Cutting Edge Upper Intermediate Student's Book

he people's century

 

The stoiy of the 20th century told through the lives of otdincuy people

 

‘Everybody wanted to have some fun, and the only thing available was the cinema,Television was not yet available. Everybody would eagerly wait for a new and beautiful film to watch. In these theatres, even if they were not wrell equipped, people would queue up anxioush waiting to watch the show ... Kids brought pans full of food from home while waiting toi the thcane to open Going to the movies was a party ... everybody wished to forget about the ugliness of the war.'

 

‘I usually went to the company at eight o’clock. I continued working until nine in the evening. That was the usual day: On one day only - Wednesday - I came home at four o’clock. That w;as the working situation then. I was a workaholic. I worked almost ah Sundays, too I had no time to talk to my wife'

 

'It seemed like anything was possible . Even- kind of character ... seemed to appear on the street, because you could dress however you wanted ... 1 opened a shop selling book*», crafts, drugs, records. There was even room for meditation and art showrs in. the shop. We put ’free’ in front of everything we sold .,. We were exploring what freedom and a free society- was,’ о ^ v'-. ^ ^ ^ ^

 

‘The air was full of smoke and fumes from the constant firing of the French guns. The crater I was in was so deep that the breeze couldn't blow the fumes away. The air was so bad that we were parched with thirst and breathing

 

‘At protest marches we threw our garments and cosmetics into the trash can ...We threw7 bras, stockings, high-heeled shoes, and false eyelashes - they were oppressive items for women. It was a feeling of power, that we all wanted .to change society" and that we could do it, And it was a worldwide movement - 'Britain. France, Italy - ■

 

there w'ere movements all over the w'orld.'

 

‘I can remember there being only one room.We used to cuddle up to each other to keep warm, it is much warmer that way if you are on the ground. There were nine children, and we slept on the floor.... Father worked in the mines but duung the strike thei lecened nothing at all, so we had nothing but potatoes to eat and from time to time some bread, but apait fiom that nothing.’

Vocabulary

 

Past, present and future time phrases

 

IMark the phrases in the box P (past), N (present/now) or F (future). Use your mini-dictionary where necessary. In some cases, more than one answer is possible.

 

over the last few decades [HI in those days EH these days EH nowadays EH not long ago EH at one time EH in the long term I I current EH in the weeks leading up to EH the latest EH j in 100 years' time I I during the Cold War era I I

2 a) Use one of the words or phrases from the box to replace those in bold below.

 

In the past... those days

 

1 Working conditions tended to be much harder 2 Attitudes towards young people's freedom have changed a great deal since the 1950s.

 

3 Once, it was very uncommon for women to go out on their owrn in the evening.

 

4 Until quite recently, only well-off people could afford to travel abroad.

 

Now...

 

5 People are generally more prosperous now.

 

6 However, the present rate of unemployment is a lot higher than it was in the 1950s.

 

7 Technology is changing so fast it can be hard to keep up with the most recent developments.

 

In the future...

 

8 There will be a lot of demonstrations in the weeks before the election.

 

9 We all hope that unemployment will get better for a long time in the future.

 

10 Will people still be worried about thè same problems 100 years from now?

 

b) What other words and phrases could replace the ones underlined?

 

3Work in pairs. Student A looks at the card on page 141, and Student B looks at the card on page 145. Read out the first question on your card, and give your partner a few seconds to think. Then he / she talks about that topic for one minute or more using at least one of the time phrases in Exercise 2 in the answer. Do the same with each question on the cards.