Unit 5 Curious and Curiouser

Lesson 5 Compare people, things, and actions.

Read and listen

1. Read and listen to the conversation.

Ben: Why is pink much more popular with girls and blue more closely associated.

          with boys?

Zoe: Because pink is a more feminine color.

Ben: Yes, but why? I heard that at the beginning of the 20 ^th century, baby boys wore pink.

because people didn’t think blue was as strong as pink. Blue was seen as a much

prettier color and was worn by girls. It wasn’t until the 1980s that companies started

producing more and more pink products for girls.

Zoe: Why?

Ben: Well, if you keep making more things specially for one sex, there’s less chance that

          parents will use them again with younger brothers and sisters.

Zoe: And the more things that we see in “our” color, the stronger the association.

becomes. So what were the most popular colors before babies wore pink and blue?

Ben: They all wore white.

Comprehension check

1. Why is pink much more popular with girls and blue with boys?
2. Why did boys wear pink at the beginning of 20^th century?
3. When did the companies start producing more pink products for girls?
4. What color did boys and girls wear before blue and pink?
5. What is your favorite color?

Practice

2. Read the sentences.
3. According to recent research, women see some colors such as blues, greens, and

    yellows, more vividly than man.

2. Form example, grass is usually greener for a woman than for a man.
3. However, warmer colors such as red appear stronger to men.
4. Women are better than men at describing colors.
5. However, women aren’t as good as men at seeing detail from a distance.
6. In our household, the pet dogs and cats have the worst color vision of all.

3. Choose the correct options you think make the color facts true.
4. Red is much more/a lot less popular for company branding than most other colors.
5. Blue appears on far fewer/many more flags than purple.
6. There are said to be a lot more/slightly fewer shades of green than other colors.
7. Apparently, if you see the color red on an exam paper, you’ll do a little worse/a lot

    better.

5. They say a silver-colored car is a little safer/slightly more dangerous than other cars.

4. Complete Sofia’s talk. Do you agree?

It’s getting  more and more difficult to buy clothes. New fashions appear faster and faster each year. The wider the selection, the harder it is to decide what to wear. I think the longer a fashion lasts, the better it is because we spend less and less money.

Write and speak

5. Complete the sentences with these words.

          a little a lot       

fewer less

1. Fashion today _________ exciting than in the past.
2. There are ________ things for young people to do these days.
3. _____________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________

6. Work in pairs. Read your sentences to your partner.

     Does he or she agree with you?

     Discuss your answers.