Section One Pre-reading Activities ······················································································ 2

I. Audiovisual supplement ··························································································· 2 II. Cultural information································································································ 2 Section Two Global Reading ······························································································· 3

I Text analysis············································································································· 3 II Structural analysis ··································································································· 3 Section Three Detailed Reading ·························································································· 4

Text I ························································································································· 4 Section Four Consolidation Activities················································································· 13

I . Vocabulary Analysis ······························································································ 13 II Grammar Exercises ································································································ 16 III. Translation exercises ···························································································· 18 IV Exercises for integrated skills ················································································· 19 V Oral activities ········································································································ 20 VI Writing Practice···································································································· 21 VII Listening Exercises ······························································································· 23 Section Five Further Enhancement···················································································· 26

I. Text II ··················································································································· 26 II. Memorable Quotes ······························································································· 29

Section One Pre-reading Activities

I. Audiovisual supplement

Watch the video and answer the following questions.

1. What was the girl talking about?

2. Do you often wear jeans? How much do you know about jeans?

（插入视频）

Answers to the Questions:

1. She was talking about the sisterhood and a pair of jeans.

2. Open.

Script:

Voiceover: For as long as I could remember, the four of us shared everything. Stories, secrets,

laughter, broken hearts. So when we found a pair of pants that, by some miracle, fit

each of us perfectly, we took it on faith they‘d come into our lives for a reason. That

summer and the two that followed, the pants had the magic of keeping us together.

No matter where they found us. They saw us through times of love, times of loss, and

times of change. And those moments where you feel your life just lift up and take off.

II. Cultural information

1. Quote

Work banishes those three great evils: boredom, vice, and poverty.

— Voltaire

（适当位置插入图片Voltaire）

2. Levi’s

Levi Strauss & Co. (LS & CO) is a privately held clothing company known worldwide for its Levi‘s brand of denim jeans. It was founded in 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Franconia, (Kingdom of Bavaria) to San Francisco, California to open a west coast branch of his brothers‘ New York dry goods business. Although the company began producing denim overalls in the 1870s, modern jeans were not produced until the 1920s. The company briefly experimented (in the 1970s) with employee ownership and a public stock listing, but remains owned and controlled by descendants and relatives of Levi Strauss‘ four nephews.

（插入图片Levi‘s）

Section Two Global Reading

I Text analysis

1. From what perspectives does the text tell the story of blue jeans?

The text tells the story of blue jeans mainly from two perspectives: how blue jeans came into being and why they are favored by Americans and have become a symbol of American popular culture.

2. Why are jeans favored by Americans and have them become an American symbol?

Blue jeans were favored first of all by the American working class in the early days for

its durability and toughness; then they became favored by Americans in general, because they embody the American ideal of equality. They are favored by bureaucrats and cowboys, bankers and deadbeats alike. They draw no distinction and recognize no classes.

II Structural analysis

1. What type of writing is the text? And how is the text structured?

This is a piece of expository writing. The author recounts some key facts related to the invention and popularization of blue jeans by following the chronological order.

Section Three Detailed Reading

Text I

The Jeaning of America

Carin Quinn

1 This is the story of a sturdy American symbol which has now spread throughout most of the world. The symbol is not the dollar. It is not even Coca-Cola. It is a simple pair of pants called blue jeans, and what the pants symbolize is what Alexis de Tocqueville called “a manly and legitimate passion for equality …” Blue jeans are favored equally by bureaucrats and cowboys, bankers and deadbeats, fashion designers and beer drinkers. 2 They have been around for a long time. And it seems likely that they will outlive even the necktie.

2 This ubiquitous American symbol was the invention of a Bavarian-born Jew. His name was Levi Strauss.

3 He was born in Bad Ocheim, Germany, in 1829, and during the European political turmoil of 1848 decided to take his chances in New York, to which his two brothers already had emigrated. Upon arrival, Levis soon found that his two brothers had exaggerated their tales of an easy life in the land of the main chance. They were landowners, they had told him; instead, he found them pushing needles, thread, pots, pans, ribbons, yarn, scissors, and buttons to housewives. For two years he was a lowly peddler, hauling some 180 pounds of sundries door-to-door to eke out a 3

4 It was the wrong kind of canvas for that purpose, but while talking with a miner, he learned that pants — sturdy pants that would stand up to the rigors of the digging — were almost impossible to find. Opportunity beckoned. On the spot, Strauss measured the man’s girth and inseam with a piece of string and, for six dollars in gold dust, had the canvas tailored into a pair of stiff but rugged pants. The miner was delighted with the result. 4 The company has been in business ever since.

5 5 He received instead a tough, brown cotton cloth made in Nimes, France — called serge de Nimes and swiftly shortened to “denim”(the word “jeans” derives from Genes, the French word for Genoa, where a similar cloth was produced). Almost from the first, Strauss had his cloth dyed the distinctive indigo that gave blue jeans their name. But it was not until the 1870s that he added the copper rivets which have long since become a company trademark. The rivets were the idea of a Virginia City, Nevada, tailor, Jacob W. Davis, who added them to pacify a mean-tempered miner called Alkali Ike. Alkali, the story goes, complained that the pockets of his jeans always tore when he stuffed them with ore samples and demanded that Davis do something about it. As a kind of joke, Davis took the pants to a blacksmith and had the pockets riveted; once again, the idea worked so well that word got around. In 1873 Strauss appropriated and patented the gimmick — and hired Davis as a regional manager.

1

6 By this time, Strauss had taken both his brothers and two brothers-in-law into the company and was ready for his third San Francisco store. Over the ensuing years the company prospered locally, and by the time of his death in 1902, Strauss had become a man of prominence in California. For three decades thereafter the business remained profitable though small. With sales largely confined to the working people of the West — cowboys, lumberjacks, railroad workers, and the like. Levi’s jeans were first introduced to the East, apparently, during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, when vacationing Easterners returned and spread the word about the wonderful pants with rivets. Another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in defense work. From a company with fifteen salespeople, two plants, and almost no business east of the Mississippi in 1946, the organization grew in thirty years to include a sales force of more than twenty-two thousand, with fifty plants and offices in thirty-five countries. Each year, more than 250,000,000 items of Levi’s clothing are sold — including more than 83,000,000 pairs of riveted blue jeans. They have become, through marketing, word of mouth, and demonstrable reliability, the common pants of America. They can be purchased pre-washed, pre-faded, and pre-shrunk for the suitably proletarian look. They adapt themselves to any sort of idiosyncratic use; women slit them at the inseams and convert them into long skirts, men chop them off above the knees and turn them into something to be worn while challenging the surf. Decorations and ornamentations abound. 7 The pants have become a tradition, and along the way have acquired a history of their own — so much so that the company has opened a museum in San Francisco. There was, for example, the turn-of-the-century trainman who replaced a faulty coupling with a pair of jeans: the Wyoming man who used his jeans as a rope to haul his car out of a ditch; the Californian who found several pairs in an abandoned mine, wore them, then discovered they were sixty-three years old and still as good as new and turned them over to the Smithsonian as a tribute to their roughness. And then there is the particularly terrifying story of the careless construction worker who dangled fifty-two stories above the street until rescued, his sole support the Levi’s belt loop through which his rope was hooked.

Paragraph 1

Question

How does the author prove that blue jeans stand for ―a passion for equality‖? (Paragraph 1)

The author mentions that the pants draw no distinction and recognize no classes. They are favored by people from all walks of life, whether they are cowboys or bureaucrats.

Words and Expressions

1. symbol n. something that represents an idea

e.g. It was a mysterious place, a symbol of the unreachable and the remote.

The lion is the symbol of courage.

Derivation:

symbolic a.

symbolism n.

symbolize v.

Synonym:

representation

Collocation:

symbol of something which represents or suggests something else, such as an idea or quality e.g. In the picture the tree is the symbol of life and the snake the symbol of evil.

symbol for a letter, sign, or figure which expresses a sound, operation, number, chemical

substance, etc.

e.g. On maps, a cross is the symbol for a church.

2. manly a. having the qualities or appearance expected of a man

e.g. It wasn‘t manly to wish for such indulgences.

In the portrait, the King looked manly and in control.

Derivation:

manliness n.

3. legitimate a. able to be defended with logic or justification; legally valid

e.g. The Crown Prince has a legitimate claim to the throne.

I‘m not sure that his business is strictly legitimate.

Derivation:

legitimately ad.

legitimacy n.

Antonym:

illegitimate

4. favor n. an act of gracious kindness; an advantage to the benefit of someone or something e.g. He did all he could do to win her favor.

I‘m sure the president will look with favor on such a proposal.

v. promote over another; consider as the favorite

e.g. Among his three daughters, he favors his second one.

The local football team was favored by the spectators from different areas.

Derivation:

favorable a.

Collocation:

be in / out of one’s favor

in favor of sb. / sth.

Sentences

1. They draw no distinctions and recognize no classes: they are merely American. (Paragraph 1) Translation: 穿着它们的人不分阶级，不讲究差别：它们只不过都是美国制造的。

2. Yet they are sought after almost everywhere in the world — including Russia, where authorities recently broke up a teenaged gang that was selling them on the black market for two hundred dollars a pair. (Paragraph 1)

Translation: 但它们却几乎在全世界都受到了人们的追捧——包括在俄罗斯，那里的政府当局最近刚刚解散了一个在黑市上以200美元一条的价格卖出它们的少年团伙。

Paragraphs 2-3

Questions

1. What kind of life did Levis Strauss expect in New York? (Paragraph 3)

Levis came to New York and expected an easy life that would enable him to make a

fortune.

2. Why did Strauss decide to leave New York for the West? (Paragraph 3)

Because Strauss was disillusioned by the ill-paid, dull routine work, so he decided to

leave New York for the West to try his luck.

Words and Expressions

5. emigrate v. permanently leave one‘s own country

e.g. He and his mother received permission to emigrate to Canada.

Her family emigrated to America in the 1850s.

Derivation:

emigration n.

emigrant n.

Collocation:

emigrate from

emigrate to

Comparison: emigrate; immigrate

emigrate to leave one‘s own country in order to go and live in another

immigrate to come into a country to make one‘s life and home there

People who emigrate are emigrants from the country that they leave, and their action is called emigration. But from the point of view of the country they enter, the same people are immigrants, and their action is called immigration.

6. exaggerate v. say more than the truth about sth. or sb.

e.g. The seriousness of the situation has been much exaggerated in the press.

You are exaggerating the difficulties.

Derivation:

exaggeration n.

exaggerated a.

7. haul vi. / vt. pull or drag from one place to another with a lot of effort

e.g. They hauled down the enemy‘s flag when they captured the city.

They hauled the boat up the beach.

Derivation:

haul n

Collocation:

haul sb. up (before sb.) (infml) bring sb. to be tried or reprimanded

e.g. He was hauled up before the local magistrates for disorderly conduct.

他因妨害治安被送交地方法官究办。

Synonym:

pull; drag

Sentences

3. When a married sister in San Francisco offered to pay his way West in 1850, he jumped at the opportunity, taking with him bolts of canvas he hoped to sell for tenting. (Paragraph 3)

Translation: 1850年，一个婚后居住在旧金山的姐姐给他提供去西部的路费，他立刻抓住了这个机会，随身带了数卷帆布准备卖给那些需要搭建帐篷的居民。

Paragraph 4

Questions

1. Was there any use of the canvas that Strauss brought to the West? (Paragraph 4)

The canvas was of no use for its intended purpose (tenting), but it could be used for making

good sturdy pants.

2. What do you think led to Strauss‘ successful invention of the jeans? (Paragraph 4)

Strauss‘ chance discovery of the miner‘s need and his swift response to such a need led to the

invention of the blue jeans.

Words and Expressions

8. stand up to last well under certain hard conditions

e.g. The material can stand up to high temperature.

Will this car stand up to winter conditions here?

Collocation:

stand up to sb. resist sb.

stand up to sth. withstand (a test, etc)

stand up for sb. / sth. speak, work, etc. in favour of sb. / sth.

stand sb. up fail to keep an appointment with sb.

1. This cloth is designed to _________ a lot of wear and tear. (stand up to)

2. First she agreed to come out with me, then she____ me____. (stood … up)

3. It was brave of her to___________ those bullies. (stand up to)

4. Always____________ your friends. (stand up for)

9. beckon v. call

e.g. Vast countries beckon to young men in search of adventure.

She beckoned me to follow.

Collocation:

beckon sb. in

e.g. A girl standing at the mouth of the cave beckoned him in.

Sentences

4. Word got around about ―those pants of Levi‘s‖, and Strauss was in business. (Paragraph 4)

Translation: 有关“李维斯的裤子”的消息一传十，十传百，史特劳斯就这样开始了经商。

Paragraph 5

Questions

1. Did the miner, Alkali, demand copper rivets to be added to his pants? (Paragraph 5)

Alkali did not demand his pants to be riveted. He only demanded that something be done

to make his pockets more sturdy and durable.

2. What was the intended purpose of the tailor who added copper rivets to the pants? (Paragraph 5) The tailor merely intended to pacify a mean-tempered miner and had the pockets riveted as

a joke.

Words and Expressions

10. pacify v. bring or restore to a state of peace or calmness

e.g. The government sent a representative to try and pacify the angry miners.

He tried to pacify his creditors by repaying part of the money.

他为安抚债权人偿还了部分借款。

Derivation:

pacification n.

Synonym:

soothe

11. stuff v. fill with a substance

e.g. Don‘t stuff the pillow too tight.

His pocket was stuffed with dirty handkerchiefs.

Derivation:

stuffing n.

Collocation:

stuff sb. / oneself with sth.

e.g. She sat stuffing herself with biscuits.

12. appropriate v. take sth., esp. money, to use for a particular purpose

e.g. The government was forced to appropriate extra funds for the new airport.

He was accused of appropriating club funds.

Derivation:

appropriation n.

Collocation:

appropriate sth. for sth. put (esp. money) on one side for a special purpose

e.g. The government has appropriated a large sum of money for building hospitals.

Sentences

5. When Strauss ran out of canvas, he wrote his two brothers to send more. (Paragraph 5)

Translation: 当史特劳斯用光了所有的帆布时，他写信给他的两个哥哥，让他们再寄一些。

Paragraph 6

Words and Expressions

13. prosper v. become successful

e.g. In India the handloom industry prospers because it is subsidized by the government.

We appointed a new financial advisor and the business prospered under his guidance.

Derivation:

prosperity n.

prosperous a.

14. confine v. keep within limits; limit or restrict

e.g. Is it cruel to confine a bird in a cage?

After her operation, she was confined to bed for a week.

Derivation:

confinement n.

confined a.

15. reliability n. dependability

e.g. There is some uncertainty about the reliability of the data used in the research.

The advantage of this system is its reliability and speed.

Derivation:

reliable a.

reliably ad.

Synonym:

dependability

Antonym:

unreliability

16. adapt v. become used to sth.

e.g. It‘s not easy, but we are slowly adapting to the new style of management.

When we move to France, the children adapted to the change very well.

Derivation:

adaptable a.

adaptation n.

Collocation:

adapt to

Comparison: adapt; adjust

adapt to make or become suitable for new needs, different conditions, etc.

adjust to change slightly, esp. in order to make right or make suitable for a particular purpose or situation; regulate

17. convert v. change into

e.g. This sofa converts into a bed.

The children converted the backyard into a peanut lot.

Derivation:

conversion n.

convertible a.

Collocation:

convert to / into convert from sth. to sth.

Synonym:

change; transform

Paragraph 7

Question

1. What does the author intend to prove with the anecdotes? (Paragraph 7)

With the striking anecdotes, the author intends to prove the unique roughness and

reliability of the blue jeans.

Words and Expressions

18. tribute n.

1) a gift, payment, speech, or other acknowledgment of gratitude, respect, or admiration

e.g. I‘d like to pay tribute to the office staff for all the hard work they‘ve put in on this project. They gave the retiring president a tribute.

2) evidence attesting to some praiseworthy quality or characteristic

e.g. Her home is a tribute to her good taste.

It was a tribute to her teaching methods that most of the children passed the tests.

Collocation:

a tribute to sth.: indication of the effectiveness of sth.

Idiom:

pay tribute to sb./sth.: express one‘s admiration or respect for sb./sth.

19. dangle v. hang loosely

e.g. Dangling from her ears were large gold earrings.

He dangled his watch in front of the baby.

Synonym:

hang; swing

Collocation:

dangle sth. before sb. offer sth. temptingly to sb.

e.g. The prospect of promotion was dangled before him.

20. sole a. only

e.g. The sole survivor of the crash was a little baby.

They went with the sole purpose of making a nuisance of themselves.

We have the sole right to sell this range of goods.

我们有独家经销这类货物的权利。

Derivation:

solely ad.

Synonym:

only; single

21. hook v. fasten or hang sth. onto sth. else

e.g. These two pieces of chain hook together.

My shirt got hooked on a thorn.

Derivation:

hooked a.

Collocation:

hook sth. on / onto / over / round sth.

be hooked on sb.

Activity: Word-guessing Competition

The class is divided into several groups, and two students from each group take part in this activity. One student paraphrases or explains the words showed on the screen, and the other will guess the words. Each pair can use various methods to help paraphrasing and guessing, including gestures, sentence examples, etc. The group which can guess the most words wins.

Rules:

1. Each group must finish the guessing within 1 minute.

2. The guesser cannot look at the screen.

3. The one who explains can only speak English and is not allowed to mention the words showed on the screen.

Section Four Consolidation Activities

I . Vocabulary Analysis

1 Phrase practice

1. get around: spread 传播，流传，各处走动

e.g. News soon got around that he had been fired. 他被开除的消息很快传开了。

He gets around with the help of a stick. 他拄着拐杖四处走动。

2. eke out a living: make just enough money to survive 艰难度日

e.g. He ekes out a living at an extremely low economic level. 他勉强过着极为贫困的生活。

One day, while trying to eke out a living for his family, he heard a cry for help coming from a nearby bog. 有一天，他正在地里干活为家人谋生计，突然听见附近沼泽地里传来了呼救声。

3. jump at the opportunity: eagerly seize the opportunity 迫不及待地接受机会

e.g. Others jump at the opportunity to enter fields like engineering and finance. 另外一部分人则迅速抓住这样的机会进入到诸如工程与金融领域。

4. and the like: and people or something of the same kind 诸如此类，类似的人或物

e.g. I like team sports: basketball, football and the like. 我喜欢团队运动，比如篮球、足球，诸

如此类的。

Wheat, oats, and the like are cereals. 麦、燕麦等等都属于谷类。

2 Word derivation

Fill in the blanks with the appropriate forms of the given words.

1. Scottish names are common in America because of the emigration (emigrate) of many people from Scotland in the 19th century.

2. Some wildly (exaggerate) claims have been made about this so-called ―wonder-drug.‖ 4. His sudden conversion (convert) to that movement may make the voters suspicious.

5. The town‘6. Nowadays it is not so easy to teach middle school students because they are becoming more and more demanding (demand).

1. emigrate v. 移居，移民，移居国外

emigration n. 移民

e.g. 他们家从中国移居到美国。

His family emigrated from China to America.

2. exaggerate v. 夸大，夸张

exaggeration n. 夸张，夸大

e.g. 新闻报道肆意夸大了整个事件。

The press exaggerated the whole affair wildly.

我可以毫不夸张地说她是个天使。

I can say without exaggeration that she is an angel.

3. adapt v. 使适应；改编

adaptable a. 能适应的，适应性强的；可改编的

adaptability n. 适应性

adaptation n. 改编，改编成的作品；适应

e.g. 她很快就适应了这种新环境。

She adapted herself quickly to the new environment.

我给我儿子买了为儿童改编的莎士比亚剧本。

I bought my son an adaptation of a Shakespeare‘s play for children.

4. convert v. 变换，（使）转变；（使）改变信仰

converter n. 转换器

conversion n. 转变；改变信仰

e.g. 我母亲已转而信仰基督教。

My mother has converted to Christianity.

改用太阳能集中供暖将节省大笔开支。

Conversion to solar central heating will save you a lot of money.

5. prosper v. 繁盛，兴旺

prosperity n. 繁荣，兴旺

prosperous a. 繁荣的，兴旺的

e.g. 随着新主席的到来，公司也开始有了起色。

With the advent of the new chairman, the company began to prosper.

我国任何时候都没有现在这样繁荣。

At no time has our country been more prosperous than today.

6. demand v. 要求，需要

demanding a. 要求多的，吃力的

e.g. 我要求道歉。

I demand an apology.

7. symbol n. 符号，标志；象征

symbolic a. 象征的；符号的

symbolize v. 象征；用记号表现

e.g. 心形是爱的象征。

A heart shape is the symbol of love.

那诗人用花象征他的爱人。

The poet has symbolized his lover with a flower.

8. profit n. 利润，利益

profitable a. 有益的，有利的

e.g. 阅读对于各年龄段都很有利。

Reading is profitable for all age groups.

3. Synonym / Antonym

Give a synonym or an antonym of the word underlined in each sentence in the sense it is used.

1. Blue jeans are favored by bureaucrats and cowboys, bankers and deadbeats, fashion designers and beer drinkers.

Antonym: unequally

Synonym: simply, just

out a marginal living.

Synonym: pulling, dragging

4. Strauss had become a man of prominence in California.

Synonym: significance, importance

5. Over the ensuing years the company prospered locally, and by the time of his death in 1902, Strauss had become a man of prominence in America.

Synonym: following, subsequent

6. They have become, through marketing, word of mouth, and demonstrable the common pants of America.

Synonym: dependability, durability

7. Strauss had the canvas tailored into a pair of stiff but rugged pants.

Antonym: soft, flexible

8. And then there is the particularly terrifying story of the careless construction worker who dangled fifty-two stories above the street until rescued, his support the Levi‘s belt loop through which his rope was hooked.

Synonym: only

4 Suffix

Write in each space one word that has the same suffix as underlined in each given word.

1. Explanation:

-en: to make or become

e.g. blacken, sadden, deepen

2. Explanation:

-lize: to make into

e.g. industrialize, realize, specialize

3. Explanation:

-ive: having the nature of

e.g. descriptive, impressive, indecisive

4. Explanation:

-able: that can or must be

e.g. capable, taxable, comfortable, fashionable

5. Explanation:

-ation: the action or state of

e.g. hesitation, isolation, congratulation, situation

6. Explanation:

-ish: having the nature of

e.g. reddish, tallish, Turkish

7. Explanation:

-less: not doing, not affected by

e.g. tireless, selfless, helpless, hopeless

8. Explanation:

-ic: connected with

e.g. economic, scenic, horrific, specific

II Grammar Exercises

1. The simple past and the past perfect

We use the past perfect for an action which was completed before a special point of time in the past. We often use the past perfect together with the simple past. The action which was completed before the other action began is put into past perfect.

In simple words, while the simple past refers to a past event, a past habit or a past state, the past perfect refers to past in the past.

Past Perfect Timeline