What's Up American Idioms
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142 Lifestyles
R E A D I NG SELECTION
DIRECTIONS: Read the following story silently. Then do the reading exercises that follow.
L i v e It Up
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, hippies were wrapped up in demonstrations1 and drugs. Many hippies (or flower children, as they were called) left the cities to plant gardens in the country. The only clothes they wore were jeans and T-shirts. Hippies didn't want money or power; peace and love were all they believed in.
What became of the hippies? In the 1980s, many of them turned into yuppies (young, urban professionals). Yuppies loved big cities, where they changed old neighborhoods2 into fashionable sections.
Looking good was important, so yuppies worked out in a health club, and spent a lot of money on their hair a n d clothes. After buying everything they needed to cook at home, they ate out most of the time. Yuppies really lived it up.
If looking good was important to yuppies, being successful at work was very important. Yuppies were devoted to making money. Many worked and had careers on the side. This extra business was often real estate.3
What's going to happen to the baby-boom generation4 in the future? Some say they will develop another n e w lifestyle. Others say they will settle down, have children, and grow old, just like every other generation.
1.A public expression of opinion.
2.Areas, communities.
3.Land and the buildings on it.
4.People born between 1946 and 1964, when there was an unusually high birthrate in the United States.
Lifestyles 143
I. R E A D I N G EXERCISES
A . Get the Picture? C o m p r e h e n s i o n
DIRECTIONS: These questions are based on the story you just read.
Write "True" or "False" after each statement.
1. Drugs were not important to hippies. |
False |
|
2.Peace and love were important to hippies.
3.Nobody knows what happened to the hippies.
4.Many hippies became yuppies in the 1980s.
5.Yuppies are too busy to do exercise.
6.Yuppies like to eat in restaurants.
7.Yuppies live simple lives.
8.Making money is not very important to yuppies.
9.In addition to their regular jobs, many yuppies also have private businesses to help them make extra money.
10.Some people say yuppies will get married, stay in one place, and grow old.
B. Get the Picture? Inferences
DIRECTIONS: An inference is something that is not stated directly, but is implied. Write "True" or "False" after each inference.
1.What was important to people in the United States didn't change very much between the 1960s and the 1980s.
2.Some people think the baby-boom generation is very changeable.
