentimes how we've been portrayed 14, but this is a wonderful, wonderful trait that mothers develop especially in the first few years.

I: Well, we have eyes in the backs of our heads, right?

B. Exactly.

I. But we are also able to keep lots of balloons in the air, which means that what we do is, you get up in the morning and you say, "I need to do this, this, this, this, and I need to go to work, and what's for dinner besides.”

B. Exactly.

I, You get it all in order before you leave the house in the morning.

B. Right, and you can take your needs into account as well as the needs of many other individuals, which is extremely important in this day and age. I mean we no longer can afford ecologically to have a one-track mind. We can no longer afford it in the family, in the work place, and I think that's something that women very much have to offer.

I. I think that the "me" generation is over.

Part III Women and the web

A.

1. The difference between men and women when they surf the Internet according to the study conducted by Media Matricks and Jupiter Communications:

Women: as a tool

Men: tend to spend more time playing around

2. The different reasons why women use the web:

check email / chat / look for information / resources / studying search

B.

Tapescript:

For the first time ever the number of women on the web has surpassed the number of men, pushing the huge growth of females between the ages of 12 and 17.

Music websites like nsync.com are attracting teen girls and so are sites focused on fashion and shopping. An unscientific survey of teens, mostly girls attending Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California, shows teens are using the World Wide Web for many reasons.

F. My name is Fi and I'm 16. I check my email on the net and I chat sometimes. That's all I did.

P: My name is Sonia Fay Phillips. I'm 17 years old. Mostly I use the Internet for, uh, look(ing) up for my college information or check my email or chat. I use.., mostly use it for resources and studying because I don't have time for play and stuff.

M: My name is Lucien Morrison. I'm 17. And I use the Internet to chat on, to get codes for play station games, to check my email and to play games on.

M: I'm Meesha. I'm 14 years old. I usually just search on the web, just anything I'm looking for or just search because I'm bored or anything like that.

Summer school students attending Oakland Technical High School in Oakland, California.

The Internet study released today conducted by Media Matricks and Jupiter Communications shows that men and women use the web differently. Women use it as a tool. Men tend to spend more time online playing around.

Among the other most popular sites reported for women on the web? for ages 35 to 44: market-day.com and birthdayexpress.com; for ages 55 and up they've been posting the second biggest jump in usage: aarp.org and genealogy 15, com.