Unit 6
Shop till you
drop
Active reading 1
Retail therapy or shopaholism
1. Leading-in
2. Language Points
3. Guided Writing
4. Presentation and Exercises
Lead-in
Background Information
Charlotte
Sex and the City is a
popular US television series
set in New York City,
featuring the professional
and romantic lives of four
women.
Miranda
Carrie
Samantha
Each of the four characters in Sex
and the City has had a distinct
style carefully developed for her.
Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker) is
fearlessly fashionable: her style
ranges from uptown chic to
whimsy.
Samantha (Kim Cattrall) wears
sexy styles that exude confidence.
She is a Woman (with a capital
“W”) and the message comes
across loud and clear through
strong styles and bold color.
Miranda (Cynthia Nixon)
looks like a very welldressed career gal with
chic suits and
androgynous styles.
Charlotte (Kristin Davis) has
a sweet, preppy style that is
always accompanied by the
proper bag and shoes. Bows,
cute prints and feminine styles
play up the kind nature of her
character.
Carrie is one of the charact
ers in Sex and the City, play
ed by Sarah Jessica Parker,
who loves fashionable cloth
es and especially Manolo Bl
ahnik shoes.
Manolo Blahnik is a
famous designer of highly
expensive women’s shoes.
Manolo Blahnik (1942 – )
is a Spanish born fashion
designer and founder of the
self-named, high-end shoe
label.
Jimmy Choo (周仰杰) , a
Malaysian citizen of Hakka
Chinese descent born in Penang,
Malaysia, is a London-based
luxury fashion designer best
known for his hand-made
women’s shoes, Jimmy Choo Ltd.
Choo currently resides in London.
He is currently involved in a
project to set up a shoemaking
institute in Malaysia, where his
iconic status is often evoked to
inspire budding shoemakers and
fashion designers.
In 2004, Jimmy Choo
was awarded the title
Dato (马来西亚尊称) by
the Governor of his
home state of Penang.
He was also awarded a
fellowship by the
University of the Arts
London, conferring the
use of the title Professor.
Victoria Beckham is the wife of the footballer
David Beckham, and a member of the girl band,
the Spice Girls.
Victoria Beckham has found more
success as an internationally recognised
and photographed style icon. She has had
a career in fashion, designing a line of
jeans for Rock & Republic and later
designing her own denim brand, dVb
Style.
Beckham has brought out her own range
of sunglasses and fragrance, entitled
Intimately Beckham, which has been
released in the UK and in the United
States.
Two terms on bankruptcy
go into debt: You can get into debt by spending more
money than you actually have; so you end up in debt and
the debts may accumulate. You can get out of debt by
paying off or re-paying what you owe. If the creditors
(the people or companies to whom you owe money)
decide that you no longer need to pay, then the debt is
written off, or cancelled.
The 2008 “credit crunch”, in which American and
European banks found they couldn’t pay their debts to
other banks and had been over-lending by giving
mortgages to people who did not have the means to pay,
shows how heavily some Western societies have relied on
systems of debt.
go bankrupt: This means that someone – or a
company – has officially admitted that they have no
money and cannot pay what they owe (they are
insolvent or financially ruined). This is a serious
situation in law. If they become solvent again, they
can clear their debts and clear their name.
Language points
• Sentence Study
• Word Study
Sentence Study
I get a real buzz when I hand over my credit card …
(Para 3)
What does buzz mean here?
The word buzz here means “a strong feeling of pleasure,
excitement or achievement”, eg I get a real buzz out of
travelling.
Translate the sentence into Chinese.
递上信用卡的时候，我无比兴奋…..
Psychologists see shopaholism as an addiction which
can benefit from treatment. (Para 5)
What does shopaholism mean here?
Shopaholism refers to the general condition or “illness”
of being a shopaholic – someone who enjoys going
shopping even when they don’t need anything and cannot
pay for what they buy. Sufferers may not recognize the
effect of their shopping behaviour (they “avoid reality”),
they cannot control their spending habits (“a loss of
control”), but think they are free to spend the money they
don’t have (“an illusion of freedom”).
Shopaholism may bring a temporary feeling of wellbeing and distract the person from the worries or anxieties
of everyday life, but sufferers often feel guilt or shame.
Doctors and psychologists use the medical term
oniomania to refer to shopaholism and they would advise
the sufferers to be treated.
If you don’t have time to go to the mall, there are many
other ways to shop till you drop, such as home shopping
on the television, mail order catalogues and buying
online. (Para 5)
What does shop till you drop mean here?
This means to keep on shopping until you are exhausted.
Then you drop, or fail down.
Translate the sentence into Chinese.
你如果没有时间去商场购物，还可以通过很多其他的
办法将购物进行到底，如电视居家购物，商品目录邮
购和网上购物。
And like all addicts on the road to recovery, they take it
one day at a time. (Para11)
What does the expression take it one day at a time
mean here?
The expression take it one day at a time is used when you
are in a difficult situation or have such severe problems
that you can only plan and act for the present, and adopt
the step-by-step approach.
Translate the sentence into Chinese.
像所有的上瘾者一样，购物成瘾的人需要有足够的耐
心才能走完康复之路。
Word Study
label
n. [C] a piece of paper or material fastened to an object
that gives information about it 标签；标记
Read the washing instructions on the label.
阅读标签上的洗涤说明。
vt. to put a label on an object 给……加标签（或标记）
These three bottles must be clearly labelled “Poison”.
必须清楚地在这三个瓶子上标明 “毒药”。
comparable
a. equal to something else in quality or importance（质
量或重要性）比得上……的，可以相提并论的
No comparable studies exist.
目前还没有可比的研究。
bankrupt
a. unable to pay the debt （人或企业）破产的，倒闭的
Many of the companies that they had invested in went
bankrupt. 他们投资的许多公司都破产了。
intellectually bankrupt: a person or group with poor ideas
or lacking in real thought.
morally bankrupt: a person or society with very poor
moral standards or lacking in thinking about moral
problems.
illusion
n. [C] a false or wrong belief or idea 幻觉；错觉；错
误观念
Many people still have the illusion that full
employment is possible.
许多人还有这种错觉，认为充分就业是可以实现
的。
combination
n. [C] something that combines several things 组合体；
混合体
a striking colour combination 显眼的颜色搭配
[U] joining or putting together 结合；组合；混合
Never take this medicine in combination with alcohol.
千万别把这种药和酒混在一起服用。
addicted
a. (+ to) enjoying a particular activity very much and
spending as much time as you can doing it 入迷的，上
瘾的
1. He is addicted to PC games. 他沉迷于电脑游戏。
2. I don’t want the kids getting addicted to stupid TV
programmes.
我不想让孩子沉迷于无聊的电视节目中。
conscious
a. noticing that something exists or is happening and
realizing that it is important 意识到的
He was fully conscious of his guilt.
他完全意识到了自己的罪行。
class-conscious
fashion-conscious
gender-conscious
self-conscious
end in
to have something as a final result 以……告终
1. Their so-called ideal marriage end in divorce.
他们所谓理想的婚姻以离婚告终。
2. His attempt to persuade the boy ended in failure.
说服那个男孩的企图以失败告终。
他
Guided Writing
Reformulation: paraphrasing or clarifying
We sometimes need to reformulate
something to explain it. We can do
this by expressing it in a different
way (paraphrasing), or by
providing more information to
make it clearer (clarifying).
1. that is to say / that is We use these expressions to explain
or define exactly what we mean by something. We
sometimes see the initials ie (short for id est, the Latin
equivalent of that is).
2. or more precisely We use this expression to give more
precise information about something. There are commas
before and after it.
3. namely We use this word to identify or specify
something we have just referred to. There’s no comma
after it.
4. in other words We use this expression for restating what
we have just written in a way which is easier to
understand. At the beginning of a sentence, it’s followed by
a comma. In the middle of a sentence, there are commas
before and after it.
Find other sentences which use the same words and
expressions for paraphrasing or clarifying.
1. The best way to check is
4. ... then make them an
“to do as the Romans do”.
offer, or more precisely,
In other words, watch if
about 40 per cent of their
the locals ... (Para 4)
price ... (Para 5)
2. It’s rare to bargain in
5. Today Christmas markets
markets, or more precisely,
open for Advent, in other
in markets which sell food
words, the start of
and clothes ... (Para 5)
December ... (Para 6)
3. The only exception is“flea 6. ... and sell traditional
markets”, that is to say,
handmade goods, namely
markets where you can buy
cakes and biscuits ...
second-hand goods and
(Para 6)
antiques. (Para 5)
assignment
Write a passage about markets in China. Use the
questions in Activity 2 in Reading across cultures to help
you. Try to include some words and expressions for
paraphrasing or clarifying.
Presentation and Exercises
Thank you!