1 Listen and read the dialogues.

Dialogue 1

Peter Have you seen our new computer programmer?

Jack Not yet. Why?

Peter She is a very pretty girl.

Jack Really?

Peter Yes, she is tall and slim. In my opinion, she has a very good

figure. Her eyes are blue. Also, she has full lips, and long hair.

Jack What’s her name?

Peter Rose Brown. She’s about twenty-five years old.

Jack I see!

Dialogue 2

Aliya Hi Lena!

Lena Hi Aliya! What has happened?

Aliya I am looking for my cousin; he has come from Chelyabinsk.

He went shopping an hour ago and I am afraid he has lost his way.

Lena I am just coming from the grocery; I might have seen him. What

does he look like?

Aliya He is quite good-looking, of medium height with light-brown

wavy hair and hazel eyes.

Lena How long is his hair?

Aliya Shoulder-length.

Lena I think I saw him in the street; he was asking the way.

Aliya Ah, there he is, at last!

Vocabulary

General description –общее описание
Positive - положительное
beautiful	красивый (обычно о женщине)
good-looking	красивый
handsome	красивый (о мужчине)
pretty ['priti]	хорошенький, прелестный (о женщине)
Negative - отрицательное
plain	некрасивый
ugly	уродливый
Height and built - рост и телосложение
fat	толстый
medium built	среднее телосложение
medium height [hait]	средний рост
muscular ['mskjulə]	мускулистый
overweight [,əuvə'weit]	полный
short	невысокий
slim (slender)	стройный
tall [to:l]	высокий
Hair - волосы
blonde	блондин / ка
brunette [bru:'net]	брюнет / ка
curly ['kə:li]	кудрявые
dark	темные
dark brown	шатен / ка
fair [feə]	светлые
light brown	темно русые
straight [streit]	прямые
wavy	вьющиеся
Special features – особые черты
beard [biəd]	борода
broad (narrow) shoulders [bro:d] ['nærəu]	широкие (узкие) плечи
fair (dark) skin	светлая (темная) кожа
moustache [mə'sta:]	усы
tattoo [tæ'tu:]	татуировка

Pronunciation

2 Listen and repeat. Brainstorm and add 5 more words to each sound.

[æ] fat, handsome

[u] good-looking, moustache, brunette, tattoo

[i] slim, skin, pretty, medium

[Λ] ugly, muscular

[o], blonde

[o:] tall, short, broad

[ə:] curly

[ei] wavy, plain, straight, overweight

[ai] light, height

[eə] hair, fair

[au] brown

[ou] shoulder

[iə] beard

[] moustache, shoulder

Oral exercises

3 Practice the following sentences with the words given below until you can say them fluently.

a) he has / his: He has lost his way.

I have / my, you have / your, she has / her, we have / our.

b) long: Maria has long hair.

short, wavy, curly, straight, dark, fair, red.

c) short: My brother is short.

tall, slim, overweight, of medium built, of medium height.

4 Say what the prominent features of the people in the pictures are.

a) b)c)

Example: She has long wavy hair.

d) e)f)

5 Complete the sentences in a suitable way (more than one answer is possible).

Example: She has blonde ____. – She has blonde hair.

1. He has very fair ______ .

2. They both have curly ______ .

3. I would say he was of medium ______ .

4. Her brother has got very broad _______ .

5. Last time I saw him he had grown a _______ .

6. He has very muscular _______ .

7. Both men were very good _______ .

8. All of them have dark _______.

6 Replace the underlined unsuitable words in the following sentences with suitable words. Some words are unsuitable because it is impolite to describe people with these words unless you don’t like them.

Example: He told me he met a handsome girl in the disco last night. –

handsome → beautiful

1. She’s beautiful but her younger sister is really quite ugly.

2. I think Peter is getting a bit fat, don’t you?

3. Most people want to stay slim, but not as skinny as that girl over there.

4. I think she’s hoping she’ll meet a few beautiful men at the tennis club.

7 Ask your neighbor the following questions.

1. How tall are you?

2. How would you describe your built?

3. What kind of hair do you have?

4. What color is it?

5. Do you think you have any special features?

6. Do you like bearded men?

7. Can you think of a famous woman you would describe as beautiful, and a famous man you would describe as good-looking?

8 Describe the physical features of the person sitting next to you.

9 When describing people which of the following characteristics do you usually include?

Characteristics	Description
a) Age:	baby, toddler, child, teenager, adolescent, middle-aged, elderly
b) Physical appearance:	thin, slim, small-built, medium-built, well-built, muscular, plump, overweight, obese
c) Height:	tall, medium / average height, short
d) Race:	Black, Asian, Mediterranean, Hispanic, Arab, White
e) Sex/gender:	female, male, woman, man, girl, boy
f) Eye color:	black, brown, blue, grey, green, hazel
g) Hair color:	red, black, dark brown, light brown, blonde, white, grey, highlights
h) Hair type:	long, short, shoulder length, straight, curly, wavy, bald
i) Hair style:	plait, spiky, bobbed, pony-tail, shaved
j) Facial hair:	full beard, moustache, thick eyebrows, plucked eyebrows, clean shaven, unshaven
k) Dress:	smart, well dressed, fashionably dressed, badly dressed, conservatively dressed