节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2013-05-27
难易度:Low
关键字:acceptable, factor, reform, criticize, slacks, staple
If you're just joining us, we've been talking today about The History of Women's
Trousers.
So why are women able to wear pants today?
It wasn't always the case.
But in 1923, a top lawyer in the U.S. said that it would be acceptable for women
to wear slacks.
And now they've become a staple in most women's closets.
Well, we have a lot more to learn about The History of Women's Trousers in the
next reading of the day.
Let's do that now.
The History of Women's Trousers.
Women's rights.
In New York City around 1850, some ladies became involved in women's rights and
dress reform.
Many of them wore full-cut pants known as "bloomers" under their skirts.
The unique-looking pants were named for Amelia Bloomer, their strongest
defender.
However, they were heavily criticized by most people.
While some women wanted to be free of their heavy skirts, they didn't like the
unpopular bloomers.
Yet these early pants were a glimpse of the future as women continued pushing
for equal rights.
All right.
We're learning all about the bloomers here.
We begin with "Women's rights." We're talking about women's rights in this next
section.
In New York City around 1850, some ladies became involved in women's rights and
dress reform.
All right.
So it takes... usually it takes a group of people to come and try to push for
something, to try to fight for something like women's rights.
And this particular thing that we're fighting for is a certain kind of dress
reform.
That word's from our Word Bank - reform.
Carolyn, can you tell us about that word?
Well, if you reform something or have a dress reform, then you are trying to
change the way things are done.
A lot of times when I hear this word, I think of maybe you want to change the
rules or change the way something is set up.
You want to reform the way things are done.
That's right.
So Carolyn used this word as a verb.
I usually use it as a verb as well, to reform something.
But here we're talking about dress reform, the noun.
So you can use it as a noun.
What kinds of things need to be changed?
Well, you can talk about that, and then put the word "reform" after it.
So we continue learning about this.
People are fighting for dress reform.
Many of them wore full-cut pants known as "bloomers" under... well, under their
skirts.
And so they wore these "bloomers." We're going to be learning a little bit about
this.
Why are they called "bloomers," Carolyn?
Well, they were named after someone actually.
The unique-looking pants were named for Amelia Bloomer, their strongest
defender.
And I don't know if you've ever seen bloomers or not, but they're kind of
interesting-looking pants that are very large and poofy.
Yeah.
And you wear them under a skirt.
So you can't just wear bloomers; you have to wear a skirt over them.
I don't know how you feel about bloomers, I don't think they're very stylish.
Carolyn, what do you think about bloomers?
Do people still wear bloomers?
Well, I don't think that people really need to wear bloomers anymore because now
it's acceptable for women to wear pants.
Right.
Well, we found out here that Amelia Bloomer was the strongest defender for this
idea.
And if you're a defender for something, that means you are fighting for it.
Maybe people are attacking you, attacking your cause, but you want to defend it.
All right.
How do we continue this lesson?
Well, we see that however, they were heavily criticized by most people.
So it sounds like a lot of people didn't think that wearing bloomers was a good
idea.
And we see this word here from the Word Bank, the word "criticized," to
criticize something.
What does that mean, Gabe?
When you criticize something, you say something about it.
You usually kind of have this attitude of that thing is wrong.
Maybe you say some negative things about it.
Maybe you don't say very many positive things.
Do you ever feel criticized, or do people ever criticize you?
What can you say about this word, Carolyn?
Well, it... it does mean that you think that something is wrong or maybe it's
not quite as good as it should be.
Maybe you need some good criticism.
When you are writing, if you want some help: Please criticize what I wrote so
that I will know how to do better next time.
All right.
Carolyn used a good word: criticism, C-R-I-T-I-C-I-S-M, is the noun form.
When you receive criticism for something; and she's talking about constructive
criticism.
It's not good to criticize people in a bad way; but constructive criticism is a
good thing.
I hope that you want and accept constructive criticism in your life.
That's right. Well, continuing on.
While some women wanted to be free of their heavy skirts, they didn't like the
unpopular bloomers.
OK. Maybe bloomers were unpopular because they were not stylish, or because
people just weren't used to them.
But let's take a look at this phrase here, the phrase "free of." We wanted to be
free of something.
If you're free of something, that means you don't have to think about it
anymore.
Maybe you're free from that thing.
Or it means that you don't have it anymore, so.
Maybe once you graduate from school, you will be free of homework.
Oh, yeah. That's a great feeling.
Or maybe you've been wearing a suit all day long, and it's very hot, and you're
wearing your tie.
At the very end of the day, you can take your tie off and say: Ah! I'm so glad
to be free of that tie.
Well, let's continue with our lesson.
The sentence here is: Yet these early pants were a glimpse of the future as
women continued pushing for equal rights.
Carolyn, can you tell us about that phrase "to push for something"?
Well, if you punish for something, then you want to get that thing approved.
You want it to become acceptable.
So here they are pushing for equal rights.
But you can push for a lot of different things.
Maybe you really want a car, but your parents don't agree with you.
But you can push to have a new car.
All right.
Maybe you're fighting for this thing that you really want.
Well, earlier this month we talked about International Workers' Day.
And people were fighting for or pushing for a shorter workday, so now we have
eight hours in our workday.
So you can use that phrase "to push for" in many ways.
Right now it's time for us to continue learning with Steve and Ken in the
Information Cloud.
And then we'll join Michelle.
Since our lesson today is about pants, let's talk about pants today.
Great idea.
OK. First of all, unlike the word "shirt," the word "pants" is plural.
Now you may wonder why.
This is one piece of clothing, why is it plural?
Well, there's a bit of history behind the answer.
Now in the old days, pants came in two parts, one part for each leg.
The pieces were put on each leg separately, and then wrapped and tied at the
waist.
Later, when pants were made as a one-piece garment, the plural usage persisted.
So that's how pants got to be plural.
And since a pair of pants has two legs, you could refer to the legs as pant
legs.
For example, he rolled up his right pant leg.
Of course there are long pants and short pants.
But most people nowadays just say "pants" to refer to the long version, and
"shorts" to refer to short pants.
And that's why "pants" and "shorts," even though they're each one item, are
plural nouns.
(Chinese).
(Chinese).
And now let's get back to our teachers.
We've been having fun learning about the history of women's trousers today, and
of course some women's rights as well.
People now have the right... or women now have the right to wear pants, thanks
to Amelia Bloomer and others like her.
Well, it makes me wonder what other women's rights have people had to push for
throughout history.
Carolyn, can you think of any others?
Well, there have been quite a few.
Women were not always considered to be equal with men.
And even in the United States, there are still things that women fight for.
But some of the things that I am very thankful for are being able to vote and
being able to apply for the same jobs that men have.
All right.
So those are some of the things that women's... women have had to fight for and
push for.
And I'm glad that they have.
Right now it's time for us to say goodbye.
But we have more to learn about The History of Women's Trousers next time.
See you then.
See you then.