Appearance Build

 Reading

Where do you belong below?

he is a giant (of a man)

she’s an Amazon (of a woman)

extremely tall

tallish

above average height

he’s/ she’s got a good figure

he’s/she’s well-built

stocky		petite
plump		thin
corpulent		skinny
built like a barrel		like a pipe cleaner
he’s as square / big / round as he’s tall		there’s nothing of her
obese		like a lamp-post
overweight		puny-looking
squat		slim and slender
muscular		slim

below average height

on the short side

short

tiny

a midget

an ant

Exercise 1

Discuss the answers to these questions in pairs:

1. Which of the above adjectives and phrases would suit a student in your class, a member of your family or a famous pop star?

2. Do you think your build sometimes determines your character? If so, how?

3. What sort of build should gymnasts, footballers and weight lifters have?

4. Which word in each pair of words would you prefer people to use about you? Why?

a) skinny / slim

b) well-built / corpulent

c) overweight / obese

d) all skin and bones / there’s more fat on a chip

e) plump / stocky

f) short / below average height

g) a midget / an ant

5. What is the average height for men and women in your country? Is it changing?

6. What are the advantages and disadvantages of being either very tall or very short?

7. Describe some ways of losing weight.

Speaking

Answer the questions:

1. How tall are you?

2. How would you describe your build?

3. How much do you weigh?

4. What kind of hair have you got?

5. What colour is it?

6. Would you like to be different? If so what would you like?

7. Do you think you have any special features?

8. Are there any facial features you would like to have?

9. Do you like beards?

Exercise 2

Complete the text with words from the box.

bald	straight		strong	narrow	good-looking
ears	beard		blue	thin	serious
heavily	look		glasses	casually	early
smile

• I’m in my ____________ fifties. I’m very tall, and quite ____________ built, but I have rather ______________ shoulders. I’m a little overweight.

• I have _____________ medium length ____________ hair, but I’m going _____________, so there isn’t a lot of it left. I have a grey __________ and moustache. My eyes are ______________ and I wear _____________. I’ve got a rather long face, with a ___________ chin, a big nose and big ______________. I have _______________ lips, and I have a high forehead; I like to think that it looks intelligent.

• Clothes are not very important to me, and I’m usually very ______________ dressed.

• I don’t think I’m very ________________, but I’m not all that bad-looking either. I probably _____________ a bit younger than I am.