北师大版高二 (6)

Unit 18

Lesson 1

What is Beauty?

Lesson 1

What is Beauty?

Look at the pictures. Do you think the

people in the photos are beautiful?

貂蝉 贵妃昭君西施

The four beauties in Chinese ancient time.

Have you ever heard this Chinese poem?——

“楚王好细腰，宫中多饿死。”A beauty should be slim!

In Tang Dynasty,

a beauty should be fat!

Traditions and fashions change with time.

Everyone has different views on what

is Beauty.

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”

Which of the following idiom is closest

to its meaning?

A. Beauty is only skin-deep.

B. Birds of a feather flock together.

C. The eyes of love are blind.

Can you find out any Chinese

equivalents to the expression?

A. 金玉其外 , 败絮其中 .

B. 物以类聚 , 人以群分 .

C. 情人眼里出西施 .

shawl

tattoos

Woolen carpet

Woolen glove

Fast-reading

1. Why do we say beauty is in the eye

of the beholder?

There was no consistent view on

beauty. Standards of beauty change

across time and cultural groups.

2. How many kinds of beauty are

there? What are they?

Two. Physical beauty and inner

beauty.

Physical Beauty

How many factors influence people’s

perceptions of beauty? What are

they? three.

time, culture and society

whitening

Slimdark

云南少数民族：以肥为美，以黑为贵。

In contemporary society, culture influences the standards of beauty greatly.

Intensive-reading

Physical Beauty

1. In 19th century Europe, women

would wear woolen shawls across

their shoulders.

2. Nowadays, tattoos are used to mark

criminals.

F

F

3. In some countries, young women

follow slimming diets to lose extra

kilos to prepare for their wedding

day.

4. The human race would die out if

we perceived physical beauty in

the same way.

T

T

Finish Exercise 3

1. Never changing

consistent

2. made of wool

woolen

3. fat

overweight

4. responsibility or

promise

commitment

5. disappear or stop

existing completely

die out

6. go together with

accompany

7. a variety of

a wide range of

8. a personal view or opinion

subjective

9. part of a situation

dimension

1. Describe one way that standards of

beauty have changed with time.

In the 19th century Europe, women

used to wear corsets to achieve a body

shape that is no longer considered

healthy.

Read the text again and answer the

questions.

2. According to the writer, what three

things influence people’s ideas of

beauty?

They are society, time and culture.

3. How are tattoos seen nowadays

compared to the past?

They are seen as a form of body art.

4. Why does the writer think that the

human race would die out if we all

saw physical beauty in the same way?

Because the survival of society itself

rely on people seeing beauty in

difference and depth.

5. Why is inner beauty more difficult to

determine than physical beauty?

Because inner beauty is found in all

sorts of personality character traits.

Discuss in pairs.

What are some of the fashions or

physical appearances that used to be

considered attractive but no longer are?

Example: In China, women used to

wear jewelers on their heads, but the

fashion no longer exists.

Artificial Beauty

Voice your opinion

What do you think of artificial bea

uty ( 人造美女 )? Is it necessary to

become more beautiful by operatio

n? Why?

Do you find any true beauty in

our real life? Can you give

some examples?

True beauty in real life

Can you work out the main

structure of the whole passage?

Introduction

Argumentation

Summary

Introduce the topic------standards of

beauty change across different times

and different cultures.

Traditions and fashions, like society,

change and adapt with time. The

author also lists several examples to

support the idea.

In contemporary society, culture remains

a significant factor in determining our

perception of beauty. Several examples

are given to support the idea.

With the influence of above-mentioned

factors, beauty has no certain criterion

in society. If not so, the society will have

no progress!

on the other hand, physical beauty must

be enhanced by inner thoughts, which is

different from person to person. So

standard of beauty is also arguable.

Summary: beauty, therefore, is much-

dimensional. Beauty is in the eyes of

the beholders.

One in every ten people

十分之一的人Husband-to –be

Would-be husband

Would-be mother

Prospective mother

It is reasonable that …

It is hard to imagine that…

It is estimated that…

The human race would soon die out.

die out.

Some of the biological races have died o

ut because of the nuclear pollution. 由于核污染 , 有些物种已经灭绝了。

Grammar focus

Women used to wear corsets to achieve

a body-shape that is no longer

considered to be desirable.

Men would wear woolen shawls across

their shoulders.

We use used to and would to describe

the things that happened in the past b

ut no longer happen now.

We use used to to talk about activities

and state, and we use would to talk ab

out activities.

她以前的朋友比我认识的任何人都多。 She used to have more friends than anyo

ne else I have known.

小丑们满场溜达 , 一条裤腿比另外一条短。 Clowns would walk with one trouser leg

shorter than the other.

以前秋季 , 我们经常去采蘑菇。 We would/used to go mushroom-pi

cking in autumn.

我的小妹以前很害羞。 M

y little sister used to be very shy.