English for Teachers/Unit 8/Chapter 3
Unit 8
Chapter 3
I. Reading
Keep a Sharp Eye
The good old summertime is a great season for touring America. Here are some hints for the foreign visitor.
Medical expenses in America are astronomical. One lady from Austria slipped and broke her am in California and ended up with a $300 doctor and hospital bill. Make sure your medical insurance covers you while abroad.
Most cowboys and Indians laid down their guns long ago. Al Capone no longer roams the streets of Chicago, and reports that you cannot walk outside in New York City after dark without a karate expert by your side are somewhat exaggerated. But there is a high crime rate in America's larger cities and you should keep that in mind. Don't stroll through large parks at night; stay in the well-lit busy sections of the city; and if you want to visit the "inner city," do it by day and in organized tours. America's cities are also full of con men. Be leery of sidewalk vendors offering you cheap watches—probably hot—i.e., stolen—and of volunteer porters who say they will take you to a nice cheap hotel.
Prostitution is illegal everywhere in the U.S., except Nevada. And in many places the "John" (client) is considered as guilty as the "hooker" (prostitute). The legal hazard, moreover, is by no means the only one: many a tourist who has succumbed to the charms of a state-side lady of the night has wound up without his wallet—and with assorted bruises.
Don't put your shoes outside your hotel door at night. No one will polish them for you, and you may never see them again.
- Newsweek
II. Writing
A. Make a list of the topics that the above reading talks about. If you feel that things have been left out that a foreign visitor should know about, add these to your list.
B. Write a letter to a friend of yours in America who has never been to Seoul, but is coming in a few weeks. Discuss the topics that you listed above as you try to prepare him for his visit.
III. Reading
The Founding Streakers
So far, it is not a scheduled part of the nation's bicentennial celebration, but "streaking," as it turns out, is as old as the Republic.
In the spring of 1776, a group of Continental Army soldiers camping near a pond in Brooklyn, N.Y., would "come out of the water and run to the houses naked with a design to insult and wound female decency," according to papers recently unearthed by the Rhode Island Historical Society.
Public outrage at such brazen behavior prompted an anti-streaking lecture from Gen. Nathanael Greene, the Revolutionary Army's youngest general. Greene scolded two Rhode Island regiments for their "scandalous conduct," noting that "our enemies have sought to fix a stigma on the New England people as being rude and barbarous . . . for heaven's sake don't let your behavior serve as an example to confirm these observations." At one point in his reprimand, the general asked: "Is there no ambition left alive but that of being scandalous?" Two centuries later, the answer still seems to be "nay".
- Newsweek
IV. Quotation
Scandal is gossip made tedious by morality.
V. Activity
Discuss the relationship between:
1) streaking and scandal
2) scandal and gossip
3) gossip and streaking
4) streaking and morality
5) gossip and morality